Many styles of meditation have been born through the ages and around the world, but they all share in common the ability to bring the mind to a place of peaceful rest. Primordial sound meditation, which has its origins in the Indian Vedic meditation tradition, uses the repetition of a mantra to lead the mind inward beyond the cacophony of the universe. Each meditating being is given a uniquely created mantra, or sound.
Followers of primordial sound meditation believe that deep within the mind is a tranquil and harmonious serenity. Being able to dive beneath the mental surface, however, is difficult. Everyday thoughts, worries, and hopes create mental noise that blocks the pathways within.
Deepak Chopra, a spiritual leader as well as a doctor, believes that the repetition of a personal mantra can allow a practitioner to find the pathways that are available between mental chatter, though often hidden by it. A practitioner’s personal mantra is created by using a mathematical formula that is part of the Vedic tradition. This formula incorporates universal vibrations that marked the precise moment and location of the practitioner’s birth. In a sense, a mantra can be seen as the practitioner’s truest name.
In the meditative state, the practitioner of primordial sound meditation continues to mentally or orally repeat the mantra over and over. The mantra simultaneously blocks other, distracting sounds and clears the inner mind to allow the meditating individual to open to a state of utter awareness. This state does not involve ego; it isn’t awareness of itself being aware of itself but a radiating understanding of the nature of illusion.
To an observer, it can appear that a person deep in primordial sound meditation is in a state similar to sleep. While it is true that, following meditation, practitioners report a sense of fresh energy similar to that produced by sleep, the meditative state is nothing like a sleep state. The mind is highly alert, not to thoughts but to being in the present moment. It is quiet and at the same time fully attentive.
Practitioners claim mediation has a wide range of health benefits, and medical research agrees. The slow, even breaths used in meditation lower blood pressure. Blood flow increases, which soothes away exhaustion. The immune system grows stronger. In fact, people who meditate regularly are less likely to fall ill to common sicknesses such as colds, and when they do, their recovery times are shorter.
There are long-term benefits to meditation. Individuals who suffer from insomnia and anxiety report that, with daily meditation, they learn to eliminate these problems. People who suffer from chronic pain or who have long-term health issues also appear to be helped by meditation, which minimizes their health problems and makes them easier to control without medication.