Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
The Rig Vedic mantra to Shiva recited for health and for release from fear. The words, the meaning, and when it is traditionally taken up.
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्। उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात्॥
Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pushti-vardhanam, urvarukam iva bandhanan mrityor mukshiya ma amritat.
What it says
We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who nourishes all beings; as a ripe cucumber is freed from its stem, may we be freed from death — not from immortality. The image is of a fruit that falls when it is ready: release, not rupture.
When it is taken up
For illness and recovery, before surgery, in Sade Sati, and when Saturn, Rahu or the 8th house is heavy in a chart. The usual count is 108 a day, often for 40 days; a fuller observance is 125,000 recitations with a havan at the end, done under guidance.
A word of care
It is recited for strength and peace of mind alongside treatment, never instead of it. No mantra replaces a doctor.
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