What is a Mantra?

What is a Mantra?

In the beginning there was the word and the word was “God” and the word was “One.” These are the famous words of the Bible that describes what a mantra is. In the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan, when asked to bow to the devil, Christ replied, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every WORD that is spoken” Every word that is spoken creates reality. If you were to have a thought that is good or bad about another person, unless you actually speak that thought out in words, the other person will never know what your thoughts are. In other words, your thoughts cannot become reality unless it is formed by words. A word or group of words is the final result from a thought that originates in our consciousness. Our consciousness creates these thoughts based on our knowledge, our place in space or the universe, how we feel at that moment, which is also based on the kind of food we eat or the amount of stress or relaxation we experience. Imagine for a moment if thoughts were not spoken as words…What would happen to our world? For example: if Bill Gates had not expressed his thoughts about computers, there would not be computers. If Einstein had not expressed his thoughts, the world would presently be missing a lot of modernization and space travel would not have been possible. Such is the power of words, which the ancient sages of Hinduism refer to as “Mantras.”

Whenever we express bad thoughts, the resulting words become very damaging to those around us. A simple word by a judge in a court case such as “guilty” can bring tremendous negative experiences to the accused person. Three famous words, “I Love You” can make a difference in a person’s life just as much as the negative words, “I Hate You.” As a result of the power of words, we should be very careful of what we say and how we express our thoughts and feelings in words to others. Good mantras are designed to overcome negative mantras. Desires are realized by the power of words. There are mantras that can help to make these desires become reality in a short time frame. Similarly how you can change the whole environment or world around you with words you can also change your life, prosperity, love path and health the same way.

The mantra given here is designed especially to help you strengthen your thoughts and desires so that when they are expressed by words the vibrations of those words will improve the universe around you in a positive way. Swami Ram Charran hopes that you will use these mantras wisely to help yourself as well as your loved ones and those around you. Each word that comes out of your mouth from now on should be like a rose that will pollinate the garden of the world with more roses. There are negative mantras which can destroy the world and which will strongly become reality through words and destroy you. Also it is advisable to avoid these mantras. The following pages will describe how the mantra will affect specifically your life and how it should be used. Please follow the instructions with the CD given. Pronunciation is very important as a mispronunciation can cause the mantra to bring a different experience than which it was made for.

What is the scientific basis of Mantra vibrations?

This ancient Mantra was taken from the PURANIC records of the ancient Aryans and was previously handed down to them from the GREAT SAGES who knew all the secrets of the universe…much more than what we ourselves are aware of today about the Universal forces. Just as Oxygen is the breath of life, Water (H2O) is the life sustaining fluid of the universe and light is the life-giving breath of SPACE. SOUND is the governing force of the Universal Reality. SOUND is vibration and it is sound that creates movement of electrons, protons neutrons etc. This movement of atomic particles create actions also referred to as KARMA in Vedic Sciences and is also referred to as NEWTON’S LAW OF ACTION & REACTION. Atomic particles are constantly vibrating thereby creating primordial sounds which influences the active reality of the universe. Whenever we speak we affect this reality in a specific way according to the words (product of thoughts) that are spoken.

A demonstration of how sound affects our life can be seen when a person reacts to another according to whether the words exchanged are PRAISES or INSULTS. Sometimes the reaction can be destructive (SHIVA), preserving (VISHNU) or creative (BRAMHA). As the “vibrating” atomic particles travel constantly through the universe and in all matter, their direction of movements remain constant until interfered with by other controlled particles vibrating at controlled frequencies. These change the direction of those particles contained in all matter and a specific reaction is experienced.

The ANCIENT SAGES have found out that these particles can react to specific sound vibrations already present in the universe, thus; the SOUND LANGUAGE of SANSKRIT was developed. SANSKRIT is not a written language owned by any ancient culture, but is a language made up of sounds found in our natural environment. For example, the sound MAA is a sound found in all languages which refers to Mother. Sanskrit sounds are found predominantly in German, Latin, Hindi, Arabic, and others major languages on Earth. Sanskrit is also known as the only language that utilized the ZERO in its number system. It appears that Sanskrit sounds offer secret formulas through which we can control certain actions and reactions in our life. Through a process of trial and error the Sages have found certain words that when grouped together will have a specific effect on the Universal Reality. These groups of words were referred to as A MANTRA.

A MANTRA is a sound with power to change the way you feel, thereby affecting the way you view reality through your mind. It elevates the mind to a higher level so that problems and solutions can be viewed in a wholesome way instead of a partial way. The effect can be compared to an example of a person standing in the middle of a street in New York City versus a person sitting on a plane above New York City. The person on the Plane who can see a greater part of the City can be compared to the people who have already EXPERIENCED the effects of the Mantra. The person in the City Street has not been mentally elevated to a higher level.

Mantras – Words of Power

Before reciting and practicing a Mantra there should be clarification of what you want to achieve. What are your ideals? You can rightfully pin your hopes on the Mantra to help bring these ideals into manifestation in your life in the purest form possible. But to what extent and how soon this will come to pass depends on you. Obviously, the more you put into it the more you will achieve.

