The beauty of Panchakshari mantra and Mrithunjaya Mantra

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Shivaya

Dear Shiva Bhakts, Please read this excellent article by Swami

Parmarthananda-ji on these 2 mantras. You can visit

www.yogamalika.org for more lectures/articles.

Om Namah Shivaya

 

Among the 14 sciences (four Vedas, Six Vedangas, Puranas,

Dharmashastras, Mimamsa and nyaya), the Vedas are considered to be

the greatest science. And in the Vedas, the 11 sections of Sri

Rudram is considered to be the most sacred. Sri Rudram occurs in

Krishna Yajur Veda. There are seven chapters in this Veda and Sri

Rudram occurs in the fourth or middle chapter. So if Krishna Yajur

Veda is like a garland, Sri Rudram is like a pendant in the middle.

 

There are two important and well known Mantras in Sri Rudram.

Panchakshari Mantra and Mrithunjaya Mantra.

 

Panchakshari Mantra: The essence of this mantra can be found in the

middle portion - namasivaya, i.e., Siva. (In fact, Siva occurs not

only in the middle of Panchakshari mantra but also in the middle of

Sri Rudram itself). 'Nama' means salutations. 'Siva' means

auspiciousness. Siva, the name is considered to be the most

auspicious. The meaning of the mantra is - 'The one who eliminates

all inauspiciousness, to that auspicious one, I offer my

prostrations'. Chanting the Panchakshari mantra gives many benefits.

 

The Panchakshari mantra is also known as saranagati mantra.

Saranagati means surrender. We surrender to the Lord. This means we

surrender to the order of the law of the Lord - the universal law of

dharma and the universal law of karma. Every time we chant

namasivaya, we surrender to the law of karma meaning whatever

happens in our lives will take place according to the law of karma

alone. So we must never refuse or resist to accept karma phalam or

the fruit or result of our actions. Whatever happens in our lives is

Siva prasadam or Iswara prasadam. Vibudhi is not to be looked upon

as useless ash and pongal is not to be looked at with relish. We

must accept both with the same attitude - that it is Iswara

prasadam. There must be no dwesha (hatred, aversion) towards vibudhi

and no raga (liking, attachment) towards pongal. We welcome

everything we encounter in life.

 

Welcoming experiences in one thing. Accomodating experiences is

another thing, particularly with respect to family. We must accept

our family members -- husband, wife, children, etc. -- as they are.

If our child is slow or dull or retarded, we accept it as Iswara

prasadam. The acceptance of everything as karma phalam is

saranagati. The result is shanti or peace.

 

Mrithunjaya Mantra: The Mrithunjaya mantra is a beautiful, 'all-

comprehensive' mantra chanting which we get all the four

purushaartas. It is like obtaining four mangoes with one stone. (The

four purushaartas or objectives of life are dharma, artha, kama and

moksha meaning righteousness, wealth, desire and liberation). Three

beautiful descriptions of Lord Siva are given in this mantra:

Pushtivardhanam, Sugandhi and Thryambaka.

 

Pushtivardhanam: Pushti means material benefits. In the beginning

stages of life, we all seek material benefits - artha and kama.

First and foremost we want security in terms of food, clothing and

shelter. Once these basic needs are taken care of, we want some

comforts. 'Some' can be a fan or an air-conditioner, may progress to

TV, VCR or cable TV and can go all the way up to infinity. After

artha we look forward to kama. Artha and kama together is called

pushti. So Rudram says if you are interested in basic needs and

material benefits, come to me.

 

The Vedas say pushti alone is not enough. There is something

subtler. Also material benefits are like planes and trains. They are

characterised by arrival and departure. Money and people will follow

us only in this janma. After we reach heaven (presumably), were we

to write a letter to our kith and kin, we will likely get the

response - 'We have become used to your absence. You please remain

there'. So after death, what will help us? Punya karma alone will

help us.

