A guide to sacred words
Explore the words, translations and deeper spiritual meanings behind the world's sacred mantras, prayers and chants.
In short
A mantra is a sacred sound, word or phrase repeated in meditation and prayer. Each entry below gives the original script, transliteration, a short English meaning, the deeper traditional meaning, its tradition and language — with a link to the full mantra page.
The Sanskrit word mantra is commonly understood as a sacred utterance, sound, word or phrase used in meditation, prayer and spiritual practice. Traditionally, mantras may be recited aloud, whispered or repeated silently.
A widely repeated explanation derives mantra from manas (mind) together with the instrumental suffix -tra (instrument or tool) — "an instrument of the mind". This gloss is traditional and useful, and it appears in classical commentarial literature, but modern Sanskritists treat the etymology with more caution than popular summaries usually admit. Read it as a teaching image rather than a settled historical fact.
In practice, what a mantra is varies by tradition: a Vedic verse, a divine name, a seed syllable with no sentence meaning, a Buddhist dharani, or a phrase of refuge. See what is a mantra? and what is a bija (seed) mantra?
Start here
Hindu · Vedic · Sanskrit
ॐ
Om is a sacred syllable associated in Hindu traditions with ultimate reality, consciousness and the primordial sound of existence. It has no literal sentence translation.
Explore Om (Aum) →Hindu · Vedic · Sanskrit
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Commonly translated as “I bow to Shiva” — a sacred invocation of Shiva and of the divine consciousness Shiva represents.
Explore Om Namah Shivaya →Buddhist · Sanskrit
ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ
There is no single exact English translation. Often evoked through the image of the jewel and the lotus, it is strongly associated with Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) and compassion in Tibetan Buddhism.
Explore Om Mani Padme Hum →Hindu · Vedic · Sanskrit
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
A Vedic prayer to the radiant light of the sun as the source of consciousness, asking that it illuminate and awaken understanding.
Explore Gayatri Mantra →Hindu · Vedic · Sanskrit
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण
A devotional invocation calling on the divine names Hare, Krishna and Rama; central to Gaudiya Vaishnava practice.
Explore Hare Krishna Maha Mantra →Hindu · Vedic · Sanskrit
सो ऽहम्
Traditionally rendered “I am That” — a contemplative phrase paired with the breath, pointing to the identity of the self with ultimate reality.
Explore So Hum →Complete directory
Every mantra, prayer and chant currently in the OhMantra library — 29 entries with original text, transliteration, meaning, tradition and intention. Each links to its full page with pronunciation guidance and ways to listen.
Oṃ amidewa hrīḥ
Meaning: Om — a bow to Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light.
Amitabha is the Buddha of the Pure Land tradition. His mantra — and his name itself, chanted as 'Namo Amituofo' or 'Namu Amida Butsu' — is one of the most widely chanted practices in East Asian Buddhism.
אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ גְּדֻלַּת יְמִינְךָ תַּתִּיר צְרוּרָה
Ana b'khoach, g'dulat y'mincha, tatir tz'rurah.
Meaning: We beg You, with the great strength of Your right hand, release the bound one.
Ana Bekoach is considered one of the most powerful prayers in the Jewish mystical tradition. Attributed to the 1st-century sage Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah, it encodes the sacred 42-letter Name of God within its seven verses, each verse corresponding to a day of the week and a divine attribute (chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, malchut). Reciting it is said to open channels of blessing, dissolve obstacles, and restore the flow of light into the soul.
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय
Oṃ asato mā sad gamaya
Meaning: Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Om, peace, peace, peace.
Notice what the prayer does not ask for: it asks for no possession, no outcome, no rescue. It asks only to be led — a request for direction rather than comfort. The darkness here is not evil but simply not-yet-seeing, and the light is the recognition of what was always true.
गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
Meaning: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond — awakening, so it is.
The Heart Sutra spends its length dismantling every certainty — no form, no feeling, no attainment — and then ends not with an argument but with this mantra. It is what remains when the analysis is complete: not a conclusion, but a direction. The going is the arriving.
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
Meaning: We meditate upon the radiant divine light of that adorable sun of spiritual consciousness; may it awaken our intuitive faculties.
