Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra is a famous mantra in Hindu veda.

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra (maha-mrityun-jaya), also called the Tryambakam Mantra, is a verse of the Yajurveda (TS 1.8.6.i; VS 3.60) addressed to Tryambakam "the three-eyed", identified with the Hindu deity Shiva. It's literal translation is 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 its 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 Veda. Along with the Gayatri mantra it holds the highest place among the many mantras used for contemplation and meditation.

The mantra reads (IAST transliteration):

tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam

urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt

In the translation of Arthur Berriedale Keith, 1914):

"To Tryambaka we make offering, The fragrant, increaser of prosperity;

Like a cucumber from its stem, From death may I be loosened, not from immortality."

Grammatical analysis:

• tri-ambaka-m "the three-eyed-one" (accusative)
• yaja-mahe "we praise" (1st pl. middle)
• sugandhi-m "the fragrant" (acc.)
• pusti-vardhana-m "the prosperity-increaser" (acc.)
• urvaruka-m "cucumber" (acc.)
• iva "-like"
• bandhanāt "from attachment" ("from the stem", ablative)
• mṛtyos "from death" (ablative)
• mukṣīya "may you liberate"
• mā "not"
• amṛtāt from immortality (ablative)

There is a parallel formation mṛtyor māmṛtaṃ gamayeti/gamaya iti "thus lead me from death to immortality" in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad 1.3.28 (se asato ma sad gamaya) with amritaamritat as ablative rather than accusative forces the interpretation of ma as "not" (and not "me") and leads to the rather stilted translation by Keith given above. (immortality) in the accusative; having

Taken from wikipedia.org.