The mantra – 27 September 2013

Having and using a mantra in prayer probably strikes most church people as very strange indeed.  We have never heard our parish ministers use that word, at least approvingly.  It sounds very “eastern”.  It evokes pictures of Tibetan lamas mindlessly droning guttural sounds – or spinning prayer wheels which mechanically say their prayers for them.

But we do teach the use of a mantra in Christian Meditation.  We point out that there is nothing new about this.  The Desert Fathers and Mothers prayed this way.  John Cassian, who taught St Benedict, taught him the use of a mantra.  The writer of the well-known Cloud of Unknowing very specifically advocates praying what he calls a word, a mantra.  Having said that, we also point out that it’s not in any sense a rule or a requirement or a prescription.  True contemplative prayer happens also without a mantra – and indeed Fr Thomas Keating and the followers of what is called Centering Prayer teach that the mantra may eventually disappear into the silence of simply being present to God as God is present to us.  Here are some notes I wrote for a seminar a few months ago: 

Meditators find it important to understand the reason and the way we use the mantra.  We choose our own mantra.  It can be a word, probably a biblical word, or a simple rhythmical phrase.  We have a saying that you change your mantra only once.  That is to say, if you feel you want to change it at all.  Then it is wedded to you. 

Over the days and months and years of contemplative life and prayer it becomes something vital in your life.  We don’t discuss our mantra with others, let alone swap, compare or recommend mantras.  I can tell you that many meditators settle on the biblical word Maranatha. because it is a biblical word, it is Aramaic which is the language Jesus spoke, it means Come, Lord – and it is rhythmical, it can be said in four syllables: Ma-ra-na-tha.  But also, plenty of meditators use some other word or phrase.

In the stillness and silence we gently, inwardly, recite our mantra from the beginning to the end of the time.  Some do this in tune with their breathing, some not.  And that is all we do.  When we realize we have been distracted away from the mantra, we simply and gently return to it.  This returning is very important, as we come to understand.  We return to the mantra gently and without any sense of failure or guilt. 

We do not think about the meaning of our word or phrase.  It may have a very spiritual and uplifting connotation, it may evoke all sorts of memories and associations for us, but that is not the point right now.  All we have to do is gently, interiorly, recite it.  Eventually we find it is coming not so much from our wills and minds as from our hearts.  And then one day we may find it is not so much that we are reciting it, as that we are listening to it coming to us from some very deep place.