Religion

"Actually, it doesn't matter – Krishna or Christ – the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age."

"Shanti is the Sanskrit word for peace. If the quality you have chosen is calmness or peace then you can repeat “Shanti” as your mantra....add Om with the Sanskrit word for my goal. Repeating “Om Shanti Om” would be an effective alternative. Om is a powerful mantra used extensively in the East. Combining Om with Shanti gives the mantra a beautiful chant like quality and is a joy to repeat over and over again."

"Shanti – peace - is a most essential quality expressed in the ancient Vedic texts of the Upanishads. It is invoked at the beginning and the end of each Upanishad chapter."

"This wonderful mantra is an invocation to the Sun—of course really to the Solar Logos, who stands behind that grandest of all symbols; and the great shaft of light which immediately pours down upon and into the reciter comes as though from the physical Sun, in whatever direction that Sun may happen to be. This shaft of light is white tinged with gold, and shot with that electric blue which is so often seen in connection with any manifestation of the power of the first Ray; but when it has filled the very soul of the reciter it promptly shoots from him again in seven great rays or cones having the colours of the spectrum. It is as though the singer acts as a prism; yet the colour rays which dart forth are of a shape the reverse of what we usually find in such cases. Commonly when we send out rays of spiritual force they spring forth from a point in the body—the heart, the brain, or some other centre; and as they shoot out they steadily broaden fanwise, as do those shining from a lighthouse. But these rays start from a basis wider than the man himself—a basis which is the circumference of his aura; and instead of widening out they decrease to a point, just as do the rays of a conventional star except that they are of course cones of light instead of mere triangles."

"Gayatri is the Mother of all scriptures (Vedas). She is present, wherever Her name is chanted. She is very powerful. The One who nourishes the individual being is Gayatri. She bestows pure thoughts on anyone who worships Her. She is the embodiment of all Goddesses. Our very breath is Gayatri, our faith in existence is Gayatri. Gayatri has five faces, they are the five life principles. She has nine descriptions, they are ‘Om, Bhur, Bhuvah, Swah, Tat, Savitur, Vareñyaṃ, Bhargo, Devasya’. Mother Gayatri nourishes and protects every being and she channelizes our senses in the proper direction. ‘Dhīmahi’ means meditation. We pray to her to inspire us with good intelligence. ‘Dhīyo Yonah Prachodayāt’ - We beseech her to bestow on us everything we need. Thus Gayatri is a complete prayer for protection, nourishment and finally, liberation."

"It will protect you from harm wherever you are --traveling, working, or at home. Westerners have investigated the vibrations produced by this mantra and have found that when it is recited with the correct accent as laid down in the Vedas, the atmosphere around becomes visibly illumined. So Brahma-prakāsha, the Divine Effulgence, will descend on you and illumine your intellect and light your path when this mantra is chanted. Also repeat shanti thrice at the end, for that repetition will give shanti or peace to three entities in you --body, mind, and soul."

"There is group of special shanti mantras found in vedic texts, such as the Upanishads. At he close of each Upanishad chapter, for instance, the word shanti is chanted three times, as a mantra. This is to remove the three kinds of suffering – personal, external and atmospheric"

"The Gayatri is perhaps the greatest and most beautiful of all the ancient mantras. It has been chanted all over India from time immemorial... in an antiquity so remote that the very memory of it has been forgotten, the altruistic use of such mantras was fully comprehended and practiced. It begins always with the sacred word Om, and with the enumeration of the planes upon which its action is desired—the three worlds in which man lives, the physical, the astral and the mental;"

"...It is the supreme prayer, described the mother of the Vedas, named after its metre which means “the saviour of the singer”, revealed to sage Vishvamitra. Gayatri is the mantra of the real Guru, the Omniscient God. The writers of the scriptures call it the “Soul of the Vedas’."

"Vedic ritual practice honoured the sun with daily recital of Gayathri Mantra to Savitr and sacrifices to Surya."

"Gayatri is “Vedas” in a nutshell. It is out of Gayatri the Vedas have come and into Gayatri Vedas have converged. This sacred worse adorns all the vedas. It occurs in Rigveda III 62.10, in Yajur Veda III-35, XX-II-9, XXX-2, and XXXVI-3 and in Sama Veda XXX-6-3-10."

"Mantra Upanishad: These teachings center on esoteric interpretations of specific sounds and syllables and place those interpretations into Yogic as well as Saiva, Vaishnava, and Durga theistic contexts. Typical of these works are Tarasara, Kalisantarana, and Narayana Upansihad."

