WHAT IS MEANING OF OM NAMO SHIVAYA, HOW TO DO MANTRA MEDITATION, OM NAMO SHIVAYA MANTRA

MEDITATION WITH OM NAMO SHIVAYA

MEANING OF MANTRA

It means “I bow to Shiva.” Shiva is the supreme reality, the inner Self. It is the name given to consciousness that dwells in all. Shiva is the name of your true identity- your self.


Pronounced as Aum Num-ha Shi-why

Om Namah Shivaya is known as the great redeeming mantra also known as five-syllable mantra

According to Hindu mythology there are three Gods who run this creation.

The Brahma – who creates the universe,
The Vishnu – who preserves the Universe and
The Shiva- who in the end destroys the universe.

Among the three deities, Shiva, though considered as destroyer, also symbolize the – the inner self which remains intact even after everything ends.

In this mantra the chanter (one who repeats the mantra) bow to Shiva- his true self.

Om Namah Shivay is a very powerful mantra. It has been said about this mantra that if this mantra vibrates continually in your heart, then you have no need to perform austerities, to meditate, or to practise yoga.

To repeat this mantra you need no rituals or ceremonies, nor must you repeat it at an auspicious time or in a particular place.”

This mantra is free of all restrictions. It can be repeated by anyone, young or old, rich or poor and no matter what state a person is in, it will purify him.

HOW TO DO MEDITATION WITH OM NAMAH SHIVAY


Sit in a comfortable and peaceful place and position.

Start repeating the mantra in your mind or loudly with the same speed as you talk:Om Namah Shivay (Aum Num-ha Shi-why)

To repeat any mantra as already mentioned in General Rules : one should repeat it with full awareness of its meaning.

Repeat ‘Om Namah Shivay’, with the feeling that you are bowing to Shiva – your true inner self.

Repeat this mantra with respect. The inner self is the form of God in you. So as you say ‘ Om Namah Shivay’ i.e. “I bow to Shiva’; you are actually bowing to God – The great almighty.

The repetition of the name of God is equivalent to be merged in his very being. When you repeat God’s name in your mouth, in one way, you experience the God itself.

Just repeat this mantra with faith and it’s powerful phonetic vibrations will start doing miracle for you.

HOW TO DO MANTRA MEDITATION IN DAILY LIFE


(1) Choose a mantra.

(2) Allocate 30 minutes for mantra meditation. Though early morning or late evening is best time, you can chooses any time as per  your convenience. 

(3)In those 30 minutes, 20 minutes will be for chanting (repeating)  the mantra and the last 10 minutes for being watchful of your inner consciousness.

PROCEDURE OF MANTRA MEDITATION

(1) Sit comfortably at a quiet place.

(2)Close your eyes.

(3)Start chanting the mantra (either silently or loudly ).

(4)Repeat the mantra with faith and respect.

(5)Repeat it with the full awareness of its meaning.

(6)Keep chanting the mantra for 20 minutes.

(7) After 20 minutes….
stop chanting. Be quiet. Keep sitting silently.

The mantra will keep echoing in your mind for some more time. Just be watchful of what happens inside you.

Don’t judge, act or react. Just be aware of all that is happening inside you. Just be a witness of all your emotions, feelings, and other activities in and around you.

You will feel a sense of calm and bliss.

All thought activities will start decreasing and eventually come to a stand still.

Slowly slowly open your eyes and move out of the meditation.

This Mantra Repetition is an extremely powerful and widely used meditation technique which will deepen your meditation practice in almost no time.

When you begin meditating this way on daily basis, slowly you will start experiencing a thought free mind –  a state of choiceless awareness.Your true self will be revealed to you.

Please remember that the 10 minutes watchfulness after the 20 minutes of chanting is a must.

Later you may increase your timing. But the ratio between chanting and witnessing should remain as 2:1.

MANTRA MEDITATION, THE POWER OF REPETITION SOUND

Mantra Meditation :

The power of repetition of sound
” Just by repeating the name, that which can not be understood Will be understood just by repeating the name that which can not be seen Will be seen”

Mantra repetition is an ancient meditation technique  extensively used in Tibet and India.

