Aum namah Sivaya

Aum namah Śivāya is among the foremost Vedic mantras. It means "adoration to Śiva", and is called Panchakshara, or "five-letters". Śaivite mystics hold that within its celestial tones and hues resides all of the intuitive knowledge of Śaivism. The Aum namah Śivāya mantra first appears (yet without the Aum) in the fifth anuvaka of the Vedic hymn to Rudra (an earlier aspect of Śiva) in the Śri Rudram.

A Hindu Śaivite view on the Aum namah Śivaya mantra

The meaning of the Namah Śivāya mantra was explained by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami:

Na is the Lord's concealing grace, Ma is the world, Śi stands for Śiva, Va is His revealing grace, Ya is the soul. The five elements, too, are embodied in this ancient formula for invocation. Na is earth, Ma is water, Śi is fire, Va is air, and Ya is ether, or akasha. Many are its meanings.

Namah Śivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondages of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Namah Śivaya quells the instinct, cuts through the steel bands and turns this intellect within and on itself, to face itself and see its ignorance. Sages declare that mantra is life, that mantra is action, that mantra is love and that the repetition of mantra, japa, bursts forth wisdom from within.

The holy Natchintanai proclaims, Namah Śivaya is in truth both Āgama and Veda. Namah Śivaya represents all mantras and tantras. Namah Śivaya is our souls, our bodies and possessions. Namah Śivaya has become our sure protection."

Pronunciation

See also

• Śiva
• Shri Rudram Chamakam
• Yajurveda