The great mantra dedicated to Shiva as Mrityunjaya is found in the Rig Veda (Mandala VII, Hymn 59). The hymn in which it is found begins with eleven stanzas honoring the forces of nature (the maruts) said to be the children of Rudra/Shiva. The maruts control the energies of storms, winds, cyclones, and clouds (and thus the nurturing light of the sky). They possess destructive energy, but they are also the protectors of the household. When they act in harmony, they create an environment of peace and prosperity. The verse also recurs in the Yajurveda (TS 1.8.6.i; VS 3.60)
This Mantra is called the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra, the Great Death-Conquering mantra. It is a mantra that has many names and forms. It is called the Rudra mantra, referring to the furious aspect of Shiva; the Tryambakam mantra, alluding to Shiva’s three eyes; and it is sometimes known as the Mrita-Sanjivini mantra because it is a component of the “life-restoring” practice given to the primordial sage Shukra after he had completed an exhausting period of austerity. The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra is hailed by the sages as the heart of the Vedas. Along with the Gayatri mantra it holds the highest place among the many mantras used for contemplation and meditation.
The Sanskrit text of the mantra reads:
ॐ त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान् मृ॒त्योर्मु॑क्षीय॒ माऽमृता॑॑त् ।।
OM. Tryambakam yajamahe Sugandhim pushti-vardhanam Urvarukamiva bandhanan Mrityor mukshiya mamritat
Translating the mantra
The mantra is divided into four lines, each containing eight syllables. Translations vary considerably. A bit of research, however (try looking the mantra up on the Web, for example), will make it clear that no single translation can ever do justice to all its levels of meaning. The multi-leveled nature of Sanskrit words makes this impossible.
But differences in translation also reflect the fact that the sounds of the mantra are more important to practitioners than its exact translation. Like music, the resonance of these sounds attracts the mind and leads it to an inner experience. The literal meaning of the mantra is secondary.
But even so, it is important to understand the mantra in order to develop faith in it. The individual words of the mantra convey its nourishing quality, and, even in English, they are life-sustaining. They fill us with the sense that a great force of goodness is at work within us, supporting our growth, lifting us up during times of trouble, and helping us recall, even in the midst of our busy lives, the higher aim of life itself.
The thirty-three syllables
The Rigvedic verse is in the Anuṣṭubh metre — four lines of eight syllables, thirty-two in all. With the opening ओ the count becomes thirty-three, and the tradition maps these thirty-three syllables onto the thirty-three deities of the Vedic pantheon: the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Ādityas, and two more. The correspondence is attributed to Maharishi Vashistha, to whose family the hymn containing this verse is ascribed.
Each syllable is assigned both a deity and a place in the body, so that reciting the mantra is understood as invoking the whole pantheon through the reciter’s own frame.
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