Learn Sanskrit through Slokas – 5

In this post, we will not only see the meaning of a new Sloka but we will also do a quick recap of all the words learnt from the last 4 posts.

Today’s Sloka:

This sloka is to be chanted first thing in the morning immediately after waking up. One needs to look at his/her hands while chanting this sloka.

“karaagre vasathe lakshmi: karamadhye saraswathi
karamoole thu govinda: prabhathey karadarshanam”

Let’s discuss the word-by-word meaning of the above sloka.

karaagre vasathe lakshmi

• kara is hand in this context. ‘kara seva‘ can mean service done with one’s hands, meaning physical service.
• agre is ‘in front of/top of’ . Here it would mean, at the top of the hand. ‘Agrajaha’ is one’s elder brother (one who was born ahead of you). Similarly Anujaha is younger brother (born after you).
• vasathey is ‘to live’. Thus vaasa-sthalam is place of living. Sri-nivaasa is the person in whose body (chest) Goddess Lakshmi (Sri) resides – Lord Vishnu.
• Lakshmi: – Goddess Lakshmi

karamadhye saraswathi

• karamadhye – madhya is ‘middle’. Thus karamadhye is middle of the hand. Ahnam is morning, so madhya-ahnam (madhyaannam) will be middle of day (noon).
• saraswathi – Goddess Saraswathi

karamoole thu Govinda:

• karamoole thu – moola means ‘at the base’ here. Thus it means, ‘at the base of the hand’. Moola could also mean ‘origin of’. Nadhimoolam is origin of a river
• govinda: – Lord Krishna/Vishnu

prabhaathe karadarshanam

• prabhaathe – prabhaatha is morning. Other synonyms for morning are Usha, praathaha etc.
• karadarshanam – drush is to see. karadarshanam is ‘one must see’

The complete meaning of this sloka will be, ‘ At the top of the hand dwells Goddess Lakshmi while at the middle of the hand lives Goddess Saraswati and at the base of the hand, Lord Krishna (Govinda) is present. Therefore one should look at one’s hands in the early morning and make prayers to them. ‘

This being our fifth post on this topic, here is a recap of the words we learnt in the last five Sanskrit posts. Hope you find the below useful. Do write to me if you have any questions.