The Threefold Peace

This is the peace invocation (shanti mantra) that closes much Upanishadic recitation and a great deal of Hindu worship, the word shanti (peace) repeated three times after the sacred syllable Om. The threefold repetition is traditionally explained as invoking peace on three planes, commonly understood as peace from the disturbances of the divine or cosmic order, of the surrounding world and other beings, and of oneself, body and mind, so that the utterance asks for peace against every source of affliction.

Many of the classical Upanishads open and close with such peace verses, and the bare threefold shanti is used to conclude prayers, readings and gatherings. Simple, ancient and widely known, it has passed well beyond specialist religious use into the general vocabulary of Hindu and yoga practice, where it commonly marks the quiet ending of a period of recitation, study or meditation.