Mantras

Buddha used this mantra to conclude the Heart Sutra. (The "Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya", of "The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom".) This is the sutra that includes "Form is no other than emptiness, Emptiness no other than form. Form is only emptiness, Emptiness only form." and proceeds to describe how everything is emptiness, empty of its own essence or individuality.

Popular sutra in praise of Avalokiteshvara. Its oldest reference is in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra ("The Basket's Display") which extols the virtues and powers of Avalokiteśvara, who is presented as a primordial cosmic overlord.

Sri M mentioned this sutra during his teaching of Kriya Pranayama. The visualization that involves moving a jeweled Buddhi from the root chakra up to the crown, the lotus chakra, is said to be described here. I never really understood or felt a connection with this mantra until I heart that. Then it made sense. I imagine the jewel sitting at the root chakra when I chant "mani," and I imagine it sitting in the lotus on the crown when I chant "padme". This is so simple, and with this understanding I like it very much.

This is one of Ryan's favorite mantras (based on how much he uses it in classes). The 5 syllables after Om are said to also refer to Earth (Na), Water (Mah), Fire (Śi), Air (Vā), and Ether (Ya). As such, it combines the 5 elements of the physical world (also the lower 5 chakras, in that order starting from the root), with “Om” (the seed mantra for the 2 higher chakras).

At Ryan's retreat in March he taught us to chant this in the way that Roy Eugene Davis did. It was sung with 4 descending notes for “Om” and then 5 ascending notes for the remaining 5 syllables. I like to imagine “Om” resonating in my head in the upper chakras, and the remaining 5 syllables resonating in each of their chakras as they rise up through me toward ether, the primordial energy and substance from which the other 4 elements emanate. (And of course all 5 elements emanate from “Om”, the mind.)

The mantra without the initial Om was originally a verse in the eighth hymn of the Namakam section of the Shri Rudram, (TS 4.5.8.1) itself taken from the Taittirīya Samhita, a recension of the Black Yajurveda. It appears as, Namaḥ śivāya ca śivatarāya ca (Sanskrit: नमः शिवाय च शिवतराय च).

This is one of the primary mantras that Sri M teaches (although his version adds “hreem”, a word of power, between “Om” and “sri”). He suggests you chant it at least once a day and chant it for 5-8 minutes before practicing kriya. He suggests doing this with head bowed, hands on your heart, while imagining a white lotus in your heart chakra with the sandals of your guru (representing all great gurus) facing inward as if walking toward you.

The first (and so far only) time that I went in to get energy work done on me, the teacher there recommended I try this mantra and we used it together in the session. It is frequently used in kundalini yoga. I very much like the sentiments, especially the respect to the divine guru spirit that works through physical beings rather than the physical gurus themselves. It feels a bit weird not to do it as “Om namaḥ gurudev namaḥ”, but some say “Ong” and “namo” flow a little bit better in this mantra.

I was reading about this Saturday morning over breakfast at the Sri M retreat. I had looked up something about Krishna and ended up on the ten incarnations of Vishnu. When looking for a mantra dedicated to Krishna, this one was listed on Wikipedia. I prefer the interpretation “I bow to the life/light/God in all beings,” but every translation I find says it is referring to Krishna or Vishnu specifically.

The main text of the Gayatri Mantra comes from the Ṛgveda (Book 3, Chapter 62, Verse 10). It is dedicated to to Savitṛ, a solar deity. It is one of the most widespread, important mantras in Hinduism. Wikipedia says “the mantra and its associated metric form was known by the Buddha.”

The verse technically begins at “tat savitur”. During its recitation, the hymn is preceded by oṃ (ॐ) and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ (भूर् भुवः स्वः), known as the mahāvyāhṛti, or "great (mystical) utterance". This prefixing of the mantra is properly described in the Taittiriya Aranyaka (2.11.1-8), which states that it should be chanted with the syllable oṃ, followed by the three Vyahrtis and the Gayatri verse.

Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, IAST: Gāyatrī) is the personified form of the Gayatri Mantra, a popular hymn from Vedic texts. She is also known as Savitri, and holds the title of Vedamata ('mother of the Vedas'). Gayatri is the manifestation of Saraswati and is often associated with Savitṛ, a solar deity in the Vedas, and her consort in the Puranas is the creator god Brahma. Gayatri is also an epithet for the various goddesses and she is also identified as "Supreme pure consciousness".

Wikipedia notes that the text as preserved in the Samhita is one syllable short of the 24 syllables we would expect (three pādas of eight syllables each). “Metrical restoration would emend the attested tri-syllabic vareṇyaṃ with a tetra-syllabic vareṇiyaṃ.”

The “Peace Mantra” used in the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads.

Sri M taught about this mantra on the first full day of the retreat. He used it to explain the purpose of yoga in the context of the inner desire we all have for completeness and the difficulty we have in seeing that completeness is right here and now. We feel incomplete, and we try to satisfy this through pursuit of worldly things, but the only real, lasting, and true completeness will be found in the present moment. We need to realize that peace and contentedness are found within and not without as we realize and feel our connection with the unity of all things. The summarizing translation above is mine. The translation of individual words is a hybrid of what Sri M taught and translations from the links below (primarily this one at shlokam.org).

I believe this is the mantra with which Sri M opens his teaching sessions. I have not verified that or gone through a word-by-word translation yet. The translation above is copied from Wikipedia, but it sounds like what Sri M described.

It is used in the Taittiriya and Katha Upanishads

The oldest version of this mantra begins with hare rāma and then has hare kṛṣṇa, perhaps following the chronological order of the incarnations. The version above is the most widely chanted one though, having spread through several movements that emphasized kṛṣṇa as the Svayam Bhagavan, or the supreme representation of God in a monotheistic interpretation of Hinduism.

I woke up the morning of May 22 (3 days after my retreat with Sri M) and had this mantra come to mind in the shower (although I woke up with the Gayatri Mantra in my head). As I chanted it I replaced the last “hare hare” of each line with “hare hum”, which I really like. It is also similar to “Hari Om”, a popular mantra on its own. I haven’t put a translation of this mantra since it has many interpretations. Some combination of reverence for Vishnu, the sustaining God, his incarnations (especially Rama and Krishna), and perhaps the divine shakti power (symbolized by Vishnu's female partner), is appropriate.

So-hum, hum-so, or hung-sau are all English representations of a mantra describing the sound the breath makes going in and out. The Yoga Chudami Upanishad (around verse 32) describes this mantra saying:

The Jeevatma (the soul of the physical individual) is under the control of prana which goes up and down as well as apana. Apana pulls Prana. Prana pulls Apana. He who knows and realizes this mutual pull which is pulling to the top and bottom, understands yoga. It goes outside with the sound “ha” and goes again inside with the sound “sa”. The beings keeping on chanting this mantra as “Hamsa”, “Hamsa”. The beings always keep on chanting this mantra day and night twenty one thousand and one hundred times. This mantra which is called “Ajapa Gayatri” would give salvation to all yogis. Just a thought of this mantra, would help one get rid of all sins. There are no practices as holy as this, no chanting which is equivalent to this, and no wisdom equivalent to this and in future also this is not likely to be there. This Ajapa Gayatri which rises from the Kundalani supports the soul. This is the greatest among the sciences of the soul. He who knows this will know the Vedas.

In “Prana and Pranamya” this is described as the “ajapa japa,” or spontaneous mantra that we all do for our entire life as long as we breathe. The goal is to put attention to the breath with this mantra.