Religious Monograms and Mantras

Abstract

It is common knowledge that Yoga centres exist in the great cities of the world like New York and London where self-styled Gurus and spiritual masters communicate in secret to their fashionable lady clients a special mantra for a fixed financial offering. This commercialized version of spirituality is an indication of the human need for appropriate means for concentrating attention on the ultimate meaning of existence and for giving specific expression to one's style of the transcendental search. These mantras or mnemonic formulae and especially the religious monograms of a tradition encapsulate centuries of a people's religious thinking preserving it and transmitting it to the future generations. The study of these monograms and mantras can reveal to us various theological dimensions of a people's religious experience.