Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

Maha Mrityunjay Mantra
Om Tryamlakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pusti - vardhanam !
Urva - rukamiva Bandhanan
Mrtyor - muksheeya Ma - amritat !!

Meaning :

Om. We worship The Three-Eyed Lord Shiva who is naturally fragrant, immensely merciful & and who is the Protector of the devotees. Worshipping him may we be liberated from death for the sake of immortality just as the ripe cucumber easily separtes itself from the binding stalk i.e.By your Grace, Let me be in the state of salvation (Moksha) and be saved from the clutches of fearful death.

The Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra is very much a protector from accidents, mishaps and daily calamities in the modern busy life.

Shiva Prarthana :
Om Namastestu Bhagavan
Visvesaraya Mahadevaya
Trayambakaya Tripurantakaya
Trikagni - Kalaya
Kalagni - Rudraya Nil - Kanthaya Mrityunjaya
Sarvesvaraya Sadadhivaya
Sriman Mahadevaya Namah.

Meaning :

Om. I bow down to Lord Shiva, who is the creator and protector of the universe, who is the greatest among gods, who has three eyes, who is the annihilator of all the three worlds, one whose throat is blue, who is the conqueror of death, who is the Lord of all, who is propitious who is possessed of all marks of greatness and who is the greatest among Gods. To him my prostrations.

Explanation :
The mantra is a prayer to Lord Shiva who is addressed as Sankara and Trayambaka. Sankara is sana (blessings) and Kara (the Giver). Trayambaka is the three eyed one (where the third eye signifies the giver of knowledge, which destroys ignorance and releases us from the cycle of death and rebirth).

Namaskar Mantra :

Om Namah Sambhavaya Cha
Mayaobhavaya Cha
Namah Shankaraya Cha
Mayaskaraya Cha
Namah Shivaya Cha
Shivtaraya Cha



Meanging :

O Almighty God. Thou art the supreme source of all worldly and divine pleasures. Thou art the impeller of our physical and spiritual advancement. O supreme Father ! We pay our humble obeisance to Thee.



Shiva Dhun :


Shivo Bhokta, Shiva Bhojya
Shivo Karta, Shivah Karma
Shivah Karanatmakah

Meaning :

Shiva is the experiencer and the highest object of experience. Shiva is the goal of Sadhana. There is nothing apart from Shiva. There is nothing other than Shiva.

Whatever there is, is Shiva. There is nothing, which is not Shiva. There is no place, which is not Shiva. There is no time, which is not Shiva. To be aware of this is to be aware of Shiva.



When to chant :Chanting the Maha Mrityunjay Mantra with sincerity, faith and devotion in Bramha Muhurata is very beneficial. But one can also chant it anytime in a pure environment with great benefit and discover the happiness that's already within.

AUM/OM: Absolute reality. That which encompasses the three states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, represented by AUM, the three levels of gross, subtle, causal, the three levels of conscious, unconscious, subconscious, and the three universal processes of coming, being, and going. Absolute silence beyond the three levels is the silence after AUM.

Tryambakam: Trya means three. Ambakam means eyes. It means the three eyes of the Absolute, which are the processes of creation, existence, and dissolution, as well as the other triads, which are part of AUM. The three "eyes" means experiencing these three stages and triads at one time, from the higher, all pervasive vantage point of the Absolute.

Yajamahe: We rejoice in meditation on all of this.

Sugandhim: Means fragrance. Like a spreading fragrance, all of this permeates the whole of existence, while at the same time being that existence

Pushtivardhanam: Means that which sustains and nourishes all. Thus, the fragrance that permeates all is the sustainer of all beings, while also the essence of all beings.

Urvarukamiva: Urva means big and powerful. Arukam means disease, like the spiritual diseases of ignorance and untruth, which are like the death of Wisdom or Truth.

Bandhanan: Means bound down, as in bound down to the ignorance and untruth.

Mrityor: Means ignorance and untruth.

Mukshiya: Means liberation from the cycles of physical, mental, and spiritual death.

Maamritat: Means please give me rejuvenating nectar, so as to have this liberation, like the process of severing the cucumber from the creeping vine.

40 day practice

The period of 40 days has been widely recognized as an auspicious period both in the East and the West since ancient times. A traditional way to do an extended mantra practice is to choose a number of repetitions per day, and to do that for 40 days. The mind likes to have a beginning and end to a practice, a sense of completion, such as comes with a 40 day (or longer) practice.

Fixed time per practice session: Mind finds comfort in knowing that it will do the practice of one round of 108 repetitions (or some other number of rounds), and that each round will take a predictable amount of time (18 minutes per round of 108 repetitions).


Same number of rounds: Mind likes the predictability of doing a certain number of rounds done per day. Mind may resist at times, but once it gets started in the practice, mind likes the habit.


Specific number of days: Mind likes the plan of knowing how many days or months a practice will take to complete. This can be very beneficial in stabilizing a noisy mind, which is a common complaint.

What is a mala?
A mala is a set of counting beads with 108 beads. Only 100 are counted, with the other 8 considered an offering to the divine, however you personally hold that. You might choose to do 1, 2, 3, or 4 rounds of 108 mantras per day, counting with a set of mala beads.

By running your own experiment for 40 days, you can decide for yourself whether or not the practice is beneficial.Remember to do your mantra with feeling and awareness.

Extended practice

A noticeable level of mantra siddhi (power of the mantra) is said to come with 125,000 repetitions of a mantra (Such an extended practice is called a purascharna). This is equivalent to 1250 rounds of a mala.


Rounds per day 1 mala 18 min 1250days 42 months
2 malas 36 min 625 days 21 months
3 malas 54 min 417 days 14 months
4 malas 1 hr 12 min 313 days 10 1/2months
5 malas 1 hr 30 min 250 days 8 1/2months
6 malas 1 hr 48 min 209 days 7 months
7 malas 2 hr 6 min 179 days 6 months

Such an extended practice with Maha Mrityunjaya mantra can have a tremendous effect in stabilizing the mind in preparation for advancing in meditation. Such a practice simply must be done personally to understand the benefits. It does take quite a commitment to do this practice every day for such a long period, but it is well worth the effort.

In choosing the level of practice per day, it is important to have stability from one day to the next, and to not skip any days. It is best to choose the level that works for you consistently, rather than changing the number from day to day. For example, if two rounds per day is a good number (34 minutes), then it's better to stay with that amount each and every day, not to do none on one day, but four on the next day.