The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
- Key to Pronunciation
- Explanations on the Meaning of the Mantra
by Swami Omkarananda
- The Benefits of Mantra Repetition
This powerful and revealing prayer is a wonder-working medicine, a formula for good health, long life, and freedom from accidents. But most of all it is a powerful means for God-experience.
Swami Omkarananda says: "Mantra-repetition is the most wonderful path to God-experience. Meditation or Mantra-repetition is intensive divine concentration which transforms the whole inner being, heart, mind and soul, and even the body. Intensive Mantra-meditation makes the whole consciousness powerful and awakens higher energies, elevates, sublimates, refines and transforms the lower powers, by vibrating the whole inner being with divine Consciousness. Thus every Mantra-repetition effectuates inner transformation, inner changes creating better conditions to gain victory over human limitations. It is a means and method to relate with what is indestructible, imperishable and eternal. There is no path more wonderful and secure, clear and wise than this, for, by every repetition of the Mantra, day by day, hour by hour, the devotee makes the Divine take his place, and replace all that is limited and human in him.
"The effects of the Mantra depend upon the purity and faith, meekness and wisdom of a person. It is not just sounds, as one may believe. These sounds bear in themselves a subtle body."
Explanations on the Meaning of the Mantra
by Swami Omkarananda
'OM Tryambakam...' is a great timeless Mantra revealed by the Heart of the Divine for the welfare of all God-lovers.
'OM' is a mystical syllable. It releases sounds that are inaudible to us but perceptible to the perfect inner Being within us. This syllable bears in itself the whole supreme divine Consciousness, that which has become manifest in the universe as well that which remains unrevealed and unmanifest.
'OM' is indeed a universal revelation and expression of the divine Being, a true name of the Divine. It bears in itself body, heart and soul of the infinite Divinity.
Within the sound-body of 'OM' there is a body of energy and when you say 'OM', this energy purifies the atmosphere around you. Within this energy-body there is a light-body, and in this light-body there dwells the Consciousness of the Supreme Godhead.
God is omnipotent, omniscient. He is supreme Love, Light, Grace, Mercy and Peace. All these powers of the infinite Being dwell in this word 'OM'. Thus by repeating 'OM' you free the atmosphere from disharmony, you purify your whole inner being, you effect changes in people around you.
'Tryambakam' means three eyes. The supreme Divinity has three eyes. The Third Eye is the eye of Omniscience, the eye of infinite Knowledge, unending Knowledge, knowledge of the supreme Truth, knowledge of every kind. It is an overwhelming fullness of Knowledge, indescribable Knowledge, the fire of infinite Knowledge. It sees everywhere at the same time, knows everything at once.
For a human being it is impossible to recognise two things within the same moment. Even if you think you recognise two, three or more things at once, it is just an illusion. Intelligence works at indescribable speed, jumping from one object to the other. The Divinity however knows innumerable things at the same time. For human reason this is a feat beyond imagination, exceeding its capacity to grasp.
If you are in Zurich you can only see Zurich, you cannot see at the same time what is going on in London, in New York and in all invisible worlds. But God is the Witness of all things – everything at the same time. His eye is everywhere at once, while your eyes are only at one place. His ear is everywhere, while your ears are only at one place. This is the meaning of 'tryambakam', three eyes.
'Yajamahe' means, we meditate, we adore, we revere.
'Sugandhim' is composed of 'su' (good) and 'gandha' (fragrance, odour). 'Sugandhim' thus means that God is most precious fragrance, the Divine is full of excellent odours, full of the fragrance of unlimited Love, a love without distortion, a love free from egoism.
Human love is always coupled with hate. It is limited because selfishness, pride and arrogance are contained in it. Such love quickly changes or transmutes into its opposite and thus is reprehensible love. The more selfless and divine, the less limited, the more detached from human nature love is, the greater the fragrance it spreads. Such Love of infinite Purity and Perfection we find in the Divine. Thus, God is the source and expression of perfect Fragrance. All that is of supreme value is of most precious odour.
