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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 5:21:54 PM
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Hello Everyone,
I am new, so I don’t know if I am posting in the correct subject matter.
I have practiced Transcendental Meditation for the last 30+ years, and I still think that it is fantastic. I am not a fan of the movement, and so for over 25 years I have just meditated twice daily, but I would like to share my experiences and gain support from like minded people.
I have one problem, I don’t want to change my mantra to ‘ IAM, ’ I hope that you can appreciate this. The mantra I was given is not that different, in fact it’s very similar - it’s ‘I-im’ – that’s ‘I’ as in ‘eye’ and ‘IM’ as the ‘IM’ in ‘him’
Is this a problem?
If it is then I will have to cancel my membership as this mantra is now very much a part of me.
Namaste,
Max
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DoctorWho
USA
47 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 5:42:50 PM
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Hi Madra and welcome!
Here's my two cents...though you will find much more experienced voices in these forums to learn from.
The similarity of your mantra to AYAM is so close, perhaps you really don't need to change it. Then again, changing it slightly to AYAM can be viewed as a modest modification that may benefit your practice. Many AYP folks... after using the AYAM mantra for many years... proceed to mantra enhancements. Perhaps, after 30 years of using one particular mantra you may consider an enhancement that could augment your practice. Only you can know of course.
Be Well. |
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AumNaturel
Canada
687 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 6:29:37 PM
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Welcome Madra,
There's lesson 59 which touches on that subject, and at least two discussions have mentioned that mantra (search for "AIM" if that is the one) with respect to AYAM so far.
With your level of experience, it would be great to hear if you can apply your mantra along with the AYP mantra enhancements (see the lesson on mantra design L188) though more experienced members could tell you more precisely what's recommended. Otherwise, the rest of the practices will probably be very easy to gradually incorporate alongside it depending on how much time you have available and how the TM instructions may (or may not) vary with those of Deep Meditation. The bottom line is the practices here are very flexible and cater to all, from beginners to very advanced practitioners like yourself, no matter what you choose is best for you. |
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 7:03:28 PM
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Welcome to the forums. 
Well just my opinion but I would say that you do not need to change your mantra. If you like, you might try some extra meditations now and then with the AYAM mantra just to see how it feels. Regarding the enhancements, TM uses mantra enhancements as well but I'm not sure if they are the same as AYP. Personally I've added the mantra enhancements a couple times over the years but I always end up going back to the basic mantra. At any rate since you are an experienced meditator you can probably try some spinal breathing and certainly samyama. In fact you could even go for the samyama first then add spinal breathing because you already have the basis for samyama with so many years of meditation. Just proceed slowly and self pace as you work through all the extras. |
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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 8:56:17 PM
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I want to thank both DoctorWho and AumNaturel for your comments - I will never meditate with ‘Om’ on its own or part of a mantra enhancement, as Maharishis teacher Guru Dev always said it was for people who wished to renounce the World, and it causes one to lose material processions, and from experience I totally agree with this and won’t be swayed!
I also want to find out how one pronounces the Namah in the first mantra enhancement - SHREE I AM NAMAH – is it Namah or Namaha?
In my case I will be using SHREE I-IM NAMAH
Namaste,
Max
quote:
Originally posted by DoctorWho
Hi Madra and welcome!
Here's my two cents...though you will find much more experienced voices in these forums to learn from.
The similarity of your mantra to AYAM is so close, perhaps you really don't need to change it. Then again, changing it slightly to AYAM can be viewed as a modest modification that may benefit your practice. Many AYP folks... after using the AYAM mantra for many years... proceed to mantra enhancements. Perhaps, after 30 years of using one particular mantra you may consider an enhancement that could augment your practice. Only you can know of course.
Be Well.
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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2012 : 9:04:36 PM
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Thanks LittleTurtle,
I agree with you, TM tried to push mantra enhancements on me, they called them fertilizers. personally I'm of the opinion, if it ain't broken, why fix it?
