The Mantra Library

Each mantra with its real textual source, a plain translation, how it is traditionally used and how it is counted. Where a mantra is modern, or its popular attribution doesn't hold up, we say so rather than repeating it.

• Om (Praṇava)

  oṃ

  The one syllable the Yoga Sutras name directly, described in the Mandukya Upanishad as three sounds plus the silence after them.

  Upanishadic and classical yoga

• Gayatri Mantra (Savitri Mantra)

  oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ / tat savitur vareṇyaṃ / bhargo devasya dhīmahi / dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

  A Rig Vedic verse addressed to the sun, and the most widely recited Vedic mantra today. It asks for clarity of thought, not for gain.

  Vedic

• Mahamrityunjaya Mantra (Tryambakam)

  oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam / urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt

  A Rig Vedic verse to Rudra with a striking agricultural image: release from death as a ripe cucumber falls from the vine.

  Vedic, addressed to Rudra/Shiva

• Om Namah Shivaya

  oṃ namaḥ śivāya

  The pañcākṣara, or five-syllable mantra — na-maḥ-śi-vā-ya — with Om added. Short, ancient and easy to hold.

  Shaiva

• So'ham / Haṃsa (the ajapa mantra)

  so'ham — or haṃsaḥ, depending on how the breath is heard

  The mantra said to be already happening: the sound of the incoming and outgoing breath, followed rather than produced.

  Upanishadic and hatha yoga

• Asato mā sad gamaya

  asato mā sad gamaya / tamaso mā jyotir gamaya / mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya

  Three lines from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, each asking to be led from a lesser thing to a truer one.

  Upanishadic

• Saha nāv avatu (śānti pāṭha)

  oṃ saha nāv avatu / saha nau bhunaktu / saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai / tejasvi nāv adhītam astu mā vidviṣāvahai / oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

  The teacher-and-student peace chant: five requests, all of them plural, ending with 'may we not quarrel'.

  Upanishadic

• Pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam

  oṃ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate / pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

  The fullness verse: subtract the whole from the whole and the whole remains. Often translated with 'infinite' instead of 'full'.

  Upanishadic

• Om Gaṃ Gaṇapataye Namaḥ

  oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ

  The standard beginning mantra. *Gaṃ* is a seed syllable with no translation; the rest is a salutation.

  Puranic, widely used in tantric ritual

• Gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇuḥ

  gurur brahmā gurur viṣṇur gurur devo maheśvaraḥ / gurur sākṣāt paraṃ brahma tasmai śrī gurave namaḥ

  The verse recited to the teacher. Its exact textual home is less certain than commonly stated, and we say so.

  Devotional (bhakti), used across lineages

• Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu

  oṃ lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu

  The most popular closing line in modern yoga — and, honestly, modern. Its sentiment is traditional; this wording is not an ancient verse.

  Modern, widely used in contemporary yoga

• Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

  oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

  The triple peace. Traditionally the three repetitions address three sources of disturbance — not simply emphasis.

  Vedic and Upanishadic liturgy

• Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

  oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

  The twelve-syllable Vaishnava mantra, prominent in the Bhagavata Purana. Vāsudeva means the son of Vasudeva — Krishna.

  Vaishnava, Puranic

• Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

  oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

  Included because people meet it in yoga settings — but it is Buddhist, and its grammar is not what the popular translation suggests.

  Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism

• Ahaṃ brahmāsmi

  ahaṃ brahmāsmi

  One of the four 'great sayings'. It is a statement to be investigated, not an affirmation to be repeated at yourself.

  Upanishadic — one of the four mahāvākyas

• Tat tvam asi

  tat tvam asi

  Repeated nine times in a single Chandogya dialogue — a father teaching his son, by example after example.

  Upanishadic — one of the four mahāvākyas