आरात्रिकम्🔗

Offer ārati (lit camphor) to the Master while chanting the following mantra. Ring the bell with the left hand while moving the lit camphor in a circle with right hand. (Camphor burns itself out completely without leaving a trace. It represents our un-manifested desires. So also if we were to take refuge in the Master's feet to obtain knowledge, these desires will get burnt out. As the camphor burns itself out, it emits a nice perfume. On a human plane it means that we should sacrifice ourselves to serve society, and in the process, spread the perfume of love and happiness to all.

Salutations to that inner guru the pure consciousness, the form of supreme compassion, the essence of existence, adorned by the coiled serpentine divine (kundalini) energy,ever established in the inner space represented as the union of the male and female aspects.

आरात्रिकं समर्पयामि सद्गुरुचरणकमलेभ्यो नमः ।

ārātrikaṁ samarpayāmi sadguru-caraṇakamalebhyo namaḥ

We offer our ārati at the feet of our Master. Take a flower in your hands, make three circles around the lit camphor with it and offer it at the feet of the Master, while chanting this line below.

Explanation:

karpūragauraṁ : Whitish like camphor karuṇāvatāraṁ : The avatār (incarnation) who is the embodiment of compassion saṁsārasāraṁ : Helping to cross the ocean of saṁsāra or endless cycle of life bhujagendrahāraṁ : With a snake as an ornament sadāvasantaṁ : Forever and permanently blissful hṛdayāravinde : Who resides in my very soul, the center of my being bhavaṁbhavānīsahitaṁ namāmi : I bow down to Śiva and Devi and offer myself at their feet, three times

To the Lord of whitish glow like the camphor, the avatar who is the very embodiment of compassion, the one who alone helps in crossing the ocean of saṁsāra, to the Lord who wears the snake as a garland, who is forever and permanently blissful, who resides in my heart-lotus, I bow down in surrender to the Lord, who forever is in the company of Bhavānī.