February was a month full of energies and vibrations at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama (SRSG), our spiritual home. The Mantra and Purashcharana retreat provided an opportunity for us to become “mantra billionaires” (as our dear Swami Veda Bharati used to say) filling ourselves with the vibration of our personal Guru mantras and giving us the possibility to contemplate upon two new books that contributed to the dissemination of Swami Veda’s teachings.

The beginning of the retreat was accompanied by the reprint of Swami Veda Bharati’s one of the earliest and most fundamentally important books—Mantra & Meditation—which had been originally published in 1981. Out of print for several years, Mantra & Meditation has now been reprinted with a new cover and is now available for all spiritual seekers who wish to tread the path of inner discovery through the tools of mantra and meditation.

This book is a comprehensive study of the mantra science in its totality, including the origins of sounds and their vibrations. Swamiji covers linguistics, history, psychology, science, and philosophy of mantras and is a book that “can lead to an understanding, knowledge and an ability to practice the science of meditation”.

“In this book Dr Arya (Swami Veda’s name before sannyasa) explains that all the existing spiritual traditions of the world use a syllable, a sound, a word or a set of words called mantra as a bridge to cross the mire of delusion” (H.H. Swami Rama, from the Introduction). 

On the most auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri, the newest publication “Cultivating Meditative Voice” of our Beloved Swami Veda Bharati has been released by Swami Ritavan Bharati. 

Cultivating Meditative Voice is a most beautiful book based on Swami Veda’s lectures on the same topic. The lectures were offered in a special seminar to a gathering of mantra initiators, meditation practitioners and teachers at SRSG in 2012.

Swamiji elucidates upon the art of using one’s voice to guide deep meditations, leading one’s students into the depths of silence through speech. Swamiji writes, “Learn to first observe yourself, your own mind, emotions and your speech process. Then speak from that awareness. Half the secret of your success in life, in anything, is in your voice.” He has revealed many secrets in this book on how to cultivate awareness in our thoughts, emotions, and thereby speech.

Swamiji says, “Depending on our thoughts and emotions the volume, tone, rhythm and speed of our speech varies, differs. Contained in our speech is that which we wish to express and that also our emotional state which is so often expressed involuntarily.” He further adds, “Learn to choose your emotion before speaking.”

Swami Ritavan in his presentation underlined the importance of a true understanding of communication, “Treat your words as something sacred. Real communication through words is something to be honoured.”

This book is for meditators and spiritual seekers who aspire to understand the spiritual dimensions of voice and the spoken words. This book is not only for meditation teachers and guides and is essentially a training manual in all aspects of our interpersonal conversations and communications so we can learn how to speak effectively, and more importantly soothingly, kindly, and beneficially with one another.

We are all deeply grateful to the team of Himalayan Yoga Publications Trust (HYPT) – Deepti and Aruna, who work tirelessly on bringing out Swami ji’s new books. We also are grateful to our wonderful editor – John Sellinger and our dedicated proofreader – Tejas Didi (Shobhna Chandaria) for everything they do so lovingly for the Tradition.

Editor’s Note:

If you would like to receive a physical copy of this book, you may write to our bookstore at hyptbooks@gmail.com. For Kindle edition, you may visit –

1. Cultivating Meditative Voice
2. Mantra and Meditation

Complimentary suggested readings to the Cultivating Meditative Voice include:

1. Sadhana in Applied Spirituality by Swami Veda Bharati
2. Signs of Spiritual Progress by Swami Veda Bharati

Complimentary suggested readings to the Mantra and Meditation include:

1. ‘Samyama: The Power of Self-Transformation by Swami Rama
2. Mantras: The Sacred Chants by Swami Veda Bharati or Night Birds by Swami Veda Bharati

Ilaria Sarri is one of the center leaders at the Himalayan Yoga Institute Italia – Centro Per La Salute Globale in Firenze (Florence). She is a long-term initiate, student and teacher within the Himalayan Tradition.

You may find more information about the Florence Center’s programs, retreats, and activities – https://www.himalayanyogainstitute.it/workshop-seminari-yoga-firenze-2/. They also have a four-year long Teacher Training Program (TTP) within the Himalayan Tradition in Italian language. Ilaira is also a mentor and teacher in the Italian TTP.