crm@rti-sel.UUCP (01/10/84)
About mantra There may be on;y 16 mantra issued by TM, I don't know ... however, none of those mentioned correspond to the one I heard from a freind who had done TM some time ago. Several are close. In any case, it isn't important. The mantra I use when doing chanting are: namu Amida butsu namu myoho renge kyo gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi swaha! (... the ! is important. It just don't ring true without the extra zap at the end) Aum (repeated very very fast!) Aum mani padme hum I have also had good success with "Coca Cola" and "one". Don't get hung up in the WORDS! They are NOT the meditation. (( --- special note to Jon White If your gonna get into "TM is useless" like you got into "Mormonism is foolish", please move it to .flame early, OK? Seemed like I spent days n-ing mormonism articles... Thanks, Charlie Martin ))
tim@unc.UUCP (Tim Maroney) (01/11/84)
Crowley's BOOK FOUR has a chapter entitled "Pranayama and Its Parallel in Speech, Mantrayoga". It is reproduced in part below, without the footnotes, boldface, musical notation, or accent marks (and with thanks to Pam for helping me type this): "The ultimate idea of meditation being to still the mind, it may be considered a useful preliminary to still consciousness of all the functions of the body. This has been dealt with in the chapter on Asana. One may, however, mention that some Yogis carry it to the point of trying to stop the beating of the heart. Whether this be desirable or no it would be useless to the beginner, so he should endeavour to make the breathing very slow and very regular. The rules for this parctice are given in Liber CCVI. The best way to time the breathing, once some little skill has been acquired, with a watch to bear witness, is by the use of a mantra. The mantra acts on the thoughts very much as Pranayama does upon the breath. The thought is bound down to a recurring cycle; any intruding thoughts are thrown off by the mantra, just as pieces of putty would be from a fly-wheel; and the swifter the wheel the more difficult would it be for anything to stick. This is the proper way to practise a mantra. Utter it as loudly and slowly as possible ten times, then not quiet so loudly and a very little faster ten times more. Continue this process until there is nothing but a rapid movement of the lips; this movement should be continued with increased velocity and diminishing intensity until the mental muttering completely absorbs the physical. The student is by this time absolutely still, with the mantra racing in his brain; he should, however, continue to speed it up until he reaches his limit, at which he should continue for as long as possible, and then cease the practice by reversing the process above described. Any sentence may be used as a mantra, and possibly the Hindus are correct in thinking that there is a particular sentence best suited to any particular man. Some men might find the liquid mantras of the Quran slide too easily, so that it would be possible to continue another train of thought without disturbing the mantra; one is supposed while saying the mantra to meditate upon its meaning. This suggests that the student might construct for himself a mantra which should represent the Universe in sound, as the pantacle should do in form. Occasionally a mantra may be 'given,' i.e., heard in some unexplained manner during a meditation. One man, for example, used the words: 'And strive to see in everything the will of God;' to another, while engaged in killing thoughts, came the words 'and push it down,' apparently referring to the action of the inhibitory centres which he was using. By keeping on with this he got his 'result.' The ideal mantra should be rhythmical, one might even say musical; but there should be sufficient emphasis on some syllable to assist the faculty of attention. The best mantras are of medium length, so far as the beginner is concerned. If the mantra is too long, one is apt to forget, unless one practises very hard for a great length of time. On the other hand, mantras of a single syllable, such as Aum, are rather jerky; the rhythmical idea is lost. Here are a few useful mantras: 1. Aum. 2. Aum Tat Sat Aum. This mantra is purely spondaic. 3. Aum mani padme hum; two trochees between two caesuras. 4. Aum shivaya vashi; three trochees. Note that 'shi' means rest, the absolute or male aspect of the Deity; 'va' is energy, the manifested or female side of the Deity. This Mantra therefore expresses the whole course of the Universe, from Zero through the finite back to Zero. 5. Allah. The syllables of this one are accented equally, with a certain pause between them; and are usually combined by fakirs with a rhythmical motion of the body to and fro. 6. Hua allahu alazi lailaha illa Hua. Here are some longer ones: 7. The famous Gayatri. Aum! tat savitur varenyam Bhargo devasya dimahi Dhiyo yo na pratyodayat. Scan this as trochaic tetrameters. 8. Qol: Hua Allahu achad; Allahu Assamad; lam yalid walam yulad; walam yakun lahu kufwan achad. 9. This mantra is the holiest of all that are or can be. It is from the Stele of Revealing. A ka dua Tuf ur biu Bi aa chefu Dudu ner af an nuteru. There are many other mantras. Sri Sabapaty Swami gives a particular one for each of the Cakkras. But let the student study one mantra and master it thoroughly." The study of BOOK FOUR is recommended to every serious student of mysticism and Magick. The first two parts are available from Samuel Weiser, Inc. under the misleading title "Book Four" (misleading because this volume is incomplete); the third part has been published under the title "Magick in Theory and Practice", and can be gotten from Dover Books. The fourth part is not known to me. -- Tim Maroney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill duke!unc!tim (USENET), tim.unc@csnet-relay (ARPA)
smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steven Bellovin) (01/11/84)
It should be noted that meditation can be useful as a technique without any attention to any religious or mystical aspects. Many psychologists feel that it (and yoga) are quite effective stress reduction mechanisms; the idea is to *somehow* slow down your "involuntary" processes, like breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, etc. There are other techniques as well, of course, but one doesn't have to believe in the religious aspects of mantras or meditation to use them as techniques.
jonw@azure.UUCP (Jonathan White) (01/11/84)
Just for the record, I am not trying to convey the impression that "TM is
useless." I personally know people who have benefitted from meditating
(but without shelling out bucks for a TM course). My purpose in posting the
article was to verify a published claim.
(( --- special note to Charlie Martin et al
Thanks for your input, even though I specifically requested that
responses be mailed. I hope that I have allayed your fears about
an impending "TM is useless" campaign. However, your poor little
overworked `n` key may still get some use in coming weeks. I trust
that you and the other self-appointed guardians of the net will realize
that articles on Mormonism are of general interest and belong nowhere
else than net.religion. If you disagree, you (or anyone else) are
free to MAIL their arguments to me.
Jon White
[decvax|ucbvax]!tektronix!tekmdp!azure!jonw