By greeting each other with ‘Ram Ram’ people would ensure that they uttered Ram at the start of speech. Today we greet people and start the conversation with ‘Hi’ and ‘Hello’ and end it with ‘Bye’. Aping of western practices in each and every aspect of our living has robbed us of our cultural heritage. It is appalling how we can forgetten our ‘Ram’.

    In order to understand the power of chanting Ram Naam one must know what Ram is. That is, the ‘Ram’ in Ram Naam. We will examine the power of the name ‘Ram’ in the Ram Raksha Stotra, a hymn in praise of Lord Ram that is chanted for one's protection. We will scrutinise the same closely. In this hymn, there are approximately 300 words combining the consonant ‘R’ with different vowels. We find repeated impact of these syllables. The name ‘Ram’ occurs nearly 70 times in these verses. On account of the hard hitting sound of these syllables, one develops a sense of self confidence and a fearless attitude while reciting the Ram Raksha Stotra. This is because of the strong vibrations radiating from these syllables that cleanse the whole environment. Apart from cleansing the external environment, these vibrations purify the mind by making it completely thought-free. This develops a feeling of an unusual power within and this certainly is a singular and special feature of Ram Naam.

     Let us now examine Ram Naam from the Aksharabrahma (energy of the chant syllables) point of view. Aksharabrahma consists of vowels, consonants, and beejaksharas (seed or root sounds). Beejaksharas are an extremely important part of Aksharabrahma. Mantras are always associated with beejaksharas. Om, Eim, Srim, Hreem, Kleem, Hum, Hoom, Hram, Thram, Kroom, Lroom, etc. are some of the well known beejaksharas. You may observe that 'Om' as also the other beejaksharas are written in Sanskrit with the sound ‘ma’ indicated by a dot over the preceding syllable. In the case of beejaksharas, a dot over the preceding syllable is pronounced as ‘ma’ without the vowel ‘a’ similar to the way 'm' is pronounced in the words 'farm', 'harm', 'tram', 'pram', etc. The ‘m’ ending denoted by this dot causes the hard sounding syllable to end softly. The hard sounds generate vibrations while the soft sounds create resonance.

     Goddess Chamunda Devi is considered to be a very powerful form of energy. The associated mantra is ‘Om Eim Hreem Kleem Chamundayei Vicchai’. It can be seen that there are many sounds ending with ‘m’. A special feature of any mantra is that it normally resembles a sentence. Take for example the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. In this ‘Om’ is a beejakshara and the sound of ‘Shivaya’ softens as it is pronounced as ‘Shivay’ i.e. the last syllable without the ending vowel. As ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ is repeated over and over, the mind slowly dissolves itself completely. This dissolving of the mind is important and one should aim for it. Similar other mantras are ‘Om Gung Ganapataye Namah’, ‘Om Sri Ramachandraya Namah’, and ‘Om Hum Hanumate Namah’.

     One might have observed that it is not mandatory for every beejakshara to have a dot over it. There are other beejaksharas like ‘Hut’, ‘Phat’ etc. having different kinds of vibrations. The power of a particular chant depends on the vibrations it creates. Now let us look at Ram Naam from the beejakshara viewpoint. The well known mantra is called the mantra with thirteen syllables. It is ‘Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama’. The thirteen syllables are ‘Sri’ ‘Ra’ ‘Ma’ ‘Ja’ ‘Ya’ ‘Ra’ ‘Ma’ ‘Ja’ ‘Ya’ ‘Ja’ ‘Ya’ ‘Ra’ ‘Ma’. In reality however, this is not a mantra with thirteen syllables but a mantra with seven beejaksharas. With seven beejaksharas it must be a tremendously power packed mantra. As we saw earlier, ‘Sri’ is a beejakshara. ‘Rama’ is also a beejakshara as it is pronounced as ‘Ram’ and not as ‘Rama’. It should be noted that though we write as ‘Rama’ it is pronounced as ‘Ram’ as though there is a dot on the syllable ‘Ra’. Nobody has thus far figured out this magical transformation of ‘Rama’ into a beejakshara. Now if you try to pronounce the mantra as a thirteen syllable mantra as ‘Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama’ it will not sound right. It will not sound sweet to the ear even if you set it in a melodious tune. The vitality of the chant can be experienced only when ‘Rama’ is pronounced as a beejakshara i.e. as ‘Ram’. Similarly, ‘Jaya’ is written as shown but pronounced as ‘Jai’ i.e. the second syllable is pronounced as ‘ya’ without the vowel ‘a’. Thus the mantra has seven beejaksharas as it is pronounced - ‘Sri’ ‘Ram’ ‘Jai’ ‘Ram’ ‘Jai’ ‘Jai’ ‘Ram’.

     ‘Om’ is a beejakshara representing renunciation. The beejakshara ‘Sri’ represents abundance or affluence while ‘Jai’ stands for victory. When soldiers go to war they are blessed with the words ‘Jai Ho’ or ‘Vijayi Bhava’ meaning ‘may victory be yours’. ‘Jai’ is a power packed syllable which makes one feel charged with positive energy. When we say ‘Bharat mata ki Jai’ we can feel the power in the word ‘Jai’. No wonder the Indian song ‘Jai Ho’ won the most sought after and celebrated Oscar award last year.

     Coming back to the subject of Ram Naam, it is emphasised that the mantra is a seven beejakshara mantra ‘Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram’ with enormous power. It is not a thirteen syllable mantra as normally thought of, and most importantly, it is not merely the name of Shri Rama. And that is precisely the reason why it is recommended to every human being for continuous chanting so as to uplift one’s life. At the same time it is important to chant the mantra with ardour, a feel of love, faith and reverence. Also, set the mantra to a melodious tune for chanting repeatedly, as the musical notes do help in developing the above feel and reach unto the supreme energy field.

Watch Excerpts from the Ramnavmi Video