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Home › Mantras › Shirdi Sai Baba Aarti
Universal Shirdi Sai Baba Aarti: Shirdi Sai Baba at the Dwarkamai by his sacred fire as devotees wave the aarti lamp
The aarti lamp waved before Sai Baba at the Dwarkamai, his sacred fire beside him
Mantra · Adkar's Marathi refrain and 7 stanzas, sung at Shirdi since c. 1904

Shirdi Sai Baba Aarti

आरती साईबाबा । सौख्यदातार जीवा । चरणरजातलीं । द्यावा दासां विसांवा भक्तां विसांवा ॥

Also known as Aarti Saibaba

In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.

What the Shirdi Sai Baba Aarti is

This is the Sai Baba aarti that opens with the words aarti Saibaba, saukhyadatara jiva, 'aarti to Sai Baba, giver of happiness to every living being'. It is in Marathi, not Hindi, and was written by Madhavrao Vamanrao Adkar, a devotee who lived at Shirdi in Sai Baba's lifetime; he signs it in the last stanza with his own name, Madhava. The form is a refrain and seven short stanzas. The refrain asks for rest in the dust beneath the saint's feet. Stanza 1 describes him as one who has burnt away Ananga, the bodiless god of desire, and rests in the Self. Stanza 2 states that each devotee meets him according to their own inner feeling. Stanza 4 names him Datta Digambara, an incarnation of Dattatreya in the Kali age, and stanza 5 records the Thursday pilgrimage to Shirdi. Stanzas 6 and 7 turn to the poet's own petition.

A wandering singer settles at Shirdi

Madhavrao Adkar was born on 5 September 1877 at Ahmednagar, the son of Vaman Rao and Godavari, and was trained early in singing and classical music. According to his family's account, his grandfather heard a voice in a temple announcing the birth, and the child was named after Madhava. In 1899, soon after his marriage to Gangubai, he left home without a word on pilgrimage. The family traced him to Kashi, then to Shegaon, and finally to Shirdi, where he had settled near Das Ganu Maharaj, teaching ten or twelve pupils and attending Sai Baba's darshan. Devotee histories say he wrote this aarti around 1903 or 1904, and that Das Ganu, hearing it, declared it would be sung every day at Shirdi. When relatives came to take him home, Baba is said to have sent him back with them and foretold the birth of a son to be named Ram; a son, Ramachandra, was born and later sat on Baba's lap. Adkar died at Loni on 18 November 1955. According to his family, he asked his son to sing Baba's aarti at his bedside and passed away while it was being sung. The text is kept today in the temple's own aarti book, Shri Sainath Sagunopasana.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiआरती साईबाबा । सौख्यदातार जीवा । चरणरजातलीं । द्यावा दासां विसांवा भक्तां विसांवा ॥
Tamilஆரதீ ஸாஈபாபா । ஸௌக்யதாதார ஜீவா । சரணரஜாதலீம் । த்யாவா தாஸாம் விஸாம்வா பக்தாம் விஸாம்வா ॥
Teluguఆరతీ సాఈబాబా । సౌఖ్యదాతార జీవా । చరణరజాతలీం । ద్యావా దాసాం విసాంవా భక్తాం విసాంవా ॥
Kannadaಆರತೀ ಸಾಈಬಾಬಾ । ಸೌಖ್ಯದಾತಾರ ಜೀವಾ । ಚರಣರಜಾತಲೀಂ । ದ್ಯಾವಾ ದಾಸಾಂ ವಿಸಾಂವಾ ಭಕ್ತಾಂ ವಿಸಾಂವಾ ॥
Malayalamആരതീ സാഈബാബാ । സൌഖ്യദാതാര ജീവാ । ചരണരജാതലീം । ദ്യാവാ ദാസാം വിസാംവാ ഭക്താം വിസാംവാ ॥
EnglishRoman transliterationāratī sāībābā | saukhyadātāra jīvā | caraṇarajātalīṃ | dyāvā dāsāṃ visāṃvā bhaktāṃ visāṃvā ||
“Aarti to Sai Baba, giver of happiness to every living being. Beneath the dust of your feet, give rest to your servants; give rest to your devotees.”
आरती
āratī — aarti, lamp-worship
साईबाबा
sāībābā — to Sai Baba
सौख्यदातार
saukhyadātāra — giver of happiness
जीवा
jīvā — to living beings
चरणरजातलीं
caraṇarajātalīṃ — beneath the dust of your feet
द्यावा
dyāvā — please give
दासां
dāsāṃ — to your servants
विसांवा
visāṃvā — rest
भक्तां
bhaktāṃ — to your devotees
विसांवा
visāṃvā — rest

Sai Baba Aarti lyrics in full

A refrain and seven stanzas in Marathi, as printed in the Shirdi temple's aarti book. When sung, the refrain returns after every stanza.

