Karacharana Kritam

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Karacharana Kritam: Lyrics and Meaning

करचरणकृतं

Traditionally attributed to Adi Shankaracharya

Karacharana kritam is a one-verse Sanskrit prayer to Shiva that asks forgiveness for every kind of fault: what was done with the hands and feet, by speech or the body, by action, through the ears and eyes, or in the mind. It closes by hailing Shiva as Mahadeva, "the great god", and Shambhu, and as an ocean of compassion. Pujadeep places it among the bedtime prayers, as a way to ask forgiveness for the day's faults.

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Verse

करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वाश्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वाऽपराधम् ।विहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्वजय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शंभो ॥

Karacharanakritam vakkayajam karmajam vaShravananayanajam va manasam vaparadhamVihitamavihitam va sarvametatkshamasvaJaya jaya karunabdhe shrimahadeva shambho

IAST

karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vākkāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vāśravaṇanayanajaṃ vā mānasaṃ vā’parādham |vihitamavihitaṃ vā sarvametatkṣamasvajaya jaya karuṇābdhe śrīmahādeva śaṃbho ||

How to read these English letters (IAST)

Our explanation Word by word: kara-caraṇa-kṛtam, "done by the hands or the feet"; vāk-kāya-jam, "born of speech or of the body"; karma-jam, "born of action"; vā, "or"; śravaṇa-nayana-jam, "born of the ears or the eyes"; mānasam, "of the mind"; aparādham, "fault, offence"; vihitam avihitam vā, "prescribed or not prescribed"; sarvam etat, "all this"; kṣamasva, "forgive"; jaya jaya, "victory, victory", a cry of praise; karuṇā-abdhe, "O ocean of compassion"; śrī-mahādeva, "O revered great god"; śambho, "O Shambhu", a name of Shiva meaning "source of good". Together: the verse asks Shiva to forgive every fault, whatever its source, and then praises him. "Prescribed or not prescribed" can be understood in two ways: faults in duties that were prescribed (left undone or done badly) and in acts that were not prescribed (done though not allowed); or, more simply, faults of every kind. The 1895 printing has viditam aviditam, "known or unknown": faults done knowingly or without knowing.

हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: करचरणकृतं — हाथ या पैर से किया गया; वाक्कायजं — वाणी या शरीर से उत्पन्न; कर्मजं — कर्म से उत्पन्न; वा — या; श्रवणनयनजं — कान या आँख से उत्पन्न; मानसं — मन का; अपराधम् — अपराध, भूल; विहितमविहितं वा — विहित (शास्त्र में बताया गया) या अविहित (न बताया गया); सर्वमेतत् — यह सब; क्षमस्व — क्षमा करो; जय जय — जय हो, जय हो; करुणाब्धे — हे करुणा के सागर; श्रीमहादेव — हे महादेव; शंभो — हे शंभु (शिव का नाम, जिसका अर्थ है कल्याण का स्रोत)। भावार्थ: यह श्लोक शिव से प्रार्थना करता है कि वे हर अपराध को क्षमा करें, वह जहाँ से भी हुआ हो, और फिर उनकी जय बोलता है। "विहितमविहितं" के दो अर्थ हो सकते हैं: जो कर्तव्य बताए गए थे उनमें हुई भूल (न किए या ठीक से न किए), और जो कर्म बताए नहीं गए थे वे कर लेने की भूल; या, सीधे, हर तरह की भूल। 1895 की छपाई में "विदितमविदितं" है, यानी जाने हुए या अनजाने: जानते हुए की गई भूल या अनजाने में हुई भूल।

Word by word

Every word, with its dictionary page

Word by word

  1. करचरणकृतम् karacaraṇakṛtam · done by the hands or the feet (compound, accusative singular) Dictionary: 1. kara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 253, col. 1 “‘the doer,’ the hand”; caraṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 389, col. 2 “a foot”; 1. kṛta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 301, col. 3 “done, made, accomplished, performed”
  2. वाक्कायजम् vākkāyajam · born of speech or of the body (compound, accusative singular) Dictionary: vāc, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 936, col. 1 “speech, voice, talk, language”; 2. kāya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 274, col. 1 “the body”; 2. ja, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 407, col. 3 “ifc. born or descended from, produced or caused by”
  3. कर्मजम् karmajam · born of action (compound, accusative singular) Dictionary: karma-ja, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 258, col. 3 “resulting or produced from any act (good or bad)”
  4. वा vā · or (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. vā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 934, col. 2 “or”
  5. श्रवणनयनजम् śravaṇanayanajam · born of the ears or the eyes (compound, accusative singular) Dictionary: 1. śravaṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1096, col. 3 “m. (rarely n.) the ear”; nayana, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 528, col. 3 “‘the leading organ,’ the eye”; 2. ja, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 407, col. 3 “ifc. born or descended from, produced or caused by”
  6. वा vā · or (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. vā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 934, col. 2 “or”
  7. मानसम् mānasam · of the mind (adjective, accusative singular) Dictionary: mānasa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 810, col. 1 “belonging to the mind or spirit, mental, spiritual”
  8. वा vā · or (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. vā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 934, col. 2 “or”
  9. अपराधम् aparādham · fault, offence (noun (masculine), accusative singular) Dictionary: apa-rādha, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 51, col. 1 “offence, transgression, fault”
  10. विहितम् vihitam · prescribed (by scripture) (past participle, accusative singular) Dictionary: 2. vi-hita, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1003, col. 2 “prescribed, decreed, enjoined”
  11. अविहितम् avihitam · not prescribed (past participle, accusative singular) Dictionary: a-vihita, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 110, col. 3 “unprescribed, forbidden”
  12. वा vā · or (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. vā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 934, col. 2 “or”
  13. सर्वम् sarvam · all (pronominal adjective, accusative singular) Dictionary: sarva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1184, col. 3 “whole, entire, all, every”
  14. एतत् etat · this (pronoun, accusative singular) Dictionary: etad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 231, col. 2 “this, this here, here”
  15. क्षमस्व kṣamasva · forgive (imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. kṣam, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 326, col. 2 “pardon, forgive anything”
  16. जय jaya · be victorious! glory (to you) (imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. ji, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 420, col. 2 “to be victorious, gain the upper hand”; jaya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 412, col. 3 “conquest, victory, triumph, winning, being victorious”
  17. जय jaya · be victorious! glory (to you) (imperative, 2nd person singular) Dictionary: 1. ji, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 420, col. 2 “to be victorious, gain the upper hand”
  18. करुणाब्धे karuṇābdhe · O ocean of compassion (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: karuṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 255, col. 3 “pity, compassion”; ab-dhi, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 60, col. 2 “the ocean”
  19. श्रीमहादेव śrīmahādeva · O revered great god (Shiva) (compound, vocative singular) Dictionary: 3. śrī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1098, col. 3 “an honorific prefix (= ‘sacred,’ ‘holy’) to the names of deities”; mahā-deva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 796, col. 2 “‘the gr° deity,’ N. of Rudra or Śiva”
  20. शंभो śaṃbho · O Shambhu (Shiva) (noun (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: śambhu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1055, col. 1 “granting or causing happiness, beneficent, benevolent, helpful, kind”
7 printings differ

Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.

  • The printed edition reads: करचरणकृतं वाक्कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसं वाऽपराधम्। विहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शंभो ॥ १४ ॥ The verse is set as the four lines of the mālinī metre; the edition runs it on across four printed lines, breaking at line ends without hyphens. A space is put before the danda after वाऽपराधम्; the edition prints none. The verse number (॥ १४ ॥) is left out; the double danda is kept.
  • Word The 1895 Varanasi printing reads: विदितमविदितं वा 'Known or unknown' for 'prescribed or not prescribed' (p. 240, leaf n242). Both readings are explained in the meaning.
  • Spelling The 1895 Varanasi printing reads: वाकायजं One क for the conjunct क्क (p. 239, leaf n241); same word.
  • Spelling The 1895 Varanasi printing reads: वापराधम् No avagraha (p. 240, leaf n242); same words, vā + aparādham.
  • Numbering The 1895 Varanasi printing reads: ॥ १६ ॥ Verse 16 of 17 of the 'अपराधभंजनस्तोत्र'; the 1904 printing numbers it 14, the last verse of the 'शिवापराधक्षमापनस्तोत्र'.
  • Word Today's text from sanskritdocuments.org reads: … विहितमविहितं वा सर्वमेतत्क्षमस्व शिव शिव करुणाब्धे श्रीमहादेव शम्भो ॥ 'शिव शिव' for 'जय जय' in the closing line. Today's Gita Press book of daily rites (p. 315, leaf n324, closing the Shiva Manasa Puja) and sanskritdocuments.org's own Shiva Manasa Puja print 'जय जय', as the 1904 printing does, so it stays.
  • Spelling Today's text from GRETIL, Göttingen reads: karacaraṇakṛtaṃ vā kāyajaṃ karmajaṃ vā Sternbach's anthology as keyed on GRETIL (no. 8700, in Roman letters) has 'vā kāyajaṃ' with one k, as the 1895 printing has; the other texts have 'वाक्कायजं'.

Sanskrit text: Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (बृहत्स्तोत्ररत्नाकरः), illustrated (सचित्रः), an anthology of 180 Sanskrit hymns; fifth edition, 1904. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes

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How to read these English letters (IAST)

About the Karacharana Kritam

The verse is the last verse of the Shivaparadha Kshamapana Stotra, "the hymn asking Shiva to forgive faults". That hymn walks through a whole life, from the womb to old age, and asks forgiveness at each stage; this verse gathers every fault into one request. The same verse also closes the Shiva Manasa Puja, "worship of Shiva in the mind", in the 1904 printing used here.

Tradition credits the hymn to Adi Shankaracharya, and both old printings found name him. No earlier evidence was found, so the page says "traditionally attributed". The Sanskrit is read from a Bombay collection of stotras printed in 1904. A Varanasi collection printed in 1895 has the same verse, with one different word: viditam aviditam, "known or unknown", where the 1904 printing has vihitam avihitam, "prescribed or not prescribed". Both readings are explained under the verse.

How to say it

The verse is in the mālinī metre: four lines of fifteen syllables, each with a pause after the eighth. The lines are shown at those breaks. In vā'parādham the sign ऽ (avagraha) marks a lost short a: vā + aparādham is said vāparādham. Sarvametat kṣamasva is said as one phrase. The IAST line writes every sound as spelled, and the final ṃ of a word is said as m before a vowel or a pause.

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Who wrote the Karacharana Kritam?

Traditionally attributed to Adi Shankaracharya.

Which text does this page follow?

Sanskrit text: Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (बृहत्स्तोत्ररत्नाकरः), illustrated (सचित्रः), an anthology of 180 Sanskrit hymns; fifth edition, 1904. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source

Source and licence

Text
Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (बृहत्स्तोत्ररत्नाकरः), illustrated (सचित्रः), an anthology of 180 Sanskrit hymns; fifth edition (Nirnaya Sagar Press (Tukaram Javaji), Bombay, 1904). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
Our explanation
Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
Checked
Checked against the cited edition, October 15, 2026.
Updated
October 27, 2026

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