As you chant, observe the mind. You may be shocked at how easily the mind can be sidetracked and how quickly you get bored. You may even begin to doubt your sincerity in desiring God or desiring to become single pointed, as you watch the mind finding 95,000 excuses. Perhaps, you will tell yourself that doing a charitable act would be a more worthwhile way to spend that time. However, you are missing the point when you start thinking this way. You will be of more help to others when you have gained some spiritual power.

To get the greatest benefit from your Mantra practice, set a definite period of time aside each day and make a written commitment to yourself to continue the practice for a sufficient length of time that you can feel its effects. Three months is a good beginning. Begin small and buildup – this develops enthusiasm and perseverance to handle greater things. Do not be over-ambitious, letting the ego convince you that you will be able to sustain a long period of chanting immediately. A little seedling needs the greatest care and attention. Handle your spiritual growth with at least as much care as you would a plant.

When you set your time for practice, remember that you should not chant for at least an hour and a half after meals. Before beginning to chant take a bath, or at least wash your hands, face and feet. As you wash, think that the impurities of your mind are being washed away. Put on fresh clothes and think that your soul is being clothed with a new garment of a Divine nature. These thoughts will help to uplift you. Choose a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed and use it each time, facing north and east. Sit in a comfortable chair or on the floor with a cushion. If a cushion is used for support of the back, be sure that it is placed below the waist to straighten the spine, not to fill in the curve at the waist. There is a subtle power in the thought of straightening the spine, suggesting straightforwardness, thinking straight, moving with uprightness and strength.

Put down a pure wool blanket or a pure silk cloth at the place you have chosen. A deerskin or tiger skin is traditionally used for this purpose, to conserve energy and keep out the vibrations of the earth. We want to create a very different magnetism that will release us from the magnetism of the earth, from our needs and instincts that will carry us to great heights of consciousness and awareness. A cloth of natural fiber covering the body fulfils the same function and helps to retain the spiritual vibrations you generate.

Before beginning to chant make sure that not only the large muscles of your body are relaxed, and the neck and shoulders, but also the muscles of the tongue, jaw, forehead and eyes. Focus the eyes gently on the space between your eyebrows. As you chant, pull the abdominal muscles in thus, forcing the air out of the lungs. Let the chest widen by itself as the air comes in, not by lifting the shoulders. Use all the breath, all your energy. Put yourself completely into your chanting. It is important to breathe through your nose. The right kind of deep breathing will naturally begin to take place when you chant; there is no danger, as there is with some breathing exercises. Watch your breath and keep expelling it evenly.

At the beginning and end of your practice, offer a prayer of thanksgiving to those who have chanted the Mantra. Mantra practice stills turbulent emotions and thereby stills the turbulent mind. In yogic terms there is a difference between emotions and feelings, since a purified emotion becomes a true feeling.  Mantra Yoga gives an opportunity to know the emotions, what they are, where they come from and what their proper place is in our lives. Through Mantra Yoga we can learn to deal with the emotions properly, to control and refine them and to encourage the harmonious development of all aspects of the human potential.

Although you may have experienced fears, worries, loneliness, and had limited encounters with love and joy, do not despair. Even if your feelings are easily hurt, and you are oversensitive; it is wonderful but as yet an undeveloped, tool.

The voice can become an instrument for expressing and controlling the emotions. Your voice can be caressing, gentle, intense, full of longing or surrender. At other times it may be strong and powerful as you pour into it all your anger and disappointment, your requests and demands. Emotions in themselves are not bad, but when running wild they can be extremely damaging. Even love, when not shared, not given freely and generously, becomes self-love which turns destructively back on the individual.

As the Mantra is chanted, moods will, in time, be brought under control and awareness in the here and now will grow. Attention, and therefore energy, will be withdrawn from the old thought patterns that, like tapes on a recorder, play over and over. The mental background noises keep us tied to the past and future, to fearful images and senseless fantasies, which cause our self-created sufferings. The energy will now be channeled to the Most High, to a positive affirmation of one’s innermost Self.

Do not let the intellectual mind distract you from attempting the practice of Mantra and Japa. No amount of words or book knowledge can give you the experience. You have to practice yourself for their effect to be understood. The benefits depend on the individual, on where you start off, where you stand now, what your past lives have been, and the intensity and degree of longing in your desire.

Your whole being changes for the better when you chant a Mantra. Build up the habit of repeating the Mantra at all times. The work you do will become easier and more joyful because the Mantra is continuously in the back of your mind. If you have found your teacher, chant his or her name as an offering, an act of love. Channel the emotions by giving admiration and gratitude for the inspiration you have received. This offering and recognition of the divine spirit within the Guru will aid in developing humility and overcoming the ego. When you learn to surrender to the Mantra and to the energy of the Mantra, it puts in motion the process of purification of the self, facing up to and eliminating selfishness, self-glorification, self-justification and self-gratification.

Through the practices of Mantra and Japa Yoga you will find yourself in direct confrontation with the lower self, the ego or “body-mind.” You will become aware of those personality aspects that have been in control and have ruled your life. Now the Higher Self begins to take possession