Aum Namah Shivayah
Current mood: peaceful
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I enjoy the music of Krishna Das..... Thought I'd share the meaning of Aum Namah Shivayah.

A Hindu --aivite view on the Aum nama? --iv--ya mantra

The meaning of the Namah --iv--ya mantra was explained by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami:

The Aum namah --iv--ya mantra written in Devanagari

"Namah --iv--ya is the most holy name of God --iva, recorded at the very center of the Vedas and elaborated in the --aiva Agamas.

Na is the Lord's concealing grace, Ma is the world, --i stands for --iva, Va is His revealing grace, Ya is the soul. The five elements, too, are embodied in this ancient formula for invocation. Na is earth, Ma is water, --i is fire, V-- is air, and Ya is ether, or akasha. Many are its meanings.

Namah --ivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondages of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Namah --iv--ya 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 holy Natchintanai proclaims, Namah --iv--ya is in truth both --gama and Veda. Namah --iv--ya represents all mantras and tantras. Namah --ivaya is our souls, our bodies and possessions. Namah --iv--ya has become our sure protection."

Currently listening : Greatest Hits of the Kali Yuga By Krishna Das Release date: 07 September, 2004