Let our time in Nature help us renew our spiritual essence, and liberate us from our troubles.
Shiva the meditator, cultivating spiritual essence, freed from bondage,
and not lost from enlightened happiness.
and not lost from enlightened happiness.
.
Maha Mrityeonjaya Mantra
by Hein Braat.
Meaning for daily life.
(This was copied from the page in front entitled "tri-ambakam yajamahe", and given a new url and page title. To help people find it after viewing Hein Braat’s amazing Youtube recording. This page is no different to the page in front.)
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे
aum tri ambakam yajāmahe
aum third eye we honour
spiritual insight
सुगन्धिं पुष्टि वर्धनम्
sugand-him pushti vard-hanam
spiritual essence nourish cultivate, gardener
May we nourish and cultivate our spiritual essence.
उर्वारुमिव बन्धनान्
uvārukam iva band-hanāt
large cucumber like a from bondage
Like a gardener cultivating the cucumber, freeing it from the bondage (of choking weeds.)
मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥
mṛityor mukshīya ma amṛitat
from great may I free, (&) not eternal
loss be released, (lost from) happiness
(Note on pronunciation. A dot under a letter or bar above indicates proper pronunciation of the sacred language. Please read my page “Pronouncing the Sanskrit.”)
The Song.
I trust you enjoyed the remarkable recording on Youtube of Hein Braat chanting this mantra. There it is spelled “Maha Mrityeonjaya Mantra” (maha mṛtyuñ jaya in IAST). On Hein Braat’s recording, the mantra lyrics are spelled thus –
om Thryambhakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanaan
Mrithyor Mukshiya Mamrithaath.
I provide discussion of the translation below, with meaning for daily life.
Hein Braat chanting is slow, easy to follow, and with enough repetitions to help us learn the mantra. And incredibly atmospheric. The lyrics are visible throughout the recording. He spent some time learning correct pronunciation of Sanskrit mantras. Available at -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmsPdQlEy2c
The best song I have heard for this mantra was in a Deva Premal concert in 2019. Manose the flute player sang it. This is a good melody, and you can hear a sample of it at –
https://devapremalmiten.com/a-deeper-light/ track 7
The Mantra Discussed.
Lines 1 and 2
aum tri ambakam yajāmahe
aum third eye we honour
spiritual insight
sugandhim pushti vardhanam
spiritual essence nourish cultivate
“Let us honour and value spiritual insight. Let us cultivate and nourish our spiritual essence.”
Our spiritual insight = tri-ambakam (third eye) is our ability to see clearly into the troubles that beset us in daily life. When we see deep within to the core of our Being, and really see the true nature of our suffering. Then we can come to a radical solution of lasting benefit. This is something of great value that we can honour = yajamahe. Instead of just allowing impatience, ill will or despair to spoil our spiritual insight = tri-ambakam (third eye.) (Also spelled ‘tryambakam.)
Lines 2 and 3.
vardhanam uvarukam iva bandhanāt
growing cucumber, like from bondage
(of choking weed)
An important part of spiritual practice involves cultivating and growing our spiritual Qualities, such as tolerance, contentment, appreciation, confidence, and good will. In this, we are like a grower = vardhanam, who is cultivating a cucumber or melon. And growing the vegies to be big. In the recordings I’ve heard, the u of uvarukamiva is much prolonged, and uru means big. As gardeners, we can do this by freeing the cucumber from the bondage = bandhanāt (bandhanaat) of choking weeds.
Those pain driven and pain filled thoughts that assail us in times of trouble, they are like weeds proliferating in our garden. They are choking our sugandhim = spiritual essence, and preventing any growth at all, let alone healthy growth. They are sabotaging our efforts to cultivate = pushti vardanam our spiritual essence, and our spiritual insight. In fact, spiritual insight = triambakam needs a mind that is quiet, focussed and clear. Mental noise is a major enemy of spiritual insight = triambakam (tryambakam.)
Line 4.
mrityor mukshiya ma amritat
from great (may I be) not (lost eternal
loss free from) happiness.
“May I be free from great loss, and not lost from eternal happiness.”
By “great loss” I mean the suffering that we have to endure when troubles beset us, and we are unable to let go of our problems and become unburdened. This experience is a great loss of our potential happiness, peace, good will, enthusiasm and clarity. So our mantra says – “May I be free from = mukshiya such great loss = mrityor = mṛtyu”, for it is an awful way to live our precious lives.
