This is often one of the first chants taught to students because it is both sweet and simple. It is repetitive like a lullaby. It was the first mantra I learned working 1:1 with a teacher. It was during a period of deep personal grief and confusion about my life path, doubting even my yoga. In the Desikachar lineage, this mantra is often sung for/by those who are trying to conceive, have lost a child, or who are pregnant. Of course, ‘conception’ and ‘birth’ may be creative endeavors or things other than actual children. The mantra has all sorts of birth waters and fleshy petals in it. It is the song of cycles, nourishment, and sometimes grief as we observe the cycles of life. It calls on both flowers and water, two things always given in ritual, and encourages us to see by singing.
This song comes from the āraṇyaka portion of the Taittirīya Upanishad (1.22). The āraṇyakas are those mantras composed in the deep, internal retreat from the world in which we face ultimate and holy things.
May it turn your tears into sacred offerings. May it bathe you in the healing baptism available in all the earth’s waters.