by CNSCSNS | Mar 21, 2021 | What is your mantra for restoring your well-being?
“At the end of the day, it comes down to gratitude, compassion, and love – the core emotional vessels into connection and well-being. In Buddhism, there are two sets of four ‘mantras’ that I would like to share. They further exhibit this point. The first is called “The Four Immeasurables.” These are four qualities with boundlessly positive affects – qualities that we always have access to and can habituate our minds to remember and practice. They go as follows:
- Loving Kindness
- Compassion
- Sympathetic Joy
- Equanimity
These reflection points illuminate differently in each of us, however awaken similar responses. They are simply like compasses, pointing the way towards boundless possibility and well-being.
The second group of four reflection points are called the “Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind Towards the Dharma.” They go as follows:
- Impermanence / No self
- Futility of dwelling in Samsara
- Karma – Law of cause and effect
- Precious Human Birth
These points of contemplation immediately bring perspective to a situation. They re-align our minds into a bigger-picture experience of consciousness. They are also always available, manifest different reactions in each of us, and yet bring un-deniable well-being to all who give space for them.
These two sets of remembrances have brought balance, harmony, and well-being into my life and the lives of many in history. I hope they serve to benefit you, as well!”
by Murray N | Mar 21, 2021 | What is your mantra for restoring your well-being?
“Chanting is a spiritual discipline believed to improve listening skills, heightened energy and more sensitivity toward others. The practice gained popularity when an album of Gregorian chants by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Damingo in Spain became a best seller. Chants can express devotion, gratitude, peace, compassion and call in light into someone’s life. Here are chants that can help improve your life.
Compassionate Buddha
The most famous chant in the world is the Compassionate Buddha “Om Mani Padme Hum” which translates to “Hail to the jewel in the lotus.” It is the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion, known by the Chinese as Goddess Kuan Yin. The mantra calms fears, soothes concerns and heals broken hearts.
Amazing Grace of Sanskrit
Given the name “Amazing Grace of Sanskrit by the author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert, the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” translates to “I bow to Shiva, the supreme deity of transformation who represents, the truest, highest self.” Gilbert translates the meaning to “I honor the divinity within myself” as a reminder that there is a divine energy in everyone and that each person should be treated as if they are divine.
Happiness and Freedom
“Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” is commonly associated with the Jivamukti Yoga School. It translates to “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.” It is a powerful chant that focuses on living a life as a servant to the greater good. It encourages cooperation, compassion and living in harmony, not only among other humans but with nature as well.
Medicine Buddha Mantra
“Tayata Om Bekanze Bekanze Maha Bekanze Radza Samudgate Soha” is a chant that is recited for success, helping to eliminate problems and suffering. It is also recited for healing and to benefit people or animals at all times, even when they are healthy.
Mantra of Ganesh
The Mantra of Ganesh is dedicated to the Hindu god of wisdom and success who destroys all obstacles. “Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah,” which translates to “I bow to the elephant-faced deity (Ganesh) who is capable of removing all obstacles. I pray for blessings and protection.” The mantra is especially beneficial when facing big challenges and when traveling.ADVERTISING
Lakshmi Chant
A mantra that translates as a greeting to the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi, “Om Shrim Maha Lakshmlyei Swaha.” The chant asks for Lakshmi’s assistance with material wealth and abundance.
Buddhist Money Mantra
The Buddhist money mantra, “Om Vasudhare Svaha,” is a prayer to the earth goddess, Vasudhara. The chant should be repeated 108 times in order to be blessed by deities who will shower them with abundance.
Interview Chant
This chant is perfect when going for a job interview or making a proposal. The words “Pravisi Nagar Kijal Sab Kaaja Hrudaya Rakhi Kosalpur Raja” translate to “Having the impression of Lord Ram, I am entering in the city for doing my work. May all my works and wishes get complete.” It can also be used when you enter an office building or the office of the person you are planning to meet.
Mantra for Success
When you are not sure what option is right for your success, chanting “Jehi Vidhi Hoi Naath Hit Moraa Karahu So Vegi Daas Main Toraa,” which means “O lord, I am your devotee. I don’t know what to do. So do at once whatever is good for me.” This mantra is said to show the door of success as long as they are practiced with faith and reverence.
Manjushri Mantra
For those who want to enhance wisdom and improve skills, chanting “Om a ra pa ca na dhih” will increase skills in all types of learning. The more emphasis and times the chant is recited, the more likely it is to succeed.