Namaste,
Max
quote:
Originally posted by LittleTurtle
Welcome to the forums.
Well just my opinion but I would say that you do not need to change your mantra. If you like, you might try some extra meditations now and then with the AYAM mantra just to see how it feels. Regarding the enhancements, TM uses mantra enhancements as well but I'm not sure if they are the same as AYP. Personally I've added the mantra enhancements a couple times over the years but I always end up going back to the basic mantra. At any rate since you are an experienced meditator you can probably try some spinal breathing and certainly samyama. In fact you could even go for the samyama first then add spinal breathing because you already have the basis for samyama with so many years of meditation. Just proceed slowly and self pace as you work through all the extras.
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Medea
Netherlands
115 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2012 : 09:15:11 AM
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Hi Madra,
First of all, you are most welcome here! As is mentioned many times in the lessons, you are free to take from the lessons whatever is useful for you and supplement your practice with it. If you don't want to change your mantra then stick with it. Maybe a practice like Spinal Brathing Pranayama could be a nice addition though :) To be honest, I would try this first before throwing mantra enhancements in the mix.
As for the difference between IM and IAM (AYAM), they might seem similar on paper, but in my experience differences like this can produce totally different vibrational qualities within the nervous system. Therefore it will be hard to predict what the effect will be of combining the AYP matra enhancement with your own mantra. The only thing you can do is to try it out if your Bakhti is calling for it, and see what happens. Make sure to self-pace if necessary.
Please take note that most subforums here are specifically for the support of AYP practices. So If you want to discuss others, like TM of your modifications of AYP within your own practice, please post in the Other Systems and Alternate Approaches forum
Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences with us. It's always nice to have some long-timers around
P.s. It's NAMAH, not NAMAHA. |
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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2012 : 5:05:44 PM
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Thanks Medea,
Is there an audio file of the mantra enhancements on this site?
It would be really helpful.
Namaste,
Max
quote:
Originally posted by Medea
Hi Madra,
First of all, you are most welcome here! As is mentioned many times in the lessons, you are free to take from the lessons whatever is useful for you and supplement your practice with it. If you don't want to change your mantra then stick with it. Maybe a practice like Spinal Brathing Pranayama could be a nice addition though :) To be honest, I would try this first before throwing mantra enhancements in the mix.
As for the difference between IM and IAM (AYAM), they might seem similar on paper, but in my experience differences like this can produce totally different vibrational qualities within the nervous system. Therefore it will be hard to predict what the effect will be of combining the AYP matra enhancement with your own mantra. The only thing you can do is to try it out if your Bakhti is calling for it, and see what happens. Make sure to self-pace if necessary.
Please take note that most subforums here are specifically for the support of AYP practices. So If you want to discuss others, like TM of your modifications of AYP within your own practice, please post in the Other Systems and Alternate Approaches forum
Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences with us. It's always nice to have some long-timers around
P.s. It's NAMAH, not NAMAHA.
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2012 : 10:03:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Medea
P.s. It's NAMAH, not NAMAHA.
Actually it sort of depends on who you ask.  (and where in the sentence the word is). Even Samskrit experts argue over certain pronunciations as well as local Indian custom/pronunciation even with Samskrit and Samskritized words. |
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Medea
Netherlands
115 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 05:53:37 AM
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True, but as I understand it, in AYP the mantra's are written down according to sound/pronunciation, and not grammatical correctness So when the NAMAH is repeated, it is pronounced as that and not as NAMAHA.
But to be clear: when the mantra becomes more and more fuzzy over time, it's "pronunciation" can change of course. However, what it will sound like is the nervous systems' call; we don't influence that consciously.
Feel free to correct me if I'm in the wrong here.
quote:
Originally posted by LittleTurtle
quote:
Originally posted by Medea
P.s. It's NAMAH, not NAMAHA.
Actually it sort of depends on who you ask. (and where in the sentence the word is). Even Samskrit experts argue over certain pronunciations as well as local Indian custom/pronunciation even with Samskrit and Samskritized words.
