Mantras for daily use

What is a mantra?

A "mantra" is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word, or group of words commonly in Sanskrit (but may be in any language) believed by practitioners to have psychologically calming and spiritual powers if chanted repeatedly.  A mantra may or may not have syntactic structure or literal meaning. The Sanskrit word mantra consists of the root man- "to think" (also in manas "mind") and the suffix -tra, designating tools or instruments, hence a literal translation would be "instrument of thought".

Mantras come in many forms.  They are typically melodic, mathematically structured meters, believed to be resonant with numinous qualities. At its simplest, the primordial sound ॐ (Aum, Om) serves as a mantra. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a human longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and action. Some mantras have no literal meaning, yet are musically uplifting and spiritually meaningful.

The earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit by Hindus in India, and are at least 3000 years old. Mantras now exist in various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. In Japanese tradition, the word Shingon means mantra. Similar hymns, chants, compositions and concepts are found in Zoroastrianism,Taoism, Christianity, and elsewhere.

The mantras listed here are all Vedic universal mantras, and can be used in any situation, and at any time.  These are distinct from personal mantras into which individual people are initiated by a qualified teacher, suitable to their particular temperament and need.

Source material and definitions from Wikipedia