Mahakatha's Meditation Mantras

Hi there and welcome to a brand

new episode of the Mantras

Meditation podcast by Mahakata.

I've got a question for you.

What is six times seven and why

do we remember it? What about 25

times 25? Now I know you're

wondering why I'm spewing these

mathematical questions for you

when you've come here expecting

to gain some insights into

meditation and mantras and

spiritual things like that. But

I promise you this question is

really, really important.

Welcome to the podcast. I'm your

host, Prithi. I'm the voice

behind Mahakata meditation

Mantras, one of the most loved

sources for mantras and ancient

wisdom. And today I bring you an

episode where I talk about

something that's a little

counterintuitive.

Let me paint you a picture. You

are back in your school, in your

classroom. You are in about the

second grade or third grade and

you're sitting right there in

the third or fourth row in your

class and there are a bunch of

noisy kids trying to whisper

amongst themselves and laugh

among themselves while you are

trying to focus on your

notebook, trying to copy

something that's written for you

on the board and that your

teacher is about to explain to

you. And as you sit there and as

you look to the board, you see

she's written six times seven

equals 42. Six times seven

equals 42. And the next thing

she asks you to do is what? She

asks you to read it out loud and

then she asks the entire class

to repeat after her, six times

seven is 42. And so the whole

class through, throughout the

whole class, there's this roar

of kids voices repeating this

table in a sing song manner. Six

times seven is 42.

Six times seven is 42. At that

time it seems so boring and so

silly and you would much rather

participate in those whispers

and giggles going on in class.

But that thing, that exercise

right there, that sing song

repetition of this one table did

something, it served a very,

very important purpose. And that

purpose is the reason you

remember what six times seven is

today. I could wake you up from

your sleep and you could still

answer, six times seven is 42.

Right? That's the magic of it.

Even though at that point in

time you had no idea how on

earth this piece of information

is going to be useful to you in

life today. You've used it

countless number of times,

consciously, subconsciously, and

you still remember it.

That's the reason I asked you

the question, because today I'm

going to talk about that

powerful thing that happened in

class and honestly, I believe we

need more of that in our lives

today. And that simple thing, my

dear friends, is repetition. Now

I know if you've been a listener

of Mahakata, if you've listened

to mantras, I know that you are

familiar with the concept of

repetition in that once you

start listening to a mantra, you

listen to it in a loop, it keeps

playing time and time again,

right? And you try and meditate

to that sound. Why is that

effective? Why does that work?

Why did ancient scholars and

sages and the great philosophers

who came up with mantras and

passed down mantras to their

disciples, why did they advise

us to chant these mantras in

repetitions of three or seven or

nine or 21, all the way up to

1008? Why? The reason for this

wisdom is borrowed from nature.

Let me explain. When you look

around and you look at the sun

and you look at the day and you

look at the night, and a couple

of hours later you look at the

day again and then you're

looking at the night again, you

see how day and night are

repeating itself. Similarly, for

a few months in the year it'll

be terribly hot and you'll try

and look for your sunglasses and

ditch all your warm clothes and

try to take a vacation to a

tropical place. And then for the

next few months it's going to

pour and you're going to wonder

where the umbrellas are.

And then months later it's going

to be winter. It's going to be

time to pull out the warm

clothes again and enjoy the

snow, enjoy the chilly weather,

meet your family, cozy up with

your family around a fireplace,

tell stories, spend warm nights

together. And then it's going to

be time to put away those warm

clothes again because summer is

going to come back, right? And

then the whole cycle is

repeating itself. That is also

repetition. You look around in

math, what's happening after you

go from zero to nine, after you

use up the digits from zero to

nine, what's happening? We going

back to the same digits again.

It's a repetition of the same

nine digits. It's a repetition

of a combination of the same

nine digits, right? There's

repetition in the pattern of

leaves, there's repetition in

the pattern of flowers, there's

repetition in the coming and

going of waves and tides.

There's repetition all around

us.

And coming back to the first

simple example of the sun rising

and the sun setting. The

universe is functioning in

repetition for you. The universe

is functioning in repetition for

you. Time is functioning in

meditation for you. These are

all things that are running in

the background, aren't they?

They don't have our conscious

attention, they don't have a

conscious focus all the time,

but they are running and they

are so, so important to the way

we live our lives, right down to

our very own breath. Isn't that

the best example of how

repetition is at the very core

of our ability to survive?

Without repetition there is no

background. And without a

consistent background, without

things that function in order

with a certain discipline,

there's very little we can get

done in life. There's very

little we can achieve in this

life.

And so in this episode, what I

really want to bring to you is

that, hey, stop there for a

second and realize that the

world around you, nature around

you, the cosmos around you is

functioning in repetition for

you. Use that to your advantage.