The Gayatri asks that the same intelligence which lights the sun also light the mind. It is a prayer not for information, but for the direct clarity by which truth is recognized.
ॐ तारे तुत्तारे तुरे स्वाहा
Oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā
Meaning: O Tara, swift one, swift protectress — so it is.
Green Tara is called upon for swift protection from the eight great fears — outer and inner. Her name means 'she who ferries across,' the one who carries beings from suffering to the other shore.
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः
Gurur Brahmā Gurur Viṣṇuḥ
Meaning: The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, the guru is the great lord Shiva. The guru is truly the supreme reality itself — to that revered teacher, I bow.
The word guru means 'dispeller of darkness' — gu (darkness) and ru (that which removes). The verse does not deify a person; it honors the function of teaching wherever it appears. Whatever removes ignorance — a person, a book, a hardship, a moment of silence — is acting as guru.
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
Meaning: Om Ah Hum — O Vajra Guru of the Lotus, grant blessings and accomplishments, Hum.
Chanted for blessings, protection, and the removal of obstacles — outer, inner, and secret. Especially recommended in turbulent times.
Śrī Guru Charaṇa Saroja Raja / Nija Manu Mukuru Sudhāri / Baranaũ Raghubara Bimala Jasu / Jo Dāyaku Phala Chāri … (forty verses composed by Tulsidas)
Meaning: A forty-verse hymn praising Hanuman's virtues, deeds, and unshakeable devotion to Ram.
To recite the Chalisa is to bathe in Hanuman's presence — to draw close to the qualities of devotion and courage he embodies.
ॐ हनुमते नमः
Oṃ Hanumate Namaḥ
Meaning: I bow to Hanuman.
To chant Hanuman's name is to remember that true strength is inseparable from love. Devotion, not force, is the source of his power.
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Meaning: O divine energy of the Lord, O Krishna, O Rama — please engage me in your loving service.
The Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the central practice of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Its aim is not intellectual understanding but the awakening of pure love — bhakti — through the sound of the divine names.
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु
Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
Meaning: May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may my thoughts, words, and actions contribute to that happiness and freedom for all.
A universal prayer that extends care beyond one's own life to every being, in every world. Chanted at the close of yoga classes worldwide.
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे
Oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant and nourishing all beings. As the ripe cucumber falls easily from its vine, may we be freed from the bondage of death — not from immortality.
The mantra does not ask to avoid death, but to be liberated into the deathless. It is chanted for healing, for the dying, and for the practitioner's own liberation from fear.
तद्यथा ॐ भैषज्ये भैषज्ये महाभैषज्ये भैषज्यराजा समुद्गते स्वाहा
Tadyathā oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye mahā-bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajya-rāja samudgate svāhā
Meaning: Thus: Om, healer, healer, great healer, king of healing — arise, so it is.
The Medicine Buddha (Bhaishajyaguru) is the great physician of the awakened lineage. His mantra is chanted for the healing of body, mind, and karma — for oneself and for others.
ॐ
Oṃ (A-U-M)
Meaning: The primordial vibration — the sound of all that is.
The Mandukya Upanishad devotes itself entirely to this one syllable. Om is not a word about reality — it is said to be the vibration of reality itself. Chanting it is less an act of speaking than of listening to the sound that is already sounding.
ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः
Oṃ Duṃ Durgāyai Namaḥ
Meaning: I bow to Durga — the invincible one.
Durga's protection is fierce and unwavering. Chant this mantra when strength is needed to face what would otherwise overwhelm.
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
Oṃ Gaṃ Gaṇapataye Namaḥ
Meaning: I bow to Ganapati — the lord of removal of obstacles.
Chanted at the beginning of any new endeavor to clear the path — outwardly and within. The bija 'gam' concentrates Ganesha's essence into a single vibration.
ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ
Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
Meaning: The jewel in the lotus — an invocation of the compassion of Avalokiteshvara.
The Dalai Lama teaches that the six syllables purify the six realms of suffering. To chant Om Mani Padme Hum is to remember that compassion (the jewel) and wisdom (the lotus) are not two.
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya
Meaning: I bow to Shiva — the auspicious one.
