Menstrual Hygiene : Is Chanting Mantras Helpful During Periods?

Friday, May 26, 2023, 15:49

Mantras and menstruation have been two unconnected things in the past. The expert meditators and spiritualists have their learned view of spirituality and how it connects with menstruation.

Women during their menstruation go through a spectrum of body, mind and soul discomfort and studies are on to know if meditation or japa (chanting) helps to relieve the symptoms during periods. Here are some insights.

Gayatri Mantra is the most powerful mantra in the Vedas. It helps strengthen the immune system, improves concentration and focus.Gayatri Mantra chanting during your period has its own benefits.

But complete focus is required and it has to be chanted in silence. Chant it in the morning when there considerably less distractions.

Benefits: The Gayatri mantra activates your brains, and stimulates your glands and gives healing energy to chakras. It also works miraculously on memory.

In one of the Indian States, a study was conducted which found that People who chanted this mantra for 10 Mn a day for 30 days saw a dramatic increase in their memory scores later.

It is indeed a good idea to chant the powerful gayatri mantra. However, let us also look at the possible drawbacks of chanting Gayatri during periods.

Drawbacks: According to some experts, It is advisable to chant the Gayatri mantra only 108 times a day even during normal days.

Chanting it regularly on a daily basis can also cause imbalances in the Mooladhara and Swadishthana Chakra which leads to dysfunction in the ovaries, then low oestrogen levels, and higher testosterone levels which cause facial hair, masculine voice and difficulty in conceiving, as per this opinion.

There may be also hormone level imbalance in women who chant the gayatri mantra which can cause polycystic ovarian syndrome.Do not chant Gayatri mantra sitting on bare floor/ Instead sit on a cushion or a soft mattress.

Face north while chanting this. Instead of Gayatri, you can hear flute and veena recitals. You can do sankirtans, recite stories of God in case you can't focus that long consistently.

Vedic Mantra Chanting During Periods: Vedic mantras by chanting them, activate the spiritual metabolism in a person. Vedic mantra chanting activates the chakras and causes obstruction to the menstruating activity.

Chanting the mantras of ugra devatas bring an obstruction to the menstruating process. Chant the mantras of calm deities like Lakshmi and sararasati, etc and not do the chants of ugra deity mantras of kaal bhairav, kali, tara etc.

Maansik puja is welcome anytime, but reading them aloud and chanting them is not advised in apavitra avastha or impure state. When it comes to mantra chanting, rules of achara, that is, some prescribed cleanliness rules have to be followed.

If we do not follow this, that is , if we choose to chant the way we like during menses, it bears no desired results. For fourth standard exam, we have to read the fourth standard text book and not MA or bachelor Degree texts.

Reading an MA text for fourth standard, will not give any result. It will even disqualify you from the exam.Secondly, a mantra is a capsule of power, and if chanted correctly it gives the result. If chanted incorrectly with wrong pronunciation, the effects are reversed.

For example, when Kumbhakarna penanced for a long time, Brahma appeared before him and asked him what he wanted from him. Kambhakarna, instead of asking for nirdaivatvam he asked for nidravatvam.

A slight change in pronunciation, led Brahma to grant him the same and Kumbhakarna got into permanent stupor or sleep. Nirdaivatvam means a situation where no devas exist.

Nidravatvam, means sleep. He had asked Brahma to wipe out the devas from existence and instead he got permanent sleep,Hanuman mantras have to chanted with right pronunciation and so is Durga devi mantra.

They have to be done at particular levels of cleanliness. If your mantra meets all such requirements, it can be successful.

Mantras and methods are for householders who still have worldly desires left and who have not entered the spiritual realms. For those realized souls, who have gone beyond the shackles of karma into the Sahaja stithi these restrictions do not exist at all.

Sahaja stithi is the natural realized state which is beyond thoughts, feelings and bodily experiences. But not all of us are so well equipped spiritually. Hence, we have to go by the chants and the rules.

However, God is accessible to all. For a common man, he is accessible through faith, for a learned man, through gyana and yoga, for a tantric man, through benefic tantric practices, and a bhakta through the sea of devotion. For the inexperienced it is through faith.

If God is what you want, then use your faith to get him. If worldly pleasures is all that you want through his help, use kamya mantras to gain benefits. Kamya means some specific worldly wish or purpose that you have.

By Doing vrats or mantra chanting or pujas, specific to that wish, you will gain that specific result.
More ever, Mantra chanting is not a casual activity like drinking dining and socialising where there is only human to human interaction.

You will not achieve liberation by doing these activities. So you cannot apply these rules of day to day life to mantra chanting. Mantra is an activity that has to be done in isolation, to deities, who can be contacted or invoked by their powerful mantras.

This is human to God interaction which has to be done strictly as per the instructions as they are placated only with that. Mantras and belief win where Practical common sense fails.

But there is a way ordained by shastras for chanting during periods. You can mentally chant and do manas puja. But do not chant it aloud. Chanting in apavitra avastha (impure state ) is banned even for men.

Chanting Prana Vayu mantras during periods can help relieve stress and discomfort. Prana vayu is an energy that takes care of the entire metabolic process in the body.

It regulates all processes like digestion and excretion. Chanting the Prana Vayu mantra every day can help you reduce your stress levels and enjoy a healthy periods.

If you have premenstrual syndrome which carries over through your periods, ( if you are disturbed feelings and feel not so much in control) do the chandra mantra which will help you to remain calm.

It balances the Anahata chakra, which governs the area of love and compassion. It reduces Jupiter's malefic effects as well and can be included to your set of prana Vayu mantras.

Tantra Practices: These are all about mantra. Coming to tantra, ritualistic tantra sadhana during menses is allowed during menses. Tantric and mantra methods are very different.

Before trying out tantric practices during periods, have a word with your Guru if you are initiated into these practices. They should be taught by the guru and the entire process of initiation and guidance should be handled by the guru.

Certain things we have to do certain ways as not all practices are meant to be similar. Any practice that is sattvic will work for mantra chanting. Menstrual blood is anti-sattvic and is tamasic.

This sattvic tamasic rule is mostly for chanting mantras, and they are highly effective if done under the right conditions.

It is best not to experiment with any discipline in this world as they are already tried and tested especially ancient disciplines.

When you follow the rules, they lay down, you are sure to get the results. There is no need of doubting the outcome of these practices.