Meditation Mantram
I read an interesting piece in one of my books today. The book is called “Meditation: An Eight Point Guide†by Eknath Easwaran.
There was similarity drawn between the human mind and the truck of an elephant. The point was that just like the ceaseless movement of an elephant trunk, so too does the mind always try to wander during meditation and daily life.
Here is the important part. If you want the elephant’s trunk to stop moving, you have to give it something to hold onto. It’s the same thing for the mind during meditation and everyday activities. The thing that some gurus suggest is something called the Mantram.
The word Mantram is nowadays seen more frequently as the word mantra. Many religious traditions have used the mantra for hundreds of years. By repeating the mantra the mind is fixed on one idea and does not wander. Thai is the goal anyway!
Just as the ceaseless repetition of a modern marketing campaign can stick jingle in your head, a Mantram can replace negative or non productive thoughts with something more useful. For example, instead of “double your pleasure, double your fun, go chew a stick of gumâ€, you could repeat, “Where there is sadness, I sow joyâ€. Then again you could just go chew some gum, it’s all about choices I guess.
“Om mani padme hum†is a very common Mantram. I love the idea behind this Buddhist phrase. “The jewel in the lotus of the heartâ€. The reason I love this mantra is because of the story behind how the lotus flower grows.
The life of the lotus flower starts in the muck and sludge on the bottom of a pond. Once the lotus flower decides it would like to grow to more, it shoots upward out of th muck towards the light.
Once out of the muck, the lotus heads upward through the water until it breaks through the surface. On the surface with the bright sun shinning on it, the lotus flower finally blooms and opens its delicate petals to catch every ray.
OM MANI PADME HUMÂ