Here is a simple explanation of Mantra Meditation:

What actually is a mantra

Mantra repetition simply means  repeating a sentence or group of words that have a phonetic significance . just that’s it.
Mantra  is intrinsically related to sound. Mantra is sound, and sound is reverberating in everything in this universe. When water flows, the gurgling sound it makes, is mantra. When wind blows through the trees, the  rustling sound it produces is mantra.  When we walk on the earth, our footsteps produce sound, and that too is mantra. Within  human beings  there is a self-born, indestructible sound which repeats itself constantly, along with our breathing and this sound is also a mantra.

Sound has enormous power, in fact it has the power to create an entire universe. It is written that God originally manifested as sound.

(In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. New Testament, John1:1-2 )

According to ancient Indian belief  in the beginning there was sound, which  reverberated as Om and from that sound everything came into existence.

Even modern scientist are beginning to recognize as our ancient sages did,  that there exists a vibration which reverberates ceaselessly throughout the cosmos.

When letters and syllables come together, they form words. Both our spiritual and our mundane life are possible only because of words; without language, we can not carry out any of our activities. Each word we use has its own power and produces it own reaction. A mantra is no ordinary combination of letters and syllables, but a living force. The name of God is not different from God. Mantra has been called the sound-body of God: It is God in the form of sound.

In  Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says,

” Among rituals, I am the ritual of mantra repetition.”
By this he means that while other techniques are means of attaining Him, mantra is his very being. That is why it is so easy to experience God by repeating the mantra. Mantra meditation is the repetition of a group of words which create  sound vibrations that awake the love of God in our hearts and mind.

The influence of mantra: How it affects the meditator
The mantra meditation can completely transform our inner being. Our inner state is created by the thoughts and feelings that continuously arise in us. Outwardly we may appear to have fixed identities-one person may appear to be a lawyer, another an engineer, another a doctor, another a professor. But inside, we are a continually changing mass of consciousness.

When we project the beam of mantra into this fluctuating mass, it stabilizes it and focuses it in one direction, the direction of the self. It helps us to transcend our confusion, our fantasies, and the constant changes of the mind.

Repetition of the name of God causes a kind of earthquake in our inner consciousness. Whatever thoughts arise in our daily life, they are recorded within us and form impression that are difficult  to remove.  But when we repeat the name, all these thoughts and impressions are erased, and the name of God is recorded. At every moment, what we think is what we become.

If the anger arises in the  mind and we identify ourselves with it, we become angry. In the same way, if we continually repeat the mantra with great love and interest, we will become absorbed in God. By its very nature the mantra has the ability to transform our awareness  into an awareness of ourselves as Self which is a part of supreme self God.

How to repeat the mantra : You can repeat the mantra silently or loudly but it should be at the same speed at which you talk. You can also coordinate it with the breathing, repeating it once with the inhalation and once with exhalation. Repeat it very carefully, just as a miser looks after is wealth.

Listen it as you repeat it, and in that way your mind will become permeated with mantra. If you repeat the mantra when you breathe in and breathe out, it will circulate throughout your body, permeating every one of your blood cells. then even the room in which you have been repeating become saturated with it.

It is said, “Mantra is that which protects the one who repeats it.” The power of mantra is beyond your imagination You can understand the meaning of the mantra, but you can not measure its strength. Mantra is the living force of God. Therefore, repeat it with respect.

If you devote even half hour or an hour every day to repeating the mantra, you will function much more effectively in your worldly life, and your heart will be filled with joy. You will begin to experience the self very easily.

http://meditationsplus.blogspot.tw/

MANTRA MEDITATION QUESTION AND ANSWERS, WHAT IS BIJA MANTRA, WHAT IS CHAKRA

MANTRA AND MEDITATION QUESTION AND ANSWERS

There are many doubts and misconception among people about mantra.  Even many knowledgeable persons says that mantra is nothing but a boring repetition of words that doesn’t affect our consciousness and the only effect it produce is to take the chanter ( the one who repeats the mantra ) into a state of sleep.

There are many other wrong notions  about mantra which, I think, exist because of the fact that people are not aware of the full  mechanism of mantra. So before you start this meditation technique on Mantra, it is essential that you clear all your doubts about mantra:

QUESTION :What is a Mantra?

Answer :A sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation.” The Sanskrit word mantra consists of the root "Man" meaning “to think” and the suffix -tra, meaning “tools or instruments”, hence a literal translation would be “instrument of thought”.

QUESTION :What is Bija Mantra?

