The Gap

Mantra

A mantra (Sanskrit: मन्त्र, romanized: mantra, English pronunciation ) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers. Some mantras have a syntactic structure and literal meaning, while others do not.The earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit in India, and are at least 3500 years old. Mantras now exist in various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In Japanese Shingon tradition, the word Shingon means mantra. Similar hymns, antiphons, chants, compositions, and concepts are found in Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Christianity, and elsewhere.The use, structure, function, importance, and types of mantras vary accordin… more »