What Is A Mantra and How Does It Work?
- Mantras are powerful sounds.
- Mantras are the ones that have when chanted produce great effects.
- These are chanted repeatedly and that is called Japa.
- Japa is a key part of Hindu prayer.
“Mantras are very rich in their meaning. While doing Japa one can meditate on the mantra and its meaning. As the mind dwells more and more into that, the mantra conditions the mind and takes up to the higher states and forms the path to the great liberation - eternal bliss!”
Definitions of mantras are oriented toward either the results of repeating the mantra or of the intentions of the original framers and testers of the mantra.
o In Sanskrit, sounds which have no direct translation but which contain great powers which can be "grown" from it are called "seed mantras." Seed in Sanskrit is called "Bijam" in the singular and "Bija" in the plural form.
Mantras are energy which can be likened to fire.
o Mantra can bring a positive and beneficial result, or it can produce an energy meltdown when misused or practiced without some guidance. There are certain mantra formulas which are so exact, so specific and so powerful that they must be learned and practiced under careful supervision by a qualified guru.
Mantra energizes prana.
o "Prana" is a Sanskrit term for a form of life energy which can be transferred from individual to individual. Prana may or may not produce an instant dramatic effect upon transfer. There can be heat or coolness as a result of the transfer.
Mantras eventually quiet the mind.
o At a deep level, subconscious mind is a collective consciousness of all the forms of primitive consciousnesses which exist throughout the physical and subtle bodies. The dedicated use of mantra can dig into subconscious crystallized thoughts stored in the organs and glands and transform these bodily parts into repositories of peace.
