Mahakatha's Meditation Mantras

If you helped thousands of people

overcome their pain and suffering in some way,

would it take away your suffering and pain?

I know this is a loaded question, and we're gonna

discuss a little bit about this in today's episode before I

introduce you to today's mantra. So

Namaste, and welcome to today's episode of the

Mahakatha Meditation Mantras podcast. I'm your

host Preeti. And today, we're talking about

suffering and serving. We all know

people who seem to be going through so much in their

own personal lives. And yet, they

are the most giving individuals, the most

inspiring people. They give back so

fully, and they help people through some of the most

difficult times of their lives. We know such

people who serve a whole

community. And yet in private,

they have suffered tremendous amounts of

pain. In fact, to a

certain extent, you and I are those people. Aren't

we? We go through, we have been through

our own share of ups and downs and struggles

and trauma and pain. And yet on the

outside, we believe that by

doing more for others, by serving others,

by helping others overcome their own

pain, it might take away some of the pain

that we have accumulated so far. But

that's not really the case. We may

be instruments that help other people overcome

their suffering. But our own deferring

demands our attention and our kindness

and our care. What we have been

through and the weight of that is not just going

to go away by doing good

to others. It will definitely dull

the pain. It will definitely help us forget about

what's been troubling us. However at

some point, like the great Thich

Nhat Hanh said, you have to go back home

and deal with your suffering. You have

to go back home and sit down with your

emotions and quietly feed kindness

and forgiveness to each of these

emotions, and all of this pain.

Only we have the ability

to nurture ourselves out of our pain.

Others might help comfort us. We might

find so much love and so much soothing

and so much relief in the company

of the people we love in the words of inspiring

people, gurus, teachers, elders.

All of this is definitely going to

soothe our wounds. But like I said in

one of the previous episodes, in the end

we must learn to self-soothe.

We must learn to soothe ourselves

We must learn to go back

home to our own pain, our

own trauma, our own suffering, and

be as kind and patient with it

as we are to the outside world.

And when we take care of ourselves in this

way, and be

non-judgmental towards it, and allow ourselves to heal. Then

we also become better

at serving others. We also become better

at helping others. We are a greater

source of light and inspiration and calmness to

everyone else who looks up to

us. By suffering less,

we are serving better. So if you

find yourself neglecting your own emotions, your own

needs, because you see yourself as a provider,

as a parent, as a teacher, as

someone who has a social responsibility,

then this is your sign to pause for a while

and to gather all the love and kindness and

patience and generosity and turn

it inwards. I hope

that just like you help so many others that cross

your path in life, you also take the

time to help yourself. And serve

your own soul. With this intention,

I bring you one of the most

soothing and comforting mantras that

our listeners have heard and loved.

The Shivashtakam Mantra. Now the Shivashtakam

mantra is a beautiful long chant,

that is used to invoke the blessings, the compassion,

and the forgiveness of Lord Shiva.

But beyond our understanding of the deity,

it is a beautiful meditation that can be used

to make peace with our suffering and pain

and to slowly Heal ourselves.

If you haven't heard or would like to avail this mantra to

try it for a few days, then I encourage you to avail

this mantra here at a 30%

discount. Simply use the code mentioned in the description of

this episode and try spending a few minutes

in the coming week, every single day, to

just sit down with your mind and

allow your emotions to flow.

I do hope that whoever you are

and whatever your roles and responsibilities

and commitments and duties in life are,

that you allow yourself the healing of your

own suffering and pain. On that note,

thank you so much for tuning into today's episode.

I'm gonna be back next week with another episode and

Mantra. Until then, keep meditating

and stay blessed.