Shiva
Panchakshara — Om Namah Shivaya
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Simple reading
Om na-mah shi-vaa-ya
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya
About this mantra
The five-syllable heart of Shaiva devotion, held within the Shri Rudram of the Yajurveda. A mantra of purification and deep inner stillness.
Meaning
I bow to Shiva, the auspicious one. Shiva names what is ever-kind and ever-pure: stillness itself, the ground under every wave of experience, rather than a being who possesses stillness. The five syllables na-mah-shi-vā-ya are held to answer the five elements, so the whole person, earth to ether, is folded into one bow. Nothing is asked for; this is the rare prayer whose entire content is surrender.
Learn it by heart
Say the first line until it comes without reading, then add the next line and say both, until the whole mantra comes on its own.
Whole mantra
This mantra is a single line. Learn it whole, then add it to your review deck so it comes back for a check.
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya
0not said yet
Aim for eleven. Stop reading as soon as the whole mantra comes on its own.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
Held by tradition as fit for any hour and any state, with no preparation required. It anchors Mondays and the whole of Sawan, fills Maha Shivratri's four prahars, and is the steadying breath-companion in fear, grief, or sleeplessness.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- नमःnamaḥ
- I bow, salutations
- शिवायśivāya
- to Shiva, the auspicious one
Source: Taittirīya Saṁhitā 4.5.8, Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda: Śrī Rudram, anuvāka 8 ('namaḥ śivāya ca śivatarāya ca')