Verses & Mantras for Peace

“sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja”

Let go of all your burdens and take refuge in Me alone. I will free you from all that weighs on you; do not grieve.

Krishna's final, crowning counsel to Arjuna at the close of the Gita, on the field of Kurukshetra — to surrender every burden and take refuge in the Divine alone.

“oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate”

That is whole, this is whole; from the whole the whole arises; take the whole from the whole, and the whole yet remains.

The peace invocation chanted at the opening and close of the Upanishad — on the fullness of the Divine, from which all fullness flows, leaving the whole forever whole.

“sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ”

May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all see goodness, may none suffer.

A beloved prayer chanted across the tradition, voiced for the wellbeing of all beings. (It is widely recited but its precise original source is not firmly established — often misattributed to the Upanishads.)

“sarvaṁ khalv-idaṁ brahma”

All this, indeed, is Brahman — the Divine pervades everything and everyone.

From the teaching of the sage Shandilya (the Shandilya Vidya) — all this is truly Brahman; meditate upon the Divine that fills everything.