For beginners, mantras can be a powerful way to feel the inner peace and joy that comes from meditation without having to worry too much about silencing your mind. Many of our class-givers really enjoy including mantra-meditation exercises as part of their classes.

Often they will begin with simple mantric songs such as these:

Aum Aparajitaya Namah (meaning: Aum – I bow to the inconquerable. This can be taken to mean the inconquerable soul)

Aum Govindaya Namah (a mantra for protection, invoking Govinda)

These 2 mantras are part of a series of 61 ancient Sanskrit chants that Sri Chinmoy set to music. Each chant invokes an Indian deity, or aspect of the Highest.

• The above arrangements are courtesy of our friends from the Sri Chinmoy Centre in the UK, and their music group Ananda; you can download their full album of 16 mantras (plus words and scores) here…
• If you can read music, you might also be interested in browsing the full songbook of 61 Sanskrit mantras on Sri Chinmoy’s official songs site

Interested in learning how to meditate?  Sign up for one of our free upcoming classes in Queens or Manhattan