amma amma taye - Meaning

The bounty of Mother Nature provides for all.

amma amma taye

Meaning.

amma            amma                        tāye
amma            amma                        taaye
            mother                                    provides

akhilānd      eshware                   nīye
akhilaand eshware                   neeye
universal pure guides me
consciousness

annapūrṇ   eshware                    tāye
annapuurn eshware                 taaye
creative           pure                         provides, nurtures
                      consciousness

oh       ādi      para               Shakti            nīye
oh   aadi       para               Shakti            neeye
        primary supreme        ability to          guides me
                                                transcend

The Song.

You can listen to and buy this song as a single, as a download, from https://kevinjames.bandcamp.com/album/sanskrit-mantras-vol-1 Track 1, Amma

This is the opening song for “Sanskrit Mantras, Vol 1” by Kevin James Carrol, 2017. It is a good one for those new to Kīrtan, for the song is essentially Western in style. It has the usual guitar opening (guitar and slide guitar together), with lyrics and instrumental alternating thru the piece. The melody is on the major scale focussing on the triad or arpeggio. This melody is interesting and catchy, just like popular songs in the West.

Yet the atmosphere is distinctly Eastern, for the lyrics are immediately in Sanskrit, with the audience joining in the second repetition! And the CD sleeve has an impressive photo of a large Kīrtan gathering led by Kevin, seated on the floor, in a circle, around the candle display as a shrine.

Kevin front right playing guitar,
with Chris Lane holding his flutes on Kevin's left (and looking at Kevin).

I really appreciate this approach that Kevin is using, to introduce mostly younger Westerners to Eastern culture, in this accessible way. For many of us are seeking some alternative to mainstream religion and mass media music. Something that provides the real culture that we need, and helps to protect us from the alienation of the modern big cities. So we can transcend above such limitations. Which leads to the word-for-word translation …

The Mantra Translated.

In this mantra, Deity is presented in female form, which helps to counterbalance the male dominance of God in the West. The opening word for Deity is amma, which can mean “the Mother”. Thus the first line of our mantra says –

amma amma tāye (taaye), which can mean
“the Mother who provides”.

Mother Nature provides for our health and provides for our healing, an opposite to the artificiality of modern farming, medicine, entertainment and cities.

amma   can be the familiar form for “mother”. This suggests a familiarity with Mother Nature, thru connecting with Nature, and meditating in Nature. She provides environmental conditions that can be conducive to meditation.   When I shifted my meditation classes from a room in the city to the beautiful forest of my home, my students immediately had deeper meditation.

However, time spent in Nature is not necessarily peaceful. In fact, the peace of Nature really comes from another important aspect of Deity;   īshvara = ishvara = eshware, which can mean “pure consciousness”. It is the purity of mind, cultivated thru meditation of some kind, that guides (nīye) us to enjoyment, contentment and inspiration. When we are in Nature.

Thus the second line of our mantra says –

akhilānd eshware nīye

akhilaand eshware neeye which can mean

“universal pure consciousness guides me”.

It guides us to our spiritual Qualities. By “universal”, I mean the purity of mind that all people can cultivate and access, regardless of religious persuasion (or lack thereof).

This purity is available to anyone who gives priority to purification practice in their daily life. Hence the importance of meditation training, and mantra-translate has a Course in Meditation that describes the Principles of such training.

Although silent sitting meditation is important and foundational to purification practice, other meditations are helpful too. Such as music meditation, which I use in my meditation classes (by playing CD’s like this one). In this, the sound of the music becomes the meditation object. This means we focus all our attention on the music, as a strategy to shift the mind from its usual habit of thinking, from the busy-ness of thinking. Shift attention to sound, and so move towards inner quiet and peace.

We also focus on the beauty of the music. We can look for all the subtle nuances that professional musicians like Kevin and his friends add to their performance, to transform it from mere notes and sounds into real music that people will pay money for. We focus on their creativity, as music makers, and the nurturing that their music can provide to us.

This also applies to performance. For the musician to make real music, they need to withdraw their attention from thinking, and focus on the sound and texture of sound of their performance. I play from sheet music, and my fingers need to immediately go to right key on my clarinet as my eyes follow the dots on the stave. There is no space in the consciousness to be analysing scales, names of notes, key signatures - the attention needs to be entirely upon creativity. This is a form of pure consciousness.

Thus the third line of our mantra says -

annapūrṇ eshware tāye

annapuurn eshware taaye which can mean –

“pure consciousness born of creativity provides for” . It can provide favourable conditions for our cultivation of enjoyment, inspiration, appreciation, or
“pure consciousness born of creativity nurtures.”

Thus performing music and music appreciation can be a form of pure consciousness. This is why it can be so attractive. It can be a transcendence from the worries of life.

