Chanting is often regarded as the first step to meditation, and it belongs to the family of yoga. Its simple, and yet a powerful way to unify your mind & body. In many philosophical books, chanting is defined as “the harmonious vocalization of key words, names and phrases that are used in ritual to attune oneself, raise energy and become centered.”

In my previous post, I mentioned that experiencing the transcendental consciousness is required to overcome fear, and lead a successful life. Chanting is one of the ways you can achieve that state. Research works has proved that chanting brings good health, stabilize heart rate, reduce blood pressure, improve circulation, produce endorphins and aid the process of metabolism.

Chanting aids meditation by letting you focus on a single verse (mantra), and repeating it over and over again. Slowly, the rhythm relaxes your mind by getting rid of cluttered thoughts, and prepares you to experience oneness.

Its very important in today’s world to get relieved from stress and a busy schedule. Chanting can help us find peace and harmony, make us think better, and as a result we make better decisions. Chanting mantras are specific sounds that cause vibration, and has a positive effect on our body. Check out the earlier article to learn more about the the science behind sound.

A word of caution… Chanting should be done with proper pronunciation at specified times with alertness. Here is an excellent article to get you started on chanting.

I found an excellent article that explains and proves why Sanskrit is considered to be a divine language. The author starts by describing the qualities required for a language to be treated as sacred, and then dwells into the glorifying details of Sanskrit.

Here are some excerpts from it…

The motivation for learning Sanskrit is the enchantment, inspiration, peace and deep sense of spiritual connection felt when listening to it. Or it may have been a pure childlike enjoyment in duplicating those sounds.

Sanskrit is an enjoyable experience at all stages. Working with Sanskrit increases and develops energy and clarity of mind. There are seemingly an infinite variety of euphonic sound combinations and rhythmic patterns to be enjoyed. Experiencing them expands the capacity of the mind to operate as the cosmic computer it is designed to be.

Learning Sanskrit is an opportunity to know directly for ourselves what the rishis discovered long ago. Most important, when approached as a sacred language, it makes us happy.

It seems that on some level, perhaps unconsciously, a person who has decided to learn Sanskrit, has decided in some way to use this sacred language for that which it was designed — to be free.

I use language to direct my attention to a full appreciation of the beautiful sounds of the Sanskrit language, their harmonies and their organization, as well as the truths expressed through the language.

The words of Sanskrit, through their sound vibration are like waves of pure energy, which we enjoy as if watching a performance taking place inside us — while their meanings describe our own fathomless perfection, as the seer of all, ancient, eternal.

By studying this sacred language only, the soul of India can be understood and a good example among foreigners, we can say, is Max Muller a German Scholar.

All of us would take credit when a thought or an idea pops up in our mind, thinking that its our intelligence only. But one doesn’t know how the thought has come, and where is the origin of the thought?

Every sound (mantra) that is spell loud would bring about a shake, or vibrate a micro (sukshma) atom in the space. This vibration of the sukshma atom, would bring about an alertness in the mind level of the people with the same frequency. We shall study up on it deeply…

A group of such micro-vibrated atoms gathered in the space would touch the vignyanamaya kosa (Intellectual sheet) of the relevant person and would come out as thoughts in the mind. These thoughts would come out as a speech or action.

Well, this is the science behind a thought or an idea!! Amazing isn’t it?

By Veena

Vedas are considered as an ocean of knowledge. In relation with every person’s physical and philosophical views, the Vedas contain the truth to peace, health and salvation.

Every bit of Vedas is very important… each stanza, each line, each word has a significant meaning to it. For the language also supports its purpose. It is said that Sanskrit is the only nearest language which could be used to explain or describe anything clearly and specifically.

The power of Sound
The sound is different and special from all other tatvas(form). Therefore, this sound becomes the source of all mantras (prayers). On recognizing the power of the sound and its significance, the Vedas were taught with Sound as a key factor. There is a specific vibration to sound and it has been proven that sound can easily change the mental state of a person. Thus a sound can itself rise the level of Consciousness.

Science behind Sound
There is anomalous power in sound. When we spell the Vedas, the sound produced in the form of sound waves makes a rotation. These wave rotations become synchronous with those produced by the rotation of the earth. When this merging happens, anomalous energy gets produced. Therefore by chanting the Veda mantras by the guidance from a proper GURU, we can experience that anomalous energy.

By Veena

I came across an article in Wikipedia titled “Contribution of Vedic Civilization“. It explains to us some of the ancient Indian Vedic knowledge, and how it relates to the modern world. One of the impressive topics in this article is the research/experiment “Scientific research on Reading the Vedic literature at MUM” conducted by Travis F.T., Olsen T., Egenes T., & Gupta H.K. This research proved that reading Sanskrit does more good to human health than many other modern languages. Here is an excerpt…

Scientific research on reading the Vedic literature at MUM

Travis, F.T., Olsen, T., Egenes, T., & Gupta, H.K. (2001).

Physiological patterns during practice of the Transcendental Meditation Technique compared with patterns while reading Sanskrit and a modern language.

International Journal of Neuroscience, 109, 71-80.

This study tested the prediction that reading Vedic Sanskrit texts, without knowledge of their meaning, produces a distinct physiological state. We measured EEG, breath rate, heart rate, and skin conductance during:
(1) 15-min Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice;
(2) 15-min reading verses of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit; and
(3) 15-min reading the same verses translated in German, Spanish, or French.

The two reading conditions were randomly counterbalanced, and subjects filled out experience forms between each block to reduce carryover effects. Skin conductance levels significantly decreased during both reading Sanskrit and TM practice, and increased slightly during reading a modern language. Alpha power and coherence were significantly higher when reading Sanskrit and during TM practice, compared to reading modern languages. Similar physiological patterns when reading Sanskrit and during practice of the TM technique suggests that the state gained during TM practice may be integrated with active mental processes by reading Sanskrit.

There are 50 letters in this language which was taken from the Vedas. ‘GNYA’ letter would make it 51. In general, people would call it as ‘MATRUKA’- (meaning: VISWAMALA.). Therefore it is said that the shadows of the Parashakthi (Supreme Power) are these 51 letters.

If the whole creation is created by the Supreme Power, and if the sound is the source of the creation, then these 51 letters represent their roopas (forms).

Siksha shastram tells that these 51 letters represent the body parts of that supreme power (ParaShakti). It briefs us about which letter corresponds to which part of the body. When observed deeply, one could find that there are 51 important Sathya temples corresponding to those 51 Sanskrit letters in our country (India). This is the opinion of the Kanchi Acharya Swamy (before).

By Veena