The five syllables (na-mah-śi-vā-ya) are said to correspond to the five elements. To chant Om Namah Shivaya is to bow to the sacred within every element of one's own being.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Oṃ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Meaning: I bow to the divine Vasudeva — the sacred that indwells all beings.
The dvadashakshara — twelve-syllable mantra — is chanted as a heart-opening surrender to the divine indwelling within oneself and all beings.
ॐ श्रीं महालक्ष्म्यै नमः
Oṃ Śrīṃ Mahālakṣmyai Namaḥ
Meaning: I bow to the great Lakshmi — the goddess of abundance.
Lakshmi's abundance is not merely material. She is invoked for the ease, beauty, and generosity that arise when scarcity releases its grip on the heart.
श्री राम जय राम जय जय राम
Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma
Meaning: Glorious Ram, victory to Ram, victory, victory to Ram.
The tradition holds that the name of Ram is not different from Ram himself. Gandhi carried this mantra through his life and spoke it as his final word. It is chanted for steadiness in turbulence — the name repeated until the mind stops arguing and simply rests.
ॐ ऐं सरस्वत्यै नमः
Oṃ Aiṃ Sarasvatyai Namaḥ
Meaning: I bow to Saraswati.
The bija 'aim' is the seed of clear speech and inspired thought. Chant this mantra when settling into study, creative work, or teaching.
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת מַלְאֲכֵי עֶלְיוֹן
Shalom aleichem, malachei ha-sharet, malachei Elyon,
Meaning: Peace be upon you, ministering angels, angels of the Most High — from the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Shalom Aleichem transforms the home into a sanctuary. Sung softly around the Shabbat table, it acknowledges the presence of the sacred in the ordinary — the ministering angels of peace who bless a home filled with warmth, gratitude, and rest. The word 'shalom' itself means far more than 'peace' — it means wholeness, completeness, and the harmony that arises when heaven and earth meet.
ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः
Oṃ sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ
Meaning: May all be happy. May all be free from illness. May all see what is good. May no one suffer. Om, peace, peace, peace.
Shanti is chanted three times for a reason: peace from disturbances of the body, of the surrounding world, and of one's own mind. The prayer widens the circle of concern until it includes everyone — and in that widening, the heart itself becomes peaceful.
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad.
Meaning: Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
The Shema is more than a statement — it is a meditation on oneness. To truly hear it is to remember that behind the many appearances of the world, there is one unified Source. Chanting the Shema slowly, with the eyes closed and the final word 'Echad' extended, is a classic Jewish contemplative practice — a moment of returning the whole self to the awareness of God's unity.
सो ऽहम्
So Ham
Meaning: I am that.
So Hum is the mantra of the breath itself. 'So' is the natural sound of the in-breath; 'hum' the natural sound of the out-breath. To notice this is to notice that the mantra is already being chanted, silently, all day long.
Oṃ vajrasattva samayam anupālaya, vajrasattva tvenopatiṣṭha, dṛḍho me bhava, sutoṣyo me bhava, supoṣyo me bhava, anurakto me bhava, sarva siddhiṃ me prayaccha, sarva karmasu ca me cittaṃ śreyaḥ kuru hūṃ, ha ha ha ha hoḥ, bhagavan sarva tathāgata vajra mā me muñca, vajrī bhava mahā samaya sattva āḥ
Meaning: An invocation of Vajrasattva as the embodiment of primordial purity, requesting purification of body, speech, and mind.
Vajrasattva represents the innate purity of awareness itself. To chant this mantra is to acknowledge and release what obscures that purity — through visualization of nectar washing through body, speech, and mind.
Oṃ tāre tuttāre ture mama āyuḥ puṇya jñāna puṣtiṃ kuru svāhā
Meaning: O Tara, please increase my life, merit, and wisdom — so it is.
White Tara is the serene, luminous aspect of Tara — invoked for long life, healing, and the deepening of practice.
Because Sanskrit and other sacred languages carry layered meaning, and translators must choose between literal accuracy, poetic readability and the interpretation of a particular lineage. There is often no single universally accepted English rendering.
A literal translation tells you what the individual words mean. A spiritual meaning tells you how the mantra is understood and used inside its tradition. Both are useful; only the first is a matter of grammar.
