What is Mantra?

Mantra is a word or a group of words, such as "Hreem" or "Aum Namo

Bhagavatey Vaasudevaaya". They are very powerful sounds which when
pronounced repeatedly (doing Jap or Jaap) create great effects. Mantras
are not devised by sages or gods but were revealed by gods. Ajapaa (A +
Japaa = No + Chant) is the primal Mantra. This chantless Mantra pervades
the breath going in and out, the subtle sound Sah going in and the subtle
sound ham going out. (Sa = Shiv, Vishnu, Lakshmee, or Gauree [Paarvatee
or Shakti]; Ham = I am; so = Parvati). As one chants this subtle-sound
Mantra soham, a derivative of sah-ham, Hamsa comes into being by
inversion. Soham, Hamsa and Aum (Pranav) all are equipotent. Hamsah is
the union of the male and the female and the universe is Hansah. The
Triangular Kaam Kalaa is thus formed by Hansah; Hansah Peeth is
composed of Mantra. Kaam is desire and Creative Will and unitary ShivShakti, and Kalaa is their manifestation. Shiv and Shakti are known as
Kaameshwar and Kaameshwaree. Shakti (Kalaa) is the manifestation of
Kaam (desire), which is Ichchhaa Shakti. Shiv is Seed and Shakti is
Sprout.
Mantra are double-edged swords; they can be used only for the good and
never for harming anyone. If Mantra are used for evil purposes, it is like
digging a grave for someone else but falling and getting interred in it. A
Mantra is sound and or silent energy which has transformational power on
the person who utters it. By Mantra a Devtaa is invoked. Chanting of
Mantra is like shaking a sleeping person to wake up from sleep. The moving
lips are Shiv and Shakti; their movement is Maithun (union). Their Shabd
or sound is the name, their Arth (meaning) is Devtaa whose name it is. The
Devtaa that appears before him, is his or her manifestation, which is
actually a roused, altered or higher consciousness of the Saadhak
(aspirant), which can perceive the Arth or the object that is invoked by
Mantra. Shabd is cognitive sound, while Arth is the object it denotes and
the thought it provokes. Thus the whole universe is covered by Shabd and
the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, which is the Vaikharee stage in
the evolution of Sound. Mahaakaalee's garland of fifty heads represents

those fifty letters; she absorbs the letters, the Shabd, and the Arth into
herself during Mahaa Pralaya (Great dissolution). That is the naked
fierceness of absorption or dissolution.
(1) Mantra may be used on their own or as a part of visualization practice.
In a typical visualization practice there is a communication from the
practitioner to deity in the form of Mantra; and with deity to the
practitioner in the form of blessings, or rays of light, or even speech.
(2) It can be used as mind protector while walking, doing dishes, or sitting
in meditation. When counting the Mantra, one can use Maalaa (rosary) of
beads (in Hinduism it is of 108 beads). This number has a mystical
significance in ancient India. But the use of Maalaa is not essential if one
does not have to count it. It is only essential when one has to do the Jaap
of some Mantra by counting. Jaap can be done in a loud voice or internally.
(3) Definitions of Mantra are oriented toward either the results of
repeating the Mantra or of the intentions of the original framers and
testers of the Mantra.