Answer :Bija means seed. “The Bija mantras are one-syllable seed sounds that, when said aloud, activate the energy of the chakras in order to purify & balance the mind & body. When you speak the bija mantras, you resonate with the energy of the associated chakra, helping you focus upon your own instinctive awareness of your body & its needs.”

One immediate tool for working with balancing your Chakras is using meditation and Bija Mantras to connect to each Chakra location. The word 'Bija' is translated as 'seed', and a Bija Mantra is the "Seed Sound". Bija Mantras are formed from the semi-vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet: YAM, RAM, LAM, VAM. Each Chakra has its own Bija Mantra, and because of their Sanskrit pronunciation, they can be felt in the location of each Chakra's center when recited out loud.

Reciting the Bija Mantras also purifies the nadis, which are our subtle energy channels. In addition, when recited in sequential order—from Root Chakra to Crown Chakra—these Sanskrit sounds are felt from the back of the tongue to the front of the tongue moving through all the way to your lips.

QUESTION :Why Mantra make me feel sleepy ? 

Answer : If you repeat mantra with unconscious you will feel sleepy. It acts as lullaby.

The most important thing in mantra meditation is that you should  repeat it with the full awareness of its meaning. However,  many people repeat mantra without having full awareness of its meaning.

If you repeat a mantra in such mechanical way then it will not produce any effect and will remain an ordinary word.

The emotional feeling in which  a mantra is chanted is the most important requirement of mantra meditation.

In its absence of emotional feeling a mantra is no more than a lullaby. So always keep in mind that whenever you repeat a mantra, you should know what is the meaning of that Mantra.

Otherwise you’ll not be able to draw any benefit from it.

QUESTION: Language of most mantra is strange and difficult to understand.

Answer: To some extent it is true but there is a reason for it.
The entire concept of Mantra meditation began in  India.

That is why most of the mantras are in Sanskrit Language which is the language of the Vedas and Upnishads (the oldest written texts of the world).

Though the language Sanskrit may be ancient & alien to you, what is still intact in various mantras written in this language is their  phonetic significance and their ability  to create powerful vibration of sound .

All mantras were developed after painstaking research and efforts. Therefore, they are very well written tools for achieving a meditative state.  

You should only think about meditating- the process of achieving a state of choiceless awareness- without thinking about the language of the mantra that you will be repeating.

Also Sanskrit is not the sole language of mantra. In almost every religion there are some specific words related to Sound. The word ‘Amen’ in Christianity, ‘Allah Hoo’ in Islam and ‘Om mani Padme Hum’ in Buddhist traditions are some examples. Please keep in  mind that of  whichever language’s mantra you repeat, you must repeat it with full awareness of its meaning.


QUESTION : If Mantra can create a powerful sound vibration then what is the need to repeat it. We can record a mantra on tape and can listen to it as and when we want for achieving a meditative state ?

Answer : It seems logical but actually is not that logical.
It appears logical that If mantra can produce powerful sound vibration then why not use a tape recorder and listen to it repeatedly.

However, in reality it is not that easy as it appears. If you record a mantra and listen to it passively, you will fall asleep as the mantra will act as a lullaby.

All those- who are really interested in mantra meditation- should keep in mind that there are two basic requirement for getting any benefit from  mantra meditation.

(A) the sound of the mantra; and
(B) the repetition of mantra with  faith and full awareness of its  meaning

When you play a mantra on tape, you are just a passive listener. The requirement of sound is there , but the awareness part is absent.

Even if the recorded sound is of someone who has recorded the mantra with faith and full awareness of its meaning, the fact remains that you, who is just a passive listener, will not be able to draw any benefits form this sound as it is not your faith but that of someone else which is included in the recorded mantra.

So unless you yourself chant the mantra with faith and full awareness of this meaning, the only thing you will get is a sound sleep.

Please keep in mind that In order to obtain full fruit of mantra, we have to repeat it with full awareness of its meaning.

Most of the time, we repeat the mantra with the wrong understanding, thinking that the syllables of the mantra and the object of the mantra are different.

That is why the mantra does not bear immediate fruit for us. If you think about this you will understand that the same thing is true on a mundane level.

Suppose that someone calls you an idiot. If you do not accept the word “idiot” as referring to you, you will not react to it. But if you identify with it, you may become so angry that your blood heat up.

If you were to identify yourself with the name of God as easily as you identify yourself with an abusive term, you would experience its effects at once.