Our mantra is called the mṛtyuñ jaya mantra (mrityunjaya mantra.) Where mṛtyuñ jaya = success in (avoiding) great loss (ñ = ny). jaya is in the vocative form, so –
- mṛtyuñ jaya can mean “May we succeed in avoiding great loss, as our calling or vocation in life.”
Our mantra also says “May I be not lost from eternal happiness”. This eternal happiness = amritat is the happiness of the enlightened state. When we can perceive the enlightened state as being permanent, then we know it is always there. It never dies, nor fails, nor disintegrates, just because we have fallen into another slump, yet again. It is always waiting for us, calling out to us. This perception, that happiness is still available to us, is the first step in the healing process. It’s the first step out of suffering.
ma amritāt : the mantra actually goes ma amritāt = no eternal happiness. Mantras are composed to be short, succinct, with all unnecessary words omitted. We really need to add words to mantra to make sense of them. The right choice of additions indicates proper understanding of spiritual practice.
ma amritāt (mā’amṛtat) can have opposite meanings -
- ma amritāt can mean – “There is no happiness for me.” This is our experience when despair is in control.
- ma amritāt can also mean - “I am never permanently separated from happiness.” This is our experience when hope is restored.
Thus ma amritāt (mā’amṛtat) is a useful reflection for us. It has opposite meanings depending on our state of consciousness. Spiritual insight = triambakam (tryambakam) will help us see these two opposites, and to choose correctly between these two options. Then we can move from the experience of despair to the experience of hope and determination
Alternatively, we can be caught up in just wishing for the pain to go, and just waiting for happiness to be restored. Just being in a passive and helpless state. This is part of the problem of suffering.
But we are much better off taking personal responsibility for our own recovery. This is the essence = sugandhim of spiritual practice. There is much we can do, in learning skills and then practising them. And our mantra is about cultivating and nurturing = pushti vardanam, like a gardener growing the melon = vardanam uvarukam-iva. Cultivating our peace and happiness, cultivating enjoyment, appreciation, good will and contentment. These in turn will stabilise the mind, and allow spiritual insight = triambakam (tryambakam) to arise. Then we can make much better decisions, such as the decision to cultivate these beautiful spiritual Qualities. And become free of pain driven and pain filled thoughts.
I wrote this website to share the Wisdom of the East, and explore how Hindu and Buddhist themes might help us in the themes and goals of mantras like this one.
Derivation Details.
Let’s check the dictionary listings for the words of our mantra, for spellings and derivation of my translation. Please note : a dot under a letter or bar above it indicates proper pronunciation of sacred language. Please read my webpage “pronouncing the Sanskrit.”
maha mrityunjaya mantra which is the name for our mantra. It is properly spelled mahā mṛtyuñ-jaya, where ñ = ny, and we point the tongue up to the mid palette to pronounce ṛ Unfortunately, the diacritics are usually omitted in publication, leading to changes in spelling and pronunciation of the sacred language. Hein Braat spells it Mrityeonjaya.
tri-amabakam is spelled tryambakam on many websites. tri = three, but is often spelled try as a prefix in Sanskrit, which can be resolved to tri. But tryambakam might be mispronounced as tray-ambakam. I prefer the spelling tri-ambakam, because we use this spelling ‘tri-’ in English words like tricycle, trident, triannual. Please remember that the letter ‘i’ in Sanskrit is always pronounced as in hit and bit, and never as in hike, bite, height or byte.
tri-ambakam. ambaka = eye, tri = third. The two physical eyes see the physical world. The third eye sees things spiritual. Thus tri-ambakam can mean “spiritual insight”. Traditionally, this third eye is located in the forehead, which is often decorated in Indian customs. I provide a header image of a meditator seated on the tiger skin. This is Shiva the meditator, with the third eye depicted in the forehead. triambakam (tryambakam) is another Name for Shiva.
yajāmahe is the first person plural of the root word yaj = honour, value. For theistic purposes, it also means “worship”, as in “we worship Lord Shiva.”
sugandhim is the accusative form of the noun sugandhi = fragrance or pious. In the context of this mantra, sugandhim can mean the essence of spirituality, the purity or the fragrance of it.