"There is no higher mantra than Gayatri, there is no higher deity than one’s mother."

"He who repeats Gayatri always attains Heavens"

"The use of Mantras is deeply rooted in Tibetan Buddhism. They are short prayers that are thought to subtly alter one’s mind and and make a connection with a particular Buddha."

"The Gayatri is a universal prayer enshrined in the Vedas. It is addressed to the Immanent and Transcendent Divine which has been given the name 'Savita,' meaning 'that from which all this is born.' The Gayatri may be considered as having three parts - (i) Adoration (ii) Meditation (iii) Prayer. First the Divine is praised, then It is meditated upon in reverence and finally an appeal is made to the Divine to awaken and strengthen the intellect, the discriminating faculty of man. The Gayatri is considered as the essence of the Vedas. Veda means knowledge, and this prayer fosters and sharpens the knowledge-yielding faculty. As a matter of fact the four core-declarations enshrined in the four Vedas are implied in this Gayatri mantra."

"Chanting and meditation of Om is the way to reach and abide in that ever blissful nature underlying our surface personality. This is bliss for no reason at all. It is unconditional bliss, a bliss that is everlasting, un-decaying, pure and stainless. Om is our blissful Self."

"Om is the Brahman, the indestructible Life force. Om is this universe. It is nameless, the Divine. It is the totality of you, I, and the whole creation. It is the totality of past, present and future of this existence."

"Om:Om is not just a sound or vibration. It is not just a symbol. It is the entire cosmos, whatever we can see, touch, hear and feel. Moreover, it is all that is within our perception and all that is beyond our perception. It is the core of our very existence. If you think of Om only as a sound, a technique or a symbol of the Divine, you will miss it altogether."

"Perfect prayer does not consist in many words, silent remembering and pure intention raises the heart to that supreme Power."

"Through mantra, we can awaken the Divine light within us and expand beyond the limitations of space, direction and manifestation. Through mantra, one can learn to ride the waves of cosmic light and sound, going back to the Divine Word at the heart of the world. This is the cosmic form of Mantra Yoga known known only to Yogis who have gone beyond the body and mind."

"This [Kundalini] manifests when we develop higher powers of speech through mantra and the practice of silent communion during meditation. Kundalini speech is energized mantra. In this regard, we must remember that Kundalini wears the garland of the mantras of the Sanskrit alphabet and ultimately the garland of all mantras. Mantra is the main yogic method used to arouse the Kundalini, particularly mantra repeated along with pranayama, meditation and deep devotion."

"The higher word or mantra consists of both sound and light. It is the word of light. Sound is the vibratory quality of space, which itself is the field of light....Mantra brings light into our awareness, but also allows us to carry and sustain that light as knowledge."

"Through mantra we can gain mastery of all the forces of time and karma."

"When Sanskrit is called the ‘universal language’ or ‘the language of the gods’, it is no mere exaggeration...Truly learning Sanskrit is not just conventional language but of learning the language of mantra. It is not a mere academic study or a means of improving communication, but an inner practice to create the foundation for Mantra Yoga."

"'[The] Mantra is the word that carries the power of the godhead, that can bring [the godhead] into the consciousness and fix it there and its workings, awaken there the thrill of the infinite, the force of something absolute, perpetuate the miracle of the Supreme utterance.' 11"

"Prana, [we could say], is the spirit of mantra. Mantra in turn is the expression of prana. Whatever most engages our prana or vital energy becomes the main subject of our speech."

"Mantra is a vehicle to bring our minds, hearts and prana to the level of both primal sound and primal meaning , in which we can return to the original state of unity with all. This requires that we use mantras with an intention, focus and aspiration to reach the supreme."

"Silence is the language of Om. We need silence to be able to reach our Self. Both internal and external silence is very important to feel the presence of that supreme Love."

"When Tibetans chant a mantra associated with a particular Buddha, they are not simply asking for the blessings and aid of the Buddha – the final goal of the practice is to become buddhas themselves, since buddhas are sentient beings who have actualized the highest potential that we all possess."

"Om is the mysterious cosmic energy that is the substratum of all the things and all the beings of the entire universe. It is an eternal song of the Divine. It is continuously resounding in silence on the background of everything that exists."

"The most effective way to use this mantram is to say or think the words with focused will, the attention at the ajna center between the eyebrows. When the mind grasps the meaning of the concept and, simultaneously, the will is brought to bear, then those concepts will be activated and the mantram will work. If it is said seriously every day, there will grow inside you a realization of your true Self."

