Oṁ tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam
Urvārukamiva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya mā 'mṛtāt
Meaning :
We worship the fragrant, three-eyed Lord Siva who nourishes us. May He liberate us from the bondage of death like the urvāruka fruit (which separates effortlessly from the vine). May He not let us turn away from immortality!
Explanation :
This mantra is taken from the Sri Rudram, which is a hymn on Lord Śiva. It is also called mṛtyuñjaya-mantra, meaning, it invokes the grace of Lord Śiva for conquering death .
This verse contains a beautiful metaphor. The urvāruka fruit is a melon which grows on the ground attached to a vine. It takes its time to ripen. When fully ripe, it does not have to be plucked. It detaches itself from effortlessly, remaining where it is, but free from the vine.
Amṛta is total freedom from the sense of all inadequacy and limitation. An essential requirement in gaining amṛta is emotional maturity, which is gained by the process of inner growth, by living a life of values and prayer. This maturing of the mind is likened to the ripening of the fruit.
There is another important aspect in this example. Freedom being the essential nature of the self, the mature mind does not have to seek outside itself to gain this freedom. When a mature mind is exposed to the teaching, it effortlessly comes to recognize that freedom. That is the gain of that which already has been gained. Thus, this is a prayer of mumukṣu, a person who has desires that total freedom and who makes it his main pursuit in life.
It is also a mantra which is traditionally chanted by family and friends for a person who is ill and approaching death. This prayer should be learned and recited using the three svaras, tones that are used in Vedic chanting.
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