Shanti Mantra
ॐ द्यौः शान्तिरन्तरिक्षं शान्तिः पृथिवी शान्तिरापः शान्तिरोषधयः शान्तिर्वनस्पतयः शान्तिर्विश्वेदेवाः शान्तिर्ब्रह्म शान्तिः सर्वं शान्तिः शान्तिरेव शान्तिः सा मा शान्तिरेधि ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिःIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
What the Shanti Mantra is
Shanti is the Vedic principle of peace that pervades the three worlds and the three layers of the human constitution. She is not portrayed with a fixed iconography or a cycle of Puranic adventures; rather she is the quiet continuum invoked at the opening and closing of sacred recitation so that the study itself may occur within an undisturbed field. In the Shukla Yajurveda, at Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 36.17, Shanti is called upon to settle sky, mid-space, earth, waters, plants, and the gods, until the entire range of existence is gathered under one calm. The threefold utterance of her name at the end of the formula is understood to address the threefold sources of agitation—internal, external, and divine—without assigning her a throne or a vehicle. She remains the atmosphere in which every other deity is approached.
Peace Across the Three Worlds
The Shanti Mantra that begins “dyauḥ śāntiḥ” is preserved in the Shukla Yajurveda, at Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 36.17, and is recited to close rites and recitations. The seers first name the sky, then the intermediate space, then the earth, the waters, the herbs, the trees, the Vishvedevas, and Brahman itself, declaring each to be peace. The cumulative effect is a progressive quieting that moves from the outermost cosmic sheath inward to the absolute. The final petition, “sā mā śāntir edhi,” asks that this same peace become the reciter’s own. Tradition holds that the mantra was shaped so that the act of learning would not disturb the subtle balance of the worlds nor leave the student exposed to the friction that knowledge can generate. Thus the narrative of the mantra is not a tale of conflict and resolution but the deliberate construction of an unbroken continuum of calm before any teaching is allowed to begin.
The mantra, in six scripts
- ॐ
- oṃ — the primal sound
- द्यौः
- dyauḥ — sky / heaven
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- अन्तरिक्षं
- antarikṣaṃ — mid-space
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- पृथिवी
- pṛthivī — earth
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- आपः
- āpaḥ — waters
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- ओषधयः
- oṣadhayaḥ — herbs
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- वनस्पतयः
- vanaspatayaḥ — trees / forest lords
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- विश्वेदेवाः
- viśvedevāḥ — the All-gods
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- ब्रह्म
- brahma — Brahman
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- सर्वं
- sarvaṃ — all
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- शान्तिरेव
- śāntir eva — peace alone
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- सा
- sā — that
- मा
- mā — to me / mine
- शान्तिरेधि
- śāntir edhi — peace be
- ॐ
- oṃ — the primal sound
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
- शान्तिः
- śāntiḥ — peace
The syllable people get wrong
In antarikṣaṃ the medial kṣa is a compact conjunct of k and the retroflex ṣ. Speakers often insert a vowel and say “antari-ksham,” or replace the ṣ with a dental s and say “antariksam.” Keep it as one cluster, close to “ksh,” so the word stays antarikṣaṃ.
Questions
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.