Mantra chanting and its benefits - my first written article

Yogic Mantra Chanting and its benefits

„In the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the Word was god.“ John 1,1 The Bible

“Om” - is THE holy Word. It’s the originally sound of the universe. Everything is made of this sound vibration. We are vibration with every part of our body: every cell vibrates. If you dissect the body and see the inner organs, you can actually see the vibration of the cells and all the fluid that surround every cell; this applies to every organ and especially the brain and the nerve system.

The Om-Chanting is also the most known Chant.

And it is a Mantra. Mantra is Sanskrit, the holy old Indian Language, and means a song, a word or a sound that is believed to have a special spiritual power.

History of Yoga

Mantra Chanting is a part of Bhakti (Devotion) Yoga. Almost everybody may have heard about Yoga but not everybody does exactly know what Yoga is or what it means by differentiation of its style. Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa yoga popular types. However, you will only know what yoga is and what it means profoundly, when you go deeper in to it and experience through a teacher or a Guru (a teacher is someone who brings you from darkness to light).

Yoga is a very ancient science, which was recognized around 4000 B. C., when they found some stone carvings and paintings in the northern parts of India. In between 1500 and 500 B. C., it’s evident that there was some Yogic knowledge which apparently has been transferred to texts and books later on. The so called Vedas (knowledge) is about “what is heard from higher sources”, is not written; The „Upinashads“, transmitted wisdom from teachers to students about the concepts of Brahman (ultimate reality) and Atman (soul/inner self); The „Bhagavad Gita“ is a text of great importance in Hindu culture and it also reflects the holistic human being. It narrates a tragic family story and the final conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. For the modern interpretation, it could be the old testament in the bible; And finally one of the newer works “Hatha Yoga Pradipika” (1400 C. E.) and before, there was The “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”(500 B. C. to 400 C. E.) It was the first systematic presentation of Yoga, and describes the path of Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga or classical Yoga). Patanjali organised the practice of yoga into an “eight limbed path”: Yamas – ethical considerations, Niyamas – self observations, Asana – physical poses, Pranayama – Breath control, Pratyahara – withdrawal of senses, Dharana - concentration, Dhyana meditation and Samadhi – freedom/peace. Containing the steps and stages towards obtaining Samadhi or enlightenment.

Another path of Yoga is Bhakti Yoga – Yoga of Devotion, its a path of love and devotion. Bhakti Yoga or Love and devotion have no restrictions. It could be devotion for a Hindu deity (Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna) or another God or a formless object. And one of those paths is “Chanting of Mantras”.

Om Chant

Mantras, as described before, are a sound or a song or a word with constant repetition, and it helps to focus the mind and develops withdrawal of senses to become a master of such senses and not a victim.

Patanjali called it chitta, vritti, nirodah, - the stilling of the mind waves, to calm down our wondering mind, to overcome overwhelming thoughts and eventually succumb suffering. Being aware in the here and now. When chanting Mantras, practitioner is usually given a personalized mantra by their guru. If someone has no guru, they may choose a universal mantra like the most known – “Om”

There are three methods of reciting a mantra: audible, whispered and mental. The mantra is usually repeated with the aid of a “mala” or rosary of 108 beads. Each time the practitioner repeats the mantra, one bead in their mala is moved along. How useful this is, to do so and without any awareness is another thing. But to sing a mantra joyfully in awareness is much more effective as explained in the latter part of this.

Anyhow, this path is an integral part of the “Tantra Yoga Path” (it has nothing to do with sex or the predominant misunderstanding in the western world about it). Tantra Yoga is the Yoga of Technology, the concept of Kundalini – Shakti is central to Tantra Yoga. The literal translation of tantra is “technology” and so Tantra can be considered an inner technology, as Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev puts it. In an article about Mantras he wrote:

“Mantra means a sound, a certain utterance or a syllable. Today, modern science sees the whole existence as reverberations of energy, different levels of vibrations. Where there is a vibration, there is bound to be a sound. So, that means, the whole existence is a kind of sound, or a complex amalgamation of sounds – the whole existence is an amalgamation of multiple mantras. Of these, a few mantras or a few sounds have been identified, which could be like keys. If you use them in a certain way, they become a key to open up a different dimension of life and experience within you”.

Om, or spoken from the 3 Letters AUM is not some religion’s trademark. It is the fundamental sound in the existence. It is said that Shiva can create a whole new existence just by uttering three AUMs. It is a vibration and vibration is energy.

That’s why also the bible spoke about THE Word – which is the Creator of all Creations. Someone can create this sound without the tongue. If someone sings it with open mouth and slowly close, this Sound will be created. Aaa, Uuu an Mmm.

So actually the sound is Aum and not “Om”. Also Christians say Amen, two first letters are again Aum. Almost every language has a Sanskrit Background and words originally came from Sanskrit. Aum is the basis of our creation. So to chant this Aum Mantra every day for at least two months can make an enormous change within us. If one feels unbalanced, sad or angry, it will help within 20 Minutes of chanting to bring him back to balance.

Sadhguru gives hundreds of examples where people had psychological diseases and taken pills, tranquilizer and others against depression, PTSD or ADS: as a result of Aum chanting for half a year, they all could live without pills, because it is the basic sound of our physical existence. And it’s healing.

Chanting of OM Mantra purifies the environment around the chanter and produces positive vibrations.

• It takes you alpha, a meditational state which gives you deep relaxation.

• Your concentration and focus increases

• Chanting removes negative mental impressions from your mind

• It gives you better immunity and health

• Improves your voice, gives strength to vocal cords and thyroid gland

• Has a cardiovascular benefit and normalizes blood pressure

• Helps with emotional regulation

• Increases energy and removes fatigue

Combining mind and body with Mantra

How does it work in our physical body? Around 80 % of our Body is from water element. In the last few years, much of the science researches have been based on water. It is now proven, that water has memory. If you give a cup of water a certain thought it will remember. If it is a positive or a negative thought it will remember. This is modern science. Dr. Masuro Emoto began in the 90th with researches how water reacts on playing different kinds of music or different kinds of words on water. Then he froze the water and took photos of the water crystals. He showed that the water under the influence of certain words and music creates a special structure. For example, the crystal structure of Love or Harmony shows a beautiful organized structure. Heavy Metal or bad words like Hate has a chaotic unorganized structure.

How it looks like after giving the water a word, and spoke to the water:

Human consciousness has also an effect on the molecular structure of water. Emoto's conjecture evolved over the years, and his early work explored his belief that water could react to positive thoughts and words, and that polluted water could be cleaned through prayer and positive visualization.

Many people these days know about this fact and they are aware how words and music influences us and what impact certain words and even thoughts have. They talk and pray and bless their water, before they drink it.

So if we are also aware about our thoughts and words and understand that we are made of 80 % Water and the memory that we create in our self with our words, than we will think and speak or sing only good and positive words.

Our Brain itself has even more water than our Body, which is about 90 % of water. It is the so called Liquor, the Cerebral Liquid, produced in the middle of our brain in the ventricles and flows around our brain and down in our spinal cord and protect our brain and nerve system. If we imagine all those fluid or water molecules has the memory, whatever happened in our life and what is spoken and thought, then we can imagine how this will influence our present thoughts and nerve system and finally our emotions (which are coming from our thoughts) and actions, so we can take care of our thoughts and speech.

And a mantra is exactly what we can use as a recipe to even heal ourselves.

There are many other Mantras which have different impacts on us.

In YouTube you will find lots of healing Mantras and frequencies which are helping to overcome difficulties and come to a healthier state and improve our awareness and consciousness.

The Mantras are in harmonious frequencies like 432 Hz. It creates a harmonious feeling and being inside of us. Unfortunately they changed the standard frequency (convention 1939) into 440 Hz as a worldwide norm. There's been a debate floating around about whether instruments sound better tuned to 440 Hz or 432 Hz. While 440 Hz is the standard tuning (and what the vast majority of songs today are tuned to).

Ancient instruments are tuned by 432 Hz. Also Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer primarily known for his operas. He is considered, together with Richard Wagner, the preeminent opera composer of the nineteenth century. Naturally concerned for the well-being of his opera singers, Verdi proposed that the French government adopt a standard where C=256 Hz. This is the same scale where A=432 Hz. He claimed that it was the natural range for singing.

