Mantra Meditation
In the Western world, Mantra Meditations are probably the most well-known. In this meditation, a sound, a word, a sentence or an affirmation is our object of meditation.
| Mantra Meditation |
| Kind of meditation |
Concentration/focus |
| Degree of difficulty |
Beginners/more advanced students |
| Recommended duration |
5 to 45 minutes |
| Posture |
Sitting |
| Advantages |
- It improves your concentration
- It gives you a clear, calm mind.
- It improves your breathing.
- It helps against stress.
- It improves the quality of your life.
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| Remark |
One of the most widely practised meditations in the world. It is an exercise for beginners that you can do for the rest of your life.
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In the following meditation, the repeating of a mantra in our mind is our object of meditation. As there are thousands of mantras, we have just written down a few. This could be your first inspiration for you to choose a mantra of your own. Choose a mantra from this article or choose one that you have invented or found yourself. It is important to choose a word or a sound that has a positive meaning for you. When you have chosen a mantra, the exercise looks a lot like meditations that concentrate on breathing. Remain seated in a calm fashion and repeat your mantra in your mind. Do not make any sound. When your mind wanders away, take it back to your mantra again.
When you are repeating the mantra in your mind, the mantra may change a little. You may repeat the mantra more quickly or more slowly, more loudly or more softly, more clearly or less clearly or the duration of your speaking the mantra may vary in length. Everything is all right as long as you do not resist the tendency to change or try to manipulate it. You should try to push away your thoughts by means of your mantra or to work on a special rhythm. Every time we wander away in our mind, we return to our mantra in a relaxed sort of way.
"Go with the flow", but remain aware of everything that happens. As is the case with every kind of meditation, we try not to judge, not to get angry when things do not go so well as we would like and not to be too goal-oriented. Let us begin!
Mantra Meditation Exercise
In our example, we have chosen for the mantra "Aum" (aaa-uuu-mm) (the diphthong in the English word house ).
- Sit down in your favourite posture, close your eyes and calm down.
- Be aware of every breathing in and every breathing out. Let your breathing be a natural process and do not try to steer it.
- Observe how the air slowly passes in through your nose, fills up your lungs and goes out again.
- When after a few times of breathing you really feel at ease you start to repeat the mantra AUM.
- Begin whispering AUM slowly : "AAAAAUUUUUMMMM"
- Concentrate your attention on AUM, stop whispering and just think AUM. It does not matter in what way and with what speed you think of your mantra…..just let it happen.
- Maybe you imagine that you hear AUM in your mind or you visualise AUM with your mind's eye.
"AAAAUUUUMMMM…..AAAAUUUUMMMM…..AAAAUUUUMMMM"
- When you start to think of something else than your mantra or you start to feel something else than your mantra, just observe this and return to AAAUUUMMM.
- Try to become totally one with AUM. When AUM starts to sound more and more vague in your mind or your speed changes, that is fine.
- If all of a sudden you notice twinklings in your body or relaxation reactions in your muscles, that is fine….. observe and go back to AUM.
- Continue doing this until the time that you set apart for this exercise is over.
- Now slowly take your thoughts back to the rest of your body and the sounds in the room. Move a little, stretch your muscles a little and open your eyes.
- Finished!
Very simple, effective and pleasant. The often you do it, the longer you will be able to stay with your mantra. At first, only a few seconds, then ten seconds, then twenty or half a minute. Do not forget that at first, it is not strange at all if you can only keep concentrated on your mantra for a few seconds. Please do not give up when things do not go so well. We guarantee you that you will always feel better and more relaxed after the session and after some time, the long term advantages will automatically come your way. Realise that meditation is not goal-oriented and that less successful sessions are just part of the process - even for the Maharishi Yogi!
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"Lord of a thousand worlds am I, And I reign since time began;
And night and day, in cyclic sway, Shall pass while their deeds I scan.
Yet time shall cease, ere I find release, For I am the Soul of Man."
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In the Katha Upanishad, Yama, the lord of death, while enlightening Nachiketas about the nature of the eternal reality says: “The word which all the Vedas extol, towards which all asceticisms point, in quest of which men live disciplined lives, that will I tell you: that is Om.”
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Mimansa philosophy established Mantra as a form of God. Each Mantra corresponds to a patron god or goddess. Each Mantra, sound and intonation has a particular articulation that can be revealed through systematic analysis. The ancient visionaries with full knowledge of the power of sounds devised words or phrases that exert tremendous effects. These words and phrases are the original seed Mantras
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Mantra is a word or a phrase propelled with power. It is a methodical set of notes pronounced with a particular pitch, articulation and tone. Its rhythmic incantation sends specific, one-of-a-kind vibrations through the medium of the ether present in the atmosphere. These vibrations gradually affect the different cells of the body. Incantation merges the energy of sound and will power. It is only when the horizontal and the vertical sound waves of the words achieve the same wavelength as those of the juxtaposing energy waves of the body that the Mantra achieves perfection and galvanizes itself. This can be achieved by constant repetition of the Mantra with all involvement and emotions,and in its characteristic rhythm and tone.
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'The greatest mantra is Om, because the essence of all mantras resides in Om. You cannot receive the same ananda with any other syllable as with Om; you cannot carry any other mantra to your Muladhar chakra or navel as you can Om. This is because Om is the repository of all mantras.'
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“ The mere utterance of words/sound of a Mantra is nothing but a movement of lips. When, however, the Mantra is “awakened” (prabuddha)- that is, when there is Mantra- Chaitanya, (Mantra-Consciousness)-,when it full of emotions,real call to Divinity from the heart, then the reciter can make the Mantra work."
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"If prayer is a response to God's presence, first I must tune into that presence...we need to create space in which God can act... a God-space to prevent our lives from filling in with other things..."
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