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Edited by - Medea on Jun 04 2012 06:02:25 AM |
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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 12:03:27 PM
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Hi Medea,
Thank you for your replies, this site is brilliant in covering all aspects of effortless mantra meditation. The only place where it falls down, but could easily be corrected are the enhancements – audio files of these would remove all doubt!
If I had only learnt meditation from this site, and was thinking about moving on by adding mantra enhancements, I would probably just accept NAMAH as it is (I’d pronounce it NAMA), but as I have over 30 years TM experience, I would want to be ultra sure of the correct pronunciation of each enhancement – that’s just the way I am. So really Yogani would be doing a huge favor to old timers like me, if he would upload mp3s of these enhancements to his site
In TM (to the best of my knowledge, as I got this information from a friend who got 2 advanced techniques in TM – shree (her mantra) namah) they pronounce Namah as NAMA, but most other traditions pronounce it as Namaha
I really want to get this clarified before I would add mantra enhancements to my practice.
Namaste,
Max
quote:
Originally posted by Medea
True, but as I understand it, in AYP the mantra's are written down according to sound/pronunciation, and not grammatical correctness So when the NAMAH is repeated, it is pronounced as that and not as NAMAHA.
But to be clear: when the mantra becomes more and more fuzzy over time, it's "pronunciation" can change of course. However, what it will sound like is the nervous systems' call; we don't influence that consciously.
Feel free to correct me if I'm in the wrong here.
quote:
Originally posted by LittleTurtle
quote:
Originally posted by Medea
P.s. It's NAMAH, not NAMAHA.
Actually it sort of depends on who you ask. (and where in the sentence the word is). Even Samskrit experts argue over certain pronunciations as well as local Indian custom/pronunciation even with Samskrit and Samskritized words.
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SwamiX
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 3:44:18 PM
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| I also a practice TM – I found this site about a year ago. I continue to use my TM mantra. I don't see any reason to switch, since the DM meditation is basically TM with a different mantra than the one I was given in ’74. The discussion of the technique is pretty much identical to the discussion you will have if you get your TM “checked”. You should try adding spinal breathing as described in the lessons. It does seem to deepen the experience, though it does, for me, lead to a slight overload – slight feelings of pressure in my jaw and forehead. |
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SwamiX
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 3:53:21 PM
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In fact, somewhere Yogani mentions to another poster that they should stick with their TM mantra and advises against adding the enhancement from AYP - The TM enhancements can be found online, BTW.
Yogani advised the person to do what I have done -- add spinal breathing, since these are the two core practices of AYP and the SP and meditation greatly enhance the power of each other.
Perhaps because I have been doing TM daily for years, the SP really is a powerful practice. I noticed sensations of heat in my back almost from the beginning. As I mentioned, I have to pace the two practices so I don't overload. |
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SwamiX
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 4:10:22 PM
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| That should read "SB" not "SP" |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2012 : 7:33:07 PM
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Hi Madra,
The "h" at the end of "namah" is a visarga. It is a Sanskrit letter which is not pronounced by causes the vowel just before it to be echoed slightly. So "namah" is not exactly the same as "nama". The closest thing we have to it in the British Isles that I know of is the Scottish word "loch". There is another Sanskrit word which is "namaha" which is pronounced as it is written with short a's, but that is not used in the AYP mantra enhancements. |
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madra
Ireland
6 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2012 : 3:03:12 PM
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Thanks Christi
quote:
Originally posted by Christi
Hi Madra,
The "h" at the end of "namah" is a visarga. It is a Sanskrit letter which is not pronounced by causes the vowel just before it to be echoed slightly. So "namah" is not exactly the same as "nama". The closest thing we have to it in the British Isles that I know of is the Scottish word "loch". There is another Sanskrit word which is "namaha" which is pronounced as it is written with short a's, but that is not used in the AYP mantra enhancements.
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I am new, so I don’t know if I am posting in the c
