Mantra (Sacred Sound)
Sacred sound as a spiritual force — the syllable that focuses the mind and invokes the divine.
A mantra is a charged sacred sound — a syllable, name, or formula whose very utterance is held to have spiritual power. Mantras are used to focus the mind in meditation, to invoke the divine in worship, and to consecrate ritual. The tantric and Śaiva traditions developed an elaborate philosophy of sacred speech around them, treating sound itself as a form of the divine consciousness; OM is the mantra of mantras.
Key passages(20)
The udgîtha is the pranava, the pranava is the udgîtha. And as the udgîtha is the sun, so is the pranava, for he (the sun) goes sounding Om.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Of the person in the right eye Bhuh is the head, for the head is one, and that syllable is one; Bhuvah the two arms, for the arms are two, and these syllables are two; Svar the foot, for the feet are
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He who knows that the udgîtha is the pranava, and the pranava the udgîtha, rectifies from the seat of the Hotri priest any mistake committed by the Udgâtri priest in performing the udgîtha, yea, in pe
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Or because he is equal (sama) to a grub, equal to a gnat, equal to an elephant, equal to these three worlds, nay, equal to this universe, therefore he is Saman. He who thus knows this Saman, obtains u
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The Yajna performed without heed to ordinance, in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of Mantras, gifts, and Shraddhâ, is said to be Tâmasika.
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With their minds wholly in Me, with their senses absorbed in Me, enlightening one another, and always speaking of Me, they are satisfied and delighted.
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And he who repeats this greatest mystery in an assembly of Brâhmans, or full of devotion at the time of the Srâddha sacrifice, obtains thereby infinite rewards." SECOND ADHYÂYA.
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