Jason Espada, well known for reciting sutras, discourses and commentaries, recites his Praise of Tara, a beautiful six minute praise.
The full prayer:
In Praise of Tara Holy Tara, Protector of living beings, May your blessings flow throughout all of our lives and by Your Compassionate Activity, may all the needs of all beings be completely fulfilled now Tara Your beauty tames the minds of living beings. You draw all beings to yourself. Your virtue calms their fears and brings them all fresh happiness. You are the one who makes what seems to be the impossible entirely possible You conquer disbelief, and dispel doubt without leaving even a trace You are miraculous activity, beyond comprehension. You are ‘swift to regard’, quick to respond, the remover of obstacles. You are our protector You are grace and blessings, the relative and ultimate liberator of beings Your beauty inspires uprightness of moral character You pacify habit energy We shed our skins, lose our old ways, like leaves falling off of trees You bring new birth, and give new strength You purify the mind - like the stream-clearing jewel You uplift and brighten the mind For those with positive aims, You are their Great Benefactress You set all things right You bring about reconciliation without impediment without anything blocking it You bring harmony to every surrounding circumstance You help us to gather all positive conditions You bring out the best that is in us all You make all practices effective It has always been this way It is this way now It will always be this way You are the spring-like feeling of ‘yes’, the sum of all optimism, joyful positive energy, the feeling of ‘I can’ Tara, May your blessings completely illuminate all of our lives and may all the needs of all beings be completely fulfilled now O, Bright Virtue! You are light You are grace in my life and subtle nourishment The blessing of all the women who have ever wished me well You are instinctive love, all-accommodating naturally inclusive comprehensive You are embodied enlightened intelligence, intuitive awareness, the heart awake, and the flourishing of joy You are playful, youthful, joyful, quick, charming, elegant, inspiring, wise, warm, strengthening, encouraging, healing, calming, stabilizing; How can I call you? Tara - hope, positive energy, joyful, pure, wholesome energy With your rivers nurture my limbs, these fields With your warmth, your light bring about the total flowering of goodness... Tara, May your blessings be established in all of our lives Because this is Divine Feminine energy, quick to respond with magical activity, the equivalent of the patron saint of lost causes, grace, spiritual beauty bringing light, giving hope, removing obstacles, calming fear, pacifying suffering, and protecting bringing harmony to every surrounding circumstance, bringing life, health, happiness, good fortune, and stability and, being the Spring-like sum of all optimism, inspiring, positive energy, enabling all the good things we would do to become effective, to become fulfilled, to become complete, this is called Green Tara May all share in these blessings. By Jason Espada