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<p>Gāyatrī, the well-known Vedic <i>mantra</i>, is not only ubiquitous in modern Hinduism, but popular among North American <i>yoga</i>, New Age, and <i>kīrtan</i> devotional music communities as well. This article sheds light on Gāyatri’s changing contexts, new <i>mantra</i> theologies, and ritual innovations in modern spiritual communities, and more broadly on discourses of global spirituality. It argues that contemporary Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR) modern <i>yoga</i> and <i>kīrtan</i> communities often subscribe to a novel approach to Gāyatrī and other <i>mantra</i>s—a theological ontology that views <i>mantra</i>s as vibrations, frequencies, or energetic essences. This <i>mantra</i> theology expresses a form of perennial spirituality, which concludes in new forms of universalism regarding ontology, access, and egalitarianism on the one hand, but eliminates Brāhmaṇical Hindu ritual prescriptions and prohibitions on the other hand. This view bypasses any cultural historical location, religious identity, or custodial lineages, which enables SBNR agency to reinterpret <i>mantra</i>s and other sacred utterances, to construct new ritualistic uses of <i>mantra</i>s, and to hold tacit ownership when commercializing <i>mantra</i>s in the spiritual marketplace. This theology and its universalism raise ethical concerns of complicity with Orientalism and cultural appropriation.</p>

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Spiritual But Not Religious Mantra Theologies: Vibrations and Universalism in the Case of Gāyatrī

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月20日

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  • Neil Dalal

摘要

Gāyatrī, the well-known Vedic mantra, is not only ubiquitous in modern Hinduism, but popular among North American yoga, New Age, and kīrtan devotional music communities as well. This article sheds light on Gāyatri’s changing contexts, new mantra theologies, and ritual innovations in modern spiritual communities, and more broadly on discourses of global spirituality. It argues that contemporary Spiritual but not Religious (SBNR) modern yoga and kīrtan communities often subscribe to a novel approach to Gāyatrī and other mantras—a theological ontology that views mantras as vibrations, frequencies, or energetic essences. This mantra theology expresses a form of perennial spirituality, which concludes in new forms of universalism regarding ontology, access, and egalitarianism on the one hand, but eliminates Brāhmaṇical Hindu ritual prescriptions and prohibitions on the other hand. This view bypasses any cultural historical location, religious identity, or custodial lineages, which enables SBNR agency to reinterpret mantras and other sacred utterances, to construct new ritualistic uses of mantras, and to hold tacit ownership when commercializing mantras in the spiritual marketplace. This theology and its universalism raise ethical concerns of complicity with Orientalism and cultural appropriation.