sunyata07
28 July 2009, 12:11 PM
Namaste everyone,
I was looking back over an old meditation guide from my bookshelf recently, and I read a part that had me confused. It also brought up some questions I had on using mantras as a mental tool for focusing thought.
The guide mentions selecting a personal mantra, one that has meaning for the chanter, and then to repeat it regularly. It also said that after one has chosen a mantra, one should not change it. I'm not sure if I'm reading this incorrectly, and the guide is merely saying once you've got your thoughts on a mantra, stick with it for the duration of a session - or if it meant, once you've gotten into the practice of regularly repeating a mantra, don't change it. Are there any general guidelines for using different mantras - is there problem with being used to chanting the Gayatri mantra for a time, and then switching say, to Om namah Shivaya?
It's actually been bothering me from the moment I read that in the meditation guide, but I guess I must have forgotten about it after I had finished reading it. Although I've been meditating regularly for over a year now, I still feel like a complete amateur on the little things sometimes. :/ But any help would be most appreciated and welcomed. Thanks.
Peace,
~ sunyata
I was looking back over an old meditation guide from my bookshelf recently, and I read a part that had me confused. It also brought up some questions I had on using mantras as a mental tool for focusing thought.
The guide mentions selecting a personal mantra, one that has meaning for the chanter, and then to repeat it regularly. It also said that after one has chosen a mantra, one should not change it. I'm not sure if I'm reading this incorrectly, and the guide is merely saying once you've got your thoughts on a mantra, stick with it for the duration of a session - or if it meant, once you've gotten into the practice of regularly repeating a mantra, don't change it. Are there any general guidelines for using different mantras - is there problem with being used to chanting the Gayatri mantra for a time, and then switching say, to Om namah Shivaya?
It's actually been bothering me from the moment I read that in the meditation guide, but I guess I must have forgotten about it after I had finished reading it. Although I've been meditating regularly for over a year now, I still feel like a complete amateur on the little things sometimes. :/ But any help would be most appreciated and welcomed. Thanks.
Peace,
~ sunyata