I like to chant every day

I'm not sure who this person is (in the above video), but he likes to chant every day.

You don't have to have ideal surroundings in order to benefit from chanting.

Obviously, if you happened to live among the incredible ruins of Rajavihara (Ta Promh) at Angkor, you would probably not be self-conscious about chanting mantras every day.

But, just because the modern world is often covered with uninspiring architecture doesn't mean you cannot create vibrations around you as if you were at Ta Promh.

The chant in the above video is discussed in this previous blog post. As mentioned in that blog post, the sloka is repeated four times, beginning with the sacred syllable OM each time, and concludes with the repetition of the word "Shanti" three times (also preceded by the sacred syllable at the beginning of the three).

A technique for keeping track of the four repeated slokas using the thumb and fingers of one hand is illustrated. The thumb and index finger form a circle on the first sloka, then the thumb and middle finger for the second sloka, then the thumb and ring finger for the third sloka, and then back to the thumb and middle finger for the fourth and final sloka, so that you don't lose track of how many you have chanted.

Previous posts discussing the benefits of chanting and singing every day include:

• "A brief examination of the importance of chakras and singing praises"

• "How much time do you spend chanting praises?"

• "Mantras: Sacred Words of Power, by John Blofeld"

• "Your song"

• "The hymn to Durga in the Mahabharata"

and

• "The Lord of the Rings, the Power of Music, and the Stories that Really Matter"

There are many places where the power of the sacred syllable OM is discussed. A previous post which touches on this subject can be found here.

While, like me, you may not live among beautiful structures such as those found at Angkor in Cambodia (I've never even been there), I believe we can make our temple wherever we happen to find ourselves on this planet.