ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्। उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात्॥

The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra is Rigveda 7.59.12, a verse in the seventh mandala traditionally attributed to the sage Vasishtha. It also appears in the Yajurveda, and later Shaiva tradition elevated it to a central mantra of Shiva worship, where it is also called the Tryambaka mantra after its first important word. In chanting practice om is commonly added in front, though it is not part of the Rigvedic verse itself.

Tryambakam yajamahe means we worship Tryambaka, a name of Rudra or Shiva usually explained as the three-eyed one. Sugandhim is fragrant and pushti-vardhanam is the one who increases nourishment or well-being. The famous image follows. Urvarukam iva bandhanat means like a ripe cucumber from its stem, which is to say a fruit that falls away from the vine easily and without tearing. The closing words, mrityor mukshiya ma amritat, are traditionally taken as free me from death, not from immortality, so the prayer asks for release from the grip of mortality and for the deathless state to remain.

Because of the word mrityu, the mantra became widely associated with health and recovery, and families commonly recite it for ill relatives or at difficult times. It is also chanted in Shiva temples and during Mahashivaratri. Its meaning can be taken on several levels, from a plain wish for a long and healthy life to the deeper hope of liberation from the cycle of birth and death, and traditional teachers usually explain it as a prayer for liberation rather than a promise about any medical result.