Which brings us to the Name for Deity in our mantra : Shakti. Shakti is the female equivalent of Shiva. Shakti is also the ability and strength we have to achieve Shiva. Songs 1, 2, 3 and 5 on this album are about Shiva, about different aspects of Shiva. Shiva cannot be fully translated in just a few words. Indeed, I allocate ten pages of my treatise on Deity to translate this one Kirtan word. But we need something more concise here.

So in this mantra, Shiva can just mean “transcendence”; transcendence from the world of ego, where we identify with our thoughts, and believe that we are the thinker. Transcendence from the thought driven self to pure consciousness or īshvara (eshware). Shakti is our ability to return to ishvara, and restore ishvara in this moment. Shakti is our ability to achieve Shiva or transcendence in this moment.

For this transcendence to be possible, we need to devote our time and effort to purification practice, as much as we can, as often as we can, whenever and wherever we can, in daily life.

This brings us to the first words of the last line : ādi (aadi) para, which in this context can mean “primary and supreme”. Let us give purification practice the primary and supreme position in our lives. To some extent, this could be the climax of the mantra. In his song, Kevin provides a powerful ascent to these two words - ādi para.

Thus the fourth line of our mantra says -

ādi para Shakti nīye

aadi para Shakti niiye which can mean -

“when transcendence is given primary and supreme importance, it has the ability and power to guide me.”

It guides us away from suffering.

Note on Pronouncing.
The words of Kirtan and mantra have been carefully shaped to improve the sound, and help improve the mood and atmosphere at the gathering. This is important to the success of the Kirtan. It helps develop the “energy”.

Therefore, Kevin pronounces the second and third lines thus –

akhilan desh ware niye
annapur nesh ware taye.

Derivation Details.

My interpretation starts from a theistic interpretation of our mantra -

amma amma taye
akhiland-eshware niye
annapurn-eshware taye
oh adi para Shakti niye

Mamma, our Divine Mother,
Goddess of the Universe,
Goddess of Creation, and Provider to all;
You are the primary supreme power.

Line 2.
akhiland-eshware, in the theistic interpretation, means “Goddess of the Universe”, where eshware = ishvara   means “Goddess” and akhiland means “universal”. In addition, akhilā (akhilaa) means "whole" or "complete." The term “universal” works better than “whole or complete,” in my translation of line 2.

In the non theistic interpretation, eshwara = ishvara   means “pure consciousness”.

nīye (neeye) is the first person singular form of the root word nī (nee) = guidance. cf niyama

eshware is the neuter, locative form of the noun eshwara. It is neutral, indicating the eshwara is available to both male and female practitioners.   It is locative, so eshware means “located in eshwara”.   So -

akhilānd eshware   nīye
akhilaand eshware niiye   can mean :
“located in universal pure consciousness is my guidance.”

Line 3.
annapūrṇ (annapuurn) -eshware, in the theistic interpretation, means “Goddess of Creation.” In addition, Annapūrṇa is the Hindu Goddess of Harvests (annapūrṇa = providing food) The term “creative or nurturing” works best in my translation of line 3.

The theistic interpretation also translated line 3 as “Provider to all.” This suggests that tāye (taaye) can mean “provides”. tāya (taaya) comes from the root tan, where -
√तन् = tan = helping, assisting, aiding. The term “provides and nurtures” works better than “assists” in my translation of line 3. So -

annapūrṇ   eshware tāye
annapuurn eshware taaye can mean :
“creative pure consciousness provides and nurtures”

Line 4.
ādi (aadi) means “first or primary”, and para means supreme

shak (शक्) means to become capable or be capable, and ‘ktin (क्तिन्)’ means power, valour and vital energy. Thus Shakti can mean our ability or power to achieve Shiva, our ability or power to transcend the world of ego.

Note. The spelling and pronunciation of ishvara = eshwara is confusing. Details are on section 11 of “Deity and Kirtan” part 2 on this website.

Note for Line 1 and 3.
√तय् = tay = going, moving, guarding, protecting.

So our mantra could also be about Deity as Divine Mother = amma    protecting and guiding us.

What can help us be located in pure consciousness (īśvara) and be guided by it? How can we cultivate our ability (śakti) to do so? This is quite challenging.

So I prepared extensive treatises on spiritual practice, Deity in Kirtan, and meditation training, to help us all find useful guidance to our practice and training. With new translations of the most prominent scriptures, showing how the Sanskrit can reveal useful material for our endeavours. Published on this website.

For more translated Sanskrit mantras :
click onto the + at the top of this webpage, then click again onto the +

My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups.

​amma amma tayeMeaning.

amma amma taye

Meaning.