What is a mantram and do I need one?
If you find that focusing on the breath is still allowing thoughts to come into your mind you may want to use a mantram. Said silently to yourself, a mantram is a sound, a word or a phrase that you repeat over and over to give your mind something to focus on. In transcendental meditation the sound, “Om” is often used. In passage meditation, such as taught by the well-known Indian meditation teacher / guru Eknath Easwaran, a spiritual passage is repeated over and over. Some mediators simply use the words “Divine Love.” Still others, such as myself, use the phrase, “Thy will, not mine, be done”. This phrase is a surrender phrase that allows one’s own ego-bound will to be displaced by a higher egoless Divine will. Search your heart for the right mantram for yourself. You will know it is the right one when you find your attention being absorbed into it. If this doesn’t happen for you then commune with nature and study spiritual writings. Go on a vision quest until something you experience
