Vishnu
Ashtakshara — the eight-syllable mantra
ॐ नमो नारायणाय
Simple reading
Om na-mo naa-raa-ya-naa-ya
Oṁ Namo Nārāyaṇāya
About this mantra
The eight-syllable mantra of Narayana, given in the Narayana Upanishad: refuge in the one who is the resting place of all beings.
Meaning
Om, I bow to Narayana. The name is read two ways: nara-ayana, the resting place of all beings; and, in the Manusmriti (1.10), the one whose first abode (ayana) was the waters (nara). Either way, to say it is to call the divine 'home'. The eight syllables make one single motion: turning back toward the place where all things already rest.
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 नारायणाय
Oṁ Namo Nārāyaṇāya
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
Counted on Ekadashi and Thursdays, before sleep as a returning-home of the mind, and in anxiety; the ashtakshara is the tradition's shelter mantra.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- नमोnamo
- I bow, salutations
- नारायणायnārāyaṇāya
- to Narayana, resting place of all beings
Source: Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad