After a very long hiatus I was again drawn to some mantra
work.
Mantras are sound formulas, usually being a phrase from the
sacred texts from what came to be known as "Hinduism" but what is actually many different religious approaches, and Buddhism, but occasionally they are compressed phrases or even just a
sound or several , as in the case of “OM”.
There is no adequate, scientific way to describe how mantras
effect a practitioner, for now let’s just say that depending on which mantra
you choose for your practice there will be a different purpose set ahead, such as
for example reception of a boon, or cleansing, perhaps a more abstract one such as perceiving
the form and essence of a deity.
I look at a mantra as a perfect prism, which allows you to
look at the world not through your own eyes, but through the eye of a deity. In
other words, mantra work requires you to surrender your self, at least for a
time being, and allow the sound formula to penetrate your consciousness, thus
creating a film of sound, which will serve as a prism. The longer the
repetition the better, as it is giving you a lot of time to fully get into the
dome of sound created by the mantra.
The real mantra comes to you on its own, as it is a representation of a
higher power in a sound, and was obviously created long before any of us lived.
Although I am not able to chant the mantras out loud at work, which is where I spend
most of my day time, I am able to listen to them on a youtube through a pretty
good pair of headphones, which is I think not much different from a chant.
The real mantra comes to you as I said on its own, as it is a representation of a
higher power in a sound, and was obviously created long before any of us lived.
I think it’s best to keep your mind open, and approach this practice with the
spirit of experimentation, as mantra work creates many questions, but also
resolves many problems. Some of the questions that arise during the mantra
practice are these
- What do I want/need?
- Is the deity real?
- Is this exactly what I need?
- Does the mantra work?
- What makes the mantra work? …..and so on and so on,
Beyond all these important but ultimately useless questions
is the wall of sound of the mantra, the deity and the dreams come true. May be
slowly at a snail pace, but nevertheless completing itself.
