Nitya Karma – Karadarshanam

Part of my journey has led me to performing certain prayers every day. I’m actually very surprised by how relevant and practical they are for living today.

First up – Viewing the Hands.

karadarshanam

Kara Darshana – viewing or seeing hands – is the first prayer of the day. Waking up, you immediately look at your hands, palms up, facing you. Some say to look at just the right hand. The associated mantra is:

कराग्रे वसति लक्ष्मी करमध्ये सरस्वती ।
करमूले स्थितो ब्रह्मा प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥

karaagre vasati lakSmii, karamadhye sarasvatii |
karamuule sthito brahmaa, prabhaate karadarshanam ||

At the fore/front of the hand/palm lives Lakshmii,
At the midsection is Sarasvatii,
At the root/base of the hand/palm is situated Brahmaa,
Thus is the viewing of hands in the morning.

This is the version that is present in the viSNu puraaNa, though I’ve seen the following as alternate second lines:

karamuule tu govindaH prabhaate karadarshanam ||

But/And at the root/base of the hands is Govinda…

I’m guessing that vaiSNavas or those who are initiated and favor viSNu use this form. The ‘tu’ particle can mean “but” or “and,” but is also sometimes used for emphasis.

karamuule sthitaa gaurii mangalaM karadarshanam ||

At the root/base of the hands is situated Gaurii,
Thus is the auspicious viewing of hands.

This alternative is probably used by shaaktas and those who worship different forms of the Goddess as supreme. It has a nice balance – Lakshmii being the consort of viSNu and representing fortune, Sarasvatii being Brahmaa’s consort and representing knowledge, and Gaurii (Paarvatii) being Shiva’s consort and representing the ultimate power of creation.

Actually, in the shaakta view, it’s probably more correct to think of the tridevii (triple Goddess/es) as functioning as Preserver (lakSmii), Creator (sarasvatii), and Destroyer (paarvatii), as the feminine Divine is worshipped and emphasized as Supreme, and their male consorts as auxiliary figures.

This form actually mirrors what I’ll call the VP version – the first I gave above – as the root of the palm channels that same symbol of Brahmaa as a source of creation.

So, why is this important or relevant? Let me counter that with another question: Did you know that many Indo-European languages, the verb for “to do” is the same as “to make?”

Latin has , French has , Spanish has , Ancient Greek had and Modern Greek has . Sanskrit has . Karma can be glossed both as “action” as well as “that which was done/made.” The word for hand in the mantra is “kara” and can be glossed as both “doer” and “maker” – and in this case, “hand!” After all, what are hands if not doers? One can argue that it’s the primary way we take actions in the world, and even our fine motor control and saddle joint on our thumbs are things that distinguish us in the animal kingdom. Sometimes, you’ll see the mantra translating kara as “palm of the hand”, but karaagra usually means fingertips, so I think looking at the hand as a whole makes sense here.

Regardless, the forefront of our hands are the embodiment of lakSmii, as by their use we take actions that provide us a means – means to accomplish a goal, complete an action, make money. The midsection of our hands are the embodiment of sarasvatii, as by holding things, by carrying things, we acquire knowledge. You can think of it as “we carry our wisdom.” Finally, the root of the hands embody the agent of creation – symbolically our presiding deity in the mantra we use. In a literal sense, it’s the rest of our body. We ourselves are the creative force, impacting the world around us.

All this to say:

1. Our actions come from us.
2. Our actions have consequences.
3. We should be mindful of what we do and make, and how we interact with the world.
4. We should be mindful of what we touch.
5. How we plan to act directly corresponds to what knowledge we gain and what results we obtain.

These sentiments are timeless, especially today. Many of us have felt that they are not impacting anything or being helpful or useful or making any difference. We often are disconnected from the reality of our actions – often words on a screen that may or may not be presented to a nameless faceless stranger somewhere remote in the world. Technology is a wonderful and transformative thing that can be leveraged for good, but we have grown disconnected from many of the realities of life. Gen Zers have a counter to this in their lexicon: “tough grass.” ^T

These sentiments are critical in today’s landscape. They remind us that we cannot go through life merely reacting to what’s around us and what happens to us. We must be an active agent in our lives. We must decide what we are to do before we do it. We must learn from what we do so that we can better ourselves. We must accept the consequences of our actions because we are manipulating the world and are part of a vast system beyond comprehension. We must cherish, embrace, and respect life, and go touch grass once in a while.

T: An aside: I personally find “touch grass” funny for another reason. Texts and tradition tell us that we shouldn’t pray unless we are seated on an asana of some kind, and darbha grass is commonly used to make mats for this purpose. Definitely a double meaning that’s specific to the topic of prayer!