M A N T R A S

[Guest guest]

Dear Dedicated Saadhaks,

Let me thank Shantnuji,Keshavji and Madam Janfarah for their erudite

interventions.

When I had my Yagjnopavitam (at my upanayanam) my father revealed Ashtakshari

mantra in my ear. My grand uncle who headed priests at SRIVARAHALAKSHMI

NARASIMHASWAMI at Simhachalam told me the following which worked for me.

1)Mantra works only if is taught by a Guru

2)Each mantra has a diety and recitation is to that diety

3)The number of recitation for each mantra is specified and mostly it is 108.

4)Mantra must be recited with pure mind without any negative thoughts.

5)For each earthly and spiritual desire there is a specific Mantra.

6)Gayatry is the supreme Mantra.

Ideally but not compulsorily ,recitation of a Mantra should

be done at a fixed time and place daily.

Thoughts and extraneous things disturb frequently but they

disappear if " the meaning of the mantra is understood and concentrated upon "

Collective meditation and recitation of Mantra gives very good

results

 

MOST OFTEN CHANTED MANTRAS

Aum Namah Shivaya

Aum Namo Narayanaya

Aum Nmo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya

Aum Ganeshaya Namaha

Aum Radha Krushnaya Namaha.

GAYATRY is the supreme Mantra.

VERY GOOD RESULTS WILL BE SEEN ALWAYS

May I request all to react and leave a feedback

thanks

ijswamy

 

 

 

 

 

~SWAMY

http://gjnanaswarup.spaces.live.com/blog/

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, " J.SWAMY IRAGAVARAPU "

<jiragavarapu wrote:

recitation of a Mantra should be done at a fixed time and place daily.

> Thoughts and extraneous things disturb

frequently but they disappear if " the meaning of the mantra is

understood

 

 

 

Dear Swamiji & other chanting saadhakas....

 

These discussions are interesting & much welcomed.

 

Let me share with you my experience of chanting. I have been chanting

for less than 2 years & my teacher is from the Vedavalli school.

There are only 15 teachers of traditional vedic chanting from this

school in Britain & they follow the teachings of Desikachar's teacher

& father T.Krishnamacharya. So my knowledge & experience is limited,

but in my opinion my teachers are good. (Im not sure what your

definition of a 'Guru' is?)

 

Yes of course, if you can honestly chant the Gayatri Mantra 108

times, then I bow to you. Personally I have only done this 54 times &

I had a sore throat at the end of it. We must all try to do the best

that we can do & the intention is far more important than the

outcome. If you can chant with a calm, focussed mind & full

concentration on the translation, then that is brilliant. But the

original question was 'would there be no effect' if the mind was

wandering & of course the answer is no, you cannot say there has

been 'no effect.'If you sit to meditate for an hour & find that your

mind wanders here & there, can you say this has been a waste of time?

Of course not... the intention was there & you may do better next

time.

 

Like most subjects, this is not a subject of black & white, good &

bad. Once you get into the realms of telling yourself, if its not

100% then its just a waste of time & has no effect, then you are just

beating yourself up for no reason. We can apply this to all aspects

of yoga. With your asanas, if you couldn't wrap your feet behind your

head for example, there is no need to feel you are wasting your time

& there has been no effect. Look at the intention.

 

This reminds me of the conversations I had with my brother Sudhakar

about meditation, where we disagreed about the length of meditation.

My opinion of chanting is the same. We are all human & living with

the human conditions, such as lack of focus, a busy mind etc & all

that we can hope is to do the best that we can with a genuine,

sincere heart & if we dont achieve exactly what we set out to achieve

then you know what, its ok....

 

With much love

 

Farah

[Guest guest]

Madam Janfarah and all my dear Sadhaks.

I wrote what my granduncle had told me at the time of my UPANAYANAM.I can not

chant Gayatry perfectly for more than twice or thrice a day. I chant imperfectly

Ashtakshari for 108 times, but not daily but on some festive occasions . In

our family tradition whoever teaches Ashtakshari and Gayatry are called Gurus as

we are Vaishnavites.. My father was my Guru for Astakshri and Gayatry. When I

had to recite other Mantras to appease planets etc I request a priest to be my

temporary Guru.

You are perfectly correct when you said " intention " is important. In this

context intention is called " SANKALPA " ie an expression of desire to recite and

meditate on the Mantra.

For example a Mantra to appease planet Saturn called SHANIMAHAMANTRA is to be

chanted 19000 times(Saturn takes 19 yrs to go round the Sun) in toto at a

stretch that may take longer than 72hrs.Two or three priests do it on one`s

behalf in relay. To begin with the host or Gruhast identifies himself with

Name,Gotra(Harithasa in my case) ,Maasa(month) Ththi(the day in

fortnight/bright or dark),Vaara(day of the week Sunday to Saturday),Nakshthra

(one of the 27 beginning from Aswini to ending in Revathi) and and touches water

with the ring finger of the right hand symbolically. After chanting the Mantra

for a few times the priests take over and finish.

Most believe that this ritualistic chanting is all we can do and gives

results.

Thanks for feedback and warmly welcoming criticism

yours sincerely

ijswamy

 

janfarah_strongspirit <janfarah_strongspirit wrote:

 

Dear Swamiji & other chanting saadhakas....

 

These discussions are interesting & much welcomed.

[Guest guest]

Dear Saadhakas

 

Just to add, last september we had many of the chants added to this

site for you. If you click on 'files' (on the left) & then scroll down

towards the bottom, you will see 'Vedic chant texts pdf' september

2007. The translations aren't there but if anyone would like them Im

sure we can have them added no problem..... ha,ha.... then we can all

debate as to which version of the translations we should have on the

site! :-)

 

With much love

 

Farah

[Guest guest]

, " janfarah_strongspirit "

<janfarah_strongspirit wrote:

 

> I had a sore throat at the end of it. We must all try to do the best

> that we can do & the intention is far more important than the

> outcome. If you can chant with a calm, focussed mind & full

 

Farahji & other respected members,

 

I would like to expand this discussion if I may.

 

Not just Mantras, but in Sadhna in general- is intention more

important than following rules of scriptures?

 

Like we shouldnt drink alcohol, or eat meat. Yet some people, due to

social reasons may have to drink occasionaly. Meat eating is getting

more common in India, & was always common in west. And hardly anyone

can practice Brahmcharya(celibacy) completely, unless they live in

jungles away from civilisation.

 

Does this mean such people can never achieve realisation? Or is their

intention more important than any external rules they follow?

 

Please, I would like to hear your opinions.

 

thanks

S Kumar

[Guest guest]

, s_kumar_12345 <no_reply wrote:

 

> Farahji & other respected members,

>

> I would like to expand this discussion if I may.

 

I think Kumarji, intention & internal purity is more important than

following scriptural laws & external purity.

 

Rather than focussing on the negative(what you are doing wrong), focus

on the positive- what we did right. As we will never be 100% perfect

in anything.

 

Rather than wasting time trying to force a mental idea of what a pure

person should be(Brahmchari, vegetarian, doesnt drink or smoke), we

should have faith in God & continue meditating, realising that once we

reach God, we will automatically become pure, whether we follow these

rules or not.

 

Sometime ago, th chief Pujari of a Hanuman Mandir tried to rape a

little girl. He didnt smoke, drink or eat meat. Yet little good that

did him. If he had spent as much time perfecting internal purity as he

had been doing externally, maybe...........

 

Remember that our true Self is of the nature of

Truth-Conciousness-Bliss, sin or dirt or pain doesnt stick to it.

 

love

Shantnu