We met the profound truth of Sadashiva earlier in this series in the mantra Om Sadashivay Namah, where we sat with the story of young Markandeya embracing the Shivalingam at midnight as Yamraj arrived — and Shiva erupting from the stone to defeat death itself. That mantra was a deep and solemn bow to the Shiva who is always present. But Jai Sadashiv is the same truth set to music. It is the bow that became a dance. The prayer that became a song. The reverence that overflowed into pure joyful celebration.
And for this chant there is a different story — a story not of crisis and rescue but of the quiet, steady, absolutely reliable presence of Sadashiv in the most ordinary of lives.
There was once an old woman in a small village near Varanasi whose name was Savitribai. She was not a scholar. She had never read the Vedas or the Puranas. She could not recite a single Sanskrit mantra correctly. She had spent her entire life — seventy eight years of it — in the most ordinary of circumstances. She had cooked and cleaned and raised children and buried a husband and watched grandchildren grow and sat in the evening light outside her small home and counted her blessings and her sorrows with equal practicality.
But every morning of her life, without exception, before she lit the cooking fire, before she drew water, before she did anything else at all — she would stand at the small Shivalingam in the corner of her courtyard, press her palms together, and say simply and clearly — Jai Sadashiv. Just those two words. Every morning for seventy eight years.
Her grandson once asked her — Aaji, why do you always say those particular words? Why not a longer prayer?
The old woman looked at him with the clear eyes of someone who has spent a lifetime knowing something in her bones that others spend a lifetime trying to understand in their heads. She said — because it is the truest thing I know. Sada means always. Shiv means good, auspicious, the one who is beyond all darkness. Sadashiv means the one who is always good. Always here. Always making things auspicious even when they don’t look like it. I have seen enough of life to know that every dark thing that happened to me eventually turned toward light. Every loss eventually became a teacher. Every closed door eventually revealed a better road.
That is Sadashiv.
Not arriving when I call Him. Already here. Already working. Always.
The grandson sat quietly for a long time. Then he said — can I chant it with you tomorrow morning?
She smiled and said — you can chant it right now.
This is the heart of Jai Sadashiv — but as a celebration, not just a recognition. Because what the old woman was doing every morning was not a ritual of obligation. It was a daily act of joyful acknowledgement. She was not reminding Sadashiv to be present. She was reminding herself of what was already true. She was beginning every day by orienting her heart toward the fact that she was not alone, had never been alone, would never be alone — and that the intelligence working through the events of her life was not random or indifferent but auspicious and eternal.
Sada means always — without a single exception, without a single gap, without a single moment in which He was not present. Shiv means the auspicious, the good, the one whose very nature is the wellbeing of all beings. Sadashiv is therefore the Shiva who is always, always, always good. Even when He destroys. Even when He dismantles. Even when what He does looks from the outside like loss or ending — it is always, always in the direction of what is truly good for the soul He loves.
Chant Jai Sadashiv today with the joy of Savitribai who discovered this truth not in a scripture but in seventy eight years of living and paying attention. And then chant it again tomorrow morning before you do anything else. Make it the first true thing your heart says every day. Har Har Mahadev! 🙏
Do you love listening to Lord Shiva’s chants? We have something special for you. Play a calm and peaceful solitaire game where every move plays a Shiva mantra for you. Explore Om Namah Shivay Solitaire here: