Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
If you’ve come to a Baja Malas’ mala making workshop, chances are you received a little prayer card with these words written on it, asking for peace and contentment for all living things.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
(lo-kah sah-mah-stah sue-kee-no bah-van-to)
May all beings everywhere be happy and
free & may the thoughts, words, & actions
of my own life contribute in some way to
that happiness & freedom for all.
I first heard this Sanksrit mantra during a yoga class led by my dear teacher, Erika Faith, about 9 or 10 years ago. Erika would often end one of her classes, typically one of the yin/restorative classes with a short meditation using this mantra as our guide to practice the Buddhist Metta Prayer, also known as the Prayer of Loving-Kindness. The way she weaved together this mantra and prayer has always stayed with me and serves as a meditation I practice on my own and love to share with others. What I’m sharing with you is based on what I remember from Erika’s teachings weaved in with additional learning I’ve studied over the years.
Lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu is a mantra, or really a Sanksrit prayer that loosely translates to what I wrote above and serves to guide us to be more thoughtful about our words and actions, and to radiate love to the world around us. It is also considered a metta prayer as metta is a Buddhist term meaning loving kindness; the metta prayer is a prayer of loving-kindness.
This metta prayer I’ve also learned from Sharon Salzberg is:
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
But in order to genuinely expand this conscious love to others, we first must practice it towards ourselves. And so for me, when practicing a metta meditation, it is natural to think of this mantra Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu as its foundation, launching me into a sweet and centered state of mind. I consider and refer to Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu as the Prayer of Loving kindness.
Another reason why this prayer of loving-kindness resonates so deeply with me is because of what I learned studying Judaism from a Chasidic Rabbi and reading God is a Verb by Rabbi Cooper. While studying Kabbalah, I learned that, according to Judaism, the purpose of mankind is to make a dwelling place for G-d on this earth. How do we do that? For Jewish people, it is through observing the commandments but also by creating holy sparks. And how do we create holy sparks? Through acts of loving-kindness.
I hope that the meditation I offer below can guide you towards embracing more love to yourself, to those closest to you, and beyond.
Please find yourself in a comfortable seated position, close your eyes and take a few deep, long breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, letting all the tension and stress fall away. Gently lay your left hand on your heart and then your right softly over your left and notice how your breath allows your belly to expand and your chest to rise and fall.
Silently, quietly or out loud, say Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu as you offer this prayer to yourself:May I safe.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
May I always know the light of my true nature.
Now imagine someone very close to you who perhaps needs a little extra love and prayer today and imagine them sitting in front of you while you are softly holding their face in your hands. Speak softly, quietly or out loud: lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu and offer this prayer to them:
May YOU be safe
May YOU be happy
May YOU be free from suffering
May YOU always know the light of YOUR true nature.
Next, think of your family and closest friends, everyone you love and hold dear to your heart and imagine them in the room with you. Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu speaking to them:
May YOU ALL be safe
May YOU ALL be happy
May YOU ALL be free from suffering
May YOU ALL always know the light of YOUR true nature.
Then, and this is a bit more difficult, think of someone you are struggling with. Someone who has hurt you or angered you, and imagine them sitting in front of you and offer them this same prayer: Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu
May YOU be safe
May YOU be happy
May YOU be free from suffering
May YOU always know the light of YOUR true nature.
Allow your consciousness to expand to everyone in your town, your community, your country, offering the same prayer and love. And then to everyone, and if you wish, all beings in this world:
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu
May ALL BEINGS be safe
May ALL BEINGSbe happy
May ALL BEINGS be free from suffering
May ALL BEINGS always know the light of THEIR true nature.
When practicing japa meditation, I sometimes use this mantra repeating lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu with each bead I pass through my fingers.