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What are mantras? Mantras are cosmic sounds, which were discovered in higher states of meditation when yogis explored the different layers of the mind to discover the source of existence. Normally, it is difficult to go beyond the physical level in meditation. With some effort one can contain the agitation of the vrittis, waves of the mind, and go up to the mental and intellectual levels. However, very few are able to access the dimension of spirit. Yogis have gone to that level and experienced luminosity, the eternal quality of the spirit. In that state, vibrations are heard which the physical senses are incapable of hearing.
Normally, one hears sounds only within a certain range of decibels; beyond or below that range the frequencies change and cannot be heard. However, in the causal state of consciousness one becomes sensitized and begins to hear and see many things. What one hears are mantras and what one sees are yantras. If one simply makes up some syllables and repeats them - that is not mantra. The mantras that the yogis discovered were sounds vibrating at particular frequencies in each dimension of the personality. They also identified each sound with a particular psychic centre. The mantra Om, for example, was identified as the seed sound of ajna chakra, Ham of vishuddhi chakra, Yam of anahata chakra, Ram of manipura chakra, Vam of swadhisthana chakra and Lam of mooladhara chakra.
In their altered state of observation, the yogis perceived that the chakras are stimulated by chanting a particular sound. This is akin to the effect created when a long rope is tied to a tree trunk and shaken: the wave travels from one end of the rope to the other. Similarly, the ripples of vibration reach and activate the psychic centre when the sound of a frequency is repeated audibly or mentally. Therefore, the yogis combined certain sounds in order to create a particular state of consciousness. In this way mantras such as Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya and others emerged. Mantras became part of spiritual sadhana to awaken different
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