When it is sung
Sung last, after Sukhkarta Dukhharta and the other aartis, as the closing act of worship — daily, and at every morning and evening aarti through Ganesh Chaturthi. It is a prayer of self-surrender rather than praise, which is why it comes at the end.
- Ganesh Chaturthi
Closes every evening aarti of Ganeshotsav
- Anant Chaturdashi
The last words before visarjan
- Ghatasthapana (Navratri begins)
Closes the Devi aarti in Maharashtrian homes
Full text, with meaning
Each line of the verse, with its romanisation beneath and what the verse says after it.
Abhang of Sant Namdev — Marathi
घालीन लोटांगण वंदीन चरण ।
Ghalin lotangan, vandin charan
डोळ्यांनी पाहिन रूप तुझे ।
Dolyanni pahin roop tuze
प्रेमें आलिंगीन आनंद पूजन ।
Preme aalingin, aanand poojan
भावे ओवाळिन म्हणे नामा ॥
Bhave ovaalin mhane Nama
Meaning
I will prostrate myself full-length and bow at your feet; I will look on your form with my own eyes; I will embrace you with love and worship you in joy; I will circle the lamp before you with all my feeling — so says Nama.
Twameva Mata — Sanskrit
त्वमेव माता पिता त्वमेव ।
Twameva mata cha pita twameva
त्वमेव बन्धुः सखा त्वमेव ।
Twameva bandhu cha sakha twameva
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव ।
Twameva vidya dravinam twameva
त्वमेव सर्वं मम देवदेव ॥
Twameva sarvam mama devadeva
Meaning
You alone are mother and father, you alone kinsman and friend, you alone knowledge and wealth. You are everything to me, god of gods.
Kayena Vacha — Sanskrit
कायेन वाचा मनसेंद्रियैर्वा ।
Kayena vacha manasendriyairva
बुध्यात्मना वा प्रकृति स्वभावात् ।
Buddhyatmana va prakriti swabhavat
करोमि यद्यत् सकलं परस्मै ।
Karomi yadyat sakalam parasmai
नारायणायेति समर्पयामि ॥
Narayanayeti samarpayami
Meaning
Whatever I do with body, speech, mind or senses, with intellect or feeling, or simply by force of habit — all of it I surrender to the supreme, saying: this is for Narayana.
Achyutam Keshavam — Sanskrit
अच्युतं केशवं राम नारायणम् ।
Achyutam Keshavam Rama Narayanam
कृष्णदामोदरं वासुदेवं भजे ।
Krishna Damodaram Vasudevam bhaje
श्रीधरं माधवं गोपिकावल्लभम् ।
Shridharam Madhavam Gopikavallabham
जानकीनायकं रामचंद्रं भजे ॥
Janakinayakam Ramchandram bhaje
Meaning
I sing of Achyuta, Keshava, Rama, Narayana; of Krishna, Damodara, Vasudeva. I sing of Shridhara, Madhava, beloved of the gopis; of Ramachandra, the lord of Janaki.
The Mahamantra
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे ।
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे ॥
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Meaning
The sixteen-name mahamantra, sung as the aarti closes and the whole gathering joins in.
The closing cry
॥ मंगलमूर्ती मोरया ॥
Mangalmurti Morya
॥ गणपतिबाप्पा मोरया ॥
Ganpati Bappa Morya
Meaning
The call everyone in the room answers. “Morya” recalls the devotee Morya Gosavi and the Ganesha of Morgaon, which is why the cry pairs the god with that name.
About this aarti
The opening lines are an abhang by Sant Namdev (c. 1270–1350), the Varkari poet-saint of Pandharpur, who signs himself in the last line as “Nama”. What follows is not his — the four Sanskrit verses are classical shlokas of surrender that the tradition attached to the abhang over time, so that the whole sequence is now sung as one closing prayer.
The order matters. The earlier aartis praise and describe the deity; this one gives something up. Twameva Mata reassigns every human relationship to god; Kayena Vacha hands over every action, deliberate or unthinking. Only then does the room break into the mahamantra and the shout of Morya.
Because the Sanskrit verses address Narayana and Vishnu by name, Ghalin Lotangan is not exclusive to Ganesha worship — the same closing sequence is sung at the end of aartis to other deities across Maharashtra.
A note on the text
The Marathi abhang and the closing cry follow the Marathi Wikisource text. In the Sanskrit shlokas that text carries the readings करमि and नारायणायेती; the standard and widely attested readings करोमि and नारायणायेति are given here instead, as the Wikisource page is flagged by Wikisource itself as unsourced.
Sources
These texts are in the public domain. The verse is reproduced from the cited source; the English meaning and the background notes on this page are original writing.