'Pushti vardhanam' – This wondrous, omniscient Godhead nourishes and sustains all life-forms. There is no desire or need that cannot be satiated. The omniscient, all-merciful, all-compassionate Divinity immediately responds to every call of the devotee, increasing his inner and outer wealth, providing all necessities to sustain his life. God is your caretaker. He is the true sustainer. He alone nourishes all creation and all life, for they have their source in Him.
'Urvarukam-iva bandhanan': As the cucumber is freed from its stem by plucking it when it is ripe ...
'Mrityor-mukshiya': ... thus, O Lord, deliver me from death, liberate me from all limitations, from all darkness and unhappiness. Death is not only physical death, spiritual ignorance is death, lack of devotion and love is death.
To a person who has no eyes to perceive beauty the whole world is full of ugliness. To another person everything appears doubtful, because his thoughts, feelings and expressions are void of truth. The Divine who is the Truth of all truths is inaccessible to him. Like that, there are all kinds of deaths. The God-lover asks the Divine to free him of all forms of deaths.
'Amritat' – for immortality. 'Amrita' means immortality, deathlessness. God nourishes us with the nectar of immortality – He bestows on us health, strength and divine Qualities, divine Wisdom, eternal values that make us ripe for the Experience of God. Great patience, power of endurance, selflessness, purity and freedom from ego are essential preconditions for God-realisation. Such qualities are the nectar of immortality.
Thus with this Mantra we say: "O Omniscient Divinity, we adore you. O Lord full of excellent fragrance, you are the nourisher, the sustainer of all life. As the cucumber is freed from the stem, thus liberate us from death and grant us the nectar of Immortality."
Meditate on the meaning of this Mantra while you repeat it. Direct all your inner attention to the wonderful, all-seeing and all-pervading Divinity. God is there right in front of you, behind you, above you and below you, all around you. He is there inside you. He is in your eyes. He is in your soul. Wherever you look God is there before you. You can visualize Him as a picture, as the radiant sun, as a flame, or as a beam of light. Let this sun come close to you, concentrate on its light, become one with its all-pervading radiance.
If you repeat the Mantra in this manner, great blessings will come to you. Your whole inner being will be transformed. You will become an entirely new person. This Mantra will grant you best health and preserve you from all kinds of misfortunes. Even if there is an earthquake that tears the ground beneath you into pieces, no danger can approach you. You will be protected wherever you are.
The Benefits of Mantra Repetition
This Mantra is a great blessing. So, repeat it unceasingly with great devotion and concentration. If distractions come, immediately transform them into a means for God-experience. Instead of thinking of God, you may suddenly see the picture of a car, or of your mother, before you. At once transform this picture into a beautiful fragrant flower and offer it to the feet of the Divinity.
God is one, not two. The one Truth, the eternal Godhead, the God of all religions, the one God experienced by all saints and sages. Air is everywhere one and the same. There is no such thing as Swiss air, German air or Indian air, etc. All life on earth is sustained by the one air. In the same way, there is only one God who sustains everything. Names may differ, but God is one. Whether you say 'Luft' or 'air', it refers to the same thing. God is the Life of life, the Life of all lives, the Life of all living beings. He is the Soul of souls.
When you get up from meditation, don't engage in gossip and other worldly activities, keep up the inner silence and meditativeness and continue your Mantra-repetition mentally, even while busy with your daily routines and duties. Surrender every work to the Divine. All the time let part of your attention remain fixed on the Divine, even as a mother continuously keeps an eye on her toddler, in spite of being busy with her household chores.
Mantra bears in itself enormous energies. The greater your devotion and faith in God grow, the more powerful of your Mantra-repetition becomes. Cultivate intimate relations with the Divine. You may not be able to see or hear God. Yet great devotion and continued prayer and meditation will make you receptive to the inner perception of God's presence. The nameless, formless God, the timeless, spaceless divine Consciousness can take any form to appear before an earnest devotee, anywhere, and at any time. No power is as great as that of the Mantra. Mantra is a mystical power. It is charged with divine Energy.
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