Japa is where you say the mantra a specific amount number of times while counting on mala beads. Om Namah Shivaya can also be used in your practice of japa. In this way, it is treated as almost an affirmation.

You can also say Om Namah Shivaya out loud as a reminder and a way to center yourself. In fact, my own band Shanti Shanti has a rendition of this mantra that is easy and fun to sing along with. It is popular to sing Om Namah Shivaya, and I have heard it put to numerous melodies.

This mantra is so diverse in the ways that you can express it and each way is powerful and enjoyable. While Om Namah Shivaya is very ancient and powerful it is also a really fun mantra to practice. It is possible to see these views of Shiva as one and the same. In other words, he is seen as a divine incarnation, but he is also regarded as a subtle realm or state of consciousness. Shiva (and thus the mantra we are discussing) is recognized as the ocean of transcendence, the pool of cosmic bliss and the realm of the absolute. The changes can be unsettling and create tumult in your life, so be conscious of this if you make this your daily prayer. It is sort of a cosmic 'out with the old' so there can be newness in your life. You are drawing attention to yourself to destroy ignorance, shedding the old to invite knowledge and freshness in. When you offer your deference to and acknowledge this aspect of God, you are inviting a cleansing and clearing in your life and the world around you. He is one of the most ancient portrayed deities, depicted in writing as far back as in the writings of the Rig Veda, 3,000 BCE, and in statues and carvings and as far back as 8,000 BCE. He is viewed as having skin color that is deep purple or indigo as a result of drinking the poison of the world as told in Hindu mythology. He is portrayed as a meditating yogi or ascetic on mount Kailash, with a serpent around his neck, a crescent moon and the river Ganges flowing from his matted hair as he holds a trident. In Hinduism, this concept of destruction for renewal is depicted as the god Shiva.

Chanting om namah shivaya benefits