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1. Be celibate.
2. Give up futile chatter and do not engage in unnecessary gossip.
3. Be brave yet have patience.
4. Observe silence at a certain time of the day.
5. Control how much you eat and how long you sleep (limited food and sleep).
6. Do not engage in any bad activities.
7. Always respect elders.
8. Abandon one's inferiority complex.
9. Be charitable.
10. Be happy.
11. Speak the truth.
12. Be efficient.
13. Always think wisely.
14. Be pure at heart.
15. Try and conquer your five senses (taste, smell, see, hear and touch).
16. Recite the mantra properly, with correct pronunciation.
3/1.5 How Does The Mantra Work?
The human brain is made up of a number of small cells called neurones. These neurones are interconnected. When we think, certain neurones fire and form a strong path. Each path represents a certain aspect of interpretation. A very strong path is said to be memory. All perceptions/interpretations and memory are based on which neurones fire and which do not. We all know that, if we read a book many times over, we remember most of the key topics and can recall them. When we read the book many times, we strengthen certain pathways in the brain and create memory. When a 'mantra' is chanted a number of times, it also strengthens certain pathways. Certain 'mantras' thus give powers. The fifty-one matrikäs (letters of the Sanskrit alphabet) constitute the Goddess in the form of sound. A question naturally arises whether it is merely the thought that brings about the result in a mantra or whether the words and syllables comprising it also have any effect and contribute towards the desired result. If the words or syllables of a mantra had no particular effect, any words or syllables, or for the matter of that thought alone, should be able to bring about the desired result. The real effect of the words in the mantras is in the imagination and will of the individual who invokes them.
Arthur Avalon says: "I do not want it to be meant that I attribute no potency at all to the words as combination of sounds, such, for instance, as the sound 'Om'. Giving due allowance for the effect of the sound in itself, every thinker must come to the conclusion that in the divine power asleep within man lies the real force. Otherwise how can identical results be produced by uttering different names"1?
When mantra is spoken in a rhythmical way one can feel the vibrations. The sound resonates. It is now proved that the sound itself is a vibration. When we recite or utter a mantra, we sound a tuning fork within the subtle level of our consciousness. This sends currents and waves in different parts of our body. Certain mantras, if properly recited, have the effects of our level of vibration.
1P 119 - Arthur Lowell 'Imagination and its Wonders'
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