Maha Mritunjay Mantra

ॐ त्रयंबकं यजामहे सुगन्धिम् पुष्टिवधर्नम्

उर्वारूकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्यॊर्मुक्षीय मामृतात्

Lord Shiva, the third member of the Hindu Trinity (The Trinity comprises of Lord Brahma who is the creater, Lord MahaVishnu who is the preserver and Lord Shiva the destroyer), is said to be the Lord of great mercy and compassion. Lord Shiva is one of the most worshipped Gods in the Hindu Religion. Lord Shiva's destruction is not negative but nourishing and constructive. Lord Shiva's destruction builds and transforms life and energy for the welfare of the world. The Mahamrityunjay Mantra, which is addressed to Lord Shiva who is also refferred to as Snake God, is a centuries old technique of connecting one to pure consciousness and bliss. It is Lord Shiva's moksha mantra. The Mahamrityunjay is a mantra that is said to rejuvenate, bestow health, wealth, a long life, peace, prosperity, satisfaction, immortality and contentment. Maha Mrityunjay Mantra is a Mantra to conquer death and connects us to our own inner divinity.

The Mahamritunjaya Mantra reads:

OM TRYAMBAKKAM YAJAMAHE SUGANDHIM PUSTIVARDHANAM

URVAROOKAMEVA BANDANAAN MRITYORMOKSHEEYA MAAMRITAAT.

THE MEANING OF THIS MAHAMANTRA

It is important to understand the meaning of the words as this makes the repetition meaningful and brings forth the results.

OM is not spelt out in the Rig-Veda, but has to be added to the beginning of all Mantras as given in an earlier Mantra of the Rig-Veda addressed to Ganapati.

TRYAMBAKKAM refers to the Three eyes of Lord Shiva. 'Trya' means 'Three' and Ambakam' means eyes. These three eyes or sources of enlightenment are the Trimurti or three primary deities, namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three 'AMBA' (also meaning Mother or Shakti' are Saraswati, Lakshmi and Gouri. Thus in this word, we are referring to God as Omniscient (Brahma), Omnipresent (Vishnu) and Omnipotent (Shiva). This is the wisdom of Brihaspati and is referred to as Sri Duttatreya having three heads of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

YAJAMAHE: means, "We sing Thy praise".

SUGANDHIM: refers to His fragrance (of knowledge, presence and strength i.e. three aspects) as being the best and always spreading around. Fragrance refers to the joy that we get on knowing, seeing or feeling His virtuous deeds.

PUSTIVARDHANAM: Pooshan refers to Him as the sustainer of this world and in this manner, He is the Father (Pater) of all. Pooshan is also the inner impeller of all knowledge and is thus Savitur or the Sun and also symbolises Brahma the Omniscient Creator. In this manner He is also the Father (Genitor) of all.

URVAAROKAMEVA: 'URVA' means "VISHAL" or big and powerful . 'AAROOKAM' means 'Disease'. Thus URVAROOKA means deadly and overpowering diseases. The diseases are also of three kinds caused by the influence (in the negative) of the three Guna's and are ignorance (Avidya etc),falsehood (Asat etc as even though Vishnu is everywhere, we fail to perceive Him and are guided by our sight and other senses) and weaknesses (Shadripu etc. a constraint of this physical body and Shiva is all powerful).

BANDANAAM: means bound down. Thus read with URVAROOKAMEVA, it means 'I am bound down by deadly and overpowering diseases'.

MRITYORMOOKSHEYA: means to deliver us from death (both premature deaths in this Physical world and from the never-ending cycle of deaths due to re-birth) for the sake of Mokshya (Nirvana or final emancipation from re-birth).

MAAMRITAAT means 'please give me some Amritam (life rejuvenating nectar). Read with the previous word, it means that we are praying for some 'Amrit' to get out of the death inflicting diseases as well as the cycle of re-birth.