Bharathiya Nau Sena

Do you know the Motto of Indian Navy ?
It is the Sanskrit word 'Sham Varuna'.
"Sham Varuna ("May the Lord of the Oceans be auspicious unto us")




Of the five elements - Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Ether the element Water has Varuna as its presiding diety.
By saying Sham Varuna - we pray that The presiding diety of water, Varuna, be calm and satisfied.

The prayer is taken from 'Taitreya Upanishad' in which each chapter commences with a invocation of all the five elements and praying them to be calm and peaceful so that the humans could go about their work without any inhibition or hindrance.

 

OM SHANNO MITRA SHAM VARUNA SHANNO BHADATWARYAMA SHANNA INDRA BRIHASPATIH SHANNO VISHNU RURUKRAMAH NAMO BRAHMANE NAMASTE VAYO TWOMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAHMASI TWAMEVA PRATYAKSHAM BRAHMA VADISHYAMI RITAM VADISHYAMI SATYAM VADISHAMI TANMAMAVATU TAD VAKTARAMAVATU AVATUMAM AVATU BAKTARAM OM SANTIH! SANTIH! SANTIH! (Taittiriya Upanishad)

May the Sun God (Mitra), the God of the ocean (Varuna) and the God of the manes (Aryama) be auspicious to us.
May Indra (King of the Deities) and Brihaspati (Preceptor of the Deities) be auspicious to us.
May Vishnu (Preserver of the Universe) be auspicious to us.
Salutations to Brahman, salutation to Vayu (the God of wind).

 

Trivia

The Motto of Indian Air Force has been taken from eleventh chapter of the Gita, where Lord Krishna shows his supreme Divine form reaching the sky with glory, evoking fear and loss of self-control in the mind of Arjuna.

The Indian Air Force, similarly, aims to overwhelm the adversaries with application of aerospace power in defence of the nation. " Lord, seeing your form “Touching the Sky With Glory”, effulgent, multi-coloured, having its mouth wide open and possessing large flaming eyes, I, with my innermost self frightened, have lost self-control and find no peace"