Is it a fad or do parents and schools really know what they mean when come asking for slokas to be taught to their kids?

Well I was inundated with requests. So I thought of researching using my best friend’s knowledge bank. I trust this friend now more than anyone or anything on earth, as only this friend has knowledge bank, wisdom, critical information and reviews at the tip of a click!

Yup! You are smart too. 🙂 It's my very trusted Google Ji.

So after a series of reading of more than 50 articles, 20 sites and reviews I have my own conclusions which I am not regarding as the last words. So do not follow this article blindly, do spend little time and use your logic to analyse and deduce your own conclusions. A warning to all of you. Except for the learning Sanskrit in class 5 to class 10 of CBSE pattern, I am a zero in this most revered languages in the world.

I do qualify as a self learned astrologer and have been reading charts and giving suggestions to many of my friends since 2001 now. I rely on mantras a lot.

So what are Mantras?

Man + Tra means in Sanskrit a combo of two action words, Mananat Travate.  Mananat mean our mind, to remember and Travate means repeated chanting. Together it means that when something worthwhile is chanted in CORRECT PRONUNCIATION repeatedly for a minimum number of times, it will cure the problem mostly within one’s own mind and body. NO mantra in this world can do something for you if it is not chanted by you. Imagine you have high temperature. Who is supposed to take the paracetamol? You or your best friend or your mom or that pundit you called? Obviously it’s you who has to take the pill to get all right.

Also all Mantras affect your own body and mind. It will not change anything for your enemy or your children or your parents. They need to chant their mantras themselves. Yes pundits do say you can pay them and they will do the poojas on your behalf. Reconsider it. Shortage of time will want us do many a thing which deep within we ourselves know it not right. As for pundits, well everyone has to make a living.

Upset or angry or awed?

Well I am only trying to open your eyes to the reality.

Why do we need to chant any mantra at all?

Frankly, if there is no need, then do not do it. Cuz the chances of learning it wrong and chanting it wrong and for wrong number of times will do more harm.

Let me give you an analogy which we are all very familiar with to understand the above line.

When do we go to a doctor? When we are ill or feeling sick or something apparently has gone wrong with our body. Similarly, there is no need to chant these Mantras unnecessarily. It’s not a trophy to show to your friends when your kid chants any of the mantras wrongly.

Second when we do fall ill or sick. The doctors give us a prescription of what all drugs to be taken at what interval and for how many days. Don’t we all follow it religiously? Do we ever keep on taking any medicine even after the doctors’ prescribed number of doses is over? Similarly, each mantra has a number of times that it is supposed to be chanted, not less and not more. But how many of us really are aware of which mantra to be chanted how many times? So stop chanting any mantra if you have not got the complete knowledge about it. Especially stop your child from learning it wrong.

What is a Mantra supposed to do?

• Heals your body. (Cure diseases internal and external to your body.)
• Calms your mind. (Helps to attain the inner silence, Stabilizes thoughts, Purifies your thought process, Controls angers, aggression, frustrations, reduce stress and focus on inner self.)
• Transforms your internal body functions. (Normalize the hormones, relax nerves, free the circulatory system, purify respiratory system, improve the digestive system, clear the excretory, activate the reproductive system and the relax muscles.)

So what a mantra cannot do?

• You cannot change physical condition of your body. You cannot grow new leg or arms or an ear by chanting mantra.
• You cannot change someone else’s body parts. Either out of your desire to help or to destroy.

If you are able to do the above two actions, you are either God or a Doctor. If you are a GOD, then you know what you are doing, but if you are a doctor, you will know what you have done, soon.

How does a Mantra cure any of the internal mind or body problems?

Yes that’s something I was very keen to learn and have been learning with no end to it. For this I will use as simple language as possible and try to use tall the sciences in context to our physical and mental form, called human body. This may sound childish but trust me we are all in need of explanations that have to be at the level of kids' understanding; to know about Mantras at its best.

Everyone tells you which Mantra you must chant. What it will do to you? But no one will tell you how these mantras work.

Well it’s not some magic that may be black or white. It’s again pure science. If you have the understanding of the cosmic science, you will appreciate Mantras most.

It has been scientifically seen through EEG (Electro Encephalo Graph) which reads the waves produced by the brain and captured using the EEG machine which plots a graph on EEG sheet. EEG is different from ECG which is meant to capture the waves produced by your heart, hence C = Cardio and E = Encephalo = Brain.

Scientists have seen how the waves change when someone is chanting Gayatri Mantra or Omkar repeatedly.

Chanting of mantras makes the brain produce Alpha waves. When brain waves are of Alpha type, the brain is calm, stress free and relaxed. Also one is not sleeping but very much awake in this state. This is what we all wish for, isn't it?

