He speaks with such beauty on 0m, for instance, and 0m
Purnamadha, or the great Tibetan m a n t r a 0m Mani Padme
Hum but at the same time warns us that chanting, as any
activity, has the potential to create sleepiness if n o t approached
with intelligence and sincerity (hence the famous Coca-Cola
reference).
The word mantra
.
- ,.
..
,
is untranslatable
in English, in any
Western language,
but its meaning,
its significance,
can beexplained to
you. A mantra is
not just something
to chant. It is
not chanting.
A mantra is
something to let
sink deep in your
being, just as roots
godeepimothe
earth. The deeper the roots go into the earth, the higher the tree will go
into the sky.
A mantra is something like a seed to be allowed to go deep into your
being so that it can send its roots to the sources of your life and finally
to the universal life. Then its branches, its foliage will go high into the
sky, and when the right time comes, when the spring comes, it will
befilled with thousands of flowers. ( O m M a n i Padme H u m ,
Chapter I)
This is o u r direct experience with o u r o w n personal m a n t r a
practice.
I sometimes wonder why the Mystery School never experi‑
mented more with the power of sound. We explored various
esoteric pathways, such as crystal energy and various other
energetic phenomena, but for some reason, none of us (includ‑
ing me) thought to explore the power of sound itself.
Mantras were born in the mystery schools of ancient India.
According to the Vedas, the rishis ‐ wise m e n of the time ‑
were experimenting with sound scientifically, asa way to
expand consciousness and heal the body. They discovered
how certain sounds naturally created obvious responses in the
body/mind organism.
Of course, we all acknowledge that sound has power. Compare
the difference between a baby’s laughter, for instance, to a
scream of anguish, or the sound of a police siren to the sound
of a mountain stream. A m a n t r a is basically a refined collection
of sounds that resonate specifically on cer‑
tain areas, certain parts of o u r physical and
metaphysical states.
Over the years Deva and I have received
messages from people from many varied
walks of life: from teachers of autistic kids
who tell us how their children respond
when they hear o u r music (the Gayatri
Mantra especially seems to calm and relax
children who suffer from attention deficit),
from people on the brink of suicide, from
an Iraqi war vet and a 911 firefighter, a
brain surgeon, and emergencynurses...all
describing how the m a n t r a s have helped
them cope with the t r a u m a and intensity
of their day-to-day lives. Recently we began
taking the m a n t r a s into prisons i n Germany
and America. Again, the experience was
transformative ‐ tears of release, interns
chanting together with us (even lifers), and
new friendships born. (I still have pen pals
as a result of these visits.)
O u r journey was recently featured in an
August 25 article in The Huffington Post titled
" H o w to Experience True Quiet (And Why
You’ll Wa n t t o ) ” The article introduces
m a n t r a s as a key to accessing inner peace
and recommends a daily practice.
Opening for Deva and me on o u r US
t o u r this fall w i l l be o u r friends The
GuruGanesha Band. As you m a y know,
Osho speaks lovingly of Guru Nanak, and
GG recounts how his guru, Yogi Bhajan,
often read segments of Osho’s discourses
to his devotees. Their path, although full
o f music and m a n t r a , i s way more austere
than ours, but ultimately it resonates from
the heart in the same way.
Mantra means finding your inner sound, your
inner rhythm, your inner vibration. Once you
have found your mantra it is of tremendous help;
just one utterance of the mantra and you are in
a totally different world. (The Ta n t r a Vision,
Vol. 2, Chapter 6 ) V
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