Shiva
Om Namo Bhagavate Rudraya
ॐ नमो भगवते रुद्राय
Simple reading
Om na-mo bha-ga-va-te rud-raa-ya
Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Rudrāya
About this mantra
The bow to Rudra, the name under which the Vedas first knew Shiva. It is the invocation line with which recitation of the Shri Rudram opens, one line a householder can carry through the day.
Meaning
Om, I bow to Bhagavan Rudra. Bhagavate marks him as the Lord in fullness; Rudra is the old storm-name, the roarer, whose arrows, the Vedas say, carry medicine as well as lightning. The mantra is spoken the way one stands in monsoon rain: bowing to a force that drenches and heals in the same gesture.
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 नमो भगवते रुद्राय
Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Rudrāya
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
Suited to the storm seasons of a life: upheaval, anger seeking transformation, the monsoon Mondays of Sawan, and the fierce late hours of Shivratri night.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- नमोnamo
- I bow, salutations
- भगवतेbhagavate
- to the Lord
- रुद्रायrudrāya
- to Rudra, the fierce and compassionate
Source: Rudra worship tradition (Śrī Rudram corpus)