QUESTION: Is there a difference between repeating a mantra silently and repeating it loudly ?

Answer: There is a little difference but not much.
As I have already explained, the main thing is that you should repeat a mantra with faith, respect and with full awareness of its meaning.

This can be done in both way i.e. by silently repeating the mantra or by pronouncing it loudly.

The basic difference in repeating a mantra silently and repeating it loudly lies in the intensity of sound that comes out in both the method.

But these vibrations may differ in their quantity  but not  in their quality  and both have the same effect on our inner consciousness.

QUESTION: But no sound is produced when we repeat a mantra silently?

Answer: If you can’t listen a sound, don’t think it does not exist.
Well it appears to us that no sound is produced, the reality is that every action and  every thought  produces a sound.

That’s a different thing that our senses can not detect it. Human being are capable of detecting only sound between 20 to 20,000 decibel.

We can’t listen sound below or above that level. However, this does not mean that such sounds do not exist.

They do exists and leave their effect on us. When you chant a mantra silently, it produces a sound. Though we can’t hear the sound, , it does exist  and produces the vibrations which affects our inner consciousness.

QUESTION :What is a chakra?

Answer:In Sanskrit, chakra translates into “wheel”. These “wheels” can be thought of as vortexes that both receive & radiate energy. There are 7 major energy centers (aka chakras) in the human body.

They run from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Emotions, physical health, & mental clarity affect how well each chakra can filter energy.

This in turn dictates how pure the energy is that’s emitted from different regions of the body.

The Chakras energy centers of our bodies record our life’s journey. As we grow and live our lives, our Chakras accumulate the energy that we put forth and receive. Essentially, these invisible recording devices are storing all the physical, emotional and spiritual expressions we all experience as human beings.

SEVEN CHAKRA AND THEIR BIJA MANTRA

“LAM”- chakra 1 (root)

  “VAM”- chakra 2 (sacral/navel)

“RAM”- chakra 3 (solar plexus)

“YAM”- chakra 4 (heart)

“HAM”- chakra 5 (throat)

“OM”- chakra 6 (third eye/brow)
“OM”- chakra 7 (crown)

REFERENCE BOOKS

Mantra Yoga and Primal Sound: Secrets of Seed (Bija) Mantras

Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing

Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within Mantras Made Easy: Mantras for Happiness, Peace, Prosperity, and More

Meditation and Mantras

WHAT IS MANTRA MEDITATION? HOW MANTRA MEDITATION IS DONE?WHAT IS TRASCEDENTAL MEDITATION (TM)

WHAT IS MANTRA MEDITATION

A Mantra is a grouping of sound vibrations which have an effect on the mental and psychic consciousness. Although traditionally given by a Guru, in the absence of a Guru, the practitioner may choose his mantra. An important criterion for mantra selection is that it must appeal to the mind fully when spoken verbally.
Mantra chanting creates powerful vibrations which are said to be directed to the right "chakras" to attract divine forces. This process is said to mysteriously heal the spiritual, physical & psychological body. It is important that when the mantra is chanted, the words and their rhythm must be enjoyed and one must surrender oneself to this experience.

Mantras do not have any specific meaning. Their power lies not in the meaning of the word but through the vibratory effects of the sound that they produced when spoken verbally or mentally.

In fact, a Mantra should not be confused with religion. Just because a mantra refers to a Hindu God, it does not mean that it cannot be said by a Christian. Also, a Mantra should not be translated as this has the effect of altering the sound vibrations wherein lies the strength of the Mantra.

Repetition of a Mantra forms the basis of Mantra Meditation. Mantras for spiritual evolution should be practiced for a fixed amount of time each day. Repeating a mantra too much may not be right for sensitive or psychic people as it may affect them adversely. Generally, if you repeat a mantra for about 10 minutes every day, then, within a few days you will know whether the vibrations feel right for you.

The power of repetition of sound

Just by repeating the name, that which can not be understood Will be understood just by repeating the name that which can not be seen Will be seen.

Mantra repetition is an ancient meditation technique  extensively used in Tibet and India.


Simple explanation of Mantra Meditation:

What actually is a Mantra Repetition

Mantra repetition simply means  repeating a sentence or group of words that have a phonetic significance . just that’s it.

