by Andrew Harvey

Early Christian Mantra Practice

A mantra is a combination of sacred syllables that forms a nucleus of spiritual energy and serves as a magnet or lens to focus spiritual force. In most of the mystical systems of the world, keeping up a constant inward recitation of mantra is seen as the simplest and most powerful way of transcending the surface mind and entering the depths of the soul where the mystery of divine presence is always shining, and of remaining constantly in the fire of the Second Heart. This is also true of the Christian mystical tradition, and in recent years the ancient mantra tradition of the Desert Fathers has been revived.

The mantra that is used most commonly in the Christian tradition is Maranatha (mar-a-nath' a), which means in Aramaic "Our Lord come." To be able to say this beautiful word with the deepest prayerfulness and most intense and calmly focused yearning explores the full significance of its meaning. It represents at once an invitation to the Christ to possess our inmost consciousness, to come and live in the depths of our soul and in every thought and emotion our entire being in all its heights and depths and faculties.

Marantha is not only a personal appeal. It also means invoking the spirit of the kingdom to descend in its flame of charity and justice on earth so that all conditions on earth can be transformed. When you say it in the heart with these two linked meanings fused together, the syllables become charged with every kind of visionary hope--all the desire of the soul for transcendence, and all the hunger of the heart for divine love, and all the passion of the body for spiritual health and healing, and all the prayers of the complete being for the realization of the kingdom on earth.

A Christian Mantra Practice

1) every day set aside two half-hour sessions, one in the early morning and one in the early evening.

2) Sit comfortably erect--not rigidly but in relaxed attention.

3) Repeat the syllables of your mantra calmly, serenely, and faithfully. Some mantras in the Christian tradition include: "Marantha", "Abba," the "Our Father," "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me," and the Rosary.

4) As you become aware of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, simply acknowledge them, and gently return to your mantra.

 What is important in both periods set apart for the the mantra is to keep returning to it. Thoughts come and go; emotions, sometimes long suppressed dark ones of fear or memory of trauma or rage or helplessness, will arise. Do not suppress them, but do not identify with them. In the case of thoughts, let them pass as if they were clouds passing across the sky of essential mind. In the case of emotions, open them without fear to the healing power of Christ present in the mantra. Keeping the mantra going in the face of boredom, distraction, and sometimes turbulent emotions is an act of humility that slowly wears away the false self and opens the spirit onto the vast shining calm of its true nature. After a great deal of steady practice, the mantra will start to be said in the depths of the heart, and may go on repeating itself even when the mind is not consciously trying to recite it, even in dreams.

This is one of the signs the saints tell us, that our being is becoming Christed, and the spirit, as St. Paul says, is now praying in us. Perfume your heart with the mantra, and that perfume will take you into the presence of the Christ.

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