Effects of chanting Mantras and Slokas

What are the effects of chanting Manthras and Slokas – Ms. Prema Ranjit (Samspra Academy Teacher)

Manthra – Word Man meaning Mind and Thra means to protect in Sanskrit. Mananat thrayathi iti manthra – That which protects the mind.

Manthra is a powerful instrument of mind, it is the repetitive utterance of a powerful word or set of words used during meditation. Eg. Om Namo Narayanaya, Hare Krishna Hare Rama, Om Namah Shivaya.

Sloka – A unit of Sanskrit words each line containing 16 syllables. It is a poetic form in Sanskrit. eg. Shuklam baradharam.

Manthras and slokas give unique power through its correct pronunciation.

Benefits of chanting

• It creates positive vibrations and removes negative energy in the environment when chanted in groups.

• It helps to promote feelings of wellness, happiness, and peace.

• It calms the mind and promotes clarity of thought, builds confidence and removes stress.

• Chanting promotes love, empathy, compassion and forgiveness.

• It is an important tool to bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior.

• It improves concentration and memory power.

• The vibrations during chanting of manthras cure certain ailments like the sound mmm for Sinusitis and Eee for the eyes.

• It removes stress, anger, fear etc in humans and also proven to promote calmness in animals and promotes growth in plants.

There is scientific evidence on the effect of positive and negative sound on the structure of water molecules, plants, crops, human brain and animals.

Studies in humans have shown a decrease in Blood Pressure, increase alpha wave production which improves sleep and better health. A stress free mind can keep the body healthy. MRI scans of the human brain in groups who grew up chanting and reciting mathras from a young age showed that the grey matter is significantly higher and the cortex was thicker , the hippocampus regions were much more pronounced, which means that their short term memory, their long term memory, their decision making ability, and their emotional intelligence all were much higher.

Even if you listen to the chants without understanding the meaning, it still has an impact on the system. It was found that the energy centers we call Chakras in yoga, the temperature of the energy centers increased. There is a direct relationship between how energy was transferred through chants into the body. When you are not feeling good, just chanting for a few minutes will lift your lift force or prana shakthi. When your prana shakthi is high we feel energized, happy, positive and full of life. We take everything as a challenge and not as a problem. We feel generous, feel like helping others and being kind and loving. And if we chant with the awareness of the body and mind and with reverence, and combine it with Pranayama and meditation , the effect multiplies.

The positive effects and many many more. So keep chanting.

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FYI – no need to say this.

The scientist, Dr.Hans Jenny in 1960 did experiments on the impact of sounds on various objects like water, various liquids and even plastic. A Japanese author, Masaru Emoto, did experiments on the effects of sound on the structure of water molecules. How positive and negative sounds impact the structure of the water molecules. He found that the positive sounds created beautiful crystals while the negative sounds had the opposite effect. Our body is 70% water so we can imagine how much our body is affected by the sound vibrations around us. Manthras are energy based sounds and produce positive vibrations in us and increase our prana shakthi or life force energy.

Manthras are written in Sanskrit which is a very scientific language. A very interesting research done by China Agricultural University and they found the effect of Manthras on crops. They did a controlled study with crops raised while having Manthras chanted near them and another without. They found that the crops that had the manthra vibrations had better yield, bigger seed size , reduced pests. They tested with different types of music and manthras. The crops with the Manthra vibrations specifically had 15% more yield.