"A seed when sown grows into a fruit bearing tree.In the same way the Beej Mantra is full of Shakthi. There are various Beej Mantras each with its own power. When mixed with other mantras additional power accrues to that Mantra."

"A Prayer for the New Age, given by Maitreya... [It] is a great mantram or affirmation with an invocative effect. Using this prayer will enable one to recognize that man and God are one, that there is no separation. The 'I' is the Divine Principle behind all creation. The Self emanates from, and is identical to, the Divine Principle."

"See some Lama and understand from him what your beliefs are. It is so extraordinary to us Europeans that you Buddhists and Hindus and every one of you do not understand your own religions....I speak particularly of the Tantric doctrines."

"It was said that the first primordial sound produced at the time of creation was the syllable ‘OM’ and this became the first Mantra. This consists of three letters AUM. The sound ‘A’ starts from the throat and comes as far as the lips and as such is the longest and fullest vowel. The Letter ‘M’is the sound produced when the lips are closed and thus is the last sound. In between is ‘U’."

"In the w:UpanishadTarasara Upanishad, Yagnyavalkya teaches Bharadwaja the right use of a certain mantra – aum -namo –narayanaaya- which consists of eight syllables. Each separate syllable symbolizes aspects of Transcendence (Brahma, Vishnu, etc) or archetypal MIND energies."

"The mediator must be capable of being at one with these in consciousness, and not merely as mental constructs clothed in words He can effectively use this mantra to realize supreme communion instead of being caught in the net of words and sensuous experiences."

"Tantra says: Don’t focus your attention on the acts, focus your attention on the person who has done the acts. Yoga focuses on acts. Tantra focuses on the person, on the consciousness, on you."

"I am the creator of the universe. I am the father and mother of the universe. Everything comes from me. Everything shall return to me. Mind, spirit and body are my temples, for the self to realize in them My supreme being and becoming."

"Mantra which contain up to nine Nine words are called Bejj Mantra, ten to twenty words form Mantraand beyond are Mole Mantras."

"Another point with regard to mantras which is stressed in the Indian books is that students are forbidden to use them in the presence of coarse or evil-minded people, because the power of a mantra will often intensity evil as well as good. If there were a person present who could not answer to the vibrations in their higher form, he might well received a lower octave, which would be quite likely to strengthen the evil in him. We should never use a mantra where there are people who are likely to be injured by it. p. 149"

"Madame Blavatsky... gave a caution that no one should attempt to use a mantra which is too high for him. None such will be given to us by our teachers; but I would say this, as a caution to neophytes, that if the reciting even of the Sacred Word (Om) in any particular way should produce headache or a feeling of nausea or faintness, it should be stopped at once. We should go on working at the development of our characters, and try it again in a few months. In using the Word, we are invoking great forces, and if we are not yet quite up to their level they may not be harmonious, and the result may be not invariably good. p. 149"

"The basis of all manifested phenomena is the enunciated sound, or the Word spoken with power, that is, with the full purpose of the will behind it. Herein, as is known, lies the value of meditation, for meditation produces eventually that inner dynamic purpose and recollection, or that internal ideation which must invariably precede the uttering of any creative sound. p. 150"

"An oft-repeated mantra (that is a phrase or a word of power which, on occasion may be used as a spell) is known as japa. It can be used to produce a calming effect"

"The Yogatattwa Upanishad warns against the misuse of mantra."

"To arrive at the Mantra he [the rishi] may start from the colour of a rose, or the power or beauty of a character, or the splendour of an action, or go away from all these into his own secret soul and its most hidden movements. The one thing needful is that he should be able to go beyond the word or image he uses or the form of the thing he sees, not be limited by them, but get into the light of that which they have the power to reveal and flood them with it until they overflow with its suggestions or seem even to lose themselves and disappear into the revelation. At the highest, he himself disappears into sight; the personality of the seer is lost in the eternity of the vision, and the Spirit of all seems alone to be there speaking out sovereignty its own secrets."

"Samput are specified words used in Mantra. These can be used at the beginning, middle and or the end of a mantra. The samput has a great value in Mantra shakthi or in other mantras and must be used carefully."

"Mantrams... In esoteric phraseology mantram is the word made flesh, or rendered objective... A form of words or syllables rhythmically arranged, so that when sounded certain vibrations are generated."

"Gayatri, the greatest and the most beautiful of all the ancient mantras, universally hailed as the Mother of the Vedas that has been chanted from time immemorial, has acquired such an enormous mystical power and transcendental importance that it continues to remain even now as the mantra which has been universally accepted as capable of unfolding our spiritual faculties in the most remarkable manner."