Let's use this bright and

shining example of consistency,

of discipline, of commitment,

and embrace it and bring it into

our own lives. Because don't you

see? It is natural to us? Being

consistent, forming habits,

having discipline, repeating,

following patterns are all

natural to us. It is our natural

state of being. We look for

certainty over chaos. We look

for balance over chaos. And that

is why mantras as an ancient

tool still work wonders in the

modern world.

Because when you sit down with a

mantra, whether you are chanting

it or whether you are meditation

with it, you are inevitably

bringing yourself into that

background that is all around

you. You are becoming one with

everything that is consistent

and calm and balanced around

you. And from that oneness that

you experience during mantra

meditation or mantra chanting,

your mind clears up. You gain

clarity, you gain inspiration.

You are able to overcome your

own inner barriers. You're able

to let go of the past. You're

able to build things and create

things that you wish for

yourself. That is how mantra

meditation as a habit begins to

transform your life.

And on that note, in today's

episode, I'm bringing you a

mantra that is very easy to

repeat. It's one of the simplest

mantras listeners especially

loved because of how simple it

is to chant and practice this

mantras. So going with today's

theme, I'm bringing you the

ancient, wise enlightening

Buddhist chant, Om Manipadmiham.

Now, Om manipadmiham is just a

single line of a chant that was

created centuries ago by a wise

soul who could see and

appreciate the patterns of

repetition and consistency. And

that soul could understand that

having a higher consciousness

probably meant being one with

all that is divine and

repetitive and consistent around

us, being one with those

elements of nature that never

stop, that was understood as

enlightenment and higher

consciousness. And so today, I

bring you that mantra Om manipad

Meham. It's incredibly easy to

chant along, and I'm going to

chant it for you three times

now, all right? Slowly. And you

can feel free to chant with me

or after me as well.

All right? So here's what we're

going to do. We're going to take

three deep breaths first, all

right? I'm going to guide you

through that and then we're

going to chant Om manipad meham.

Real nice and easy, okay? So

first three deep breaths, deep

breath in. Nice and easy. Deep

breath out and repeat. Deep

breath in and all the way out.

And repeat again. Deep breath

all the way in and deep breath

out.

Wonderful. Now try and chant

along or simply listen as I

chant this beautiful mantra for

you. All right? Omar nipadmi ham

o my nipadmi hamipadmi ham. So

that is the ancient Buddhist

chant for you for the purpose of

a higher consciousness or simply

to take a break from constant

thinking overthinking trying to

fight fires in your life.

Whenever you need to take a

small little break and gather

yourself, use this mantras.

Recite it or listen to it. And

while you're doing that, become

aware that you are stepping into

the background with everything

that is divine and never ending

in the universe. All right, so

that is today's mantra.

And before I go, I wanted to

share with you one of the most

beautiful comments we've

received. And this beautiful

comment was left about a year

ago by one of our listeners on

the Omanipadmiham Mantra on

YouTube. The listener's name

shows up as Aurora Phoenix j

Aurora Phoenix j if you are

listening, thank you so much for

these beautiful words, this

beautiful expression of how this

mantra helps you, he or she

says, talking about work or

career or money, specifically

with this mantra, or with this

feeling of being one with the

universe, you will feel a pull

to it. It ignites the passion

and fire from within towards

your work or your career. You

can't explain it, you know it's

in your inner calling, and it

makes you truly, truly happy. I

think that's a perfect way of

expressing the ideal approach of

a worry free mind, of an open

mind towards money or career or

work. And this is a mindset that

you can get to once you have

formed, consistently formed the

habit of clearing your mind and

cleansing out all the negative

thoughts and resistance. And you

can do that by practicing

different forms of meditation,

one of which is mantra

meditation.

So this is a wonderful way to

use the Om Manipad Meha Mantra,

or any mantra really, to improve

your life. And as you go chasing

your passion or your dream or

your career goals, do not forget

that you can always step back.

When it gets overwhelming, when

it gets too much to think about,

you can always step back, step

into the background and become

one with this huge never ending

force of the universe just by

spending a few minutes with a

mantra. All right, guys, that's

it for today's episode. I hope

you enjoyed it, I hope you'll

send me your comments, your

suggestions, your questions,

because I'm going to be back

very soon with the next episode

and by then I would love to

feature some of your queries or

your comments on the episodes.

So thank you so much for all the

love and support you've given

this podcast so far. It is

something new that we're trying,

and I'm absolutely in love with

being able to speak to you in

this way on this new platform. I

hope you are enjoying it too,

and I'm going to see you on the

next episode.

Until then, keep meditating,

keep chanting, and stay blessed.