Customer Reviews

Mantra of Eternity

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To quote the booklet: "Mantra is more than prayer, more than word-formula: It is a formula of sound. You don't need to know the meaning of the words to be profoundly influenced by the power of these sounds."

These two mantras are 35 minutes each, and are recited by Kriyananda (Donald Waters), who is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and accompanied by Joseph Ferraro on tambura. He has a deep, soft voice, and speaks/sings these mantras in a way that makes this an excellent CD for meditation...if you live in a city, it will help smooth out the sounds of traffic, etc.

# 1 is the Gayatri Mantra, which consists of 16 words, and is considered to be the most sacred of the Vedas. It has received a lot of notice lately, proclaimed as a mantra that can change your life.

# 2 is the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, which consists of 13 words, but is actually harder to memorize, as the words have more syllables than the Gayatri mantra. This mantra is chanted for freedom from bondage, and to bring peace and healing.

As stated on the back of the booklet, these are "Sacred sounds that purify the mind and spread peace thoughout the world".

This isn't meant to be singing as such, and it doesn't sound like the singing on albums where Kriyananda is singing Yogananda's chants. The aum sounds a little different each time, as if each breath was a little different than every other breath, each wave on the ocean is just a little different than every other wave. Sometimes it sounds like he's just saying something that anyone would say, and sometimes it sounds like it's coming from someplace long ago and far away.

In my mind's ear, I'm hearing the aums in the foreground, and Thursday Afternoon by Brian Eno in the background. The background has even less variation than Thursday Afternoon, but the tambouri sounds reminded me of Thursday Afternoon. I believe you will hear things in your mind's ear if you listen to this.