आत्मश्राद्धक्रियाThe śrāddha of oneself
Verse 244
ह्रीँ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्द्धनम् । उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥ २४४ ॥
hrīm̐ tryambakaṁ yajāmahē sugandhiṁ puṣṭivarddhanam | urvārukamiva bandhanān mṛtyōrmukṣīya mā’mṛtāt || 244 ||
Translation
"Hrīṁ: we worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, increaser of nourishment; like a cucumber from its stalk, may I be freed from death, not from immortality."
Word by word
- hrīm̐
- hrīṁ
- tryambakaṁ
- the three-eyed one
- yajāmahē
- we worship
- sugandhiṁ
- fragrant
- puṣṭi
- of nourishment
- varddhanam
- the increaser
- urvārukam
- (urvārukam) a cucumber
- iva
- like
- bandhanān
- (bandhanāt) from its stalk
- mṛtyōr
- (mṛtyoḥ) from death
- mukṣīya
- may I be freed
- mā
- not
- amṛtāt
- from immortality
Meaning
The mantra is the Tryambaka verse of the Ṛgveda (7.59.12), the "great death-conquering" mantra (mahāmṛtyuñjaya), here with the Goddess's seed hrīṁ before it. The image is of a ripe cucumber that falls from its stalk of its own accord: release from death that comes naturally, as ripeness, not by violence. For the renunciant, it is the prayer to fall away from mortal bonds into the deathless. Being a Vedic verse, its metre is not that of the surrounding ślokas.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
He gives that very mantra, "hrīṁ tryambakaṁ…" and the rest: "hrīṁ, we worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who increases nourishment; like a cucumber from its stalk, may I be freed from death, not from immortality" (the Tryambaka mantra, prefixed with hrīṁ).