Jai Guru Dev Om
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Jai Guru Dev Om is a short phrase in Sanskrit/Hindi, recited in the song "Across the Universe" by The Beatles, recorded early 1968 just before The Beatles flew to India to attend a residence course where they studied philosophy and Transcendental Meditation (TM) with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi bio. .
A rough translation of the phrase "Jai Guru Dev" is "thank you Guru Dev"; the "Guru Dev" being Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (the guru of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). See 'The Teachings of Guru Dev - The Roots of TM'
A breakdown of the etymology of 'Jai Guru Deva' is as follows:
- Jai or Jaya means "victory", or "success" and can also mean "glory", "salutations", or "thank you".
- a guru is a "teacher"
- a deva is a "god" or "heavenly one". Pronunciation of the "a" on the end of the word "Dev" is optional, and in the song John Lennon appears to have used the longer form for the sake of rhythm and other poetic considerations, which is normal practice for the pronunciation of such words, due to the unique qualities of Sanskrit consonants (see the article on the Sanskrit alphabet).
- Om or Ohm is the sound of the balance of the universe, frequently invoked in meditations of the Indic religions. Its purpose (both in the song and in meditations) is to establish contact with the universe.