Om Namah Shivaya
“Om. I bow to Shiva.” A short sentence of reverence built on namah, "I bow".
Om Namah Shivaya
In Shaiva practice the five syllables are also read as a bow to the sacred within one's own awareness, not only to a deity outside oneself.
So Hum
Saḥ ("that") and aham ("I") — rendered as "I am That".
So Hum
A contemplative instruction: paired with breath, it is used as inquiry into who the "I" refers to.
Traditions disagree. Lineages that emphasize sound, transmission and initiation hold that correct recitation matters most; others hold that conscious understanding and intention are essential. Many teachers today recommend learning the meaning while keeping the original sound.
What can be said plainly: understanding the meaning helps you practise attentively, choose respectfully and avoid using a prayer in ways its tradition would not recognize. Claims about a mantra's efficacy independent of understanding are matters of religious teaching, not scientific finding.
Because some are not sentences. Seed (bija) syllables such as Om, Hrim or Gam function as sound rather than statement, and several mantras use symbolic imagery that becomes misleading when flattened into English.
Om Mani Padme Hum is the clearest example: the phrase is grammatically debated, the jewel and lotus are symbols with commentarial depth, and Tibetan teachers generally explain it through the qualities it cultivates rather than through a word-for-word rendering.
Not exactly. “Mantra” comes from Indian religious traditions, while prayer is a much broader category. However, repetitive sacred prayer and chanting serve related contemplative or devotional functions in many traditions.
As the OhMantra library expands beyond Hindu and Buddhist sources, we keep each tradition's own vocabulary. Jewish texts such as Shema Yisrael are prayers and declarations of faith within Judaism, not mantras. Sufi dhikr, Sikh naam simran and the Christian Jesus Prayer likewise have their own names and frameworks. Browse traditions →
The Sanskrit word mantra is commonly understood as a sacred utterance, sound, word or phrase used in meditation, prayer and spiritual practice. It may be recited aloud, whispered or repeated silently.
Om (Aum) is a sacred syllable associated in Hindu traditions with ultimate reality, consciousness and the primordial sound of existence. It is not a sentence, so it has no literal translation.
Om Namah Shivaya is commonly translated as 'I bow to Shiva'. In Shaiva traditions it is understood both as reverence for Shiva and as recognition of the pure awareness Shiva represents.
There is no single agreed literal English rendering. It is often glossed with the image of 'the jewel in the lotus', and in Tibetan Buddhism it is strongly associated with Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) and the cultivation of compassion.
So Hum is traditionally rendered as 'I am That' — a contemplative phrase pointing to the identity of the individual self with ultimate reality. It is often synchronized with the breath.
The Gayatri Mantra (Rig Veda 3.62.10) is a prayer to the radiant divine light associated with the sun, asking that it illuminate and awaken the practitioner's understanding.
Many of the best-known mantras come from Hindu and Buddhist textual traditions preserved in Sanskrit, and those traditions treat the precise sound of the original as part of the practice. Mantras also exist in Tibetan, Pali and other sacred languages, and sacred repetition exists in Hebrew, Arabic, Punjabi and Greek prayer traditions under their own names.
Most can be translated in the sense of conveying meaning, but translations vary and some elements — seed syllables, wordplay, layered symbolism — do not carry over. Translations are best read as guides rather than equivalents.
Traditions differ. Those that emphasize precise sound and transmission generally retain the original language, while others accept prayer in any language. This is a question of theology and practice rather than something science can settle.
Not strictly, though understanding helps you practise attentively and respectfully. Some lineages teach sound first and meaning later; others teach meaning first.
Most mantras originate in religious traditions and carry theological meaning, even when used today in secular meditation settings. Knowing the origin is part of practising respectfully.
Not exactly. 'Mantra' is a term from Indian religious traditions. Repetitive sacred prayer in Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Sikh practice serves related contemplative functions, but each tradition has its own name and framework — tefillah, the Jesus Prayer, dhikr, naam simran.
Every mantra in OhMantra includes its original text, transliteration, translation, spiritual meaning and guidance for practice — with curated ways to listen and chant along.