Chanting for Happiness!
There is a magical importance to chanting or reciting a Hindu mantra 108 times. There are various different types of mantras in Hinduism, there are some that are specifically for happiness.
The Gayatri mantra is one of the most important mantras for Hindus, andif chanted 108 times each day is said to create happiness for the believer.
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tát savitúr váreṇ(i)yaṃ
bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ prachodáyāt
A modern day translation of the Gayatri verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith is as follows:
“May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the god: So may he stimulate our prayers.”
The Mantra for attainment of happiness is
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
A modern day translation of the mantra by Elizabeth Gilbert the author of her bestselling autobiography book and subsequent movie “Eat, Pray, Love” is as follows:
“Honor the divinity within me.”
Both these mantra’s have a universal appeal and can be chanted by anyone irrespective of their religious belief, however if you are uncomfortable chanting these mantras, I suggest you find a mantra within your own religion which you can chant.
In Islam there is a mantra of repeating the 99 names for Allah which create similar positive vibrations for the faithful. Hence, two popular Muslim chants are
ALLAHU AKBAR
A translation of this mantra is: God is great.
BISMILLAH AL-RAHMAN, AL-RAHIM
A translation of this mantra is: In the name of Allah, the most compassionate, the most merciful.
Similarly, there are chants of all other religions.
One of the shortcuts that I have employed is that every morning I put these mantras on the audio system, and hear them first thing in the morning. Also, the other mantras are on my phone, and as I walk, I hear them on my headphones and chant along, ambivalent to what the other morning walkers are thinking or assuming about me.
The word mantra is formed by joining two Sanskrit words “man” and “tra”, meaning mind and freedom. Thus, a repetitive chant creates positive vibrations. Today chanting in Buddhism has become extremely popular, please remember that the objective of chanting is to create
positive vibrations that lead to happiness, the mantra is negotiable, but chanting is not negotiable as it leads to happiness.
In my private practice of having counselled thousands of people over the last 25 year, I have learned that everyone wants and needs to be happy.
YOU TOO CAN BE HAPPY!
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