Shlokas are short verses in Sanskrit that are typically used during meditation or prayers. They are often used to give thanks to or request blessings from God, typically before doing something.
They are to remind us that God is there to always help and protect us and to focus on God’s grace. But for that, we should remain humble and put our trust in God.
NOTE:
For each shlOka, the following are provided for easy understanding.
Original Sanskrit verse in dEvanagari script
Corresponding English transliteration (in Harvard-Kyoto format - you can use the pronunciation guide for reference)
A sentence-like (or prose-like) structure of the same poetic verse - this is because in Sanskrit, the word order generally does not matter and are moved around for making it easy to remember. Changing it back to the sentence structure can help in understanding the meaning better
Meaning (at least one of them) - an attempt has been made to provide at least one meaning that is at least grammatically truthful to the shlOka. There can be many meanings hidden in one shlOka - a literal one, a spiritual one, a philosophical one, and so on. Hopefully, they will be expanded upon in future.
A question-answer format that is (hopefully) easier to understand the meaning, starting with the action implied in the verse (all verses have one or more actions - either direct or implied)
Additional explanation and some stories, if applicable.
Translations from one language to another can be tricky and inaccurate or incomplete, as the languages may differ in how words are used. The translations should be used to understand the intent or purpose of the shlOka and not taken literally as it may sound silly at times if taken that way.
For this purpose in some places the Sanskrit words are provided along with an English word where the English word does not do full justice to the Sanskrit word.
There are many types of shlOkas - let's start with dhyAna shlOkas or shlOkas used for reciting daily in front of God or for meditation.