Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, the Universal Peace Prayer
ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Oṃ sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ sarve santu nirāmayāḥ
Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścid duḥkha-bhāg bhavet
Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
“May all be happy. May all be free from illness. May all see what is good. May no one suffer. Om, peace, peace, peace.”
Traditional śānti mantra
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 class, a prayer or a gathering. Also whenever a child is worried about someone.
- Asks for nothing personal, the whole verse is for others
- Simple, repetitive structure, easy to memorise
- The natural closing chant for any group
- Introduces the idea of universal goodwill early
Ask a child to notice something after they have learned it: there is no “me” anywhere in this prayer. Not one word of it asks for anything for the person chanting. Children find this genuinely striking, and it reframes what they think prayer is for.
Shloka Classes
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 4-14 · 45 min · Weekly.
Questions parents ask
May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all see what is good, and may no one suffer. It closes with the threefold invocation of peace.
Learn these next
All 28 shlokas
Teach your child Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, properly
A free, no-obligation trial class with a real mentor. Correct pronunciation, the meaning behind every word, and a practice that lasts.