Mantra Yoga and Primal Sound: Secret of Seed (Bija) Mantras by David Frawley (2010-09-16) Paperback – 1712

I am a student of Frawley and find his works to be both pithy and easily assimilated, simultaneously. As a life-long follower of Eastern philosophy and esoterica, I find his works to bring valuable insight into the workings of both.This particular volume covers nearly, if not all, of mantra applications, purposes, and history. It is from a Vedic perspective of course, but Buddhists alike will find the subject matter informative and instructive.Highly recommended. 185 pages long, includes diagrams, pronunciation guides, seed (bija) mantras explained and their purposes and applications; required reading for any mantra yogic practitioner.

I have been fascinated by mantras for some time now, but wanted to find a book that captured and sustained my interest. You know...something that pushed me from where I am, something a bit unique. This book served my intention powerfully. I read it in a pace that didn't create that feel of a reference book. Undoubtedly, this is a good reference guide. But it is much more. As I read this book slowly, I found the feel that one gets when reading a story. By the time I knew it I had read it twice straight through. Now it is a reference book that I go to time and again. My knowledge of the material feels solid. The text has impacted my personal and professional practice. Definitely a must for the library if you are anywhere close to working with mantras and how mantras work alongside other important spiritual systems such as the chakras, astrology, and the body.

At 74, this book opened my mind an entirely new world of the Sanscrit language,Mantras, and the Power of Sound.It led me to see sound and power of words in languages other than Sanscrit. I now see musicians as 'chemists of sounds' - mixing, vibrating and leavingtheir impressions on listeners, and I believe that sounds heal..

A hard book to wade through with all the unfamiliar words and definitions gleaned from thousands of years of East India for an American guy, but I persevered and read some paragraphs two or three times and I am getting it. And it is well worth the concentration and focus to get a real foundation for meditating. I meditate words from the Sanskrit, but I did not know what I was chanting, the origin and the meaning. Now I do and my meditation has a lot more meaning now and a lot more hope it will materialize what I was meditating for. There are definitions for the words in the back of the book which is a huge help with other books, like the standard texts such as Deepak Chopras books and Paramahansa Yogananda. It tells you what words to inhale or exhale. An amazing amount of information for a person that did not know much. If you really want to learn what you are meditating about, don't be lazy or half knowing , read this book. Thank you.

Frawley's book is an excellent and very readable resource on the technical aspects of mantra science and practice. It is an excellent companion volume to Swami Veda Bharati's (Usharbudh Arya) Mantra and Meditation. Without access to Sanskrit in order to read the Mimamsa and Kashmira Shaiva texts where the mantra science is preserved, it is essentially impossible outside of these two resources to find an authentic account of the depth and breadth of the mantra science. The theory of divine creative speech (distinct from language as a communicator of meaning) is what the Christian Gospel writer John refers to in the opening words of his text, but Christian tradition has no text that gives the details. These details are found in Shaiva tradition and to some extent in Jewish texts of the Kabbalah, especially Zohar, Sefer Yetzira, and Sefir Bahir. For the serious student of mantras and their relationship to meditation, to ritual practice and to astrology and Ayurveda this is essential reading.

This is one of my favorite books but sadly the Kindle version does not support Sanskrit / Devanagari Script (nor IAST diacritics) in a standard font / Unicode format.Unfortunately, this means it's impossible to lookup any of the Sanskrit <b>बीज / Bījā</b> IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) characters contained within the Kindle ebook, which is why I purchased it.Please consider recompiling this ebook with an Open-source Unicode Sanskrit typeface such as Charis SIL or Noto font for example.I'd appreciate notification when a properly formatted version becomes available.<b>ॐ नमः शिवाय</b>

While I could have done without the admonition that one needs a teacherto learn mantra from, I did learn a lot from this book. Many "spiritual" teachers have sleazy and greedy agendas, while great teachers are rare and hard to come by.I have gotten better results as a solitary practitioner than most people I know who have recieved the initiation, the shakti pat, formal instruction etc from a guru.Additionally many of these devotees have been violated and abused by their gurus.I prefer working my own path.Having said that, this book is very useful. The deeper meanings behind the seed mantras are explained and some formulas for using them are presented here. The seed mantras are the building blocks of reality, thus an understanding of them in important.I'm using mantra to obtain real world results rather than performing mantraas a part of a devotional or religious practice. This book along with the books and cds by Thomas Ashely Farrand are really useful in terms of an approach that hasa greater likelihood of reality creation. So far my results in terms of manifestation have been robust in several areas of mantra intention. Others are still in process, so time will tell. I am convinced that mantras are powerful and life changing.This book would have been better had it a phonetic pronunciation approach to mantra included, but overall an important contribution to the serious practitioner of esoterica in regards to manifestation technique. Perhaps Mr. Frawley will produce a cd that will instruct the student in the art of mantra pronunciation.If you want to understand seed mantras, buy this book.