Since I have no knowledge about it, I will not harp on it any longer than this. But do check this unique game of who is producing more Alpha waves.

The body cells vibrate and slowly resonate when we chant a Mantra correctly. This vibration to resonance is what causes all healing, calming and transforming within our bodies.

How?

When mantras are chanted, the sound vibrations bring all cells of all systems within the body in unison. The brain tries to work to make sure all hormones and all functioning of various body organs are right. It’s something like the electric shock given to the heart when it fails during cardiac arrest. The Mantra is definitely not any shock, but it brings all organs to work in the best possible way they ought to be. I have no knowledge in this subject hence cannot tell you more. But I do recollect an image where pieces of picture puzzle were placed on a tray and left on slow vibrating table. After an hour the pieces made the perfect picture!

There are other factors also which are important in making a Mantra do its work. They are the intention of the chanter, the color of the focus object, the pitch of the voice, the posture and finally the place. I do not have many details about these.

Why should a mantra be chanted for 108 times?

It’s the calculated prescribed dosage which gives best results to general population. Lets again make an analogy to the doctors’ prescription. To reduce very high fever, 5ml of Ibugesic after every 6 hours is great but more frequent than this will be poisonous to the body and less frequent than that is ineffective. Now this dose was for a kid, but for adult the dose will be more, say 10-15ml depending of the body size. Similarly, I think, the Mantras have a general dosage but must be tuned to the requirement of the individuals. But I really have no answer to it. So sticking to general as of now, this is 108 times. You can do multiples of 108 to get faster results. See how Maths works here too!

So What Mantras are meant for what?

There are two types of mantras:

• The safe mantras are the Pauranic mantras, like, Om Namah Shivaya, Omkar, Guru Shloka,  Om Namo Narayana, Gansesh Stuti, Krishna Shloka, hare rama hare Krishna, Om Jai Jagadish Hare. These are what kids may learn with fun and action. They do have a long term effect if meaning of each word is explained to the kids. These have less to do with sound vibrations or resonance. They do not affect the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system. Hence you can teach these mantras and shlokas to the kids.

• The Tantric mantras. These should definitely be avoided if there is no need. Children especially should be not allowed till they are big enough to pronounce each word clearly. Children when can understand and explain the meaning of each word, its effect and it usage, only then should be taught. The Tantric mantras are the Gayatri Mantra and Mahamritunjay Mantra.These are very specific and focused mantras and must be learnt from a learned guru or person. These mantras have several restrictions too which only a Guru will tell you about. These are difficult to learn, pronounce but give very fast results as they are very potent. Hence if not chanted keeping in mind all the restrictions, these may have some unwanted side effects too.

• The most universal and closest to all beings is Omkar mantra. It’s a nirguna or formless mantra with no god goddess or any other deity associated with it. This mantra represents the connectivity with the universe. The sound of “O” should come from the stomach to the chest and then move up to the head when you chant “M”. This mantra will give you instant peace and calm you down. Try doing it whenever you are stressed.

• SoHam is another nirguna and harmless yet useful mantra. It teaches the correct way of breathing, which in itself can cure many a disease in your body. “So” is the sound which is made when you inhale. “Hum” is the sound that is made when you exhale.

• Another safe  Mantra is Om Namah Shivaya. “na, ma, Shi, va, ya” are the five sounds which represent the five elements “water, earth, fire, air, space”. All these five sounds also activate five different chakras in our bodies from Mooldhara to Visuddhi. The sixth Ajna chakra is activated by “OM”.

In short, Gayatri Mantra helps in acquiring the basic instinct of survival.

Parents do not make your kids chant it or repeat it unnecessarily.

• With the help of these Tantric mantras, the saints, babas and sadhus have been lived disease free for long years living more than hundred years.

Coming back to us, I would not advice any one to try curing their diseases with these Mantras alone. May be you can first look out for a really learned, honest, godly and humble Guru to learn these mantras in the right way and then only chant them. But DONOT MAKE YOUR CHILDREN CHANT THESE MANTRAS AT ALL UNLESS THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH.

Like I have always been repeatedly saying that our ancestors were far more knowledgeable than us, but goofed up royally when they decided not to document any of their research, data and left us with only the results. Over the period of the time, many Madhuries, Rajnikants and Suryakants have tried to crack this mystery with their limited and negligible abilities. And the result is we have lost the powerful research data, research process and all the how’s and why’s.  

Then there were those greedy, short term opportunists who made quick bucks by making fool of gullible people who were in deep troubles. After wasting money, now these poor fools lost respect in anything close to Mantras. So they started spreading their experience to people like them; which is a big mass. So those who did actually go to the knowledgeable guys for Mantras, too now feel shy and awkward to share their valuable and positive experience as they fear being ostracized. So only a handful courageous and passionate people can actually try very hard to uplift the science behind Mantras.