Sanskrit Mantras With Meaning — Part 9: Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

This is Part 9, the final part of the Sanskrit Mantras With Meaning series. Read the introduction and full list in Part 1.

History

The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra — the "great death-conquering mantra" — is a verse of the Rig Veda, Mandala 7, Sukta 59, Verse 12 (RV 7.59.12), addressed to Tryambaka, "the three-eyed one," an epithet of Rudra, later identified with Lord Shiva. The same verse recurs in the Yajurveda, in both the Taittiriya Samhita and the Vajasaneyi Madhyandina recension. It is also known as the Rudra Mantra or the Tryambakam Mantra.

Tradition offers more than one account of how this mantra came into use, and it is worth naming all three rather than picking one:

• The most common version connects it to the sage Markandeya, who as a child was advised to pray to Lord Shiva to prevent his premature death, and who received this mantra during that worship.

• Another version connects it to Shukracharya, the spiritual teacher of the demons, to whom Lord Shiva is said to have revealed this mantra.

• Within the Rig Veda itself, the hymn containing this verse is attributed to the sage Vashishtha, which is the most textually grounded of the three accounts.

Benefits, As Understood in the Tradition

The mantra is widely chanted for protection, healing, and release from fear — particularly fear of death. It is worth being precise about what this actually means: teachers such as Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Swaroopananda, in their talks on this mantra, have made the case that its real purpose is not a promise of literal physical immortality, but freedom from the psychological grip that the fear of death, and fear more generally, holds over a person. The mantra itself makes this point through its central image — release from the bonds of death the way a ripe cucumber falls effortlessly from its vine, without struggle or resistance.

The Mantra

ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् । उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥

Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pushtivardhanam, urvarukamiva bandhanan-mrityor-mukshiya ma-amritat

Word by word:

• Om — the primeval sound and cosmic vibration

• Tryambakam — the three-eyed one, referring to Lord Shiva

• Yajaamahe — we worship, we adore

• Sugandhim — the fragrant one

• Pushtivardhanam — the nourisher, who increases wellbeing

• Urvaarukamiva — like a cucumber or ripe melon

• Bandhanaan — from bondage, from attachment

• Mrityormuksheeya — may we be released from death

• Maamritaat — not from immortality — that is, released into immortality, not cut off from it

Overall: We worship the three-eyed one, who is fragrant and who nourishes all beings. May he release us from the bondage of death, as effortlessly as a ripe cucumber falls from its vine, and lead us toward immortality, not away from it.

Sources: Sanskrit text and translation from greenmesg.org. History and the three origin accounts drawn from resanskrit.com, which cites talks by Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Swaroopananda, and the reference work Veda Pushpanjali (SSS Book Trust). Recording: Apple Music — Ketan Patwardhan. I have not translated any part of this text myself; all meaning is drawn from the cited sources.

That brings this series to a close, for now — all nine mantras from my original list, covered from where each one comes from to what it actually says. The Navagraha Beej Mantras (one post covering all nine planets) will follow separately.

Om Namah Shivaya