Monday Mantra

I talk a lot about meditation practices here on this blog because meditation is an integral part of my life. I find that it helps me set the tone for my day and keeps my heart, mind, and spirit centered. For the month of September, I hosted a Peace/Joy Meditation Cyber party where I invited anyone who was interested to practice the mantra lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu. (For more info on that click here.) It was so nice to be able to share my meditation practice with others that I decided to start a new feature here on this blog: Monday Mantra.

Every Monday I'll feature a mantra that I intend to use for the week. This is an invitation to anyone who is interested to try mantra meditation using the Monday mantra.Traditionally a mantra is recited 108 times from a comfortable seat with the eyes closed. For more information on mantra meditation, check out this article. You can also check out my blog post on my experience with meditation here to get a little more insight.

Since this Monday marks the end of September and the beginning of a new month, I thought it would be great to invoke a mantra that would help remove any obstacles that might be in the way as we move into October. The Hindu god Ganesha is known as the remover of obstacles. He is also one of my favorite deities. So with that in mind, I present to you the Monday Mantra for the week of September 30:

Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha (oh-m gah-m gah-nah pah-tah-yei nah-mah-ha)

A loose translation of this mantra is: I offer my love and devotion to Ganesha; please grant me success in my noble endeavor.

Here's a little breakdown on why Ganesha is so cool.

Source

And here is a recording of Deva Premal, one of my favorite artists, reciting this meditation 108 times. If you feel that reciting this chant out loud may be difficult, feel free to sit in noble silence and absorb the energy of Deva's chanting.

I hope that this chant makes your entrance into October a little smoother. Please feel free to share your experiences with  this chant or chanting in general in the comment section below. 

Cheers!