Why Should I Do Chants ?

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. One day, while the farmer, grandfather, was working in the barn, stocking up coal, he saw his grandson come by and stand next to him. He looked a little lost and confused. The grandfather asked, What's the matter with you son? Grandson replied, I don't understand the Chants, the prayers, and the scriptures. I don't know why should I be doing them everyday ?

The grandfather, acknowledged his concerns and said, son, that is a good question. While I try to explain it to you, could you take this bucket and get me some water from the stream downhill ? The grandson took the coal bucket and went down the hill to get some water from the stream. He filled the bucket with water and started walking uphill. On his way up, he noticed, the water was not holding up in the coal bucket as it had holes in it. So, he went back to the stream and filled the bucket up again. This time, he ran uphill as fast as he could. Upon arriving, he noticed there was very little water left in the bucket. All the water from the bucket had already drained out. Disappointed, he asked his grandfather, the bucket is full of holes and cannot retain any water then, why was I asked to get water in this bucket?

The grandfather smiled and replied, you are right son, the bucket cannot hold any water and I still asked you to get some. Take a look at the bucket, it is clean now.

Moral of the story:

We may not always understand the meaning of chants or scriptures but, sometimes it not about what they mean. The words we chant, have a certain energy and a specific frequency that has a very cleansing or healing effect on our emotional, mental, and physical body. We often don't realize it. Many a times the effect is so subtle that the results don't show up in the moment but, in the way we process or do things in our daily lives. We also see ourselves handling our relationships in a differently.