Mantras

In Eastern spiritual traditions, practices are often called austerities. They require a bit of an effort, especially in the beginning, but they help us grow. Mantras, for example, help us create space between us and our thoughts. They remind us that we are not our thoughts, which helps us connect more

Transcript

So when we say our mantra,

We are signaling our souls and our heads that we're wanting to make more space between us and our thoughts.

You see,

So most of us walk around and we have our thoughts,

We don't experience that there's any space between us and our thoughts.

But in fact,

You know,

Lots of people think they are their thoughts.

But you know,

Amma says all the thoughts come through her to us.

So they,

You know,

They're in a way they're outside us.

They're not us.

So if you focus a lot on saying your mantra,

What you'll find is that you will get a lot of grace.

You just do.

Anytime you do a spiritual practice that makes you suffer at all,

You know,

Like having to remember,

Having to put the effort into saying it,

You know,

It's kind of suffering or doing the thousand names is kind of like effort,

A bit of suffering.

They're called austerities and they grow you.

In the Eastern spiritual traditions,

That's how we grow through these austerities.

So mantras are really,

Really fertile ground if you want to come into your heart more.