Mahakatha's Meditation Mantras

I have a strange prayer for you. I

pray for you to be alone more,

just by yourself in your comfortable space,

staring out the window and watching birds talk to each

other, standing in the kitchen fixing yourself a

lovely nutritious meal, sprawled across your

sofa reading a book or lost in your daydream,

feeling like everything is alright and there's no

need to rush. I want you to know

this side of being alone. I want

you to be alone without feeling isolated

or anxious or afraid or unworthy.

Because once you know the freedom and meaningfulness

that exists in it, you will never fear

solitude again. Namaste,

and welcome to yet another episode of Mahakatha Meditation

mantras. I'm your host, Preeti. And today, we're talking

about the practice of being alone,

about solitude. Solitude is

our most natural state. We've known

it since we were babies, just a few days

old, when we spent a lot of the day in a crib,

in a bed while mama and papa worked on other

things. Even at the age of 2 or 3,

when we enjoyed saying hello and goodbye to people around

us and meeting other children, we cherished

and longed for our solitude. We knew how to

play alone, how to be engrossed and happy

in something without needing anyone else to engage with

us. And then as we grew

up, we discovered the joys of friendship, of

social relationships, of being a part of a group,

a part of many groups, and feeling like we

belong. That became a very powerful

feeling, the feeling of belonging.

But still as children, we had our alone time.

Those precious minutes when we were in our room trying to

study or draw or perfect something

or simply daydreaming in bed. There's something

we still loved about that solitude even

though we had a million friends and couldn't wait to hang out with

them. Solitude was just

as cherished as belonging.

They were in balance until eventually

we got exposed to bigger things, to bigger challenges,

to fears, to insecurities, to

jealousy, to pain and suffering. And

slowly, we craved more belonging

than solitude. And now we

struggle with the thought of having to spend an hour alone,

a day alone without a plan,

without something to fix or watch or change or

occupy the mind with. At the same time,

we do still crave solitude on some level too.

We have to make great effort to find me time

these days. Something that I've spoken about in one of the

earlier podcast episodes. And other times,

solitude is suddenly forced into our lives

without us being prepared for it. We

lose someone, we break up with someone,

we fall ill or our lives change in unexpected

ways forcing us to be alone for a while

or longer. Being alone is especially

harder when one is in pain. But dear

listener, you can only ever be alone

in experiencing your pain and you heal

alone too. That's right. You experience

pain alone, but you heal

in solitude too. That's

why it's alright that the world doesn't weep with you,

that they only laugh with you, they only share

your joys, participate in your happiness,

but they don't weep with you. It's alright.

It isn't meant to. The world is

letting you heal through your own solitude.

Even in this time, dear listener, it helps to remember

that being alone is separate from being

lonely. Even in this time, at this

age, under these circumstances of your life, whatever

they may be, Solitude can be just

as relaxing and meaningful and

therapeutic as it was when you were a growing kid.

You can still be alone and be happy.

You can have wonderful relationships and friends

and still enjoy solitude. You can still be

with yourself peacefully without anxiety,

without the need for constant distraction. It is

possible. And meditation is one

of the most calming ways to be with yourself.

To close your eyes, shut out the world around

you and just be with yourself. Maybe

listening to a beautiful mantra or the chirping of

birds. Noticing your breath can

be all you need to pick yourself up

and look forward to your day. Dear

listener, like I said in the beginning, I pray for you to

be alone more because I want you to

celebrate your solitude.

Speaking of which, if you love listening to mantras

especially when you're alone and if you have a

tendency to occasionally feel anxious whenever you are alone,

I have a beautiful mantra for you this week. It

is the Twameva Mata mantra.

This mantra is really ancient and it is

very commonly practiced by chanters and

practitioners in the Indian culture.

It is perfect to soothe your feeling of loneliness

because through this chant, you see the whole

universe and the source of the universe

as your companion, as your mother, your

father, your teacher, your friend, your guide,

all while you are just sitting alone, closing

your eyes and meditating. You acknowledge

that all of these guides and companions exist

within you. They are accessible to you at all

times and you slowly lose

those nerves and that anxiety as

calmness and pleasantness take over.

So if you haven't heard the Twameva Mata mantra yet

or if you don't have a copy of it with you, you can now

download this mantra at a 30% discount by

using the code mentioned in the description of the episode.

Go ahead. Try meditating with this mantra when

you feel alone. No matter what you're going

through right now, no matter what you're struggling with, what you're

striving towards. Try spending

a few mindful minutes with this chant every

day and let me know your

experience. You can always write to me at preeti@mahakatha.com.

And if you have tried our mantras, if you have tried

the simple techniques and ideas that we discuss in this

podcast, then I would want many others to

hear your experience, which is why I request you to leave

us a review for the podcast and

share your experience with these mantras, with these

techniques in detail. Thank you

for joining me today, dear listener. I'm really

hoping that you enjoy the Twameva Matha Mantras and that

it helps you especially if you're going through a rough time right now.

With that, we come to the end of today's

episode. I promise to be back next week with

a brand new episode, a brand new theme, and a brand new mantra.

Until then, dear listener, stay

blessed.