Panchaksharamantra

The Panchaksharamantra ( Sanskrit : पञ्चाक्षरमन्त्र pañcākṣaramantra m. "Five-syllable mantra") is the most important mantra of the Shaiva and is used to worship the Hindu god Shiva .

Sound

Om namah Shivaya

The Panchaksharamantra is:

नमः शिवाय

namaḥ Śivāya

namah Shivaya

"Honor Shiva"

The mantra can also be spoken in reverse: Shivaya namah , and is often sung together with the mystical syllable Om : Om namah Shivaya , which is called sadaksharamantra ("six-syllable mantra") in Shivapurana .

interpretation

The Panchaksharamantra is the root mantra (mulamantra) of Shiva worshipers. The five "holy" syllables of the mantra stand for Maya , the Anavamala (cause of karmic action), Shiva, Shakti and the soul . The five number is sacred to Shiva and many Shivamantras are therefore also five syllable.

The Indian philosopher Shankara (around 800) wrote a six- stanza acrostic , the Shivapanchaksharastotra , in which he interprets the mantra mystically. Each of the five first stanzas begins with one of the five sacred syllables and ends with the Panchaksharamantra.

Pop Culture

The German singer Nina Hagen released the music album Om Namah Shivay in 1999 .

credentials

1. ↑ Ludo Locher: Mantras in the Śivapurāṇa in: Harvey P. Alper (ed.): Understanding Mantras (p. 180). State University of New York Press 1989. ISBN 0-88706-598-8
2. ↑ Jan Gonda: The Younger Hinduism . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1963. (p. 242)
3. ↑ Jan Gonda: The Younger Hinduism . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1963. (p. 205)