Shiva
Panchakshara — Om Namah Shivaya
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya
Simple reading: Om na-mah shi-vaa-ya
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: not a being who possesses stillness but stillness itself, the ground under every wave of experience. 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.
When to recite it
Held by tradition as fit for any hour — any state, no preparation required. It anchors Mondays and the whole of Sawan, fills Maha Shivratri's four prahars, and serves as 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 — Śrī Rudram, anuvāka 8 ('namaḥ śivāya ca śivatarāya ca'), Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda