Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra
Rig Veda 7.59.12 — the great death-conquering mantra
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहेसुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात्
oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahesugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanamurvārukam iva bandhanānmṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt
What does the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra mean?
We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant and nourishing. As a ripe cucumber is released from its stem, may we be freed from death — not from life. The image is precise: the fruit is not torn away but falls when ready, and the prayer is for release from fear of death rather than from mortality itself.
When it is chanted
Chanted during illness, before surgery, through a long recovery, and for the protection of someone absent. Formal anushthans count 125,000 recitations concluded with a dashansh hawan.
Maha Mrityunjay jaap at Kashi
Performed at the temple by a verified pandit, with the sankalp in your name and gotra.
See these pujas