The ancient Indian sources — the Upanishads — say that repeating mantras is a path to perfection.

The word "mantra" comes to us from the Upanishads, an ancient Indian treatise that supplements the Vedas. The Upanishads belong to the secret sacred scriptures, and their main purpose is the removal of ignorance.

Indian philosophy holds that the sacred syllable OM is the greatest and most powerful of all mantras. According to the teaching of yoga, every mantra holds a hidden power concealed in its so-called bija, or seed; through repeated recitation of the mantra, this hidden power is drawn out and becomes active.

What Is a Mantra

The word "mantra" translates as "incantation" — a magic utterance. Etymologically it means: man — through thought, tra — protection. It is a spiritual formula that guards against "evil forces" and leads toward spiritual perfection.

A mantra draws our attention away from everything rational, emotional and physical — away from anything that could pull consciousness from the supersensory level of perception. Repeating the mantra OM removes every obstacle on the spiritual path. The mind grows calm and at peace; stillness of spirit arrives, and harmony arises in the soul.

Repeating a mantra is a mental fixing of attention on particular sound vibrations that carry their own meaning. When the syllable is pronounced as A-U-M, the sounds A and U are barely heard on their own — mostly what is heard is a humming Mmm…

The vibrations of the mantra excite, through the head centers — the pituitary and pineal glands — the other centers, the chakras, whose physical roots correspond to the glands of the endocrine system. Repeating the humming sound (M) again and again leads to the awakening of the "third eye" (the ajna chakra). Yogis hold that 12,000,000 repetitions of the mantra OM bring spiritual perfection — enlightenment.