OM NAMAH SHIVAYA - PANCHAKSHARA

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA - PANCHAKSHARA

Panchakshara as popularly known is the holy five syllables (literally holy five letters) that is the supreme mantra of all devotees of Lord shiva. As the name suggests it is made up of five syllables. This great mantra is namah shivaya (namah shivaaya). The five syllables in this mantra are na - mah - shi - vaa - ya.


THE CORE OF THE VEDAS



The Holy Five Syllables namah shivaya is the heart of vedas. It is the core of the very famous chapter of vedas that stands in the middle of the vedas - the shata rudriyam or rudra suktam. This great mantra of veda samhita while hailing the God as the Lord of everything of the worlds, salutes the God as namah shivaya cha shivataraya cha.

MEANING OF THE PANCHAKSHARA MANTRA



The meaning of this matchless mantra is abound. The puranas and the philosophical texts talk in a very detailed and elaborate manner its meaning and significance and hail its ultimateness. Here only a simple meaning is presented to start with.

The word shiva means auspiciousness and perfection. It refers to the God Who is Perfect without any kind of dependency on anything external to make It complete. Naturally because of this self-perfection, It is completely blissful and ever auspicious. (All other auspicious things are in one way or the other dependent on the external circumstances etc.)

WAYS OF CHANTING THE PANCHAKSHARI



WHILE MANY MANTRAS HAVE RESTRICTIONS AS TO WHEN AND HOW IT CAN BE CHANTED ETC., THERE IS NO SUCH RESTRICTION TO THE PANCHAKSHARA MANTRA.

Whoever you are, whenever be the time, whatever be the situation chant the Holy Five Syllables. There are no restrictions of color, creed, caste, gender or any other restrictions. All it requires is sincerity.

BENEFIT OF CHANTING THE MANTRA



THE THOUGHTS MAKE THE PERSON. THE ONE WHO HAS THE POSITIVE THOUGHTS IS HAPPIER AND THE ONE FULL OF WORRIES IS THE SAD ONE. THE THOUGHTS NOT ONLY HAVE EFFECT AT THAT MOMENT BUT THEY DEFINITELY MAKE IMPRESSION ON THE PERSONALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, WHICH COULD HAVE A VERY LONG LASTING IMPACT. IN THIS BACKGROUND WHILE THE GOOD THOUGHTS ITSELF WOULD BE MAKING THINGS BETTER, WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID ABOUT THE SUPER-POWERED MANTRAS THAT ARE RICH IN MEANING AS WELL AS ENERGY !

Given the fact that "we tend to become what we keep thinking about", when one chants the Sacred panchakshara that hails the God as Perfection and Auspicious, it would take one towards that Blissful Perfection. It takes to the union with the Supreme God. What else can be more rewarding ! Even the worst sinner would get corrected and get to the glorious states if chants this mantra piously.

Esoteric Meaning

Namaḥ Śivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondage of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Namaḥ Śivāya 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 book The Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony, Volume I defines Om Namah Shivaya as:
"This mantra has no approximate translation. The sounds related directly to the principles which govern each of the first six chakras on the spine...Earth, water, fire, air, earth. Notice that this does not refer to the chakras themselves which have a different set of seed sounds, but rather the principles which govern those chakras in their place.

Beej Aksharas

The five syllables of this Mantra na, ma shi, va, ya are beej aksharas or seed-letters of the five elements of creation; earth, water, fire, air and ether. Flesh represents the earth, blood represents water; the body heat that helps in digesting food represents fire; the prana or life giving force represents air; and the mind represents ether.

Constant repetition of these holy syllables, either verbally or mentally generates powerful spiritual vibrations that render the mind pure and one pointed directing it inwards, heaing ultimately to the awakening of the kundalini, the spiritual energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine, the muladhar, in each individual.

"Na" refers to the Gross Body (annamayakosa), "Ma" refers to the Pranic Body (pranamayakosa), "Shi" or "Chi" refers to the Mental Body (manonmayakosa), "Va" refers to the Intellectual Body (vignanamayakosa) and "Ya" refers to the Blissful Body (anandamayakosa) and "OM" or the "silence" beyond these syllables refers to the Soul or Life within.

Om Namah Shivaya can be analyzed according to the elements, chakras and colors:
OM arises at the sixth chakra, and is associated with the mind. The mind has no element. It is essentially a formless vortex of light.

NA arises at the root chakra at the base of the spine and is associated with the element of Earth and is yellow in color.

MA arises at the second chakra and is associated with the element of water and is green in color.

SHI arises at the third chakra at the navel and is associated with the element of fire and is red in color.

VA arises at the fourth chakra at the heart and is associated with the element of air and is white in color.

YA arises at the fifth chakra at the throat and is associated with the element of ether and is blue in color.