mantra usage can be dangerous?

[aeon]

For the past few years I have been using some mantras to help my concentration as well as to use their magical properties to cause positive changes in my life and those around me.

 

I have had dramatic sucess using them for their magical purposes I believe, however recently I have been worried because I think that the mantras I use can fulfill my wishes, both good and bad. I am worried because I think that some of my subconscious desires and wills are carried on the mantras i use and tend to become a reality somewhat in my experience.

 

Although I would never wish harm on anyone in any kind of way I am fairly certain my mantra practice helps turn my desires into reality. I tend to get angry easily and a week ago I got angry at my friend, and his house caught on fire. Another time I tried to use the mantras to send my intent to heal another friend but he really pissed me off, and although i still tried to help him with mantra usage to help his knee he instead became violently ill with a fever.

 

As a result of such experiences and others I have become paranoid and now a lot of times when i do mantra practice i am afraid of harming people and because of this i somehow uncontrollably imagine bad things happening to them for a few seconds at a time. Does this make sense? And i can imagine this can only make things much worse.

 

Also I guess these are the reasons why many mantras were hidden and not to be used by everybody. and /or required a transmission or guidance in their usage

 

I dont know what to do at this point i dont want to stop doing the mantras but if they will result in people getting hurt i guess i have no choice but to stop.

 

anybody ever run into anything like this?

 

 

thank you all

[Vajrahridaya]

 

 

Also I guess these are the reasons why many mantras were hidden and not to be used by everybody. and /or required a transmission or guidance in their usage

 

I dont know what to do at this point i dont want to stop doing the mantras but if they will result in people getting hurt i guess i have no choice but to stop.

 

anybody ever run into anything like this?

 

 

thank you all

 

Yes, I have. Don't worry so much as there are so many more variables to an occurrence than your mere ego thinking about them. Through mantra you are merely coming across your own subconscious thinking patterns and illuminating some of the violence within you. Being aware of this will teach you to have compassion on yourself which will emanate outward as well as you overcome these inner patterns. Don't give your inner thoughts so much power... seriously, they are not that important. Don't let them control your more altruistic intentions.

[DarthBane]

Not any more than negative self-talk is. Yet, I have hear from some that the mantra:

 

GoOey Kabl00ey

 

Is very dangerous and should not be spoken.

[Vajrahridaya]

[Sloppy Zhang]

Franz Bardon, in his book Initiation Into Hermetics goes into this a bit. Basically, what's important for magical work, and to that extent, some kind of mantra repetition work, is focus. You've got to develop a point where you are focused completely and totally on your goal, and nothing else (positive or negative). Because if you've got extra thoughts floating around in your mind as you do a mantra, it could weaken the effects you are trying to produce, or even put effects you don't want in there (good or bad).

 

So from this point of view, the prerequisite to mantra/magic work is focus. Before you do some kind of mantra/magic work, do something that helps clear your body and mind of extra influences (externally coming from others, and internally coming from yourself). If you don't feel like you have a focused mind yet, stop doing this stuff entirely until you feel like you can.

[aeon]

Yes, I have. Don't worry so much as there are so many more variables to an occurrence than your mere ego thinking about them. Through mantra you are merely coming across your own subconscious thinking patterns and illuminating some of the violence within you. Being aware of this will teach you to have compassion on yourself which will emanate outward as well as you overcome these inner patterns. Don't give your inner thoughts so much power... seriously, they are not that important. Don't let them control your more altruistic intentions.

 

thank you very much for this thoughtful reply. so are you basically saying that I should try to continue the mantra practice, and just not pay attention to my negative thoughts and distractions?

 

 

Franz Bardon, in his book Initiation Into Hermetics goes into this a bit. Basically, what's important for magical work, and to that extent, some kind of mantra repetition work, is focus. You've got to develop a point where you are focused completely and totally on your goal, and nothing else (positive or negative). Because if you've got extra thoughts floating around in your mind as you do a mantra, it could weaken the effects you are trying to produce, or even put effects you don't want in there (good or bad).