Mantra  is intrinsically related to sound. Mantra is sound, and sound is reverberating in everything in this universe. When water flows, the gurgling sound it makes, is mantra. When wind blows through the trees, the  rustling sound it produces is mantra.  When we walk on the earth, our footsteps produce sound, and that too is mantra. Within  human beings  there is a self-born, indestructible sound which repeats itself constantly, along with our breathing and this sound is also a mantra.

Sound has enormous power, in fact it has the power to create an entire universe. It is written that God originally manifested as sound.

(In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. New Testament, John1:1-2 )

According to ancient Indian belief  in the beginning there was sound, which  reverberated as Om and from that sound everything came into existence.

Even modern scientist are beginning to recognize as our ancient sages did,  that there exists a vibration which reverberates ceaselessly throughout the cosmos.

When letters and syllables come together, they form words. Both our spiritual and our mundane life are possible only because of words; without language, we can not carry out any of our activities.

Each word we use has its own power and produces it own reaction. A mantra is no ordinary combination of letters and syllables, but a living force. The name of God is not different from God. Mantra has been called the sound-body of God: It is God in the form of sound.

In  Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says,

” Among rituals, I am the ritual of mantra repetition.”
By this he means that while other techniques are means of attaining Him, mantra is his very being. That is why it is so easy to experience God by repeating the mantra. Mantra meditation is the repetition of a group of words which create  sound vibrations that awake the love of God in our hearts and mind.

The influence of mantra: How it affects the meditator
The mantra meditation can completely transform our inner being. Our inner state is created by the thoughts and feelings that continuously arise in us. Outwardly we may appear to have fixed identities-one person may appear to be a lawyer, another an engineer, another a doctor, another a professor. But inside, we are a continually changing mass of consciousness.

When we project the beam of mantra into this fluctuating mass, it stabilizes it and focuses it in one direction, the direction of the self. It helps us to transcend our confusion, our fantasies, and the constant changes of the mind.

Repetition of the name of God causes a kind of earthquake in our inner consciousness. Whatever thoughts arise in our daily life, they are recorded within us and form impression that are difficult  to remove.  But when we repeat the name, all these thoughts and impressions are erased, and the name of God is recorded. At every moment, what we think is what we become.

If the anger arises in the  mind and we identify ourselves with it, we become angry. In the same way, if we continually repeat the mantra with great love and interest, we will become absorbed in God. By its very nature the mantra has the ability to transform our awareness  into an awareness of ourselves as Self which is a part of supreme self God.

How to repeat the mantra

You can repeat the mantra silently or loudly but it should be at the same speed at which you talk. You can also coordinate it with the breathing, repeating it once with the inhalation and once with exhalation. Repeat it very carefully, just as a miser looks after is wealth.

Listen it as you repeat it, and in that way your mind will become permeated with mantra. If you repeat the mantra when you breathe in and breathe out, it will circulate throughout your body, permeating every one of your blood cells. then even the room in which you have been repeating become saturated with it.

It is said, “Mantra is that which protects the one who repeats it.” The power of mantra is beyond your imagination You can understand the meaning of the mantra, but you can not measure its strength. Mantra is the living force of God. Therefore, repeat it with respect.

If you devote even half hour or an hour every day to repeating the mantra, you will function much more effectively in your worldly life, and your heart will be filled with joy. You will begin to experience the self very easily.

WHAT IS TRASCEDENTAL MEDITATION (TM)

Transcendental Meditation (TM) introduced by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi is also a form of Mantra Meditation where the participants are provided their personal Mantra.

Mantra Meditation is the easiest and safest form of meditation and can be practiced by anyone at anytime and under any conditions. The most common way of practicing Mantra Meditation is Japa. Japa (literally means 'rotate') is performed by repeating a mantra in sync with the rotation of a Japa Mala. A Japa Mala is a rosary of 108 beads where each bead is turned after the mental or audible recitation of the mantra.

Using a Japa Mala for Mantra Meditation is very effective as it provides an anchor to bring the mind back as it experiences wavering thoughts. The Mantra combined with the Japa Mala provide tangible anchors to which the thoughts are directed back as they spin out of control. That is why, Japa Meditation is one of the most recommended forms of meditation for the beginner.





Mantra Meditation: Change Your Karma with the Power of Sacred Sound

Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity, and Healing

Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within Mantras Made Easy: Mantras for Happiness, Peace, Prosperity, and More

Meditation and Mantras