Kali Mantra

​The Great Death Conquiring Mantra

The Great Death Conquering Mantra is a powerful verse that helps one to accept the impermanence of life in a temporal form and to let go of attachments as easily as a ripe fruit falls from the vine. It is one of the greatest challenges to overcome the fear of death and all the other fears which are in a way a manifestation of the same fear of death and the unknown. This mantra is said to not only abate any fears related to death or loss of ego related self but to also relieve or heal the practitioner of various ailments. This mantra is also an invocation of Shiva, the first yogi.

Traditional Chanting

Singing

                   
​ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे
सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्
मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥

​Om tryambakaṁ yajāmahe
Sugandhiṁ puṣhṭivardhanam
Urvārukamiva bandhanān
Mṛityormukṣhīiya māmṛitāt

Reverence to the three eyed one (Consciousness/Shiva)
Recognizing that ultimate reality is everywhere and in All like sweet fragrance
May I be released from sufferings and attachments, easily as a ripe fruit drops
And realize my immortal, free, and infinite Self
​

Devata - Personification
Shiva is called Mahadev, or the God of Gods, for he represents pure consciousness itself. Forms, nature, and ideas arise because there is consciousness. Consciousness is eternal and unaffected by what arises within it. As the primal consciousness, aware of all things, and free of affect of all things, Shiva is the first and perfect yogi, and the first teacher. He is also your deepest self. In this representation as the Maha Mrityunjaya, he exudes a peaceful and blissful state, pouring water over himself, seated in meditation, chanting and gesturing the Apana mudra, which is said to purify assisting the elimination channels and aids digestive ability, perhaps representing the inner processing which usually must occur for us to release our attachments to the world. 

 Yantra - Geometric Vehicle
All that manifests is formed from the five elements of nature. We commonly call these as earth, water, fire, air, & ether.. but we should try to connect to an even deeper level of understanding. Obviously things in our physical reality are not all just a a mixture of these things. Rather, the patterns of dynamicism or behavior through which these elements operate are laws of the manifest universe. The five pointed star represents Shiva's mastery over these five elements and the three circles of lotus petals the three fold nature of existence such as the cycles of energy, space, and time, all implicating 3 dimensions.