How to pray?🔗

You can connect to the Existential energy in any way, as long as you feel sincere and integrated in your devotion. A very easy, powerful and effective way is through the chanting of mantras or sacred syllables which have a deep meaning linguistically as well as vibrationally. Choose the mantra with which you feel most in tune. If you have a favorite deity, you can choose that name or mantra of that deity. If you have a guru, connecting to the Existential energy becomes effortless, as the guru is the living, moving form of the formless energy. He is your direct connection to the Divine. Whatever the mantra you choose, remember that it is only the means for you to connect. The Divine power is always available. You only have to choose the path that is easiest for you!

The Guru Mantra is ‘Om Hreem Nithyanandaya namaha’. Om is the primordial sound and is the representation of the male energy, Shiva energy. Hreem is the bija mantra (seed sound) which has no linguistic meaning but has a powerful vibration which awakens the feminine energy inside us. Thus the mantra awakens the completeness and fulfillment inside us, a holistic completion of the male and female energies which exist inside every one of us. Nithyananda is invoking the name of the Master – the expression of the ultimate Truth of nithyananda. It is the poorna moola mantra (the complete mantra) because it is the straight path to both Shakti - success in this world, and to Shiva – success in the cosmic world which is enlightenment. Nithyananda also means eternal bliss. You give a clear intention to your being and the universe about your ultimate desire – eternal bliss or enlightenment. Namaha means ‘I don’t exist’. It is the laying down of both ‘I’ and ‘mine’ at the feet of the Divine. This is the beautiful technique of surrender. You surrender your ego to the Master, your self to the Self. The mantra can replace your inner chatter which as of now is mostly unnecessary thoughts which cause confusion and drain your energy. When your very inner chatter gets purified, it will result in a great clarity of thought, an amazing surge of energy in you and an intense enthusiasm and excitement for life.

Akshara Laksham (One Lakh Chants)

Akshara Laksham is the chanting of the Guru Mantra 'Om Hreem Nithyanandaya Namaha' nine lakh times. The Guru Mantra has nine letters (navakshari). So, each syllable is chanted one lakh times.

Actually, thoughts arise from the navel region, the manipuraka chakra. So, when you chant the Guru Mantra, the manipuraka chakra or the source of thoughts and words gets completely cleansed. This automatically leads to the removal of all worries, negative thoughts and emotions. There is a profound increase in clarity of thinking and peace of mind by the chanting of the energized mantra.

Make the whole being as an 'ear' for the mantra. Sit down and observe the whole being listening to the mantra. If you just repeat the mantra mentally, the mind repeats many things. When the whole being is made an ear for the mantra, you can feel the mantra coming from everywhere. This will happen naturally with practice. Then you don't need to put effort to chant the mantra.

Finally even the mantra does not exist. You become the mantra – the essence of the mantra just becomes you. The mantra exists as an experience that just fills your whole being and it is no longer separate from you.

The very vibration of the mantra changes the vibration and frequency of the being. The increase in intelligence also results in the increase in the power of cognition.

Anything that you repeat continuously becomes a part of your very being. When you constantly chant the Guru Mantra, your very inner chatter gets replaced with the powerful mantra. So, instead of the unnecessary, random, meaningless thoughts that constantly arise in our inner space, the mantra repeats itself and purifies and energizes your inner space. The energy behind the action of speech, the vak, gets completely purified.

When you repeat the mantra, be aware of the mantra itself and the gap between two chants. The awareness is very important in this technique. When you chant repeatedly like upto nine lakh times in akshara laksham, naturally, the amount of time you are aware per day increases. So, yYou start becoming more and more aware, more and more conscious in everything you do in your daily life. When you chant the mantra, witness it. Then it will become the center of your consciousness. Any thought that comes will be like mantra. It is just like in a water tank, if you keep a blue powder at the base, the arising bubbles will also be blue. Same way, as you continuously witness the mantra, you will become the mantra.

You become more aware of the thoughts you think; so you can catch negative thoughts at their very source itself. Witnessing your thoughts and emotions thus becomes a much easier task and you fall into the natural state of meditation. Constantly chant the mantra; your awareness and mind will thus be on the mantra. The speed of chanting is not important; the awareness is key. As you continue chanting, the awareness will start staying more and more and the chant will become effortless and the pace will increase as well. This is a very powerful meditation technique that can still the mind and effortlessly allow only the thoughts that are needed for functioning. You become the master of your mind rather than the mind being your master.