Chanting Experts

First for experts, and more for freshers in next section.

Needless to say there are specific rules for good chanting of Vedic Mantras. 

First, to quickly inform regular chanters of how to get prAnAyAma benefits while chanting, by engaging the breath with the Mantra:

• Control the outbreath as much as possible slowly so that maximum chant time is made available within one outbreath, and while so doing not showing any outward sign of losing breath.

• Listen to what you are chanting. This is easier said than done - that's why Vedic chanting is considered Shruti (literally, that which is heard). The feedback loops are profound. Obviously this works better in groups, with an echoing space.

What is Chanting

Chanting is a way to go beyond normal language to communicate the totality of Yoga, not just conceptually, but actual transmission.

Chanting is one way to solve the challenge of how does one Human, who is in this infinitude, communicate this state to another without using the limiting nature of Thought?

What Language can we use? 

One way is to provoke the intelligence to self-enquire in the listener by means of clearly laying out the situation with the clever use of Language, sparking small ‘aha’ moments wherever deeper Meaning surfaces.

Such as what we do, digging up word parallels across different cultures, demonstrating universality of some culture, or by revealing the lyrical and precise structure of the Mind which is truly universal.

Another way is to use a different kind of Language, which communicates in a ‘whole-brain’ way and yet is subtle enough to not trap us in the System of Thought.

Here we are looking at Human spoken Language, although there are many other types of Language, such as communicating through any form of Art, Pictographics, Felt Experiences or other meditation techniques  that we have indicated earlier.

What we are speaking of here is the Language of Sanskrit, which is fundamentally a spoken language, which of course also has had many written scripts, but the essential aspect is the way in which it treats Sound and how Sound impacts consciousness.

Why Sanskrit 

The Sanskrit language, as we have noted earlier, has explicitly engineered psycholinguistic properties. 

Unfortunately it has been deprecated as a language used for philosophical purposes or for priestly work. 

Nothing could be further from the Truth, because it is actually a language for manifesting material reality that is rooted in Wholeness without conflict.

In fact, the linguistic roots of the word Sanskrit = Sum (complete) + Krth (create) means a complete tool for creation and as we have seen these roots are reflected in Latin too.

In Sanskrit the sound of the word itself communicates what the word means, that is the words are onomatopoeic, so it is possible to have a whole-body understanding of the word without necessarily having to contemplate the concept all the time.

The Sound of OM

A simple example of how to communicate the wholeness of Brhman is through the sound of Om.

OM is actually considered the sound of the ultimate wish-granting Affirmation engine called Ishwara.

OM is the ultimate onomatopoeic word because the sound of it, as it goes through its lifecycle of expression, mirrors exactly the lifecycle of a single Thought.

OM = A + U + M (where A + U is known to be O).

• A, when sounded generates  at the back of the throat

  • Note this is exactly the Utility form of Thought (just to kickstart)

• U, when sounded organizes all mental structures through the entire brain

  • Note this is exactly the Intent form of Thought (to harmonize)

• M, when sounded expresses at the lips

  • Note this is exactly the Purpose form of Thought (to have some impact)

We can know this by simple observation & enquiry that OM provides full coverage of the sonic space within.

Chanting OM

We start with Silence, because if the Consciousness aspect of Brhman is Nothingness, and this Nothingness of infinite potential is the seed of all material reality, which can issue forth in the form of Sound - then obviously the Nothingness of Sound is actually Silence.

If we chant OM by splitting it up as A+U+M then again we are being subject to the fragmentation by Thought, so we chant the composite sound OM.

• So we start by going into silence which is the complete stillness of Thought.

• Then we chant OM, and then repeat this cycle as long as we wish, 

• Throughout we are also listening attentively to the sound at the same time.

This communicates the totality of Brhman in sound form because the sound emerges as an Intent from the Heart aligned with Dharma, and integrates in Yoga with every cell in the Being, and thus is Wholeness incarnate.

Then the entire sound of OM completely dissolves into Nothingness, with no obvious trace except for a heightened sensitivity of the nervous system, so when we start OM again it is a fresh, creative Moment with no baggage from the past.

Each OM is therefore a perfect Thought form and in fact lays the foundation for further perfected Thought forms such as those chanted in Mantras, which is why all Mantras start with OM.

We are thus able to communicate from the Silence of ultimate reality into the material reality of Thought through the specialized language technique of psycholinguistics.

By knowing OM alone, one can know and experience the entire Brhman, yet the Mind being what it is demands more detail as to how all this works. Hence this whole book.

Bīja Mantras

Read this for more on Bīja Mantra concept.

There are many singular Bīja mantras, such as OM of course the primordial one, but also ones assigned to specific devas (psychic intelligences), and different sequences also for the more elaborately defined devas - all of which come inspired from Tantra.

Heart openers

We actually have a "heart-brain", specific nervous system cells inside the heart that helps the heart to communicate to the brain, and so when we train for coherence in the heart it positively impacts our ability to think without clutter.

Read this interesting article.

One useful sequence to help us in Heart-centered practice is to prefix "Hr-" to a set of vowels.

The vowels in Sanskrit are meant to simply create life energy and have no particular meaning to them. Actually in Tamil language we literally call the vowels as "uyir-ezhitthu" (life-letters), and consonants are "mey-ezhitthu" (meaning-letters).

But between pure vowels and pure consonants, there is a class of sounds which sort of indicate meaning, and one example is the "Hr-" sound, which is exactly the same sound as in "Heart" or "Hrudaya" (literally indicating a "giving" nature, and exactly meaning Heart).

So we can have this sequence: Hrām, Hrīm, Hrūm, Hraim, Hraum, Hraha  

Next we can even prefix OM to each of these and chant them one at a time, focusing attention on the heart at all times.

Finally, we can even associate these Mantras with āsana movement practice, and cultivate the feeling that the movement stems from the Heart at all times, for example the Sūryanamaskār sequence is well suited for this.

Usually Sūryanamaskār mantras are loaded with meaning, such as in this example, and thus serve to take us into a "religious" expression by deifying the Sūrya as the Sun-"god", describing his attributes.

But with above Bīja mantras we can simple go into the essence of what it means.