ॐ भ्रां भ्रीं भ्रौं सः राहवे नमः ॥
Frequently asked questions about Rahu Mantra
When is the Rahu beej mantra chanted?
On Saturdays, and during a Rahu mahadasha or antardasha. Dusk before a blue flower and a mustard-oil lamp is the usual practice; some keep the Rahu Kaal of the day for it.
What is the prescribed count?
Eighteen thousand is the classical sankhya for Rahu, taken as a sankalpa; a daily mala of a hundred and eight is the ordinary practice.
What does Rahu do in a chart?
He magnifies whatever he touches without supplying discrimination - craving, obsession, foreign things, sudden rise and sudden fall. With Ketu he forms the axis behind Kaal Sarp dosha.
What is given in daan for Rahu?
Urad dal, black til, mustard oil, a coconut and blue or grey cloth. Feeding the destitute, and Durga worship, are the acts the tradition names alongside the offering.
Is Rahu always bad?
No. In the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th houses, or well supported, Rahu is read as giving worldly reach, research ability and unusual success. What he does not give is contentment, which is what the japa is for.
About the Rahu Mantra - Om Bhraam Bhreem Bhraum Sah Rahave Namah
The Rahu Mantra - the beej mantra of Rahu (the north lunar node), chanted to pacify Rahu and ward off confusion and sudden troubles.
Meaning
With the seed-syllables of Rahu, the mantra bows to the shadow-planet Rahu, the mysterious node that magnifies desires, ambitions and illusions.
Benefits
Chanted (often on Saturdays) to reduce the confusion, fear, obstacles and sudden upheavals of Rahu and to turn its effects protective and favourable.
How the Mantra Is Built
The seeds Bhraam Bhreem Bhraum carry Rahu's heavy bha sound through the three vowel energies, released by Sah and closed by Rahave Namah - "to Rahu," the severed head of the serpent Svarbhanu, who tasted the nectar of immortality and became the shadow that swallows the sun and moon at eclipses. Rahu is not a body but a point - the north node of the Moon - and in the chart he works like an amplifier without a filter: obsession, foreign lands, sudden rises, technology, intoxication and illusion all belong to him.
How to Chant
Chant on Saturdays (Rahu shares Shani's day) or during Rahu Kaal, the daily period ruled by Rahu, in the evening or at dusk; face south-west, Rahu's direction. His offerings are dark: blue or black cloth, black gram (urad), and coconut. The classical vowed count for Rahu is 18,000 repetitions; everyday practice is one mala of 108 on Saturdays. Eclipse days, when Rahu is at work, are traditionally used for his japa rather than for other mantras - see this year's on the Eclipse Calendar, and find today's Rahu Kaal window with the Rahu Kaal calculator.
When Astrology Prescribes It
The Rahu mantra is prescribed through Rahu dasha (eighteen years), for Rahu conjunct the Moon or lagna - showing as confusion, phobias, addiction, scandal or deception - and for Kaal Sarp Dosha, when all seven planets sit from Rahu toward Ketu against the signs; check your chart with the Kaal Sarp Dosha calculator. Pacified, Rahu turns from deceiver to worldly benefactor - the tradition holds that no graha gives faster material rise than a well-managed Rahu.
Rahu's companion remedies run through his own symbols: Saturday charity of black gram, blue cloth or a blanket to a sweeper or the destitute; worship of Durga, his presiding Goddess, whose Navarna mantra is the stronger shield where Rahu's confusion runs deep; and scrupulous honesty in exactly the areas Rahu tempts - speculation, shortcuts and borrowed identities. His gemstone is hessonite (gomed), never worn without a careful reading of the chart. A coconut, his favoured offering, is traditionally broken and given away at the close of the Saturday japa.
The Rahu Mantra - Om Bhraam Bhreem Bhraum Sah Rahave Namah above is given in both Devanagari (Sanskrit) and Roman transliteration so you can read it in whichever script you are comfortable with - switch between the two using the buttons above, share the link, or download a PDF.
A mantra is a compact formula for japa, not a long hymn. Forty-verse hymns live under Chalisa; lamp-songs under Aarti; longer stotras under Stotram. Browse every formula on the Mantra index. Count repetitions with the online japa mala counter.
