Navagraha
Rahu — the north node
ॐ भ्रां भ्रीं भ्रौं सः राहवे नमः
Simple reading
Om bhraam bhreem bhraum sah raa-ha-ve na-mah
Oṁ bhrāṁ bhrīṁ bhrauṁ saḥ rāhave namaḥ
About this mantra
The bīja-mantra of Rahu, the Moon's north node, a shadow-graha with no body and no weekday of its own. The Puranas tell of the asura whose severed head still swallows the sun and moon at eclipses; jyotisha counts Rahu as the significator of worldly desire, the unconventional and sudden change.
Meaning
Om, with the seed-syllables bhrāṁ bhrīṁ bhrauṁ saḥ, salutations to Rahu, the north node: the shadow that swallows the sun in eclipse. Rahu is hunger without a floor: ambition, obsession, the unconventional road. The jaap asks that this immense pull be pointed somewhere worth going.
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 भ्रां भ्रीं भ्रौं सः राहवे नमः
Oṁ bhrāṁ bhrīṁ bhrauṁ saḥ rāhave namaḥ
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 around eclipses and on Saturdays; taken up when ambition turns obsessive, in sudden upheaval, and at unconventional turns of the road.
Word by word
- ॐoṁ
- the primordial sound
- भ्रां भ्रीं भ्रौं सःbhrāṁ bhrīṁ bhrauṁ saḥ
- the bīja (seed) syllables of this graha
- राहवेrāhave
- to Rahu
- नमःnamaḥ
- I bow, salutations
Source: Navagraha bīja-mantra tradition (jyotiṣa / graha-śānti practice)
Note: Given here in its commonly used form; wording can vary slightly between family and regional traditions.