OM MANI PADME HUM MANTRA MEANINGS

The Om Mani Padme Hum mantra is a Budhhist and Hindu mantra that translates roughly to: I honor the jewel within the lotus bloom. It is a metaphor representative of honoring the divinity within yourself and within everyone and everything. You are the lotus bloom. The jewel within is the divinity and enlightened compassion of Buddhahood.

Ram Dass speaks extensively of this mantra in many of his books, as do many other spiritual writers. The chant is especially useful during times of conflict or fear when a person needs immediate grounding and balancing. The mantra is pronounced like this: (Om monny podmay hoom)

It is also very beneficial for learning to respect and honor not only yourself but also every other living thing. It is a beautiful mantra to share with a friend.

Repeat a series of the mantra for as long as you wish, five minutes is a good minimum time period. You will feel calm and renewed afterwards.

Other common spellings of this mantra are Om Mani Padme Hung and Om Mani Peme Hung. Below is an image of the mantra spelled out in sanskrit.

It is my favorite mantra to use, and I have been chanting it for close to twenty years now. I have an interesting story about the mantra that I've shared at the bottom of this page, but first, here's a video of the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra being chanted by a group of monks.

A STORY ABOUT OM MANI PADME HUM

My (Tanja's) little story: I once visited a friend who lived very, very far out in the Ozark mountains (way further than we did) on 600 acres of forest surrounded on all sides by thousands of more forested acres (a magical place indeed).

It was remote enough that the only way in was by four wheel drive. Whenever I visited her I always left my car at the entrance of her land and made the half hour hike in on foot.

On this visit she told me she'd be waiting at the entrance and would drive me in. When I showed up she wasn't there so I started hiking in like usual.

I always took those opportunities to do a walking meditation. About halfway to her house I heard the most hauntingly beautiful sound in the woods. I was in my half-meditative state and just allowed the sound vibration to carry through me. It was incredible. Then it slowly dawned on me that whatever was making that sound was quite close and quite large.

I snapped out of my meditation and realized that I was in the middle of the wilds by myself and there was a large animal who was quite aware of my presence and I was in their territory. (I found out quickly it was a mountain lion).

What happened next is comical in retrospect but was terrifying at the time. Being slightly out of shape (no one's perfect) I half-jogged/half-ran at a ridiculously slow pace as the mountain lion crossed the path behind me and paced along beside me about twenty feet out in the woods to my left.

At the time I didn't realize I was doing it, but I naturally started doing the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra. So there we were. Me and the mountain lion. It yeowled and growled and sang it's mountain lion song while I chanted and huffed and puffed and jogged and chanted some more. It lasted like that for a good ten minutes.

Now obviously I'm still here to write this, so I didn't make a tasty snack for the cat. I'm not sure why it didn't attack, or what message it was intent on giving me, and I can't say for sure that the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra saved me. But what I do know is that in a time of stress (and real danger) I fell back on this mantra to help me through the situation.

Out of all the vibrational techniques I've used in my life, this mantra was one that I automatically and naturally relied on. For me that says a lot...

Conclusion of my tale: My friend wasn't home when I got to her house. The mountain lion had quieted down on the last slow sprint to her house and I didn't how close it was in the surrounding woods. I sat outside chanting and hoping my mountain lion lessons were done for the day until my friend (thankfully, finally) showed up.

When she drove up in her big four wheel drive truck she was horrified that I'd made the hike in. She thought she'd told me that there had been a large and aggresive mountain lion staking claims on the path and that no one hiked it anymore for that reason.

The experience solidified a healthy respect for nature in me as well as a newfound understanding of how important mantras and chanting are in my life. At the time I thought of this mantra as one for honoring the divinity within others and myself. I didn't know it had associations with divine protection during times of danger.

I've read two accounts by sound healers (can't remember who, I think Jonothan Goldman and Dr. Mitchell Gaynor) where they also experienced dangerous situations and felt that chanting saved their lives. Those situations involved predators of the human variety instead of my mountain lion encounter, but both people spoke of the tremendous power of sound to aid in situations such as this.

Thanks for reading my story, I felt it was important to share... So next time you're being chased by a slow-moving mountain lion remember to chant the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra!

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Om Mantra...

Om Mani Padme Hum Mantra...

Ganesh Mantra...

Bija Mantras...

Hu Mantra...

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Main Meditation Section...

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