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Re: Power of the Mantra
In article <ghenDsvMDJ.3Fw@netcom.com> anandk@ksc.net.th (Anand) writes:
> : > Come on if there was really somuch power within these mantras, then
> : > surely we would have been in a far better state then we are in today.
> : > After all there must be millions of people who over the ages have been
> : > following the rules for reciting them - what good has it done to the
> : > society - one word comes to mind - never mind!
>
>Do mantras have "magical" powers ? I have never witnessed any such
>power. But one should not confuse the emphasis that the sages placed
How long have you practised ?
Secondly i will like to know what you mean by "magical powers " ? What
are your excpectations ?
Within the context of what I have written, I was very careful to put
"magical" quotes. Magical is indeed a relative term and I haven't
seen any "magical" effects, meaning effects which seem fantastic to MY
understanding, from mantras.
As you yourself have elaborated below , different sounds have different
qualities and capabilities like calming down the mind or making it
perturbed etc etc . So let me put it this way , if anyone chants a
mantra due to which he/ she feels calm and relaxed the effect can be
compared with going to the counselor and speaking your mid out at the
end of which you feel calm and relaxed. But in the former case you have
saved some $ 100. So will I be stretching the truth very far if Iay that
the mantra has saved you $ 100 or to say that the mantra created $ 100
for you . If so will you not call it magical ? Themantra has created $
100 from nowhere!!!
I am just using it for argument sake .
>on proper pronunciation and phonetics with magical power. Even today
>scientists study the effects of sound, yes in language even, on the
>mind. It turns out that when human beings speak or emit certain tones
>or sounds, it affects the temperature of the brain. Lower brain
>temperature tends to be more conducive to learning. There was
>actually an article on it in the New York Times of last Tuesday I
>think. Certain facial muscles when contracted tend to lower the brain
>temperature.
>
>So the short of it is that the theory of sound or phonetics having
>some subtle influence on man may not be as ridiculous as people think.
>But then there are those who immediately jump the gun and insist that
>it can bring world peace, cause destruction etc. And they are
>generally the ones who are the least informed on the subject.
The question needs to be asked is " How ? " , and not the statement "No
it cannot be ."
And all I'm saying is that being open to a possibility is different
from being committed to it. Several effects of phonetics may indeed
be unknown, without support of empirical evidence, but as long as they
remain so, you cannot require others to accept your hypothesis. Even
hypothesis formulation relies on some understanding, if the
possibility is not even supported by any remote context, then it
becomes a matter of imagination. It could still happen, but you don't
expect others to believe it.
> I think ancient india went to the extreme of
> being highly religious, we had a lot of sages
> who spent their time on their salvation alone,
> we sacrificed the social uplifting of millions for the
> salvation of a few. A balance of the two should have been
> the right approach. As Vivekananda points out in one of
