Kayena Vacha, the Shloka of Offering the Whole Day
कायेन वाचा मनसेन्द्रियैर्वा बुद्ध्यात्मना वा प्रकृतेः स्वभावात् ।
करोमि यद्यत्सकलं परस्मै नारायणायेति समर्पयामि ॥
Kāyena vācā manasendriyair vā buddhyātmanā vā prakṛteḥ svabhāvāt
Karomi yad yat sakalaṃ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayāmi
“Whatever I do with body, speech, mind or senses, with intellect or self, or simply by the force of my own nature, all of it I offer to the supreme Narayana.”
Traditional, from the Nārāyaṇa-samarpaṇa verses
Word by word
A shloka a child understands is a shloka they keep. Here is what each word is actually doing.
At the close of a prayer, a puja or the day. Many families chant it as the last verse before sleep.
- A dignified way to end the day’s practice
- Teaches the idea of offering effort rather than clinging to it
- Pairs naturally with the Gita’s teaching on karma
- Excellent training in long, flowing metre
This is the everyday, portable version of the Gita’s teaching about effort and outcome. Whatever I did today, well or badly, on purpose or just because that is how I am, I hand it over. Children of ten and above find that genuinely relieving once it is explained in those words.
Bhagavad Gita for Kids
Reading a shloka and chanting it correctly are different things. In our live online classes a mentor corrects your child’s pronunciation in the moment, teaches the meaning alongside the sound, and builds a repertoire verse by verse. Ages 7-15 · 45 min · Weekly.
Questions parents ask
It offers everything one does, by body, speech, mind, senses, intellect, or simply out of one’s own nature, to the supreme Narayana. It is a verse of complete surrender of one’s actions.
Learn these next
All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Kayena Vacha, properly
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