कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमूले सरस्वती | करमध्ये तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥ Karagre vasate lakshmi kara mule saraswathi kara madhye tu govindah prabate kara darshanam Sanskrit to English Word Meaning Karagre-on the tip of your fingers; vasate- dwells; Lakshmi- the Goddess of Prosperity; karamule- on the base of your hands; Saraswathi- the Goddess of Knowledge Saraswathi; karamadhye- in the middle of your hands; tu-whereas; Govindah-the Lord Govindah; prabhate-in the morning; karadarshanam-look at your palm. Translation On the tip of your fingers is Goddess Lakshmi; on the base of your fingers is Goddess Sarasvati; in the middle of your fingers is Lord Govinda. In this manner, look at your palm Brief Explanation This is a morning prayer called “karadarshana”. One begins the day with this prayer. “Kara” means the palm of the hand and it stands for the five karmendriyas, or the organs of action. While looking at the palm, one invokes the Lord in the form of various deities, thus sanctifying all the actions that will be done during the day. By acknowledging the Lord as the giver of the capacity to perform actions and as the giver of the fruits of those actions, one sanctifies the actions. Thus, one prays in the morning to reinforce the attitude that all actions are performed as a service to the Lord.