 

Sugandhi: After artha and kama comes dharma. Sugandhi means

fragrance. Lord Siva is Sugandhi, the fragrant one. Here fragrance

does not mean physical fragrance like that of perfume. The real

fragrance of a person is his character. While the fragrance of

perfume spreads a few feet, fragrance in the form of noble character

spreads all around. The Vedas itself alludes to this - when a tree

has blossomed, its fragrance will spread all around.

 

Lord Siva is the embodiment of dharma. So when we worship Siva, we

get the benefit of dharma. We are inspired to perform selfless

actions and to serve society.

 

Thryambaka: Thryambaka means one who has three eyes. We all know

that Lord Siva is supposed to have three eyes. Various significances

or interpretations are given for this. When Lord Siva is considered

in the vishwaroopa (universal) form, the three eyes are the sun,

moon and fire. These three are chosen because they are the

illuminators of the world. During daytime the sun is the

illuminator, during nighttime the moon is the illuminator and in the

olden days, during new moon days, fire was used for illumination in

the night.

 

In the second interpretation, two eyes are material eyes through

which we experience the material world. The third eye represents

atma gnana (knowledge of the atma or self) through which we

can 'see' the higher reality. In a well-known story in the Puranas,

Lord Siva burns Manmatha with His third eye. Manmatha or Kamadeva is

the god of desire. The significance of the story is we have to burn

all our desires through gnana. Knowledge alone can destroy our

desires. Manmatha churns the mind and makes it restless. If we

worship Siva, he will bless us with the third eye meaning we will

progress spiritually.

 

A third interpretation may be found in a story, a traditional story

of the battle of wits between the devas and the asuras. The asuras

built three cities. These cities were designed by Maya, the

architect of the asuras and were built out of gold, silver and iron

respectively. The asuras became very powerful and started harassing

the devas. The devas prayed to Lord Siva for help. Thinking that

Siva could not single-handedly destroy the asuras, the devas offered

to contribute their mite and built a chariot.

 

The earth itself became the body of the chariot. The sun and moon

became the wheels of the chariot. The Himalayas became the bow,

Vasuki the snake was used as the bow string and Lord Vishnu offered

himself as the arrow. Lord Brahma took on the role of the

charioteer. The entire ocean was used as the quiver to hold the

arrows and the four Vedas became the horses to draw the chariot. The

call for battle was given. Siva simply opened His third eye and even

before the show could begin, it was over.

 

The three cities represent sharirathryam (the three bodies - gross

body, subtle body and casual body), prapanchathryam (the three

worlds - gross world, subtle world and casual world), gunathryam

(the three gunas - satva, rajas and tamas), avasthathryam (the three

states of experience - waking, dream and deep sleep), etc. So to

become trigunaatita (to go beyond the three gunas) we must worship

Siva.

 

Siva gives moksha purushaartha. Many people are afraid of moksha

because moksha means freedom. We want to hold on to our near and

dear ones because of strong attachment. So we must pray to Lord Siva

to make us a ripe fruit so that we can get detached from Worldly

attachments. We must grow like the 'vellaripazham' fruit (cucumber).

This fruit grows on a creeper and being heavy, grows on the ground

itself. When it becomes ripe, it detaches itself from the creeper;

rather the creeper comes off. The difference between a vellaripazham

fruit and an ordinary fruit is the latter, upon becoming ripe,

seperates itself from the tree by falling to the ground whereas in

the case of the former, the creeper falls off the fruit. The creeper

represents family and other worldly attachments and we are akin to

the fruit. As we progress spiritually, worldly attachments will drop

off on their own. There is no need for us to ask 'When will they

drop off'? Thus we see that the Mrithyunjaya mantra gives all the

four purushaartas of the dharma, artha, kama and moksha.

 

'I worship the three-eyed, fragrant nourisher (Siva). May I be freed

from mortality like the cucumber from the creeper. May I not go away

from immortality.