I was just sitting here, doing some japa to my guru mantra, and it got me to thinking. What's your mantra? Do you have one? Do you use one? Can you tell me or is it secret? Do you use more than one? If so, what's your system? I'm curious.
The mantra I use is the one that I was initiated with at Kripalu. It's not secret - anyone can use it and we did use it as a community way back in the day. That mantra is Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. The translation I was given is, "Thy will be done Lord, not mine," basically, "I surrender to what is."
While I lived at Kripalu, I did receive another mantra with a group of people during a retreat. It was supposed to be kept secret, except for those of us who were together that day. It was one syllable and I'm not going to try and spell it out here - I don't even use that mantra.
I like to chant the Gayatri Mantra and there are others too, but if I'm going to sit down and "do a mantra," the one I do is the first one. It's comfortable, I know it, it comes naturally to me now, and it seems to be effective.
So, what do you use?
2 comments:
How do someone measure mantra effectiveness?
That's a great question. I would say that a mantra is effective it you get the results you were going for. Let's say I want my mind to be calm for a bit and so I do a mala and then my mind is calm. I'd say it worked.
If I was doing one for insight and then I got insight later even if my mind was agitated then I'd say it worked.
If I hear the mantra when I'm not planning on repeating it, but it's just going on in my mind, I'd say it worked, because it's replacing often unproductive thoughts and repetitions with words that I've put there on purpose.
Those are just some of my thoughts on it. I'm sure there are loads of other ways to see if you're mantra's working!
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