Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Let repetition be a re-petition by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Chanting mantras is a standard religious practice that is based on the philosophical understanding that sacred sound is packed with power. Different mantras are meant for different purposes – for example, some mantras are used during warfare to invoke celestial weapons that unleash fearsome power rarely accessible to terrestrial beings. The most special and potent among all such mantras are those that are made of the names of God because just as God is the supremely potent being, so is his name the supremely potent sound. God being absolute is non-different from his name – so his omnipotence manifests through his name.

In tapping the power of mantras centered on the names of God, the dynamic of loving reciprocation comes into play. These mantras are essentially personal calls to him for petitioning his grace. The highest manifestation of his grace is his love for all of us, because that alone can grant us lasting happiness at the spiritual level, where we as eternal souls can delight eternally.

While the mantras themselves are potent sound vibrations, the extent to which we can access their potency is determined by the receptivity of our hearts. When we strive to keep a devotional disposition while chanting the mantras, that disposition opens our heart to God’s grace. The Bhagavad-gita (09.14) mentions that the devotees chant the names and glories of Krishna constantly – and do this with devotion.

Mantras are often chanted repeatedly to better access their powers, but that repetition needs to be devotional, not mechanical.

Thus the repetition of the mantras is not meant to be a mindless mutterance of some formulaic sound. It is meant to be a re-petition, a reiteration of an earnest request for grace to flood our heart and fill it with spiritual love.