Śānti
शान्ति
रौद्र · Angry, frustrated, bitter
ॐ सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
May He protect us both together and nourish us both together; may we work together with vigour; may our study be full of light, and may we not hate each other.
Why this one
Anger nearly always has another person in it. This mantra does not ask the anger to go. It puts both people in every line, and in its fourth line it says the dislike out loud before it can grow: मा विद्विषावहै. That is why it is the japa for anger here. The force is kept, and given a we to work inside.
Every line holds the two together: सह, together, and नौ, the two of us. Not I and not everyone: the two of us. The one who teaches and the one who learns, said by both at once, before anything is taught.
That is why it belongs here rather than at the end of some other page. The sixth phase of this training is a man who has been through it standing in front of a man who is still in it. Neither of them is above the other. This is the sentence for that room, and it was written for exactly that room, long ago.
मा विद्विषावहै is the line to sit with. May we not hate each other. It is not sentimental. It admits that two people working closely on something hard very often do come to dislike each other, and it asks, before beginning, that this time they will not.
The complications it serves: Shame, and being alone
वाचिक: Said out loud, at the length of one out-breath. The syllables light as you say them. उपांशु: The lips move, the breath carries it, nobody across the room can hear it. The light goes through each line in its colour, as it does aloud. मानस: Nothing is said. The words grow faint, the light still goes through them, and their sense stays, with the breath and the beads. अन्तर्यात्रा: One mālā that goes inwards by itself. The first third aloud, the second in a whisper, the last in the mind. The voice leaves the room without you deciding when.
How many
Three is the whole of it. It is said once at the beginning and once at the end.
How to say it
The traditional order, and it is a withdrawal inwards rather than a set of levels. Nothing here is locked. Stand on whichever step you are on today.