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From: abvax!iccgcc.decnet.ab.com!walsha@uunet.UU.NET
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: 2nd post for info on Mantras
Message-ID: <1991Apr12.004547.26045@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 12 Apr 91 00:45:47 GMT
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In article <4212.28032185@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>, fleischer@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes:
> About a month ago, I asked if anyone knew how the TM folk pick their Mantras. 
> My thanks to the handful of people who replied, either by EMAIL or NEWS.  The
> remainder of this posting is a request for details about those replies and a
> second appeal for pointers in the literature regarding Mantra selection (TM or
> others).
> 
> ....[material deleted]
> 
>                                               Rick Fleischer


hi rick,

 i know i'm close enough to shout, but for the sake of the net thread,
i'll post.

maybe it would help to theoretically divide mantras into theistic ones
and non-theistic ones.

theistic ones would include:
    namu Shiva nimaya (that's probably a "sic?")
    Krishna mantras,
    the 99 names of Allah in islamic tradition (where mantras are called 
wazifas, i think).
    ... the name of any deity or phrase containing it. (e.g. La illaha
illa 'llah).

non-theistic one would include
    the syllables or vowels supposed to be effective on certain chakras.
    sanskrit words like "ashanti" (peace).
    the old standby "Om."
    just any sound repeated to center the mind.

it would be interesting if folks had any practical experiance or
experiential preference between these two families would let us know
what they'd found out. or what proved effective for them. and also
what they mean by "effective" - what they were aiming to accomplish
spiritually.

   ando.