urvārukam urvārukam is the accusative form of the noun urvāruka = cucumber or melon fruit. iva = like.
bandhanāt is the ablative form of the noun bandhana = binding, capturing bondage. bandhanāt means “away from bandhana,” away from bondage.
mrityor is a lot easier on the vocal chords than mṛtyoḥ, which is the dictionary spelling. mṛtyoḥ is the ablative of mṛtyu = death, and means “away from death or from death.” In the context of our mantra, this suggests the death of something of great value. For us, it can mean “great loss”. So mrityor can mean “away from great loss.” When mṛtyoḥ is followed by jaya, it is respelled mṛtyuñ to improve the sound of the combo : mṛtyuñjaya.
mukshīya is the first person singular form of the root word muc = to liberate, release. So mukshiya can mean “May I be liberated and released (from …)”
amṛitat. amṛtatā and amṛtatvam both mean “eternal, eternity”. In context of our mantra, this suggests the eternal happiness of the enlightened state.
ma = “not”. Mantra is written to be brief and concise, with unnecessary words omitted. We often need to add words to make sense of our mantra. Thus ma is better understood to mean “not lost from” in this context.
ma amiṛtat, mā’mŗtat When the previous word ends in a, and the next word begins in a, the two words are run together and the two ‘a’ are replaced by one long ā. This gives the proper spelling mā’mŗtat. Listen to how Deval Premal pronounces it on -
-https://devapremalmiten.com/a-deeper-light/ track 7.
A Theistic Interpretation.
Our mantra can also be interpreted in terms of God worship. Shiva is a most common Name for God in India, and is often portrayed with the Divine third eye. So tri-ambakam (tryambakam) can mean “God the all-seeing all-knowing one”. Then our mantra reads thus, using dictionary spelling :
“We worship (yajamahe) God the all seeing one (triambakam) who frees us (mukṣīya) from death (mṛtyoḥ) and gives us eternal life (amṛtatvam, amṛtatā). Just like (iva) the fruit (urvāruka) that falls from attachment (bandhanāt)”
In this, God is the gardener (vardhana) Who cultivates (puṣṭi) the cucumber (urvāruka), and the fragrance (sugandhim) of the flower which attracts pollinating insects.
Th cucumber fruit (urvāruka) can remain attached to the withered vine and look quite prominent, long after the leaves are all dead. The seeds in it can grow into new life, and be nourished by the fruit flesh when it rots. But for this new life to occur, the fruit must first fall from attachment (bandhanāt) to the earth.
Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 says -
“Just as worn-out garments are shed, and the person accepts new ones, so also are bodies cast off when worn out, and the soul (dehin) enters a new body (BG 2. 22).”
“The soul (dehin = dehī) is eternal and resides in the body (dehe = deha) of every-one (BG 2. 30)”
But for this to happen, we need to let go of the old worn out body when our time comes. The equivalent Christian scripture is in John 3 : 16 –
“Who-ever believes in this shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
God helps those who help themselves. Shall we believe in our ability to let go of pain and problems, cultivate peace and enjoyment, and value spiritual insight?
Notes on Spelling and Pronunciation.
In Sanskrit mantra, the individual words get run together into a long string or euphonic combination, called sandi in Sanskrit. The ending of each word, called the declension or inflexion, is changed in sandi. In addition, the inflexion also changes according to the grammatical case. In addition, mantra recitation is an oral tradition, and words get pronounced differently to the scholastic spelling in the dictionary.
In addition, the superscripts and subscripts, also called diacritics, tell us how to pronounce the Sanskrit word. But they are usually omitted when the Sanskrit word is published, and we lose that info. So people use other spellings to try to indicate the proper pronunciation.
Inaddition, the pronunciation is tri-ambakam, yet the dictionary spelling both triambakam and tryambakam for this word. The dictionary explains by saying tryambakam can be resolved to triambakam or triyambakam.
All this greatly complicates the spelling on this website.
For this mantra, I use italics for the dictionary spelling, and bold for the Kirtan words, and omit most diacritics from my Discussion of this mantra.
To access other pages on this website, about spiritual practice or meditation training,
go to the menu at the page head. Click onto the “more” button,
or the + next to it. Then click onto more + buttons.
My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups
go to the menu at the page head. Click onto the “more” button,
or the + next to it. Then click onto more + buttons.
My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups
