What are Mantras?

Part I: What are Mantras?

What are mantras? Mantras are both sound vibrations and extremely powerful universal forces within the psyche, available and accessible to all who desire to study and practice them. The word "mantra" is derived from the Sanskrit roots "man," meaning mind, and "tra," which implies liberation and p nergize, and heal our bodies and minds, purify the psyche from old traumas, ameliorate negative karma, create positive karma that supports our spiritual evolution, and awaken consciousness.

Are Mantras Just Words?

When students are learning what are mantras and how they work, they need to understand that mantras are more than mere words. They consist of letters and syllables combined in various ways, based on complex, esoteric mathematical systems passed down from guru to disciple over millennia. They can be chanted in various ways to produce different effects, and the sounds are linked so that, when chanted, they induce elevated states of consciousness.

Even if we grasp this aspect of the science of mantras, their effect cannot be understood intellectually or via standard scientific methods. Instead, we should experience their impact experientially and intuitively by trying the technique ourselves and observing the results. Only then can we intuitively understand the role of mantras in spiritual growth.

The Science Behind the Sound

Mantras act in the same way that music does, as energy and sound vibrations that profoundly affect us, our thoughts, and our emotions, and, as a result, can alter our state of being. They are both words and sounds we chant to enter deep meditative states, as well as powerful psychic energies that vibrate and pulsate with enormous power.

Once we connect with the mantra in the psyche by chanting it audibly or mentally, we can access the energy, power, and wisdom within the mantra to expand our sense of who we are. This elevates our consciousness, allowing us to gain spiritual insights.

Part II: The Mantra System

Name and Form: Mantra and Yantra

Yoga tantra is based on the science of mantra and yantra, which refers to the name and form. Everything in the world has a name or form that traps us in a limited understanding of the world. Labels and conditioning prevent us from seeing things in their purest form. This is why it is said in yoga tantra that we use a thorn to remove a thorn. We use a mantra and a yantra, a sacred name and form, to free ourselves from our conditioning and expand our understanding of the world.

Name - Mantra 

The "name" aspect of tantra relates to using a word, the name of the mantra, that is chanted to vibrate the mind and liberate energy trapped in limiting and even destructive mental and emotional patterns. The energy liberated can then be directed to tap into our inner powers and abilities, and to awaken higher consciousness. When we chant the mantra AUM, we are tuning our awareness to the vibration of AUM within the psyche. Eventually, the mantra is heard even when we stop actively chanting it.

Form - Yantra

The form of the mantra is the image or symbol that accompanies that sound. Every sound we hear and every thought and sound in our mind has a corresponding image. When we repeat a mantra, we reinforce a specific mental image or thought form that is associated with that mantra.

The images associated with mantras differ from those generated in the superficial layers of the mind. The images in the deep mind, the psyche, are usually abstract, symbolic, and archetypal. These deeper images carry rich, multi-layered meaning. By chanting the mantra and gazing at the symbol, we can focus our awareness, which in turn concentrates our energy and awakens our psychic power.

Types and Classifications

Mantras can be classified in many ways. They can be classified according to the number of syllables they have, their effect, or the system they belong to. There are literally an endless number of mantras, some short, others very long.

Examples include:

• Peace (snti) mantras and spiritual mantras are used to soothe the mind and to open us up to the more profound harmony within
• Healing mantras use sound vibrations to heal the body and mind, for example, to decrease blood pressure and anxiety
• Mantras to calm anger
• Vedic mantras and tantric mantras, which come from various texts
• Seed or bija mantras are examples of single-syllable mantras. These are the most fundamental sound units of a mantra, e.g., Aim, Hrīm Klīm. They have no semantic meaning in ordinary language.

Key Mantras Explained

The most powerful of all the mantras is the mantra AUM (also written as OM). This mantra is found in the Upanishads, ancient philosophical texts. When the mantra "OM" is written down, it resembles a 3 with a tail and a crescent moon above it. This is its external form, and there are other symbolic representations of this mantra.

Some mantras are based on numbers. The number of syllables forms the meter or rhythm of the mantra:

• The 5-syllable mantra of Shiva -- Namah Shivāya (Na Ma Shi Va Ya)
• The 8-syllable mantra of Vishnu -- Om Namo Narāyanya (Om Na Mo Na Ra Ya Na Ya)
• 24-syllable Gāyatrī mantras -- there are many Gāyatrī mantras, all of which have 24 syllables formed into a specific meter or rhythm called the gāyatrī meter.

Another extremely powerful mantra is the HAMSA mantra, also pronounced SO HAM. HAMSA is also known as the ajapa gāyatrī mantra. Although gāyatrī mantras typically have 24 syllables, this mantra is an exception. It is the mantra of the breath. SO is the sound of inhalation, and HAM is the sound of exhalation. Practicing this mantra consistently unlocks the secrets of the breath and the life force.

Part III: Psychological Applications

Mantras are Tools to Protect and Liberate the Mind

From the perspective of mantra yoga, a mantra is a sound vibration that awakens consciousness, liberating awareness and energy trapped within the mind's constant stream of thought. If we are trapped in our thoughts, we tend to identify with what our thoughts tell us. Many people think continuously and expend vast amounts of energy worrying and trying to control their lives in their minds.

The sound vibration of a mantra can be used to break our standard thinking patterns by stimulating subtle aspects of ourselves that lie outside the thinking process. Mantras are like gentle massages that stimulate the totality of the mind. Acting in the same way, a stone thrown into a pond will send ripples out in concentric circles from its origin to the outer edges of the pond.

By spreading sound vibrations in the mind, mantras enable us to become aware of and experience more profound and subtle aspects of ourselves, many of which are powerful and joyful. They break our focus on limiting thought patterns. The energy invested in these destructive patterns is released and can be redirected to fuel more creative and joyful mental processes.

Healing and Balancing

When learned and chanted properly, mantras have a potent healing and liberating effect on our body, mind, and entire personality. They liberate energy trapped in old, maladaptive, and neurotic mental and emotional patterns, directing the liberated energy to elevate consciousness and foster spiritual evolution.

Mantras have psychological significance. They can help us influence and modify our feelings, calm an anxious mind, energize a depressed mind, or access various strengths and abilities. They help us understand the power of the mind. Mantras can influence the entire human personality and our destiny.

Working with the Three Gunas

Three forces act on the body and mind, as well as all of nature. These are the three great attributes of nature, called the maha gunas. They are tamas, rajas, and sattwa. Everything is polarised between tamas (darkness) and sattwa (light). Rajas is the desire at the center of human existence that moves us either toward darkness and materialism or toward light, knowledge, and enlightenment.

1. Tamas is darkness, ignorance, hiddenness, disease, and degeneration. It conceals and creates form, structure, and materialism. If it becomes too strong, tamas causes rigidity, decay, pain, suffering, and death.
2. Rajas is characterized by desire, momentum, restlessness, and the dissipation that results from excessive indulgence in our desires.
3. Sattwa is light, luminosity, revelation, knowledge, understanding, acceptance, healing, and deep abiding joy. It is the enlightening force that reveals the truth to us.

Mantras are said to be mainly sattwic by nature, as they stimulate the mind, allowing us to observe our thoughts at work. The vibrations of the mantra stimulate the mind in a similar way to how a massage stimulates the body, revealing hidden tensions. Mantras expand the sattwic elements of our nature to bring about positive energy, balance, and a deep sense of inner joy.

Part IV: Spiritual Practice and Development

Mantra Yoga in Context

The path of yoga, as a complete system of health, psychological growth, and spiritual liberation, has four main components, each of which is a stage on that path:

1. Hatha yoga focuses on mastering the body through postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), energy locks (bandhas), and techniques to direct prana within the body (mudras).
2. Mantra yoga uses sound vibration to amplify energy and awaken consciousness.
3. Laya yoga, a form of kundalini yoga, focuses on the chakras and moving kundalini energy up the spine.
4. Raja yoga aims to block the mind and achieve samadhi, absorption in the highest Self.

Mantra yoga is an intermediary stage. It is employed once we have practiced hatha yoga to condition the physical body and simple relaxation meditation practices to calm the mind and emotions. Once we have worked on our body and nervous system using hatha yoga, we can go deeper into the mind using the introductory stages of mantra yoga.

These systems of yoga are combined with four other major systems of yoga philosophy, which are prescribed and practiced according to one personality type:

1. Karma yoga -- for active people
2. Bhakti yoga -- for devotional worship (different forms)
3. Jnāna Yoga -- for intellectual inquiry
4. Rāja yoga -- for mystics

Different personality styles will use mantras in various ways. For example, devotionally oriented people may use mantras as part of a faith-based religious practice. In contrast, someone who is primarily intellectual or scientific in outlook may be an atheist who uses mantras purely as energetic tools to relax and strengthen the body and mind.

Meditation Techniques

There are two primary forms of mantra meditation: japa, which involves repeating a mantra, and ajapa japa, which involves linking a mantra to the breath.

Japa – The Sanskrit word "Japa" refers to the practice of meditation in which a mantra is vocalized, whispered, or chanted mentally. The mantra can also be written repeatedly on a page in the practice of japa. The practitioner repeats the mantra given to them for a set period or a predetermined number, such as 108, 1008, or more. A rosary, called a mala, is used to count. Malas usually contain 108 beads. In japa, the meditator focuses on the mantra; any thoughts that come into the mind are allowed to pass by and are not attended to.

Ajapa Japa – The Sanskrit word "Ajapa Japa " means repeating a mantra (japa) without conscious repetition (ajapa). This means that the mantra begins to repeat itself spontaneously, a state known as ajapa. The practice of ajapa japa aims to achieve the state of ajapa by linking the mantra with the rhythm of the breath.

The practice of Ajapa Japa is one of the most important and influential meditation practices in the yoga tantra tradition. Ajapa japa meditation unites the mantra with the breath, prana, mind, attention, and consciousness. It is a complete spiritual practice (sadhana) that can take an aspirant to the highest stages of meditation, to the realization of the highest Self.

From Practice to Awakening

After extensive practice of japa or ajapa japa, the mantra erupts in our hearts and minds, continuing to vibrate in our consciousness. This stimulates bliss, self-knowledge, and self-awareness. With time and practice, we become aware of the vast reserves of energy that lie within us and can unlock and utilize this energy to develop our potential. It is as though we shine a light on our inner universe and capabilities, revealing a profound sense and recognition of the highest Self.

Ultimately, with considerable practice of mantra yoga, our awareness can transcend our mundane level of functioning to experience a higher consciousness. This is a highly liberating and joyful experience.

In mantra yoga, we intone rhythmic, universal patterns that invoke and, over time, unlock the mysteries of life, revealing them to our consciousness. This gives us true knowledge at a profoundly intuitive and experiential level.

At a personal level, a mantra liberates energy trapped in mental patterns, freeing it for other uses, such as healing, creativity, and spiritual growth. We gain knowledge, insight, and intuition about our world. At a transcendent level, a mantra liberates all the energy trapped in mental patterns and frees it for awakening consciousness and transcendent experience. We gain knowledge of the Self and true spiritual knowledge that transcends time and space.

Part V: Universal Wisdom

Beyond Cultural Boundaries

It is essential to understand that mantras are not exclusive to India or the Sanskrit language. Mantras are primal forces that exist at very deep levels of the psyche, the unconscious mind. They exist both in the universe, the macrocosm, and in our bodies and minds, the microcosm. Sanskrit is the language used to bring these powerful forces into the conscious mind. Sanskrit enables us to chant a mantra, tuning into the vibrations of the actual mantra and the powerful energies of the psyche that vibrate within us.

Mantras are proto-thoughts, primal energy that vibrates and pulsates in the deepest parts of us, in our unconscious, our psyche. These sound vibrations are in all of us, but we are unconscious of them. Great sages, saints, seers, and rishis perceived them during very deep meditation, revealing them to us and making them available as tools to go inward and discover the great mystery of who we truly are.

No country or culture can claim to own a mantra in its purest form, as a powerful vibration in the psyche. Mantras are universal forces available and accessible to all who desire to study and practice them. This is why we will find sacred words of power in all countries, cultures, and religions. They will reveal themselves to anyone who is prepared to handle the enormous power and knowledge that mantras can unleash in our psyche.

Science or Religion?

Mantras are forces with incredible power. Their corresponding sound vibrations have the power to penetrate deep into us. When we are depressed or sad, for example, music can find its way through the cracks in our psyche and be an excellent balm for our souls. Sound has power, and mantras are the purest archetypal forms of sound. Mantras are the building blocks of the universe, our minds, and our individuality.

It is essential to recognize that mantras are not inherently religious tools. They are simply sound vibrations that resonate deeply within us. Mantra can be seen as part of an esoteric language used in various contexts, including yogic, religious, psychological, and medical.

Mantras are not prayers but have been incorporated into Hindu religious worship and prayer. A prayer can be composed of any language and sung or recited in any meter or rhythm. Its meaning is clear. A mantra is not a string of words expressing what one has to say to a deity. It is a sound vibration with profound neurological and psychological effects on the initiated. Mantras open us to higher realms of consciousness, and what we do when we get there is an individual choice.

For most Westerners, it is better to think of mantras as pure sound vibrations free from their cultural baggage and religious associations. Use them as psychological tools to probe the inner realms of our psyche and discover our own inner truth.

Honoring the Tradition

Having said that mantras are not exclusively Indian, we must honor the extraordinary achievement of India's ancient yogis, sages, and seers who developed and refined the science of mantra over millennia, elevating it to an unparalleled level of sophistication and expertise that remains largely inaccessible to Western understanding.

Through generations of dedicated practice, profound spiritual insight, and meticulous experimentation, these enlightened beings cultivated a comprehensive system that treats sound as a precise scientific instrument capable of transforming consciousness itself. They mapped the subtle relationships between specific sound vibrations and their corresponding effects on the human psyche, body, and spiritual development with a precision that rivals modern scientific methodology.

This ancient Indian tradition has produced an intricate knowledge base encompassing the exact pronunciation, rhythm, and intention required for each mantra to achieve its intended purpose, whether for healing, spiritual awakening, or transcending ordinary states of consciousness. While the West has only begun to scratch the surface of sound's therapeutic potential, India's sages perfected this sacred science to such an exalted degree that their discoveries continue to offer profound pathways for transformation that our contemporary approaches have yet to fully comprehend or replicate.

Realizing a mantra, awakening its full force and knowledge into our consciousness, is a great event in our lives. It is a life-changing, inspiring, and humbling experience, and depending on our personality type, we can interpret this event from either a religious or scientific perspective.

Ajapa Japa

The practice of Ajapa Japa is one of the most important and influential meditation practices in the Yoga-Tantra tradition. Ajapa japa meditation unites the mantra with the breath, prana, mind, attention, and consciousness. It is a complete spiritual practice (sadhana) that can take an aspirant to the highest stages of meditation, to the realization of the highest Self. This one technique is a complete system for individual self-development and transcendental experience. If studied, practiced, and understood correctly, Ajapa Japa promotes physical health, mental strength, and spiritual enlightenment.

With time and practice, we become aware of the vast reserves of energy that lie within us and can unlock and utilize this energy to develop our potential. It is as though we shine a light on our inner universe and capabilities, revealing a profound sense and recognition of Self.

Big Shakti has developed a guided meditation series that distills the essence of ajapa japa for beginners and advanced practitioners. The techniques in this meditation series are part of a course on how to apply Ajapa Japa for Healing the Mind.