Mantra and japa
मन्त्र जप
Also written: mantra · japa · om meaning · gayatri mantra · mahamrityunjaya · chanting hinduism · मन्त्र
Mantra is usually derived as manana-trāṇa — that which protects the one who reflects on it. In this tradition sound is not merely a vehicle for meaning: a mantra's form, its exact pronunciation and its rhythm are held to be the deity's own body in sound, which is why translation cannot substitute for it.
Om
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad analyses the single syllable into A, U, M and the silence that follows, and maps them onto waking, dream, deep sleep and the fourth. The whole of Vedānta is compressed into twelve verses on one sound.
Some of the great mantras
| Mantra | Source | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Om | Māṇḍūkya, and universally | The praṇava; prefixed to almost every other mantra |
| Gāyatrī | Ṛgveda 3.62.10 | A prayer for the quickening of the understanding; given at upanayana |
| Mahāmṛtyuñjaya | Ṛgveda 7.59.12 | To Tryambaka, for healing and release from death |
| Om Namaḥ Śivāya | Yajurveda, Śrī Rudram | The five-syllable mantra of the Śaiva tradition |
| Om Namo Nārāyaṇāya | Vaiṣṇava | The eight-syllable mantra |
| Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra | Kali-santaraṇa Upaniṣad | The sixteen names of the Gaudīya tradition |
| Śānti mantras | Various Upaniṣads | Peace invocations, threefold — for the ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika |
The three grades of japa
| Grade | Form | Held to be |
|---|---|---|
| Vācika | Aloud | The beginning; steadies attention through the ear |
| Upāṁśu | Whispered, lips moving, inaudible | More potent |
| Mānasika | Purely mental | Most potent — and hardest, because there is nothing external to hold it |
Yoga — the paths of union
Not one discipline but a family: jñāna, bhakti, karma and rāja yoga, with haṭha, laya, mantra and kriyā as the…
Svara Yoga — the science of the breath
The tradition that reads the breath itself: iḍā, piṅgalā and suṣumnā, the five tattvas carried in the flow, th…
Dhyāna — meditation
What meditation is in this tradition: the progression from dhāraṇā to samādhi, the main methods, the obstacles…
Pūjā — daily worship
The sixteen offerings of the classical rite, what image worship actually means in the tradition's own terms, a…
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.