This mantra is in Pali language that is chanted by the Buddhists. The meaning of this mantra is simple – It says ‘let all the beings of this world be happy’. You may wonder why it should be chanted in this manner. Encompassing the world into a family and praying for their happiness is the essence of this mantra.
Chanting this mantra on a daily basis opens your heart to feel the beauty around you. You also learn to be grateful and generous when spreading love to fellow living beings. Showing generosity will make you become a kind and charitable human being.
This will help you to uproot negativity from your mind and become an optimistic person if you are prone to negativity.
Gratitude is a very potent sensation which has a multiplier effect. And remember, it does not cost anything, doesn’t require any resources and is free.
You can chant this mantra while driving to work or taking a bath or doing any other chore. It’s simple and doesn’t need any special technique. Remember that thoughts are the seed of reality. Reinforce this idea in your mind that thoughts are things. Repeat it over and over in your mind. After a while you’ll see that you start living your thoughts.
This chant helps to develop loving kindness (metta bhavana) that can create compassion in the hearts of people. This can to a great extent help to keep this world a peaceful place to live in.
Buddhism teaches that the nurturing of kindness starts with you. It is an insightful fact, for someone who cannot love himself/ herself wilfully or involuntarily cannot feel the true loving-kindness for others. For each one of us the self is the closest entity and if you cannot love yourself then the feelings that come out of you is impure at its foundation.
This signifies that you should be conscious of your strengths and weaknesses and not be harsh on yourself or others so that not only can you bring about a change within you but also spread it to others around you.
Metta bhavana is the most commonly useful form of meditation, which can be practiced in any surroundings. Thoughts of universal kindness, like radio waves reach out in all directions.
Metta bhavana, therefore, begins with the thought: “May I be free from hate; may I be free from malice; may I be free of pain and agony; may I be cheerful.” And the same should be applied for others too, without the discrimination of friends or enemies.
One who has practiced them is not influenced by the problems of life. He moves and acts in unperturbed tranquility with an almost Godlike quality, armored against the blows of fate and the uncertainty of worldly conditions, because without doubt, it is through infinite and unconditional love that the mind achieves its first taste of liberation.
The combined effect of this chant, when repeated in a mindful condition has an accumulated outcome that creates a legitimate sense of compassion and empathy.