4.6 Prayer, Pranava & Invocation in Practice and Assessment
Key Takeaways
- Practical item 5.1 prescribes three things: concept and recitation of Pranava, concept and recitation of hymns, and selected universal prayers, invocations and Nishpatti Bhava.
- Pranava is Om, defined by Patanjali at PYS 1.27 as the designator of Ishvara, with its practice at 1.28 being japa of Om together with contemplation of its meaning.
- Om has three matras - A, U, M - plus the Ardhamatra of silence, corresponding to the Mandukya's waking, dream, deep-sleep and Turiya states.
- Nishpatti Bhava is the attitude of consummation - practising from a settled sense of completeness rather than from lack, and it is the bhava the practical expects at the close of the session.
- The standard opening is the Patanjali invocation and the Sangachchhadhvam or Yoga Guru vandana; the standard close is a Shanti Mantra such as Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah or Om Sarveshaam Svastir Bhavatu.
4.6 Prayer, Pranava & Invocation in Practice and Assessment
The YCB practical syllabus does not begin with asana. It begins with 5.1 Prayer, and it lists three components: concept and recitation of Pranava; concept and recitation of hymns; and selected universal prayers, invocations and Nishpatti Bhava. Candidates who treat the opening chant as a formality lose marks in the first ninety seconds of the practical, before they have moved.
Pranava: the concept
Pranava is Om (ॐ). The word derives from pra + nu, "to sound forth," and the tradition treats Om as the primordial sound (Shabda Brahman) from which manifestation proceeds.
Patanjali is precise about its status:
Tasya vachakah pranavah — PYS 1.27 "His designator is Pranava."
Note the technical claim: Om is not a name chosen by convention but the vachaka, the designator, of Ishvara — the relationship is held to be eternal, not conventional. The practice follows immediately:
Taj-japas tad-artha-bhavanam — PYS 1.28 "Its repetition, and contemplation of its meaning."
Two components, and both are required. Japa without bhavana is mechanical noise; bhavana without japa has no vehicle. The result is given at PYS 1.29: turning inward (pratyak-chetana) and the disappearance of the obstacles (antaraya-abhava).
The four matras of Om
| Component | Sound | Mandukya correspondence | Where it is felt |
|---|---|---|---|
| A (अ) | Akara | Jagrat — waking, Vaishvanara | Abdomen and open throat |
| U (उ) | Ukara | Svapna — dream, Taijasa | Chest, rolling forward |
| M (म्) | Makara | Sushupti — deep sleep, Prajna | Closed lips, resonance in the head |
| Ardhamatra | Silence | Turiya — the fourth | The pause that follows |
The Ardhamatra, the "half-measure" of silence after the sound, is the part candidates omit and examiners listen for. Om is not finished when the humming stops.
Recitation standards
- Seated in a meditative posture, spine erect, eyes closed.
- One full breath per Om: inhale fully, then let the sound run smoothly A → U → M with the M occupying roughly half the exhalation.
- Do not force volume. The sound should be steady, even and unforced from beginning to end.
- Three or more repetitions, with the silence between them respected rather than filled.
- Group leading: set the pitch first, begin clearly, and hold the pace — a leader who chants faster than the group is the commonest fault in a practical.
Hymns, prayers and invocations
The opening invocation to Patanjali
Yogena chittasya padena vacham, malam sharirasya cha vaidyakena | Yopakarottam pravaram muninam, patanjalim pranjalir anato'smi ||
"To him who removed the impurities of the mind through Yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine — to that foremost of sages, Patanjali, I bow with folded hands." The verse credits Patanjali with the Yoga Sutra, the Mahabhashya on grammar and a work on medicine — a traditional attribution, and one worth being able to explain rather than merely recite.
Universal prayers commonly used
| Prayer | Opening words | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| Yoga class opening | Om Sahana Vavatu, Sahanau Bhunaktu, Saha Viryam Karavavahai | "May we be protected together, nourished together, may we work together with vigour" (Taittiriya / Katha Shanti Mantra) |
| Universal well-being | Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah | "May all be happy, may all be free from disease, may all see auspiciousness, may none suffer" |
| Peace invocation | Om Sarveshaam Svastir Bhavatu | "May there be well-being, peace, fullness and auspiciousness for all" |
| Vedic unity hymn | Sangachchhadhvam samvadadhvam (Rigveda 10.191) | "Move together, speak together, let your minds be of one accord" |
| Guru vandana | Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu | The teacher as the threefold divine principle |
| Closing | Om Shantih Shantih Shantih | Peace invoked three times — for Adhidaivika, Adhibhautika and Adhyatmika disturbances |
That last point is a genuine exam item: Shanti is chanted three times because there are three classes of affliction to be pacified — divine or cosmic, elemental or external, and personal or internal. These are the Tapatraya of Section 10.4, so the closing chant and the pathology unit connect directly.
Nishpatti Bhava
Nishpatti means accomplishment, consummation, completion; Bhava means attitude or feeling. In the Hatha texts Nishpatti Avastha is the fourth and final stage of Nadanusandhana (Section 7.2), the stage of perfection.
As a practical instruction under item 5.1, Nishpatti Bhava is the attitude of practising from completeness rather than from deficiency. The student who arrives at the mat to fix something is in one relationship with the practice; the student who arrives already whole and practises as an expression of that is in another. The prayer at the beginning and the invocation at the end are the devices the tradition uses to install the second attitude.
Concretely, in the practical, it shows as:
- Closing the session in stillness rather than in announcement.
- A settled, unhurried voice in the final chant.
- No apology, no commentary on what went wrong, no rush to pack up.
- Allowing a genuine silence after the last Shantih before speaking.
Examiners cannot mark a bhava directly, but they mark its symptoms — and a candidate who ends a good session by immediately saying "sorry, we ran a bit over" has demonstrated its absence.
How prayer is actually scored
Within Demonstration Skills and Teaching Skills, an examiner is watching for:
| Criterion | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | Correct words, correct sandhi, no truncation of the verse |
| Pronunciation | Long and short vowels distinguished; retroflex and dental consonants distinguished; anusvara and visarga sounded |
| Pitch and pace | Steady, group-appropriate, neither rushed nor dirge-like |
| Posture | Erect spine, hands in Namaskara or on the knees, eyes closed |
| Comprehension | Able to state the meaning if asked — examiners do ask |
| Framing | Opens the session before any movement; closes it after Shavasana, not before |
| Inclusivity | Explains that the invocation is a universal well-wishing, so that participants of any background can join or sit quietly |
That last row matters professionally as well as in the exam. A yoga teacher working in schools, government offices or international settings needs to be able to open a session with dignity and without imposing sectarian content — and the prayers listed above are chosen precisely because they invoke welfare for all beings rather than allegiance to anything.
Summary of Exam-Key Points
- PYS 1.27: Tasya vachakah pranavah; PYS 1.28: Taj-japas tad-artha-bhavanam — japa and contemplation of meaning.
- Om has three matras plus the Ardhamatra of silence: A/Jagrat, U/Svapna, M/Sushupti, silence/Turiya.
- Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sahana Vavatu, Sangachchhadhvam (Rigveda 10.191), Sarveshaam Svastir Bhavatu.
- Shantih is chanted three times for the three Tapatraya: Adhidaivika, Adhibhautika, Adhyatmika.
- Nishpatti Bhava = the attitude of consummation; practising from completeness, not from lack.
According to Patanjali, what two things together constitute the practice of Pranava?
Which component of Om corresponds to Turiya, the fourth state of consciousness in the Mandukya Upanishad?
Why is the Shanti Mantra chanted with 'Shantih' repeated three times?
What does Nishpatti Bhava mean as a practical instruction in the YCB syllabus?
Which invocation opens 'Yogena chittasya padena vacham, malam sharirasya cha vaidyakena'?