Mantra, Music and Silence
Music and Silence
‘ Silence is the nest and music is the bird. The bird leaves the nest early in the morning and returns to the nest in the evening. Similarly, in the spiritual world, divine music comes from the inmost soul of silence.’
When we listen to soulful music our Heart is inspired and awakened this lifts our consciousness and prepares us to dive within to experience the inner silence.
‘ When we listen to soulful music, or when we ourselves play soulful music, immediately our inner existence climbs up high, higher, highest. It climbs up and enters into something beyond. This Beyond is constantly trying to help us, guide us, mould us and shape us into our true transcendental image, our true divinity. When we hear soulful music, or when we play a soulful piece of music, we feel a kind of inner thrill in our entire existence, from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head. A river is flowing through us, a river of consciousness, and this consciousness is all the time illumined.’
– Sri Chinmoy
Mantra & Chanting
In a similar way chanting helps create the right conditions within ourselves so we can access our inner silence. Mantras can also establish spiritual qualities within the practitioner.
Chanting a mantra over many times creates a vibration within and around the person chanting. We use mantras to create a specific vibration, still the mind and become absorbed in the consciousness of the mantra. Another way to use a mantra is to chant it aloud and then silently and finally not at all but instead ‘hear’ and ‘feel’ it quietly reverberate within you – this quietening down of the mantra absorbs the mind, and allows you to enter the stillness and silence within.
Chanting AUM
– AUM is said to be underlying sound of the universe. If we go very deep within during meditation we will hear AUM the cosmic sound with our inner ear.
To attain a quite mind try chanting AUM a set number of times every day. You could choose 100 or 500. Chanting a mantra will give the mind something to focus on and improve our concentration. If you prefer you could choose another mantra, for example you might like to focus on a particular quality such as “Peace” or “Love” by chanting these mantras you can feel like you are energising your system with peace or love.
The important thing when chanting mantras is not to do it mechanically like a robot. You should feel the need to concentrate only on this mantra and have the feeling you are bringing this quality to the fore.
Photo by Richard