All 8 verses, in Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Sai Baba Aarti PDFAll 8 verses with their meanings, in Marathi. Free to print and keep.

Refrain

आरती साईबाबा । सौख्यदातार जीवा ।
चरणरजातलीं । द्यावा दासां विसांवा भक्तां विसांवा ॥

Aarti to Sai Baba, giver of happiness to every living being. Beneath the dust of your feet, give rest to your servants; give rest to your devotees.

Stanza 1

जाळुनियां अनंग । स्वस्वरूपीं राहे दंग ।
मुमुक्षुजनां दावी । निज डोळां श्रीरंग ॥

Having burnt away Ananga, the bodiless god of desire, he stays absorbed in his own true Self. To those who seek liberation he shows Sri Ranga, the Lord, before their own eyes.

Stanza 2

जया मनीं जैसा भाव । तया तैसा अनुभव ।
दाविसी दयाघना । ऐसी तुझी ही माव ॥

As the feeling in a person's mind, so is the experience you show them, O cloud of compassion. Such is your wondrous way.

Stanza 3

तुमचें नाम ध्यातां । हरे संसृतिव्यथा ।
अगाध तव करणी । मार्ग दाविसी अनाथा ॥

The verse says that meditating on your name takes away the pain of worldly existence. Your deeds are beyond measure; you show the way to those who have no protector.

Stanza 4

कलियुगीं अवतार । सगुणब्रह्म साचार ।
अवतीर्ण झालासे । स्वामी दत्त दिगंबर ॥

An incarnation in the Kali age, truly Brahman with form, you have come down among us as Swami Datta Digambara (Dattatreya).

Stanza 5

आठां दिवसां गुरुवारीं । भक्त करिती वारी ।
प्रभुपद पहावया । भवभय निवारी ॥

Every eighth day, on Thursday, devotees make the pilgrimage to see the Lord's feet, which the verse says remove the fear of worldly existence.

Stanza 6

माझा निजद्रव्यठेवा । तव चरणरजसेवा ।
मागणें हेंचि आतां । तुम्हां देवाधिदेवा ॥

My own treasured wealth is service at the dust of your feet. This alone I now ask of you, O God of gods.

Stanza 7

इच्छित दीन चातक । निर्मल तोय निजसुख ।
पाजावें माधवा या । सांभाळ आपुली भाक ॥

Like a humble chataka bird longing for rain, Madhava longs for the pure water of the bliss of the Self. Give it to him to drink, and keep your promise. (Madhava is the poet's own signature.)

The syllable people get wrong

In jāḷuniyāṃ, the first word of stanza 1, and again in ḍoḷāṃ, the ḷ is the Marathi retroflex ळ, said with the tongue curled back to touch the roof of the mouth, not the plain l of 'jaluniyan'. The same sound returns in sāṃbhāḷa in the last stanza.

When the Shirdi Sai Baba Aarti is chanted

Festival. Thursday worship of Sai Baba

Questions

It was written by Madhavrao Vamanrao Adkar (1877-1955), a singer from Ahmednagar who lived at Shirdi during Sai Baba's lifetime. Devotee histories date it to about 1903-1904. The author is confirmed by the text itself: the seventh stanza addresses the saint with the words 'pajave madhava ya', 'give Madhava to drink', the poet placing his own name in the closing line.
It is in Marathi, the language of Shirdi and of the Ahmednagar district where Adkar was born. Words such as jaluniyan, 'having burnt', tumache, 'your', and sambhala, 'keep, look after', are Marathi forms. Because the aarti is sung in Sai temples across India and abroad, it is widely printed in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Roman letters, but the words remain Marathi, and the meaning given beside each stanza on this page translates that Marathi.
Both. The Shirdi temple holds four daily aartis: Kakad at dawn, Madhyan at noon, Dhoop at sunset and Shej at night. In the temple's printed aarti book this aarti appears twice, once in the Madhyan service and again in the Dhoop service. The two printings differ by a single word in stanza 7: the noon printing adds nija before apuli. The text on this page follows the Dhoop printing.
Stanza 4 describes Sai Baba as Saguna Brahman, the Absolute with form, who has come down in the Kali age as Swami Datta Digambara. Digambara, 'clothed in the directions', is an epithet of Dattatreya, the guru-deity widely worshipped in Maharashtra. The line reflects how Adkar and many of Baba's Marathi devotees understood him, as a guru in the line of Dattatreya; when sung, the name Datta Digambara is repeated.
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