Om Namah Shivaya with Shankara M.

Shankara M. chants the kirtan Om Namah Shivaya during a saturday evening satsang at Yoga Vidya in Bad Meinberg.

If you are interested in seminars with music, you can find here seminars on mantra and music. For more kirtan and Mantra vocal recordings click here. For more information on Yoga, meditation and Ayurveda can be found on the internet pages of Yoga Vidya.

Om Namah Shivaya is a greeting we often use in yoga. “Om” is Om, the all-encompassing. “Namah” means “greeting to” and ‘Shivaya’ means “to Shiva.”

Om Namah Shivaya therefore means reverence to Shiva. But what does Shiva mean? Shiva has many different meanings. “Shiva” literally means “the loving one, the kind one.” But it also means “the higher self” and “the divine everywhere.” We can say “Om Namah Shivaya” and use it in meditation.

This is like invoking the kind, the loving, the higher self within us. Or we can use it as an invocation of the loving, the kind everywhere. And we can use it as a greeting by saying inwardly when we are dealing with another person: “Om Namah Shivaya. I greet the good, the love, the higher self in you.”