Vajrapani
Vajrapani represents the energy of an enlightened mind, which is why it is said that chanting”Om vajrapani hum” will cut through delusion and make the chanter free from hatred. He is often pictured dancing wildly within flames as a representation of transformation. The chant helps gain access to excessive energy and even the chant sounds energetic.
Peaceful Life
If it is a peaceful life you seek, the mantra “Sarveshaam Svaastir Bhavatu, Sarveshaam Svaastir Bhavatu, Saveshaam Poornam Bhavatu, Sarveshaam Mangalam Bhavatu, Om Shanti, Shanti Shanteeh” is said to bring peace and tranquility. The phrase translates to:
“May health abound forever
May peace abound forever
May complete abundance abound forever
May auspiciousness abound forever
Om Peace, Peace Peace.”
Health, Strength and Peace
There are several mantras that can be used to bring health, strength and peace. For health, chanting “Aham Aarogyam” which translates to I am healthy, is said to bring health, while adding “Om Trayamabakam” brings health for a longer period. For strength, the chant suggested is “Aham Brahmaasmi” which means “I am God,” while peace can be obtained by chanting “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.”
Difficult Times
It is said that the chant
“Mookam karoti vaachaalam
Pangum langhayatey girim
Yatkripaa tamaham vandey
Paramaananda Maadhavam”
Can make the cripple climb mountains and the mute speak eloquently. The mantra asks for grace in order to ease someone out of difficult situations. It means:
“I salute that Madhava
The source of Supreme Bliss,
Whose grace makes the dumb man eloquent
And the cripple cross mountains.”
Bhagvad Geeta Verse
The 15th verse in the 15th chapter of the Bhagvad Geeta is chanted when a difficult situation becomes worse.
“Sarvasya chaaham kridi sannivishto
Mattas smritir inaanama pochanamcha
Vedaishcha sarvaair ahameva vedyo
Vedaanta krid veda videva chaaham”
In the translation, Krishna says that He is seated in the hearts of all men and women so someone who is causing you difficulty is aware of what you are experiencing as well. By placing your trust in a higher power, whatever is right is what will happen.
Seeking Success
For those seeking success, chanting
“Krishna Krishna Mahaayogin
Bhaktaanaam Bhayankara
Govinda Permaananda
Sarvey Mey Vash Maanay”
Is said to bring that success. The translation asks Krishna to give Supreme Bliss and to bring everything to your favor.
Chant for Prosperity
This chant contains the eight facets of God and uses for repetitions in each verse to give the power necessary to break down barriers from the past and give power to the person chanting.
“Har Har Har Har Gobinday
Har Har Har Har Mukhunday
Har Har Har Har Udharay
Har Har Har Har Aparay
Har Har Har Har Hariong
Har Har Har Har Kariang
Har Har Har Har Nimamay
Har Har Har Har Akamay”
Ancient Mantras
A simple chant is designed to be an homage to Buddha, “Namo AmitaBha” gives honor to the Buddha of Boundless Light, while “Ham-Sah” is a Hindu variant of “I am that I am” meaning “I am that.”
Amithaba
The chant that is the sacred mantra of Buddha, Amithabha enhances compassion while bringing blessings each time it is spoken. By chanting “om ami dewa hrih” you will be protected from dangers and obstacles.
Green Tara Mantra
This is often chanted to overcome physical, mental or emotional blockages, although it can also be used for blockages in relationships. “Om tare tuttare ture soha” helps you release hope for a particular outcome and bring the energy back to yourself, generating inner peace and clarity.”
by Therese B | Mar 21, 2021 | What is your mantra for restoring your well-being?
“Back before there were psychiatrists and therapists, way before the introduction of Prozac and Xanax, people were using mantras to calm their nervous systems and sooth symptoms of depression and malaise. In fact, the earliest mantras were used by Hindus more than 3,000 years ago. Employed by Buddhists, Christians, Taoists, and persons of most faith traditions, mantras defined in the strict sense consist of hymns, chants, syllables, or groups of words that are considered sacred, having psychological and spiritual powers. I use the term loosely to refer to a phrase repeated over and over, or whenever a painful emotion or thought surfaces. During periods of acute depression and anxiety, I have uttered these words as many as 500 times a day. They are especially useful when caught in tormenting ruminations.
