The word Mantra is a Sanskrit word combining the two syllables: man, meaning mind, and tra translated as deliverance. A mantra is a pure sound-vibration intended to deliver the mind from illusion and material inclinations. Chanting is the process of repeating a mantra.
the Wanderling
The Mantra's (or mantram as it is sometimes refered to) purpose is to assist your mind to focus when it is scattered. By chanting mantras, one is able to produce a spiritual effect which is associated with the physical sensation of the vibration the chant produces. Thus when the mantra is chanted the effect is felt. This is an easy way to obtain peace of mind, but takes much practice. Chanting mantras is also used to make the intent of the mantra a physical reality. Energy naturally follows intent and thus the chanting of a mantra will eventually lead to the physical manifestation of the mantra. Chanting mantras affects your subtle body (electromagnetic energy field) which holds your consciousness. Since your subtle body is made up of small vibrations, chanting directly affects the energy vibration of your subtle body. Mantras start a powerful vibration which corresponds to both a specific spiritual energy frequency and a state of consciousness in seed form. Over time, the mantra process begins to override all of the other smaller vibrations, which eventually become absorbed by the mantra. After a length of time which varies from individual to individual, the great wave of the mantra stills all other vibrations. Ultimately, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra. By slowly understanding how mantras work, our understanding of the universe which is composed of energy is broadened. See also White Light Shields.
A mantra can be as simple as the single syllable "OM" to the repetition of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's "Who Am I?" to the more complicated "OM SRI RAM JAI RAM JAI JAI RAM
" used by Swami Ramdas and "OM TARE TUTARE TURE SVHA" as used by the Female Buddha, Tara, to the super complicated Shurangama Mantra linked below that was recognized as being so valuable at one time that the rulers of India forbade it to be circulated outside of the country:
Regardless of all of the above, the following should be carefully taken into consideration by any serious seeker along the path:
The Buddha said that neither the repetition of scriptures, nor self-torture, nor sleeping on the ground, nor the repetition of prayers, penances, hymns, charms, mantras, incantations and invocations can bring the real happiness of Nirvana. Instead the Buddha emphasized the importance of making individual effort in order to achieve spiritual goals.(source)
It should be mentioned, although the venerated Indian holy man the Baghavan Sri Ramana advocated concentrating or focusing one's efforts toward utilizing Who Am I in a mantra-like fashion as a potential solution along the path toward Enlightnement, Ramana himself was Awakened to the Absolute at age seventeen basically out of nowhere with little or no formal religious background, and definitely without a personal guru --- so in the end none of it may really be necessary. At least in the case of Sri Ramana it wasn't, so it would follow such would be the case for just about anyone. The secert is to having your mind ripe.
It is often said that when you truly need a teacher --- or that which will function in lieu of a teacher --- one (or it, a mantra for example) will appear. This may due to some inexplicable serendipity. It may be due to the fact that the seeker has searched deeply within himself or herself and determined what sort of instruction seems to be required. It could be swept over him or her like the First Death Experience of the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, or the Bhagavan's little known Second Death Experience. Or it could be a spiritual desperation on the part of the seeker, or maybe no more than a successful sales pitch by a teacher (sincere or not). It may be a combination of the previous factors, or some intuitive awareness beyond expression. For whatever the reason, the saying often applies and the coming together of the results of inner and outside forces, some within one's control, some without, can be found most eloquently as they all come together in the following:
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI
It should be noted that Adam Osborne, who, as a young boy grew up at the Ramana Ashram and the son of one of the foremost Ramana biographers Arthur Osborne, played a prominent role in the Last American Darshan as linked above.
Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.
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WITH THANKS TO:
BRETT GREIDER, Ph.D
BUDDHA MIND, RAINBOW BODY