There are two schools of meditation that come from India.
One deals with silent meditation,
Which is probably the more popular one,
Which is also the one we practiced in the earlier tracts,
The breathing and focusing exercises.
The other school of meditation deals with audible sound vibrations known as mantras.
Mantras are sacred sounds,
Which means they are names of the divine.
The word mantra comes from the Sanskrit man,
Which means mind,
Trā,
Which means to deliver.
The mantras are used to deliver one from stress,
Fear,
Anxieties and insecurities.
The goal of the mantra meditation is to ultimately have a union with the divine.
A union with the divine is another phrase for yoga.
As one is audibly reciting the mantra,
The goal is to continue to hear the sound vibration of the chanting coming from one's own mouth.
There is no need to imagine anything.
The only goal is to hear the mantra.
The eyes can remain open or they can remain closed.
We can sit in a lotus posture on the floor,
Sit on a chair or even stand.
The main focus here is just to try and hear the mantra.
We already have experience in our lives of how we respond differently to different sound vibrations.
For example,
When we hear different types of music,
It will affect us differently.
If we listen to classical music,
It will have a certain impact on our mind and emotions.
If we listen to the blues,
That will impact us in a certain way.
If we listen to hip hop,
That will affect us differently.
We see how responsive we are to different types of sounds and melodies and rhythms.
Because human beings and all living beings respond to sound.
So the Eastern tradition recognizing the power of sound and its influence on the human mind and emotions uses the science of mantras to nourish the needs of the mind and the soul.
Mantras are recited over and over again for any duration of time that one is inspired to.
One can recite a particular mantra a few times,
Over 10 minutes,
15 minutes,
20 minutes,
Gradually increasing.
There are hundreds and hundreds of mantras that come from India.
I personally use a few mantras and there's only one that I use most of the time as my main object of meditation.
In the next track,
I will introduce three mantras and show you how to chant them.
