Nityananda Das shares his Hindu and Sanskrit tattoos

Many of our readers are looking for examples of Hindu spiritual tattoos. Today I will take a look at the tattoos that my good acquaintance Nityananda Das from Melbourne, Australia has put on his body.

First, on his left shoulder he shows me a tattoo of dancing Ganesh, the elephant-headed demigod who removes obstacles and blesses one with prosperity. Most Hindus customarily offer their respects to this unusual personality before starting any new business undertaking, a new job, a trip or any other type of project.

On the inside of his left elbow Nityananda has an image of Siva (Shiva) and the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra and Shiva Maha Mantra. These mantras are dedicated to Krishna and Shiva respectively. The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra is recorded in one of the ancient Vedic scriptures, called Kali-santarana-upanishad. It full text is:
"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare."

The Shiva Maha Mantra is "om namah shivaya".

Both mantras are recorded in the Sanskrit alphabet called "devanagari".

On the outside, he has a tattoo of the Goddess Ganga caught in Lord Shiva's hair during her majestic but destructive descent from heaven. Shiva pacified this powerful river and made her promise to behave.

Nityananda's forearm is decorated with various tattooed auspicious symbols. The top image is similar to the famous "Eyes of Bodhnath". Unlike the Buddhist image, this image has a dot, bindu representing the third eye, the eye of wisdom.

The next image is the tattoo of the cow, who is considered to be sacred in Hinduism and has similar status to one's mother, because she also gives us her milk.

The instantly recognisable image of lotus represents beauty, non-attachment and benediction. Lotus also represents chakras, centers of energy, in the body. The lotus tattoo is very popular.

The next tattoo is of damaru, Shiva's drum. The dissimilar sounds that it produces merge into one and they represent the universal sound of "Aum (OM)".

It is followed by double-sided trisula or trident. It is another symbol associated with Lord Shiva. It represents three fundamental powers (shakti) of will (iccha), action (kriya) and knowledge (jnana). The trident also symbolizes Shiva's power to destroy evil and ignorance.

The last tattoo on the forearm is the crescent moon. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end.

Hidden away on the left side is also a tattoo of Kali, the Universal Mother, the female principle of creation within the material universe, the female aspect of God, the Creator.

On the right shoulder Nityananda has a stylish black Ganesh tattoo (he really wants to get all those obstacles out of the way, it seems). Above that a mantra to the holy river Ganga is tattooed in Latin (English) alphabet: "om namo ganga-devyayi" ("I offer my respects to the goddess Ganga"). Hindus believe that bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the remission of sins and facilitates the attainment of salvation.

Below that he has a tattoo of the Sun god Surya (aka Ravi or Vivasvan). Surya is considered as the only visible form of God that can be seen every day. Surya is regarded as one of the aspects of the Supreme God. The sun is responsible for some many things we have and experience in life, and Nityananda wanted to express his gratitude by getting this Sun tattoo.

Finally on the right forearm he shows the mysterious eye tattoo again, the crescent, the trident and the famous "OM" (AUM) sign. No self-respecting Hindu with tattoos will pass up this symbol. OM represents so many things that it will take me another article to describe some of its meanings.

The image below that is probably tripundra, the famous mark of the followers of Shiva.