Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya is a very popular mantra used when meditating. By simply repeating the phrase, it helps to clear the mind of all other thoughts that tend to creep in and distract the thoughts around the goal of a blank mind of thoughtlessness and clarity. Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya is one of the most popular Hindu mantras and of great importance in Shaivism. The language is ancient and the phrase itself has been used in prayer being sung by worshippers and yogis in meditation for thousands of years to around 300-400 BC with roots that go back as far as 2500 BC. In the dead language of Sanskrit it reads like this: ॐ नमः शिवाय Its mantra is associated qualities of prayer, divine-love, grace, truth and blissfulness. Traditionally it is accepted to be a powerful healing mantra beneficial for all physical mental ailments. Soulful recitation of this mantra is believed to bring peace to the heart and joy to the soul. Sages consider that the recitation of these syllables is sound therapy for the body and nectar for the soul. The traditional nature of the mantra is the calling upon the higher self or calling upon shiva, the destroyer deity to aid in the destruction of ego and the rebirth achieved during meditation. This goes generally for mantras and chant to different gods which are in the Hindu tradition different aspect of the higher self. Today it is used in Hindu and other eastern religions in much the same way across India and much of the world. It is also adapted and used in Europe and North America and many western civilizations as a method to reduce stress, clear the mind of the business of thought and as an entrance to a place where quiet can consistently be found. In that quiet is the key to the stress reduction that each of us have heard our physicians tell us to pursue. My own story is rather typical but I’m told my reaction was not. I went to the doctor with complaints of mild discomfort, not pain, just discomfort in my chest. Accompanying that discomfort was a slight shortness of breath that seemed to be brought on by exercise or bursts of demanding physical activity. He examined me thoroughly and did a complete blood panel and tox screen. He ordered x-rays and an MRI along with a cardiac stress test. Every test came back normal. Let me stress that the result were not just normal for my fifty-something year old body but they were at the middle of the normal range for someone half my age. The cardiologist remarked that my heart was that of a thirty year old. The blood work I was told bore results that people would pay huge amounts of money to have as their own. Cholesterol was very low, blood counts perfect, enzymes were awesome, gasses were tremendous, and everything was outstanding. I was back in my physician’s office reviewing the forty to fifty pages of test results with him reporting how fantastic and perfect they were. He said, “You look confused. Do you not understand how good this is?” I did understand that the test results were great but why was I feeling poorly. He told me it was stress and anxiety. He advised me to sit on my back porch and stare at a leaf blowing in the wind or just listen to the wind chimes while staring at the clouds drifting by. I asked how long I need to do this. He said about an hour. “AN HOUR???!” I yelled at him. “An hour? How often do you want me to take an hour out of my busy day to stare at the clouds?” He replied, “Every day.” I thought about choking him with my bare hands. I thought about screaming at him about how stupid and unproductive that would be. Instead, I sat on my hands and allowed him to continue explaining that stress can manifest and present in many different ways. This might be the way my stress is modifying in my body. I had tuned him out by now and was thinking about all I had to do back at my office and then the trip I had to make to perform this weekend and the stuff I had to accomplish before I could go home this evening. I reached for my cell phone to check for emails while he was mumbling to my wife about how stress kills otherwise healthy people. I was now standing, buttoning my shirt. I said I didn’t have seven extra hours each week to stare at a tree so he should just find a pill that would do for me what the staring would do. He laughed. I asked if he meditated. He said yes he did, every day. I left the office without paying. I returned to my office with his diagnosis that my “real” pain and my “real” discomfort” and my seemingly “real” problems were all just a figment of my imagination. I went to work. I submitted to the further tests he ordered. I saw the three or four specialists and worked my way through their battery of tests and examinations. Most of them came back with great scores in the highest of the perfect category. Since there was nothing that was going on inside me that could explain anything that was negatively happening, I was deemed perfectly healthy and told to go about my normal daily living and normal routine. I asked about my upcoming trip to Africa and was told to go, enjoy and do so without worry as the chance of a stroke, heart attack or anything happening was so remote I’d sooner get hit by a bus. I went to Africa and returned without incident. The doctors were right. But the fact remained that I still had the symptoms that seemed serious and the symptoms came from time to time during periods of extreme physical stress, not just brought on by the normal emotional stress of life and business. I argued with my physician about this problem being psychological or emotional versus physical for seven months. I saw specialists in three departments of the Cleveland Clinic. Aside from finding a very slight case of chronic asthma (that I had as a youngster so it could be left over from forty five years ago), there is nothing wrong with me. I returned to my physician and said, “OK, tell me more about this time wasting meditation stuff.” I then read several books, watched numerous lectures online and then an old friend called out of the blue and asked if I’d like to go with her to hear a meditation expert from out of the area speak at a local center for yoga and meditation. I was shocked at the timing of the offer and immediately said yes. That was a month ago and since I’ve had several opportunities to return to check out the offerings and get more of an education. I was worried about it being a bunch of hokum and some sort of religious thing that would not fall in line with my Christian beliefs. So far, so good on those fronts. My doctor seems happy I’m going, I realize a little relief and I’ve made new friends, most of whom are not hippie new age nut bags but rather well educated and professionals with great careers and a true passion for better health both physical and emotional as well as spiritual. I think, thus far anyway, I’m on the right track. Who knew?
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:20:25 +0000
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