Mantras

It's all done with words!

In traditional Hindu teachings mantras are used to invoke and bring about spiritual transformation. A mantra according to Hinduism is “a mystical formula of invocation or incantation.” The Hindu word mantra means “sacred Counsel” and comes from the word manyate which means “he thinks.”  We, in the Western world, have adopted the word to mean “a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs.” For example, I read the statement the other day, “This businessman’s mantra is, ‘Bigger is better’.”

Whether we recognize it or not we all have mantras or habitual ways of thinking that guide our actions. That’s why it is powerful to analyze our actions and determine if those habitual ways of thinking are bringing us closer to God or keeping us from Him. It is also powerful to put our healthy ways of thinking into sentences or mantras that we can repeat over and over to ourselves to solidify and help us remember what we really want to be and do.

As I’ve so often said here, words have power, especially the words we repeat and use to guide our lives.  By selecting and often repeating to yourself a simple mantra such as,

“I behave in any situation like a child of God”  

you help yourself stay on the straight and narrow path that will take you back to Him.