Key Mantras Explained

A child in a Malaysian Hindu home will often learn Om, a prayer to Gaṇeśa and the closing śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ before learning to read. These words are carried by sound, from grandparent to grandchild, and their meaning can stay hidden for a lifetime. This page opens them up. For how mantras are repeated — the mālā, the three modes, initiation — see Mantra & Japa.

At a glance

Tap a mantra to see where it comes from and when it is used. The sections below give the words.

• 1ॐOmThe sacred syllable of the Upaniṣads. Begins and ends almost every prayer and recitation.
• 2गायत्रीGāyatrīṚgveda 3.62.10, to the sun as awakener of the mind. Chanted at dawn, noon and dusk.
• 3त्र्यम्बकम्MahāmṛtyuñjayaṚgveda 7.59.12, to Shiva as Tryambaka. Chanted for healing and at times of illness or death.
• 4नमः शिवायPañcākṣara“Salutation to Shiva,” from the Śrī Rudram. The heart of Shaiva japa, freely sung by all.
• 5नारायणायAṣṭākṣaraThe eight-syllable mantra of Nārāyaṇa — the Tirumantra of Śrīvaiṣṇavas.
• 6वासुदेवायDvādaśākṣaraThe twelve-syllable mantra of Vāsudeva Krishna, which opens the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
• 7सह नाववतुSaha nāv avatuPeace chant of teacher and student, from the Taittirīya and Kaṭha. Said before study.
• 8पूर्णमदःPūrṇam adaḥThe “fullness” verse of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, the peace chant of the Īśa.
• 9शान्तिःŚāntiḥ ×3“Peace, peace, peace” — closes the peace chants and many prayers.
• 10सुखिनोLokāḥ samastāḥA traditional closing prayer that all the worlds be happy. Often ends a satsang or pūjā.

Om

Om, also called the praṇava, is the one mantra shared by every Hindu tradition. The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad opens with it:

The Upaniṣad hears three sounds in it — a, u, m — and the silence that follows, and maps them on to waking, dreaming, deep sleep and the “fourth,” turīya. That teaching is laid out on The Principal Upanishads; it is not repeated here. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad calls Om the word that all the Vedas proclaim (1.2.15), and the Gītā says that whoever departs this life uttering Om, “the one-syllabled Brahman,” and remembering the Lord, reaches the highest goal (8.13).

How it is used. Om begins and ends Vedic recitation and stands at the head of most name-mantras. It is chanted on its own, slowly, as a meditation: many let the a resonate in the chest, the u in the throat and the m in the head, then rest in the silence. Popular practice That bodily mapping is a teaching aid, not the Upaniṣad’s own.

The Gāyatrī, word by word

The full text and translation of the Gāyatrī, with its history and the classical rules on who received it, are on The Four Vedas. Here is a word-by-word reading to go with it:

• oṃ — the sacred syllable, added in recitation.
• bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ — the three vyāhṛtis, “utterances”: earth, the mid-space, heaven. Also added in recitation; they are not part of the Ṛgveda verse.
• tat — that.
• savitur — of Savitṛ, the god of the sun as the one who sets things in motion (from sū, “to impel”).
• vareṇyam — excellent, worthy to be chosen.
• bhargo — radiance, splendour.
• devasya — of the god.
• dhīmahi — may we meditate upon, may we receive.
• dhiyo — thoughts, minds, insights.
• yo naḥ — who … our.
• pracodayāt — may he stir, inspire, set going.

So: “May we receive that excellent radiance of the god Savitṛ, who shall inspire our thoughts.” The grammar has a small surprise: yaḥ, “who,” is masculine and refers to Savitṛ himself, not to the radiance. The prayer moves from the light to the one who shines it. Notice too what it asks for: not wealth or victory, but a mind awakened.

How it is used. Classically in sandhyā, the prayers at dawn, noon and dusk, often 108 or 10 times; at upanayana; and in countless homes and temples as a daily prayer. Today it is chanted by women and men alike in many communities, while some traditional families keep the older rule. Follow the custom of your family or teacher.

The Mahāmṛtyuñjaya

The “great death-conquering” mantra is a Ṛgveda verse addressed to Rudra, the Vedic form of Shiva, as Tryambaka. It is also found in the Yajurveda.

• tryambakam — the Three-eyed One; the older sense may be “having three mothers.”
• yajāmahe — we worship, we offer sacrifice to.
• sugandhim — fragrant, sweet-smelling.
• puṣṭi-vardhanam — increaser of nourishment and well-being.
• urvārukam iva — like a cucumber (or gourd).
• bandhanāt — from its binding, its stalk.
• mṛtyor mukṣīya — may I be released from death.
• mā amṛtāt — not from immortality.