Focused repetition of a soothing word or phrase, called autogenic training, helps you to relax and primes your body’s parasympathetic nervous system. A 2008 study at the University of Melbourne in Australia found that autogenic training, along with other relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation and imagery, reduced depressive symptoms among some participants.
It’s best to develop your own mantras that will appeal to your emotions, ones that make you feel safe and are able to calm you down. Here are ten that have helped me.
1. This Too Shall Pass
The reminder of impermanence is a powerful antidote to fear—that everything is passing, even those emotions, thoughts, and situations that feel permanent and etched in our brains forever. Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Medication Society, once said that “Wisdom is the clear seeing of the impermanent, conditioned nature of all phenomena, knowing that whatever arises has the nature to cease. When we se this impermanence deeply, we no longer cling; and when we no longer cling, we come to the end of suffering.”
2. Just for Today
I can do most things if I know it’s a 24-hour gig. By reminding myself that I only have to give this day my best shot—or maybe even the next 15 minutes—suddenly what I thought was truly impossible. Just as I repeated “one day at a time,” to myself over and over again when I quit drinking, “just for today” prompts me to get back in the moment, and not to sweat too much about a month from now or ten years out. It forces me to concentrate on now, which is the only thing that matters and the only thing I can control.
3. I Will Get Better
One of the most painful symptoms of depression is the despair and hopelessness you feel—the certainty that you will feel this way for the rest of your life. Before she died, my great aunt Gigi, who struggled with depression her entire life, left me with one word of advice: always repeat, “I WILL get better.” “Keep saying it over and over,” she said, “even when you don’t believe it.” She told me that eventually I would believe it, and those four words would bring me hope. She was right.
4. This Is a Moment of Suffering
In her book, Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff, Ph.D. offers a beautiful mantra she developed to help her deal with negative emotions, a reminder to treat herself with self-compassion when discomfort arises: “This is a moment of suffering. Suffering is part of life. May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I give myself the compassion I need.” I simplify it to the first sentence, which also makes me think of American Buddhist Pema Chodron’s instructions to “lean into the sharp points” when we are faced with fear, uncertainty, panic, and pain.
5. May My Life Be Of Benefit To All Beings
I acquired this mantra in meditation teacher Tara Brach, Ph.D.’s book, Radical Acceptance. One of the ways we can respond to pain is by transforming it into compassion. “As we transform suffering into compassion, we realize our interconnectedness with all of life,” she writes. Sometimes I also say “Make me an instrument of your peace,” the first line of the Prayer of St. Francis. Both mantras help me to use compassion to transcend my pain.
6. I Am Breathing In, I am Breathing Out
In his book, You Are Here, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh instructs us to say with each in-breath, “Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.” And with each out-breath, “Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.” Mindful breathing, he explains, is the bridge that unites the body and the mind. By concentrating on our breath, we generate peacefulness and calm. This abbreviated mantra helps me stay mindful of my breath.
7. Be Not Afraid
The words “fear not” are used over 80 times in scripture, and “be not afraid” or the equivalent, another 30 times. There is no scripture passage that calms me down more than these three words. In fact, when I would begin to panic even as a grade-schooler, I used to sing the lyrics of the song “Be Not Afraid.”
8. Let It Go
It’s hard not to hear Elsa belting out the lyrics to “Let It Go” (from Disney’s “Frozen”) when these three words are assembled, but this phrase offers wisdom for everyone, not just those cursed with a syndrome that makes everything into an icicle. It’s especially helpful for me when I’m caught in obsessive thinking, ruminations that take on a life of their own.
9. There Is No Danger
As those who have experienced panic know, anxiety can often feel like you’re dying—that there is some inherent danger in your situation that could end your life. A great mantra for me, then, to keep my anxiety in check, is “There is no danger.” I picked up this gem in the book Mental Health Through Will Trainingby psychiatrist Abraham Low. He writes, “You will realize that the idea of danger created by your imagination can easily disrupt any of your functions … If behavior is to be adjusted imagination must interpret events in such a fashion that the sense of security … overbalances the sentence of insecurity.”
10. I Am Enough
Since many of my ruminations stem from feeling unworthy on some level, I remind myself that I am enough. I don’t need kids on the dean’s list nor do I need to be a superstar blogger with millions of Twitter followers to earn my place in this world. I am enough as I am, as a child of God, doing my best while battling a chronic health condition.”
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