- Chirag B Patel July 29, 2005

[
 Please, understand that this is a collection of various writings and books for
 vedic spiritual path. Do not hold me responsible for anything happening to you as
 I could not experiment with all the mantras in my life so far.
]

This article compiles a good opportunity to learn about mystery behind mantra.
In ancient Vedic science, rushis used to chant some letters pronounced a peculiar
way. These letters when pronounced as specified, generate amazing effects on the
body and on the surroundings. There are many books and research studies available
on the subject. There are more and more people doing research in this area in modern
times to find out exact cause and effect arising from chants.

There are many purposes that you might want to pick a mantra and start chanting.
You should chant the mantra for some number of times, say 125000 times or 108
times a day. The purpose can be to grow spiritually, to gain some spiritual powers,
to ail some disease or pain, to purify mind and body. There are different mantras
for different purposes.

Every letter you pronounce produces vibrations. Which letter and how you pronounce
it, decides how it affects your body and mind. Imagine that you are dropping a
pebble in calm water, and immediately it energizes with ripples. The ripples swim
outward from the center of pebble impact to water. These ripples have greater
amplitude near the center and diminishing amplitude further from the center. Now,
look at this scenario. After dropping one pebble, you do not stop. You keep
throwing pebbles at the same location in the water continuously. What happens
here? A big mass of water gets energized and you will see ripples reaching far and
far away locations from the center. Chanting mantra continuously and regularly,
causes similar impact.

All these mantras are chanted millions/billions times by many people at different
times and at different places. When you chant a mantra, it carries the power and
weight gathered for years by people; and you are adding to momentum. You must
pronounce it clearly as much as you can. If you feel tired, just murmur it in
your mind. Chanted mantras cleans speech and improve tonal quality, affect on your
brain positively.

So, there are some basic things to remember to gain maximum benefits out of
chanting mantras.
1. Be as regular as possible. Say, chant 108 times every day at 7am after taking
   bath. There is a special kind rosary available with 108 beads (basils or
   rudrAksha).
2. Sit in a quiet room with proper ventilation. You can choose padmAsana,
   sidhdhAsana, sukhAsana etc to sit.
3. Concentrate and calm down.
4. Try to study your pronunciations while chanting.

Some useful mantras:

1. Pranava [Listen]
   aum
   [The supreme energy]

   This universe is created with the sound of aum. This is the basis of all
   frequencies/radiations/verbal expressions we know of.

2. Tat [Listen]
   aum tat sat
   [The eternal truth is aum.]

3. Savitri (Gayatri) Mantra [Listen]
   aum bhur bhuvah svaha, aum tatsaviturvarenyam, bhargo de vasya dhi mahi, dhi
   yo yonah prachodayAt aum
   [GOd who radiates over Earth, Sky and Nether; who is the brightest and origin
    of all; who is rightly respected; transform our intellectuals.]

   This is very good for anyone who wants to gain knowledge and intelligence.
   Students can benefit more from this.

* This mantra (Savitri) is said to be the starting point for spiritual journey.

4. Shiva Mantra [Listen]
   aum namah shivAya
   [Bow to element that gives peace and betterment]

   People who cannot concentrate or who have unnecessary thoughts in mind all the
   time can benefit more from this.

5. Ganesha Mantra [Listen]
   aum gam ganapataye namah
   [Bow to element that is head of all souls]

   This is very good for people to get balance of knowledge and money in life.

6. MahaMrutyunjaya Mantra [Listen]
   aum tryambakam yajAmahe,
   sugandhim pushti vardhanam,
   urvArukamiva bandhanAt,
   mrutyur mukshiya mAamrutAt

7. Bija Mantra [Listen]
   aum - pranava, supreme energy (God)
   aim - energy that gave birth to the universe
   hrim - energy that is responsible for existence of the universe
   klim - energy responsible for end of the universe
   soum - energy responsible for upliftment of mind
   shrim - energy giving power to earn worldy things

   For most people, "aum hrim klim shrim" combination is the best.
   If you want to pursue spiritual upliftment, chant all the letters. (Warning: You
   have to have a guru in order to do this. Otherwise, it is said that this path is
   very dangerous and you might loose normal state of mind.)

8. Shakti Mantra [Listen]
   aum aim hrim klim chAmundAyai vichchai