Mantras

Mantras can excite the emotions and give suggestions to the mind. Mantras affect both the one who chants them as the one who hears them. The word mantra comes from the Sanskrit "mantrana", which means advice or suggestion. In a sense, every word is a mantra. In our daily life we use words to get everything done, obtain everything we need. Each mantra or word is a sound pattern that suggests to the mind the meanings inherent in it, and the mind immediately responds.

According to Ramana Maharshi, repetition of mantras (japa), with attention directed to the source of the sound, completely engages the mind. This is Tapas (penance). The source is not in the vocal chords alone, but also the idea of the sound is in the mind, whose source is self. Thus the practice of mantra repetition is more than a suggestion, a bit of advice or an idea. It is a means of getting in touch with our self.

Mantras may be used for religious worship, for japa (repetition), for healing, to help spiritual evolution, for purification, for making offerings and in Mantra Yoga. Some mantras are only chants or expressions of nearness to the Divine. But some saints who were inspired by divine love and unshakable faith used these mantras in their own spiritual practice and their followers afterwards started using those mantras, calling them mahamantras or great mantras.