The Power of the Word

I received the YTAA email news update the other day from Sally Dawson and I noticed that Krishna Das was coming to tour Australia. Krishna Das is billed as the chant master who has inspired people all over the world. His CDs and DVDs have become best sellers and his concerts and chanting sessions bring capacity crowds. Why? His gravelly intonations don't lift him into the realm of star singer. He can't copyright the words to the songs as they are thousands of years old. And his basic sit-at-the-harmonium-and-sing-along style doesn't offer the same attraction as rock bands and light shows.

How can a repetition of Hara Hara Mahadev (praise to the highest who removes delusion and ignorance), which spans only a few notes, resonate so deeply not only with individuals but now with an entire culture? One reason is the blending of East and West. When traveling Westerners and Eastern teachers began to infuse Western culture with Vedic liturgies thirty to forty years ago, it was novel and exotic. As the intonations became intertwined with many of the schools of yoga and yoga teachers used chanting as backgrounds for classes, chanting naturally blended with contemporary music.

But there's more. Some words or phrases have particular power, in themselves or along with their meaning. In addition, when these words are combined with devotion, or benevolent intent, they can be sublimely uplifting.

The bhajans, or devotional songs, that Krishna Das leads, have their roots in prehistoric India. Many of them are melodic, often intoned as a call-and-response from a lead singer or singers, and accompanied by musicians. They may be sung by an individual or in a group, and are usually informal, although they can be presented in concert.

Sacred words or phrases of spiritual significance are called mantras. When given expression by the voice, they are known as kanthika. When repeated silently, they are called ajapa. Mahatma Ghandi helped bring mantra into Western consciousness with his highly publicized repetition of Ram, Ram, Ram, one of the thousand names of the divine. By the late 1960s the Broadway show of the counterrevolution, Hair, both regaled the use of mantra and brought it further into popular culture with the repetitions of the classic Buddhist om mane padme hum (meaning the divine is the jewel in the lotus of the heart). Transcendental Meditation also popularized personal mantras. Today, the mantra Om Namah Shivaya (meaning I am Shiva, the divine, or I honour the divinity within) is on dozens, if not hundreds of recordings, and is used in many yoga lineages brought to the West as well as throughout India.

All mantras are intended to praise the divine. Some define the many glorious manifestations of nature, revere the powers of nature or recite the awesome aspects of human interaction with nature. Many make a direct connection between the impersonal divine, or universal Consciousness, and the divinity within each of us. All of these ancient chants come from an unbroken oral tradition that has now been brought to the West in full flower.

Chanting and repetition of mantra is not exclusively the domain of the Indian traditions. The Christian Church has long advocated the soothing power of intoning chants in Latin, and, in contemporary times, singing hymns in local languages. Indigenous peoples of the Americas draw upon a long history of chanting to praise nature or to ask for boons and blessings, as have the Australian aborigines. Likewise, the Muslim tradition promotes chanting as a call to prayer and as a method of prayer. Most human cultures, in fact, use chanting during life transitions and as devotion.

The Practices

Certainly, we all don't prefer to listen to or participate in every type of world chanting, regardless of how interesting. But millions of people do, every day. What happens when hearing a mantra?

Listening to a choral or musical ensemble of chanting can relax the body and mind. It can calm the emotions. Participating in chanting opens the heart. And for those with open hearts, it allows love to pour forth in appreciation of the divine. Yogis who practice chanting regularly for short or long intervals often have the experience of dissolving problems, making stronger connections to their teachers, family and friends, and having a deep experience of the power and expansiveness of the inner Self.

The main benefit of mantra repetition is to focus the mind, which reduces agitation and worry and helps strengthen the mind for meditation, concentration and clarity of thought in everyday life. Over time, the meaning of the mantra resonates so deeply that it repeats itself and uplifts the person who repeats it.

One of the most famous ajapa mantras is hamsa. It means I (ham) am He, or that supreme Consciousness that exists within and without (sah). The mantra is considered a continuous mantra uttered by each living being through respiration (ham on the inbreath, sah on the outbreath).

The Dyananbindu Upanishad says by each syllable Consciousness leaves and enters again, and that the soul recites the mantra continually. The ancient, highly disciplined yogis even counted it, saying this occurs 21,600 times day and night.

Mantras and Yoga Classes

Needless to say, using recordings of mantras or asking students to learn and repeat them, is entirely up to the yoga teacher and the location of the class. Some teachers feel comfortable with a more generic structure and others go full tilt for imbuing the atmosphere with vibrations of sound created by mantra. As in many yogic teachings, it's sometimes the role of the teacher just to introduce students to the practice and allow them to discover for themselves the power of the word.