om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya, meaning, discussion.

Let the pinnacle of our achievements encourage and inspire us.
Let us remember what brought us there.

om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya

meaning, discussion.

om      namo                         bhagavāte       Vāsudev-             āya
om      namo                         bhagavaate     Vaasudev-           aaya
            devotion to (see below) Deity that              is our Goal, or
            spiritual practice                               dwells within (bestowed on us)

The Song.

Terry Oldfield and his wife Soraya Saraswati offer an excellent recording of this mantra on their album “Temple Moon,” 2017. Soraya’s singing is clear, and emphatic, and Terry uses a flute with high, clear and penetrating sound to start the song. This draws attention to the (hidden) meaning of this mantra in a clear and definite way.

You can listen to and buy this song as a single as a download on –

https://terryoldfield.bandcamp.com/track/om-namo-bhagavate

Deva Premal offers a quite different melody and song for this mantra. Available at –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxlPS9aK7o

The Mantra Discussed.

This is a good mantra, and the quality of Terry and Soraya’s song pays tribute to the quality of the mantra.

bhagavān is a most common word in the scriptures of India, occurring over 1000 times in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, also called the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the stories about Deity. bhagavāte can be taken as the dative form of bhagavān, and therefore means “towards bhagavān”, or “let us move towards bhagavān”.

bhagavān is a most useful word for Deity, for it can summarise all the myriad other Names and words for Deity used in Hinduism. So bhagavān can stand for all the many spiritual Qualities and Qualities of Deity that appear on this website, and many more too. However, we need something more concise here, something that the mind can easily grasp, something more manageable.

The word bhaga means a feature or aspect of Deity. The tradition has a list of six bhaga – knowledge, detachment, mastery, righteousness, renown and splendour. This suggests the following translations –

bhagavān can mean spiritual knowledge and themes,
bhagavān can mean being unaffected by defilements,
bhagavān can mean self mastery, our ability to return to the spiritual Qualities and restore them in our daily life,
bhagavān can mean the inherent goodness of people,
bhagavān can mean being valued and supported, and
bhagavān can mean being radiant with the spiritual Qualities..

(adapted from “Understanding Hinduism” by Dr DC Rao)

namo = namah = namas means “bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, adoration” as a word in the dictionary. The mantras of our Kirtan songs come from the Bhakti tradition in India, and God worship is an important feature of this Bhakti tradition. But for those of us feel disinclined to worship the Gods of another country, we can use a different interpretation –

namo can mean our devotion, commitment to spiritual practice, and honouring it. This leads to the following interpretation -

namo bhagavate can mean devotion and commitment to cultivating … spiritual knowledge, independence from defilements, self mastery, and radiance. It can also mean honouring and recognising the good qualities of each-other, and giving them renown in our speech.

Vasudeva is properly spelled Vāsudeva, and is pronounced Vaasudeva. It is the Name for Deity in our mantra. The root word vās- means to dwell or abide in. Vasudeva is another Name for Vishnu, and the last book of the Vishnu Purana (or stories about Vishnu), chapter 5, describes Vasudeva as Deity that “dwells in all beings, and all beings dwell in Vasudeva.” Thus -

Vasudeva can mean - the Deity “dwelling within” us, or
Vasudeva can mean - Deity that we “dwell within.”

The Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata gives further description –

Vasudeva can also mean - the support and resting place for Presence (of Deity), or
Vasudeva can mean Presence that surrounds and envelopes us in the spiritual Qualities, in a protective way.

Vāsudevāya (Vaasudevaaya) is the dative form of the noun Vāsudeva, and it means “moving towards Vāsudeva”. Soraya sings this as two words - Vāsudev āya, where the

āya (aaya) can mean - “is our Goal,” “move towards”, “start building”

Taking the first bhaga as an example, our mantra can mean -

“Let us be committed to cultivating (namo) spiritual understanding (bhagavate), and so move towards (āya aaya) Presence of Deity as our dwelling place and resting place (Vasudeva).”

Or we can use the second bhaga, and our mantra can mean –

“Let us be committed to cultivating (namo) our independence from defilements (bhagavate), and so start building (āya aaya) the support for Presence (Vasudeva).”

The fourth bhaga interprets our mantra thus –

“Let us honour and value (namo) the inherent goodness in each-other (bhagavate), and then our relationships can start to (āya aaya) dwell in the Presence of Deity (Vasudev).”

And I invite you to make your own interpretations of this simple yet effective mantra –

om namo bhagavāte      Vāsudevāya
om namo bhagavaate    Vaasudevaaya

Traditional Stories.
The religious stories are an important part of the tradition of any peoples. In these, the father of the historical Krishna was called Vasudeva. Even Krishna is referred to as Vasudeva, and Krishna is one of the two prominent Names for Deity in the home country. Thus -

Vasudeva can also mean “the ancestry of Deity.”

The Dative Case Discussed.

namo bhagavāte
namo Vāsudev-āya.

Vāsudevāya is the dative form of the noun Vāsudeva. namo Vāsudevāya can be translated as “devotion to Vāsudeva (the God)” = “devotion directed towards Vāsudeva”. This suggests “moving towards Vāsudeva” as a Goal in our spiritual practice.

However, the dative case in Sanskrit has additional meaning. The dative case also shows what we hope to gain from namo. The dative case indicates the purpose of our namo. So Vāsudev-āya can also mean to access the in-dwelling spirit of Vāsudeva, or reconnect with Vāsudeva. The dative case also indicates bestowal = sampradāna = Divine Gift. So Vāsudev-āya also means that Vāsudeva will be bestowed upon us, if we persist with our namo.
This leads to further interpretation –

namo Vāsudev-āya means devotion to spiritual practice, so we can move towards Vāsudeva, and access Vāsudeva, or reconnect with Vāsudeva, or
namo Vāsudev-āya means devotion to spiritual practice, so Vāsudeva can be bestowed upon us.

bhagavāte can be taken as the dative form of bhagavān. So these interpretations can apply also to the expression “namo bhagavāte”

Accessing these beautiful and liberating Qualities of Deity, and staying with them long enough to receive them, is easier said than done. What might help us in this important task?

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, revealing how the Sanskrit can provide 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.

om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya ​meaning, discussion.​​

om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya

meaning, discussion.