Om Namah Shivaya: Meaning
Om Namah Shivaya is the five-syllable (Panchakshari) mantra of Shiva. Though only three words long, it is explained in many ways in Shaiva tradition. Below are the plain meaning of each word and the best-known symbolic readings, marked as such.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ।
oṁ namaḥ śivāya ।
ॐ oṁ the sacred syllable Om नमः namaḥ salutation, bowing शिवाय śivāya to Shiva, the auspicious one ॐ, कल्याणकारी शिव को नमस्कार है।
Om, salutation to Shiva, the auspicious one.
Plain sense: "Om, salutation to Shiva." Namah means bowing or salutation; Shivaya means "to Shiva", and the word shiva itself means auspicious, kind, the one who brings welfare.
The five syllables: without Om, the mantra has five syllables, na-mah-shi-va-ya, hence "Panchakshari". The words namah shivaya appear in the Shri Rudram of the Yajurveda.
Interpretive notes: many Shaiva texts link the five syllables to the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, space), and the Shiva Panchakshara Stotram gives one verse to each syllable. Another traditional reading takes namah ("not mine") as letting go of the ego before the auspicious one. These readings are traditional but vary between schools.
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- Sources
- Om Namah Shivaya, Wikipedia (2026)