In honor of my dear friend, Rebeca, bestowing on me a gift of a silver Ganesha charm (which she brought back from her trip to India), my next 40 day mantra will be the Maha Ganaphathi mantra.
Maha means "great" and also "heart center"
Ganaphathi is a name for the deity Ganesha
{As a side note, Ganesha is depicted on a rat mount. Ganesha represents cosmic consciousness and the rat represents the ego. This reminds us that the tiny ego is in service to the infinite and vast cosmic consciousness.}
Traditionally, in order to learn mantras, a student would learn them a little at a time, repeating one section many times until that was memorized and then adding on.
This is called a step mantra. in which one would repeat each section 3-108 times, adding a little more to each section, until finally the entire mantra is memorized.
Here is what it looks like:
om swaha
om srim swaha
om srim hrim swaha
om srim hrim klim swaha
om srim hrim klim glaum swaha
om srim hrim klim glaum gam swaha
om srim hrim klim glaum gam ganapatayei swaha
om srim hrim klim glaum gam ganapatayei vara varada swaha
om srim hrim klim glaum gam ganapatayei vara varada sarva janam me vasham swaha
According to Thomas Ashley-Farrand, (from whose book this information was gleaned) this mantra is an entreaty to Ganesha to help us in centering tangible spiritual power on a foundation of heartfelt impulse.
If you need a mala to help you keep track of how many times you've chanted the sections of this mantra, may I suggest something from my Etsy shop ;)
Namaste,
Kate
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