Mantras
A mantra is a syllable, a word, or a verse that can be...
an affirmation of deeply held feelings
or beliefs
a prayer for guidance
the invocation of a protective/guiding/loving
aspect of the universe
or a prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving
...and—when we are ready—a mantra can have the power
to open us to new insights and spiritual development. The uplifting
effects of a mantra can be felt whether it is repeated aloud
or silently, but when a mantra is spoken or chanted aloud, the
vibration affects the body (and the surrounding space) as well
as the mind and spirit. By creating such a supportive atmosphere,
the chanting of these mantras helps lead us toward the experience
of our own consciousness as the one Universal Consciousness.
Sanskrit mantras are said to create the vibration of their
meanings within the body when they are repeated many times (more
on this below). Therefore by chanting a mantra, one can automatically
have an inner knowledge of a mantra's meaning, even without
understanding the actual translation. But these mantras can
be even more powerful if one learns and studies the meanings
of the words. And in addition to knowledge of the literal meaning,
the experience one has when chanting the sounds, as well as
the feelings and attitudes they evoke for some time after chanting,
adds to one’s understanding.
There can be many variations and subtleties to the translation
according to the translator's state of mind—any translation
is therefore a reflection of a moment in the life of the translator.
Working out one’s own translations to familiar mantras
can intensify the experience of chanting them, and the insights
gained, in both the translation process as well as chanting,
will continue to evolve throughout one’s lifetime.
On the following pages I share several mantras—each of
these verses plays a powerful role in my life. Three forms of
each mantra are presented: the original Sanskrit, the transliteration
of the Sanskrit into the English alphabet, and my own current
translation, however imperfect.
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Why Sanskrit?
Any word or phrase occurring repetitively in your mind, whether
spoken or not, has the power to influence your thoughts, emotions,
attitudes—positively or negatively. Because of this, it
can be helpful to guard against unconsciously repeating some of
the common negative mantras, such as, “I can’t do
that,” or, “I’ll never learn this.” It
is easy to slip into the habit of repeating these negative phrases,
letting their presence in our heads become our mental default
mode. These are powerful mantras that can have a strong influence
on our subconscious—repeating them often in the mind, or
out loud, can all too easily result in the negative outcomes that
they invoke. It hardly seems necessary to point out that it is
much better to actively choose words and phrases that will have
a positive influence our lives.
The Sanskrit mantras presented on these pages have been used
traditionally to create an inner (and outer) atmosphere that is
conducive to meditation and spiritual growth. Countless generations
have chanted them, some of these verses have been around for hundreds,
and some of them for thousands of years. Imagine for a moment,
each generation passing along to the next, their translations
and experiences of the mantras. Over thousands of years the tradition
deepening, the knowledge expanding, and the mantras themselves
accumulating the energy of millions upon millions of individuals
chanting them with the intention of discovering the truth of the
one universal consciousness.
A mantra can be created in any language—we might call a
mantra in English an affirmation or an invocation. However, the
Sanskrit language has several characteristics that make it especially
powerful in terms of how the words and sounds affect us—physically,
mentally, and spiritually. First, Sanskrit has the unique quality
of being the mother of all the Indo-European languages, including
Latin. Anyone whose first language is in this group will, as they
begin to explore Sanskrit, recognize many words, endings, prefixes,
and so on as the “ancestors” of words and sounds in
their own language. Also, one begins to notice that many of the
words in this beautiful language feel or sound
like their meanings.
There is a reason for this. This language is formulated to resonate
with the human body. The alphabet that is used for writing Sanskrit
is called Devanagari (deva = god, nagari = city), it is the script
of the “city of the gods,” and the city
is the human body. (This script is also used for many modern Indian
languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, and others.)
The alphabet is completely phonetic; the name of each
letter is the sound that it represents. In keeping with
its intimate connection to the human body, alphabetical order
is a “map” of the throat and mouth. The primal sound
“uh” is the foundation of the language, and it is
the first letter of the alphabet, pronounced in the back of the
throat. This first letter is written,  ,
and transliterated, “a” …alphabetical order
then proceeds forward through the mouth, from back to front, each
of the other vowel sounds, semi-vowels, and consonants created
in a particular place within the mouth. Finally, the last letter,
 , transliterated,
“ha,” is simply air escaping through the lips. So
by putting the first and last letters together, “aha,”
you are, in a sense, including all of the sounds, making the
connection from beginning to end, back to front. Isn’t
it interesting that humans everywhere naturally say, “Aha!”
when they make a realization, when they make the connection.
The Devanagari alphabet and the Sanskrit language are experiential
in nature. Because the sounds of the Devanagari alphabet are arranged
according to the inside of our mouths, it is not necessary to
memorize how the sounds are made. Once we have had the experience
of making the sounds, we know where and how the sounds are made
and can reproduce them easily. Because of its phonetic nature,
it doesn’t take long for a student of Sanskrit to become
aware of the natural affinity that we all possess for these pure
sounds. Each letter in the alphabet is a bija (seed)
mantra that resonates with a particular area of the body. As one
begins working with these sounds, this resonance will be experienced
as well.
Sanskrit is more a language of discovery, than of learning.
We discover, or un-cover, a feeling of such deep familiarity with
the language, that grows more profound with each lesson or practice
session. There is a belief among those of us who study Sanskrit…
that anyone who feels drawn toward Sanskrit in this lifetime has
most likely studied it in other lifetimes as well!
Sanskrit is a language perfectly suited to poetry. There are
rules for meter as well as for grammar. And the further one delves
into the language, the more one finds that there seems to be an
opportunity for alliteration and a pun or a play-on-words at every
turn. And double-, triple-, even quadruple-entendres are found
throughout Sanskrit literature. As a result, Sanskrit has a capacity
for both beauty and a depth of description that is so far beyond
the scope of the English language. These attributes make it especially
useful for mantras—those sounds, words, and verses that
prepare us for inner exploration, and for sacred literature—texts
that inspire us to dedicate our lives to our spiritual evolution.
Sanskrit is said to be a sacred language. This refers
not only to the spiritual nature of much of Sanskrit literature,
but also to the experience that becomes available to us as we
begin learning the language. Sanskrit has a magical quality in
that it becomes accessible to those who come to it for self-discovery
and is very nearly inaccessible to anyone who comes purely as
a scholar. We often say that Sanskrit is like the ocean—it
is so vast, one can never hope to learn everything about
it in one lifetime! Indeed, if you try to gain mastery of Sanskrit
by approaching the language exclusively as a scholar, you’re
likely to give up in the face of that vastness—Sanskrit
and its beauty will be closed to you.
However, when you approach Sanskrit as a sacred language, as
a spiritual path, the beauty of that vast ocean becomes available
to you. You will soon see that, in addition to its expansive nature,
Sanskrit is like the ocean in that, wherever you choose to jump
in, you will encounter the beauty of that ocean. Whether you are
experiencing the alphabet for the very first time, learning the
rules of grammar, reading the Bhagavad Gita, or studying the profound
philosophy of Shankaracharya or the sublime poetry of Kalidasa—you
can dive into that ocean and experience the beauty for yourself.
At any level, at any place in that vast ocean of vibration, you
can experience the opportunity that Sanskrit provides for self-discovery,
for un-covering one’s identity with consciousness
itself, to break the illusion of identifying with the perishable
body and all its limitations.
three free downloadable files:
About Om / PDF / 83-KB
Devanagari alphabet w translit & combinations / PDF / 1.34-MB
Devanagari
pronunciation key / PDF / 284-KB
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