Complete · Short chant · ~3 min · ~3 min chant
Shatpadi Stotram
विष्णु षट्पदी
Viṣṇu Ṣaṭpadī
Six verses of humble surrender to Vishnu, with the celebrated image of the wave and the ocean.
6 verses · About 3 min · Shri Vishnu
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Viṣṇu Ṣaṭpadī is among the most beloved short hymns attributed to Sri Adi Shankaracharya. In six verses the devotee asks the Lord to remove pride, steady the mind, and grant compassion, then offers the famous teaching: the wave belongs to the ocean, but the ocean never to the wave.
More about this stotra
The hymn closes with refuge at Narayana's feet and the wish that these six verses may dwell forever in the devotee's mouth. It is ideal for morning recitation and for seekers who want devotion and Vedantic insight in a single, memorable form.
At a glance
- Deity
- Shri Vishnu
- Verses
- 6 verses
- Chant time
- About 3 minutes (Short chant · ~3 min)
- Attribution
- Traditionally attributed to Adi Shankaracharya
- Sanskrit source
- sanskritdocuments.org · All sources
Verse overview
- 1
The prayer asks Vishnu to tame the mind and dry up the mirage of worldly objects. Compassion for all beings and crossing samsara arise when arrogance yields to…
- 2
The Lord's feet are tasted as nectar and as the bliss that is one's own nature. Devotion to those feet dissolves the fear born of identifying with the…
- 3
The devotee affirms that even in non-dual vision the relation is not reversed: the individual belongs to the Lord, not the Lord to the individual. The wave…
- 4
Vision of the Lord who sustains the cosmos leaves no room for the ego's pride. When the supreme is known, the fiction of a separate becoming self loses its…
- 5
The Lord's repeated descents image the ever-present grace that upholds the world. The devotee's fear of samsara is answered by taking shelter in Parameshvara,…
- 6
Govinda is the churning mountain that brings forth the nectar hidden in the ocean of life. The hymn closes by asking removal of the last fear, which is the…
All verses
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Common questions
- When do people recite Shatpadi Stotram?
- Many households recite Vishnu stotras in the morning or on ekadashi and other Vaishnava observances. This edition is labeled for practice as "Short chant · ~3 min" and takes about 3 minutes to chant.
- What is the opening focus of Shatpadi Stotram?
- The prayer asks Vishnu to tame the mind and dry up the mirage of worldly objects. Compassion for all beings and crossing samsara arise when arrogance yields to the Lord who is the Self. Read verse 1 in Study mode for the full editorial note beside the Sanskrit.
- Which hymns pair well with Shatpadi Stotram?
- On this site, related reading includes Bhaja Govindam, and Achyutashtakam. Open those hubs for their own Sanskrit, English meaning, and study notes.