The image is gentle: a ripe cucumber drops from the vine by itself, without being torn. The prayer is not only to escape dying, but to be released from death’s grip into what does not die. How it is used. Community practice It is chanted for the sick and the dying, at times of danger, on birthdays for long life, and in special fire-rites; many families recite it 108 times when someone is in hospital. Prayer of this kind accompanies medical care; it is not a substitute for it.

The great name-mantras

Three short mantras carry the devotion of millions. Each is a salutation, namaḥ (“bowing”), to a name of God, with Om before it.

The pañcākṣara, “five syllables” — na-maḥ śi-vā-ya — is the heart of Shaiva prayer, sung in Tamil as namaccivāya. Its meaning in Shaiva Siddhānta, its place in the Tēvāram and how it is practised are on Shiva.

The aṣṭākṣara, “eight syllables” — oṃ na-mo nā-rā-ya-ṇā-ya. Nārāyaṇa is traditionally read as “the abode of all beings” or “the one in whom beings rest.” Śrīvaiṣṇava view For Śrīvaiṣṇavas it is the Tirumantra, first of the three “secrets” (rahasya-traya) received at initiation, and Ramanuja’s tradition reads its three parts as the soul’s whole relationship to God: oṃ, that the self belongs to the Lord; namaḥ, “not mine,” surrender of the ego; nārāyaṇāya, “for Nārāyaṇa,” service for his sake. The Tamil Āḻvār Tirumaṅkai sings of the joy of having found “the name Nārāyaṇa.”

The dvādaśākṣara, “twelve syllables,” honours Krishna as Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva — and, as Vaiṣṇavas read it, the Lord who dwells (vas) in all. In the Bhāgavata the sage Nārada teaches it to the boy Dhruva, whose devotion wins him a place as the Pole Star. It is the mantra of the Bhāgavata tradition and of many Kṛṣṇa devotees. For the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, see Krishna.

Other deities’ mantras are explained on their own pages: Gaṇeśa’s oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ on Ganesha, and Murugan’s six syllables, śaravaṇa-bhava, on Murugan.

The peace chants

Each Upaniṣad is traditionally recited with a śānti-mantra, a peace chant, at its beginning and end. Two are known far beyond the classroom.

“Us both” is teacher and student. The chant asks for protection, nourishment, strength, a luminous study — and, touchingly, that the two should not come to resent each other. It is said before lessons in Vedic schools, and in many Malaysian classes in Sanskrit, music and dance.

“That” is usually read as the unseen Brahman, “this” as the world, or the Self. Advaita reading For Advaita, the infinite is not reduced by the appearance of the world, because the world is that infinite appearing. Theistic reading Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita teachers read it as the inexhaustible fullness of a God who gives rise to the world and remains undiminished. Either way it is a mathematics of the infinite: subtract infinity from infinity, and infinity remains.

Why three peaces? Traditional explanation Teachers commonly say that the three śāntiḥs ask for peace from the three kinds of trouble: ādhyātmika, arising in oneself (illness, anxiety); ādhibhautika, from other beings (people, animals); and ādhidaivika, from forces beyond our control (storms, earthquakes, fate). This is a widely taught explanation rather than a statement of the Upaniṣads themselves.

For the welfare of all

Many pūjās, satsangs and gatherings end with a prayer that widens the circle to include everyone:

Its companion, just as popular, is sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ — “may all be happy, may all be free from illness.” Both are traditional prayers whose exact textual origin is uncertain; they are sometimes attributed to the Upaniṣads, but are not found in the principal ones. That does not make them less precious. Their scope is the point: not my family, my community or my religion, but all beings.

Check your understanding:

Questions people often ask

Key terms on this page

Sources & further reading

• Patrick Olivelle (trans.), Upaniṣads (Oxford World’s Classics, 1996) — Māṇḍūkya, Kaṭha, Taittirīya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Īśa.
• Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton (trans.), The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India, 3 vols. (Oxford University Press, 2014).
• Eknath Easwaran (trans.), The Bhagavad Gita (Nilgiri Press, 2nd ed. 2007).
• Harvey P. Alper (ed.), Understanding Mantras (State University of New York Press, 1989).
• John Carman and Vasudha Narayanan, The Tamil Veda: Piḷḷāṉ’s Interpretation of the Tiruvāymoḻi (University of Chicago Press, 1989) — on Śrīvaiṣṇava theology of the mantras.