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A mantra (Pali: mantra) or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) [1] is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers.
The oral tradition of the Vedas consists of several pathas, "recitations" or ways of chanting the Vedic mantras.Such traditions of Vedic chant are often considered the oldest unbroken oral tradition in existence, the fixation of the Vedic texts as preserved dating to roughly the time of Homer (early Iron Age or 800 BC).
Chant practices vary. In the Theravada tradition, chanting is usually done in Pali, and mainly from Pāli Canon. Tibetan Buddhist chant involves throat singing, where multiple pitches are produced by each performer. The concept of chanting mantras is of particular significance in many Hindu traditions and other closely related Indian religions.
The chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. The Vedas are liturgical texts (mantras and hymns). Stuti is an umbrella term for religious literary creations, but it literally means "praise." The Hindu devotional Bhakti traditions place a focus on repetitive prayer, known as japa.
In his 1963 book The Science of Being and Art of Living, the Maharishi writes that words create waves of vibrations, and the quality of vibration of a mantra should correspond to the vibrational quality of the individual. Likewise, religious studies scholar Thomas Forsthoefel writes, "the theory of mantras is the theory of sound". [45]
Thus the contents of the Samaveda represent a tradition and a creative synthesis of music, sounds, meaning and spirituality, the text was not entirely a sudden inspiration. [3] The portion of the first song of Samaveda illustrates the link and mapping of Rigvedic verses into a melodic chant: [3] The veena (vīṇā) is mentioned in Samaveda. [24]
Hindus chant mantras. [7] Jewish prayer may involve swaying back and forth and bowing. [8] Muslim prayer involves bowing, kneeling and prostration, while some Sufis whirl. [9] Quakers often keep silent. [10] Some pray according to standardized rituals and liturgies, while others prefer extemporaneous prayers; others combine the two.
From the Kundalini Yoga perspective, the sound of a bell energizes chakras and balances the distribution of energy in body. Also, the number of times the bell should be sounded depends on the number of letters in the mantra; accordingly the bell should be sounded 8, 16, 24, or 32 times.