In Easwaran’s village when he was a little boy, waves of contagious disease, family losses, failed crops were part of life. Through it all, Easwaran’s diminutive grandmother stood like a big tree under which everyone could take shelter. What was Granny’s secret? She knew how to use her mantram to transform any negative emotion into strength, courage, and love. This week, we invite you to express your inner Granny.
In our reading from The Mantram Handbook, Easwaran gives instructions for using the mantram to transform negative emotions.
This week, when a wave of negative emotion like fear or anxiety rises, let’s take it as a serious opportunity for transformation. Take a long mantram walk (or equivalent for your level of physical capacity). Extend the mantram walk longer than you think you need. Really keep the mantram going, even if you have to say it out loud every once in a while to regain it.
Try writing a page of mantrams each day in gratitude to those around the world who are overcoming their fears to be of service – medical personnel, grocery workers, farmers, neighbors, sanitation workers, strangers who just see a need.
Feel free to share any results of your experiments!
This is an excerpt from Easwaran’s book The Mantram Handbook.
When the Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” it is telling us that the key to intentional living is in gaining mastery over the mind. The Compassionate Buddha puts the same message precisely in the famous Twin Verses:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: we are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfish thoughts cause misery when they speak or act. Sorrows roll over them as the wheels of a cart roll over the tracks of the bullock that draws it.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: we are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy whenever they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
“Thought” here is not just the thoughts we think with the conscious mind. It includes the workings of the unconscious as well, our fears and desires and worries and loves and aspirations. Most of the time, the vast majority of us live on the surface level of consciousness, not suspecting the storms that rage in our unconscious. We get some hint of the tremendous power of these storms when they break through to the surface in the form of fear, anger, and greed. When these get out of control, they can pick us up and hurl us about as they like, exactly as if some force takes us over and makes us do things, say things, that we would not ordinarily do.
Take fear, for example. Fear of snakes is part of our consciousness in rural India; when a villager is walking home in the twilight and sees a snake on the path ahead of him – it may not even be a real snake, just a bit of coiled-up rope – he gives a jump that would make any Olympic athlete envious. If he had stood calmly and said, “Let me see how far I can jump,” he would not have been able to cover even half that distance. Fear gives him access to a deeper level of consciousness, where he finds the power to jump.
Fear plays a valuable role here if it enables the villager to avoid being bitten by the snake, but most of the time fear, anger, and greed serve no useful purpose. They are simply power going to waste – or worse, power being used destructively. If we take an honest look at our behavior under the influence of fear or anger or the compulsion of greed, we have to admit that it is not very pretty; it is not something we are very proud of. Here is where the mantram is an invaluable ally. It can harness all this destructive power that is going to waste and transform it: fear into fearlessness, anger into compassion, and greed into the desire to be of service to those around us. It is very much like harnessing any source of power. Wind, for example, can be a devastating natural force. A hurricane can sweep away thousands of lives and leaves utter desolation behind it. Yet the same energy, wind, can be harnessed to generate electricity to light people’s homes.
When Anger, Fear, or Greed Is Sweeping You Away
The simplest thing to do when you are caught by fear, anger, or greed is to go for a long, fast walk repeating the mantram. This may sound simplistic, but try it. Go for a fast walk repeating Rama, Rama, Rama or Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in your mind, and you will find that the relationship between the rhythm of your breathing, the rhythm of your footsteps, and the rhythm of the mantram has a deep influence on your consciousness. Recently a friend of mine told me she had discovered that when she was upset, if she could hold on to the mantram for twenty minutes while she walked, it could transform any negative emotion. “When I realized that,” she said, “I realized that any transformation is possible.” You may not always be able to afford the luxury of going for a fast walk, but you can repeat the mantram any time. With practice you will find that when some negative emotion rises like a tidal wave in your mind, you don’t have to be flung up onto the beach or pounded down against the bottom of the sea as in the old days; you can ride the wave on the mantram board with your arms spread wide. Once you have learned this skill, there is a tremendous sense of mastery.
Fear and anger and greed agitate the mind; they churn the mind up like a stormy sea. When your mind is heaving up and down, it may be difficult to hold on to the mantram if your mantram is long. For emergencies like this, I would recommend using a shortened form of the mantram, the kernel of the mantram: Rama if your mantram is Hare Rama Hare Rama; Om if it is Om mani padme hum; Jesus if you use some form of the Jesus Prayer such as Lord Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. This kernel of the mantram is the most potent word in the holy name; it is short and simple. No matter how agitated your mind is, you can hang on to it while it does its work of harnessing and transforming the power that was rampaging in you.