Navagraha Śani Gāyatrī Mantra | Viniyoga Chants by Dr Kausthub Desikachar

Navagraha-s are the nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth and is greatly relevant in Vedic tradition, especially Vedic Astrology. The term is derived from nava, meaning nine, and graha meaning house, planet, seizing, laying hold of, holding. The seven days of the week in the Vedic calendar is also based on the Navagraha. The position of each of these houses in our astrological chart that is calculated based on the time and place of our birth influences our dharma (purpose) and karma (destiny).

Śrī Śani (Saturn) is the servant in astrology. He represents hard work, sorrow, old men, servants and the lower level workers, people in the iron and steel industry, municipality and drainage work. He is a turbulent and troublesome god who makes and breaks fortunes by his influence and position in the planetary system for which he is invariably feared and especially worshipped by those who believe in Hindu astrology. He is generally shown with four hands riding upon a crow.

Śani is the personification of hard work and labour within us, without which nothing can be achieved in this world. He gives us the capacity to put all our efforts into the pursuit of our goals. It gives us the capacity to digest or tolerate a lot of physical pain and mental suffering. In adverse conditions in life, Saturn helps a native face life with less difficulty.

Listen to this chant six times, once in the morning and once in the afternoon and benefit from the power of Venus. You can listen to the chant twelve times, twice a day on Saturdays.

oṁ kākadhvajāya vidmahe | khaḍgahastāya dhīmahi | tanno mandaḥ pracodayāt 


Dr Kausthub Desikachar is the successor and current lineage holder of the classical Yoga tradition of T Krishnamacharya & TKV Desikachar. He is an acclaimed yoga teacher, yoga therapist, healer and spiritual adviser. His objectives include the sharing of the authentic teachings of Yoga to the modern era, as well as building bridges between different healing modalities to promote physical, emotional social and spiritual health.

He is the founder of Viniyoga Pte. Ltd. and also the co-founder of Krishnamacharya Healing & Yoga Foundation, India, and the founder and president of Europe based KHYF International.


Dr Kausthub Desikachar is a champion of women’s empowerment and guides many of his female students to embody their strength. To view his interviews with Viniyoga Women, visit this page here - https://www.viniyoga.com.sg/viniyoga-women

He charitably offers precious teachings of Viniyoga for free through various channels. He offers a Mantra blog, where students can listen to different Mantras from the Vedic Tradition. To benefit from this, visit here -https://www.viniyoga.com.sg/mantra.

He also offers a complimentary weekly Youtube video on Frequently Asked Questions on a wide range of topics related to Yoga. You can visit here to view these videos - https://www.viniyoga.com.sg/viniyoga-faq-kausthub-desikachar

Dr. Kausthub Desikachar also assists many clients in their healing journey that including mental health issues. He regularly writes articles on Mental Health issues and these can be found here - https://www.viniyoga.com.sg/mental-health

Being an excellent and well-experienced Yoga Therapist and Spiritual guide, Dr Kausthub Desikachar also offers insightful mentoring through private consultations, which can be taken either face-to-face or online. To book a session with him, kindly visit his private consultations page by clicking here>

Apart from Yoga Teaching, Kausthub is also an avid photographer, inspirational writer and poet. To view, some of his inspirations, visit the website www.kausthubdesikachar.com

To view his other Yoga teaching page, visit here https://www.kausthub.yoga/