"Jai guru deva om" You know, the Beatles lyric in "Across the universe" I got the Om part. But I figured someone would know the rest here.
the words have no set combined meaning... individually, when the sanskrit line is translated, the words are as follows Jai = Live Forever, Thanks, Praise (depends on who you ask) Guru = Teacher Deva (Dev) = Heavenly One Om = The Vibration of the Universe also, Guru Dev was an actual person, he was the Maharishi's teacher... this could be what Lennon refers to, he just took the liberty of adding the "a" to the name..? hope this helps. i know the words translate very loosely, so to me the "true" or most accurate definition doesn't really make a difference- hearing that line just fills me with calm.
Here's one of my blogs that I used across the universe for awhile ago. http://gurudave.blog-city.com/
Jai also means "long live" or "praise" Gurudev is a title held by many teachers, it is not a name. dev and deva mean the same, the difference is that deva would be a sanskrit usage and dev would be a more typically hindi usage. It also varies with accent and dialect.
Sanskrit words have many meanings, depending on the sandhi and on how you trace the roots. Its most common usage is victory, but it can mean any of the other things mentioned.
exactly burbot. The word shri also has several meanings. It is a term of respect. It also means rich, wealthy (hence another name for goddess lakshmi is shri) and this wealth is not only material wealth but the inner treasure also. It also means holy, pure and auspicious. Yet another meaning of shree is shining and lustrous. Of course all of these can be applied to bhagawan krishna.