Om Tryambakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan
Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat
AUM/OM:
Absolute reality. That which encompasses the three states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, represented by AUM, the three levels of gross, subtle, causal, the three levels of conscious, unconscious, subconscious, and the three universal processes of coming, being, and going. Absolute silence beyond the three levels is the silence after AUM.
Tryambakam:
Trya means three. Ambakam means eyes. It means the three eyes of the Absolute, which are the processes of creation, existence, and dissolution, as well as the other triads, which are part of AUM. The three "eyes" means experiencing these three stages and triads at one time, from the higher, all pervasive vantage point of the Absolute.
Yajamahe:
We rejoice in meditation on all of this.
Sugandhim:
Means fragrance. Like a spreading fragrance, all of this permeates the whole of existence, while at the same time being that existence
Pushtivardhanam:
Means that which sustains and nourishes all. Thus, the fragrance that permeates all is the sustainer of all beings, while also the essence of all beings.
Urvarukamiva:
Urva means big and powerful. Arukam means disease, like the spiritual diseases of ignorance and untruth, which are like the death of Wisdom or Truth.
Bandhanan:
Means bound down, as in bound down to the ignorance and untruth.
Mrityor:
Means ignorance and untruth.
Mukshiya:
Means liberation from the cycles of physical, mental, and spiritual death.
Maamritat:
Means please give me rejuvenating nectar, so as to have this liberation, like the process of severing the cucumber from the creeping vine.
A noticeable level of mantra siddhi (power of the mantra) is said to come with 125,000 repetitions of a mantra. To complete the equivalent of 1250 rounds of a mala, or a total of 125,000 repetitions of Mahamrityunjaya mantra, will take this amount of time:
| Rounds per day | Time per day | Total days | Appx. months |
| 1 | 18 min | 1250 | 42 |
| 2 | 36 min | 625 | 21 |
| 3 | 54 min | 417 | 14 |
| 4 | 1 hr, 12 min | 313 | 10 1/2 |
| 5 | 1 hr, 30 min | 250 | 8 1/2 |
| 6 | 1 hr, 48 min | 209 | 7 |
| 7 | 2 hr, 6 min | 179 | 6 |
