ViRa The meaning of Mantra is word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation. Sanskrit is world’s oldest language. Vedas (Ancient Sanskrit Scriptures) has thousands of Mantras dedicated to different forms of Mother Nature. The Devine Mahamrityunjaya Mantra (Sanskrit: महामृत्युंजय मंत्र or महामृत्युञ्जय मन्त्र, mahāmṛtyuṃjaya mantra or mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra, lit. “Great Death-conquering Mantra”), also known as the Tryambakam Mantra, is a verse (sūkta) of the Rigveda. The sūkta is addressed to Tryambaka, “The Three-eyed One”, an epithet of Rudra/ Shiva who combines the destructive and constructive powers, the terrific and the gentle, as the ultimate recycler and rejuvenator of all existence. The verse also recurs in the Yajurveda.
The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra reads:
ॐ त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान् मृ॒त्योर्मुक्षीय॒ मा ऽमृता॑त् ।
oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam
urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya mā ‘mṛtāt[4]
Word-by-word meaning of the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra is as follows:
- ॐ aum = is a sacred/mystical syllable Aum in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism
- त्र्यम्बकम् tryambakam = the three-eyed one (त्रि tri = “three” अम्बक ambaka = “eye”)
- यजामहे yajāmahe = “we worship, we sacrifice”
- सुगन्धिम् sugandhim = “the fragrant, the virtuous, the supreme being”
- पुष्टिवर्धनम् puṣṭi + vardhanam = “the bestower of nourishment, wealth, perfection” (पुष्टि puṣṭi = “nourishment, increase, wealth, perfection” वर्धन vardhana = “increase, growth”)
- उर्वारुकम् urvārukam = “fruit, a kind of cucumber” (neuter, nominativ case);
- इव iva = “as”
in devanagari written together as उर्वारुकमिव urvārukamiva
- बन्धनान् bandhanān = “from bondage, from the stalk/stem”
- मृत्योः mṛtyoḥ = “from death” (ablative case from mṛtyuḥ)
- मुक्षीय mukṣīya = “may I be freed/released
by sandhi, the last two words become मृत्योर्मुक्षीय mṛtyormukṣīya
- मा ऽमृतात् mā ‘mṛtāt = “not (mā) from immortality (amṛtāt)” negative particle mā is also constructed together with mukṣīya. The last two words become मा ऽमृतात् mā-amṛtāt