But when we choose a mantra, it should be just chanted with full awareness within ourselves and with joy and happiness.

As I already explained the benefit of “Om” - Chanting, what else are the benefits?

Benefits of Mantra Chanting

The power of mantra is revealed in the roots of the Sanskrit word, “man”, meaning mind, and,- “tra“, meaning deliverance, or, projection. Thus, chanting the sacred sound of the mantra delivers us from our sense dependency, from our unrelenting habit of looking toward the senses for gratification; pleasures that are and that will always be, fleeting and limited–how much can you eat? Or drink? Or have sex? Or buy? Sense gratification never really gratifies. We are always left either unfulfilled and guilty–wishing we had never started, or else, wanting more and lamenting the loss.

Chanting is a pleasure that transcends the senses; it takes us beyond the bounds of time and space (which is why we don’t have to understand the mantra). Thus it soothes in a most profound way. It soothes on a cellular level. It merges our finite identity with the infinite, and so dissolves us. It relieves us from the sights and sounds and stimulation of the material world and delivers us into a spiritual space, where the sound is God. The material needs are reduced to nothing but mind chatter, and like smoke pumped into the sky, will be scattered into the expanse. Through the sweetness of devotional surrender, mantra turns the negative into positive. I once heard it said: “as music has charms to soothe a savage beast, so the spiritual sound of mantra soothes the restless mind.” - And that is what Yoga means with „vritti“ to sooth the mind and stilling the mind waves. Once you achieve this state you will be more aware about your thoughts and things. This will bring us to be more thankful for each and everything. - We can grow in this awareness and see finally how things really are.

Personal Experience

These days I had a lot of emotional things going on and it had also an effect on my circulative system and my health status. So experienced it with and within myself what Mantra Chanting does:

After an exhausting week of school and study and outside influences which made me sad and powerless, I couldn’t do anything anymore. I just lost my power and was unbelievably tired. My circulatory system was not working in the right way and I suffered from headache and low blood pressure and felt dizzy.

So I started chanting Mantras for one hour. First the „Aum“ then „Hari Om – Shiva Om“ and the „Gayatri“ Mantra.

Within this hour I felt emotional 100 % better and balanced again and after another two hours even the dizziness was gone.

The Sanskrit Mantras are often about Shiva – He is one of the main Hindu deities. He is the destroyer. - Destroyer of all negativity. And he activates the goodness in you. This is only one of the examples.

A Mantra can give us comfort and help to overcome sufferings. There are plenty of benefits of Mantra chanting and here some others:

–Free of costs

–Opens Intuition

–Reduces Anxiety and Depression

–Releases Neuroses

–Engenders Compassion

–Boosts Immunity

From Hinduism to everybody’s lives

In the Hindu and related Dharmic traditions that use mantra meditation as a regular part of practice, you will find there is a mantra for everything – for every disease and every challenge. To note just a few examples, in the Tibetan tradition, the „Om Mane Padme Hum“ mantra has been used for centuries to invoke the blessings of compassion. In the Hindu tradition, the Ganesh mantra "om gam ganapatayei namaha"  is chanted to the elephant-headed deity Ganesha to remove obstacles. And, in the Kundalini Yoga tradition, the „Siri Gaitri Mantra – Ra Ma Da Sa“– is chanted for healing.

To make it as a new pattern in your life, take all this benefits and bring it into your daily routines, to get a better health state, calmness, happiness and to sing, have fun, and to enjoy life. Have you ever sung under the shower or in the rain, or when you walked in a lonely place? Give it a try and start your own favourite Mantra. The effort to make a daily (-morning and/or night) practice will bring you lots of surprises and happiness. 20 Minutes a day will bring a change of positivity in your life if you chant the right mantras.

Since I traveled to India and learned so much about Yogic living, I have been intensifying living a more Yogic lifestyle.

To study and practice Yoga gives me a better perspective of life and improved my awareness. I feel like I am a newborn. It already affected my life to live more conciously in every part of life. How I approach others, how I treat myself (self love), how to let go of what doesn't serve me anymore, how to be more thankful, and how I treat animals and the environment, how I eat and drink healthily, how to be grateful for everything and how I serve people.

Closing Mantra:

“Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu” (translated as ”may all beings be happy and free”)

Manuela Müller