ॐ नमः शिवाय और शिव पंचाक्षर स्तोत्र
Om Namah Shivaya and the Shiva Panchakshara Stotra
The five-syllable mantra and the stotra traditionally ascribed to Adi Shankaracharya
ॐ नमः शिवाय॥
Om namah shivaya.
नागेन्द्रहाराय त्रिलोचनाय भस्माङ्गरागाय महेश्वराय।
Nagendraharaya trilochanaya bhasmangaragaya maheshvaraya.
नित्याय शुद्धाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै नकाराय नमः शिवाय॥1॥
Nityaya shuddhaya digambaraya tasmai nakaraya namah shivaya.
मन्दाकिनीसलिलचन्दनचर्चिताय नन्दीश्वरप्रमथनाथमहेश्वराय।
Mandakini salila chandana charchitaya nandishvara pramathanatha maheshvaraya.
मन्दारपुष्पबहुपुष्पसुपूजिताय तस्मै मकाराय नमः शिवाय॥2॥
Mandara pushpa bahupushpa supujitaya tasmai makaraya namah shivaya.
शिवाय गौरीवदनाब्जवृन्दसूर्याय दक्षाध्वरनाशकाय।
Shivaya gauri vadanabja vrinda suryaya dakshadhvara nashakaya.
श्रीनीलकण्ठाय वृषध्वजाय तस्मै शिकाराय नमः शिवाय॥3॥
Shri nilakanthaya vrishadhvajaya tasmai shikaraya namah shivaya.
वसिष्ठकुम्भोद्भवगौतमार्य मुनीन्द्रदेवार्चितशेखराय।
Vasishtha kumbhodbhava gautamarya munindra devarchita shekharaya.
चन्द्रार्कवैश्वानरलोचनाय तस्मै वकाराय नमः शिवाय॥4॥
Chandrarka vaishvanara lochanaya tasmai vakaraya namah shivaya.
यक्षस्वरूपाय जटाधराय पिनाकहस्ताय सनातनाय।
Yakshasvarupaya jatadharaya pinakahastaya sanatanaya.
दिव्याय देवाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै यकाराय नमः शिवाय॥5॥
Divyaya devaya digambaraya tasmai yakaraya namah shivaya.
When it is sung or recited
When it is recited: On Mondays, on Pradosh evenings, on Maha Shivaratri and during Shiva puja or abhishek. The mantra can be chanted at any time of day, silently or aloud. The stotra is often read while offering bilva leaves on the Shiva linga.
Repetitions: Mantra: 108 times on a mala (21 or 11 times is also common). Stotra: read through once.
Meaning
Om Namah Shivaya means: I bow to Shiva, the auspicious one. It is called the Panchakshara, the five-syllable mantra, for the syllables Na, Ma, Shi, Va and Ya, which tradition links to the five elements. Each of the five verses of the stotra praises Shiva through one of these syllables and closes with a line like tasmai nakaraya namah shivaya. The first two verses describe Shiva as the one with a serpent king for a garland, three eyes and a body smeared with sacred ash, eternal, pure and clothed in space, and then as the lord of Nandi and his attendants, anointed with Ganga water and sandal paste and worshipped with mandara and many other flowers. The next two call him the sun that makes Gauri's lotus face bloom, the destroyer of Daksha's sacrifice and the blue-throated one with a bull on his banner, and the one worshipped by sages such as Vasishtha, Agastya and Gautama and by the gods, whose eyes are the moon, the sun and fire. The last verse describes the Yaksha form, the matted hair, the Pinaka bow, and the eternal, divine Shiva clothed in space.
Please note
The core words namah shivaya appear in the Shri Rudram of the Yajurveda (Taittiriya Samhita 4.5.8). The stotra is traditionally ascribed to Adi Shankaracharya. In verse 5 some texts read yakshasvarupaya and others yajnasvarupaya (embodiment of sacrifice); of the sources we checked, yakshasvarupaya was the more common, so it is used here. The traditional closing verse about the fruit of reciting (the phalashruti) is not printed on this page.
Text compared with: sanskritdocuments.org, bhaktibharat.com, drikpanchang.com, isha.sadhguru.org, en.wikipedia.org, shlokam.org, bhaktibharat.org. A comparison with printed editions is still in progress. Wording differs between sources, so follow your priest’s version.