Abstract
This chapter discusses mantra-sadhana and experiences at Nachiketa Tapovan and how mantra opens the mind to silence within which an inner world becomes more evident. Swami Sivananda Puri speaks about receiving mantras from siddhas (celestial beings) and about mantra. At Navaratri, when mantras are being recited, a young girl spontaneously performs mudras (codified hand gestures)—Rao describes and then discusses what it means to the practitioners. Two more cases illustrate how mantra-sadhana triggers visionary experiences and how practitioners interpret them. Conversations help prise open how japa (mantra-repetition) and diksha (initiation) may work. This chapter also includes some auto-ethnography, and Rao describes her own practice and discoveries at Nachiketa.
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Rao, M. (2019). “I Am in Mantra, Mantra Is in Me”: Nachiketa Tapovan, Kodgal. In: Living Mantra. Contemporary Anthropology of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96391-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96391-4_7
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