MAntras

[Guest guest]

> Just like we have mantras I was juat wondering if other religions also

> have some mantras which they chant if anyone knows about any could they

> please send them to .

 

 

I just returned from a pilgrimage to the holy mount Athos in Greece. It is

considered the spiritual center of the orthodox tradition. It is a shelter

for all sincere persons searching for god.

Athos is a independent state. Only monks live there. Still nowadays there

are many thousands of monks and they do not let everyone enter. Specially if

one is a non-orthodox like me, you need a special visa of which they give

only four per day.

 

meat is not allowed. There is also no cars, no electricy, no telephone, no

restaurants, no buildings other then monastries, and -which makes it very

special- no women and children. Since 1200 years it is forbidden for them to

go to enter (since 1000 years also no female animals-maybe they have read

the story of Saubhari Muni?- that means also no milk and eggs)

 

The get up at 11 pm and chant japa for 3 hours in a complete dark room.

There "mantra" is the traditional christian heart prayer "kyrie jesu christo

eleison me" (Jesus christ, son of god, have compassion on me)

They chant this with the kombustini, a string with 100 knots resembling very

much our mala.

Many saints (Christosomos, Antonius, Johannes from Klimakos, but also in

recent days Starez Siluan and Theophan) have developed a real science of

chanting these names.

"In the bible it is mentioned "you should pray without interruption". This

means 24 hours a day. It is not just a part of life it must become our life.

That is why they chant it many thousands of times every day.

Prayer should not be a search for words. After some time I would not know

anymore what else to pray. That is why one repeats the same prayer, and at

the same time surrender ones whole life to him. I give it over.

In the beginning it may even be mechanical. After some time my prayer enters

the mind and goes on, even in my dreams. From there we should deepen it,

chant with emotion and as a gift for him. Here I already get a sublime

taste.

But the real heart prayer is a gift from god. It is not something we produce

with our tongue. Only at that moment these words get divine potency. .....

 

Because the monks of Athos preached the idea that the name is actually god

(or it can become him if prayed in a devotional mood) it got as a big

despute before the patriarch (highest othority in orthodox tradition) of

Constantinopel (in the beginning of this century) and it was solved by

military intervention: Many hundreds of monks were brought to Russia and

"distributed" in many monastries.

 

 

 

Then from 2 am till 6 am they have mangala arati, singing and praying in the

kattholikon, the orthodox church.

When one asks the monks what they are doing they reply: only praying and

dying. Nothing else. They fast 260 days a year and sleep very less.

And whatever they do, cooking, walking, eating, sleeping they are advised to

chant kyrie jesu christo eleison me...

 

It was the first time for me outside a vedic context where I could really

say that they practise really spiritual life and not just a form of material

piety.