Mahakatha's Meditation Mantras

Did you know that there are two ways to wash dishes?

Yes. One, you scrub as quickly as

possible. Your mind is already sipping that cup of tea that's waiting

for you afterwards. The other way is

where you feel that stream of water on your hands,

the softness of that foam on your fingers. You

hear the clink of the dishes and you find a

rhythm in the scrubbing. Then you see the

clear surface of the dish you've just washed, and a

subtle smile blooms across your face.

I'm going to talk about both these scenarios

before I introduce you to today's mantra.

Namaste. And welcome to another episode of the

Mahakatha Meditation Mantras podcast. I'm your

host, Preeti. And today, for a very good

reason, we are talking about doing the dishes

or mowing the lawn or cleaning the bathroom.

Any of those countless things that we

consider to be busy work. Stay with

me. Because this sets the premise for one of

the most joyful ancient mantras of

all. Now, I think you know where I'm going with

this. This talk about being present and

being mindful. I'm sure you've heard these concepts

either through videos on YouTube or even at dinner

conversations with friends and family. But the truth

is, the dishes get washed either way.

Right? The time you spend washing the dishes,

it passes either way.

So what is the difference? How does it matter

whether you are doing the dishes happily or just

rushing past the job so you can sit down and

enjoy some 'me time'?

The problem with this 'me time' is that we

have very fixed ideas of what that

me time should be. For example,

for some of us, it is curling up on the couch and reading

a book or watching a series. Or for

some of us, it is spending a day at the spa or away from the

kids. Or it is that one cup of tea after you've

done all the chores and work you need to do. And

maybe the problem is that we consider those specific

things as 'me time'. Now, often, because

of how full and busy our days are, we don't

get time to do these luxurious things. And

when that happens, we say, I really want

some 'me time'. I don't get enough 'me time'.

But in reality, we are starving for

something we already have in plenty.

The fact that you are standing at the kitchen counter

with a singular task at hand. Something

that comes easily to you, something that uses your

hands and your strength and your skills,

something that makes you feel useful, something

that gives you satisfaction as you do it, the

satisfaction of making a dish cleaner,

brighter, better. The fact that you can play

some music in the background as you do it. The fact that it doesn't

take all of your mental energy away, that itself,

makes washing the dishes 'me time'. Same

with cleaning the bathroom. Same with mowing the lawn on a lovely

day. Same with doing paperwork and preparing

food and making your bed. All of

it, if you give it your full attention and stop

waiting for it to end, can become 'me time'.

Unless of course you're tired and

you're exhausted. Well, in that case, you

definitely need to catch a break to catch some

rest. But then that rest should also be embraced

and loved like it is your 'me time'. Even when

you are tired. If you can find a way to slow

down and zoom into the moment and acknowledge

to yourself that you are slowly relaxing

and feeling better, that also

becomes a window for a little joy

and a little relief in your otherwise

busy day. But instead, if you're

just going to drag yourself through these chores and

you're only going to wait for that prized moment

when all this mindless work is done,

then you are actually telling yourself that all this

time, all these minutes that you've spent doing

the dishes or the other chores are

a waste, are a burden. Until

I can finally live that moment of

reward. Until then, I don't really care

about the time that's passing. It's not important to me.

It doesn't matter to me. It's not worth my

thought, it's not worth my effort, my

creativity, my joy, my curiosity.

It's not worth all of that. It's just time

that I'm killing. And if we are really living like

that, then we are killing more time than we

are living up. Thinking that nothing good or

exciting or happy or interesting can come from

them and simply waiting

for a fleeting moment of so-called

reward to suddenly pop up and go away

in a flash. And then we're back to those

mindless moments of simply whiling away our

time. And so maybe it is time to take

a fresh look at the things that we call the

routine or the rut or the

mundane. Maybe it's time we stopped

treating our mornings like they are no reason and

no time to be happy. That, I

think, is the simplest way to explain

the benefit of mindfulness. When you choose to

be mindful and give your entire

focus to the task at hand, interesting

experiences can follow even in the

most mundane situations.

And almost always, it will leave

you with a gentle feeling of joy and

pleasantness no matter what task you are giving

your attention to. And to help you experience

that gentle pleasantness and gentle

joy and to keep you mindful throughout the

morning and throughout the day, here's

introducing you to the Sat Chid

Ananda mantra. This mantra is just

those three phrases - Sat Chit Ananda,

Sat, Chit and

Ananda. And yet there is so much

joy in just these three words. You

will know it once you experience listening to it and

perhaps even meditating with this mantra.

So if you haven't heard this mantra, please go ahead and get it for

yourself and try doing the most mundane

things while this mantra plays for you in the background

and see how it changes your experience of the

activity. You can avail this mantra at a

discounted price by using the link in the description,

as always. And to help you get an idea

of how different people across the world have

used this mantra in their daily lives, here are two

beautiful comments from our listeners. The first

one says, "I was feeling really stressed out and

I feel amazing after hearing this." Thank you so much

dear listener. And the second comment says,

"Thank you. I really needed this today. I

was just drained and your amazing orchestrated

frequency worked its magic.

I'm very grateful for your channel and it is highly

appreciated." This is such genuine love for

this divine mantra. It's amazing what

a few powerful sounds can do for us.

And now I want to hear your experience

with this mantra. So go ahead

and make this a part of your mornings this week.

That's it for this episode. Thank you so much for tuning

in. I hope you enjoyed our discussion today and I will

be back next week with another episode and mantra.

Until then, stay blessed.