Slokas for Daily Life

Slokas are short hymns in Sanskrit which convey a prayer to the almighty. A prayer is in reality,a sincere wish for good things to happen in life.
Here is a collection of slokas which touch the activities in our daily life and ensure we do our mundane daily tasks with sincerity.

Early Morning Slokas:

As soon as you get up in the morning,what is the first thing you set your sights on?. As per ancient Indian wisdom,you need to first look at your palms and utter the below prayer:

Meaning of this Sloka-

At the top end of the palm,Sri Lakshmi Devi is dwelling,in the middle of the palm,Sri Saraswathi Devi is dwelling,at the bottom end of the palm,Sri Durga Devi is dwelling.Early morning,have Darshan(view) of your palms(and the Devis in them)

Significance of this Sloka-
This is to show that ‘Your Day is in your Hands.Make the most out of it’.

Sloka to Adithya-The Sun God

Surya Namaskar is an integral part of Hindu culture.The mighty Sun,is the giver of power and strength to all the living beings on earth.

Here is a prayer to the Sun God,chanted during Sun Rise in the Early Morning:

Meaning of this Sloka-
By praying to Adithya(Sun God) in your heart,you can destroy all your enemies.If you pray to  Adithya daily,you can be victorious and Eternal happiness will always be yours.

Significance of this Sloka-
Chanting of the Adithya Hridayam daily bestows immense power and strength.

Sloka while Taking Bath:

Meaning of this Sloka-
Ganga,Yamuna,Godavari,Saraswati,Narmada,Sindu,Kaveri –please come and be part of this water(the water taken for bathing) and bless me.

Significance of this Sloka-
The sacred rivers are invoked to be part of the bathing water so that the person who bathes in it can be deemed to have taken a dip in these holy rivers to cleanse the sins.

Sloka before Eating Food:

Meaning of this Sloka-
This suggests that food itself is God and should be taken as an offering to God-the God who is in the form of hunger and the hungry man.

Significance of this Sloka-
This sloka puts the whole process of eating as a sacred exercise and is a prayer to thank God for providing food to eat.
For this very reason,our culture has created ‘Annapoorneshwari’ the God of Food and given her an exalted position in our pantheon of Gods.

Sloka for Digesting Food Well:
Meaning of this Sloka-
Oh Sage-Thou who digested the Rakshas Vatapi,humbled the vanity of the Vindhya mountains,thou who drank the ocean water,please make the food I ate to digest well.

Significance of this Sloka-
This is a prayer to the Great Sage Agasthya to digest the food well.
Legend has it that the Great Sage was invited by the Rakshasas Vatapi and Ilvala as a guest.This was a trick by the Rakshasas.They would invite guests and give them food.Vatapi would enter the food given to the guest and go inside the guest’s stomach.Once Vatapi was inside,Ilvala would call out to him and Vatapi would tear open the guest’s stomach and come out.The guest will then become the demons’ food.The demons tried the same trick with Agasthya also.However,the mighty Sage,by his tapasya powers,realized what was happening and digested Vatapi in his stomach.Vatapi never came out.

Sloka before you start your work:

Meaning of this Sloka-
The God with the curved trunk and big body,who is shining akin to a million suryas,I pray to Thee,to remove the obstacles in all the tasks that I am going to perform.

Significance of this Sloka-
This prayer to Lord Ganesha is a sincere prayer which can be uttered before you start your work everyday.This prayer is a wish for removing obstacles and ensuring success in all your tasks.

Sloka before you start your studying:

Meaning of this Sloka-
Oh Goddess Saraswati, I pray to Thee, the fulfiller of all my wishes.I am starting my studies now,please bless me so that I am always able to learn  well.

Significance of this Sloka-
There can be no greater prayer by a student than to wish for a good learning and this prayer prepares a student mentally to concentrate well, before the commencement of their studies.

Sloka while taking medicine
Meaning of this Sloka-
The human body is affected by fevers,sickness and old age.Let the medicine I take possess the healing powers of the Jahnavi( River Ganga) and let the doctor be the Hari(God) himself.

Significance of this Sloka-
This prayer uttered while consuming medicine will strengthen the person’s belief in the medicine and the physician.Psychologically,it will have a positive impact on the sick person and enable faster recovery.

Sloka before going to bed
Meaning of this Sloka-
We pray every night to Hanumantha, Vainatheya, Rukodara to remove all bad dreams.

Significance of this Sloka-
This is a prayer for good night and sweet dreams.To be precise,it is a prayer for avoiding bad dreams.