 

So from this point of view, the prerequisite to mantra/magic work is focus. Before you do some kind of mantra/magic work, do something that helps clear your body and mind of extra influences (externally coming from others, and internally coming from yourself). If you don't feel like you have a focused mind yet, stop doing this stuff entirely until you feel like you can.

 

thank you for this. This looks like sound advice to me, I am not too concerned about the mantras not having a strong effect, i am much more worried about them having adverse effects.

 

thanks to everyone for their contributions

[Machin Shin]

Mantrayana consists of three types of mantra guhya mantra, vidya mantra, and dharani mantra.

Dharani are sounds that purify the consciousness of the practioner. Dharani are plays with sound and create the grounds for entrance into the mantrayana.

Vidya (Knowledge or gnosis) these mantra are words that contain wisdom.

Guhya (Secret) mantra of this class are rare and secretly transmitted.

[Sloppy Zhang]

i am much more worried about them having adverse effects.

 

In that case, again, just try to find some way to strengthen your focus/willpower, that way when doing a mantra designed to accomplish a certain goal, you are thinking only of your goal.

 

Also, Vaj gave some good advice. There are a lot of factors that go into making things happen. As tragic as a housefire is, there are many causes of them, ranging from the bad (you stuck a bunch of paper into a toaster and put it next to some curtains), to the good (you lit a bunch of candles to set a romantic mood for you and your partner).

 

And don't forget to be aware of confirmation bias: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias When you have all of your attention directed at something, it's very easy to get caught up in the tunnel vision and be blind to all of the other possible options that could have gone into the situation.

[altiora]

Listen there is so much bilge on here and elsewhere about mantram.

 

There is NO danger from the mantrams themselves, because if you haven't been initiated then you are likely to get little, and in many mantrams associated with specific deities, no benefit.

 

For actual authority for this, Sri Sri Ramana Maharishi:

 

 

Ramana Maharshi - Initiation in Mantras is must

 

Question : Can anyone get any benefit by repeating sacred syllables [mantras] picked up casually?

Ramana Maharshi: No. He must be competent and initiated in such mantras. This is illustrated by the story of the king and his minister. A king visited his premier in his residence. There he was told that the premier was engaged in repetition of sacred syllables. The king waited for him, and on meeting him, asked what the mantra was. The premier said that it was the holiest of all, gayatri. The king desired to be initiated by the premier but the premier confessed his inability to initiate him.

 

Therefore the king learned it from someone else, and, meeting the minister later, he repeated the gayatri and wanted to know if it was right. The minister said that the mantra was correct, but it was not proper for him to say it. When pressed for an explanation, the minister called to a page close by and ordered him to take hold of the king. The order was not obeyed. The order was often repeated, and still not obeyed. The king flew into a rage and ordered the same man to hold the minister, and it was immediately done. The minister laughed and said that the incident was the explanation required by the king. `How?' asked the king. The minister replied, `The order was the same and the executor also, but the authority was different. When I ordered, the effect was nil, whereas, when you ordered, there was immediate effect. Similarly with mantras.[/i][/i]

 

 

If there is any danger, then it resides in an healthy fixation with the mantra jap. With all due respect, the original poster is showing that in revealing his or her desire for "magical powers". Ff you use Omkar, for instance, as a meditative device for providing you with something to focus on until your mind goes quiet, then there is no harm. But in that case, any results obtained from this are due to your quieting of the mind and focus, not so much due to the mantram itself.

 

Unfortunately, you have such people as Thomas Ashley Farrand running around saying that you just need to pick a mantra and start reciting it. That is not so, and never has been so. As is T A-F's statement that the Buddha was so concerned about the power of mantra that he repressed knowledge of them. Nothing like a conspiracy, "what-they-don't-want-you-to-know" story to sell your products. Similarly, statements from others on here that if you pick the wrong mantram for your astrological chart, all sorts of death and destruction will result.

 

If you want to derive benefit from mantra jap, you need to find yourself a proper teacher, and that will be hard in itself. Even harder will be trying to convince that teacher that you're worthy, and not just egoistic person looking for spiritual fixes.