Difference between śloka and mantra

[Prasad J]

Dear members,

I was wondering that sometimes verses in scriptures are mentioned as śloka and sometimes as mantra. And I thought that mantras are subtler than ślokas. Śloka can be any verse written by anyone but mantra is a verse meant to deliver the mind.

May be learned members of this group can put more light on this.

Thanks,

Prasad J.

[Hnbhat B.R.]

-- 

In other words, Sloka is always a verse which can be a "mantra" composed in metrical stanza-s or any thing one would like to compose to express his idea-s, i.e. poetry. But "mantra" can be either composed in metrical structure a श्लोक or in any prose form or in Vedic meters as in Veda-s or in prose.

This is the simplest explanation for both. Depends on the usage of the term. श्लोक usually denotes अनुष्टुप्  with four stanza, but Vedic metres begin from with single lettered "paada" up to three to four paada-s. Both can be "mantra" in that they can be used for meditation.

 

--
Dr. Hari Narayana Bhat B.R. M.A., Ph.D.,
Research Scholar,

Ecole française d'Extrême-OrientCentre de Pondichéry

16 & 19, Rue Dumas

Pondichéry - 605 001

[Shreyas P. Munshi]

Prasad Sir,
Some sixty tears ago I had asked the same question to my Sanskrit teacher in school (he was only a BA with Sanskrit as his subsidiary subject and English his principal but it seems people of that generation were capable of indulging in great in-depth studies of the subject of their choice, at least that is the impression I have in my mind). His explanation was that a shloka is normally a chantable metrical composition, and it usually refers to the "external"; it contains either an advice,or a praise (stuti)for a god or goddess,or it contains a prayer or it is a description of a phenomenon. A mantra, on the other hand, is more directed to the "internal" and it contains, in most cases, an auto-suggestion; something to control the mind with and give it a direction. As an example, he had said, the savitru gayatri is a mantra and like most manta-s, the chanter has to immerse himself in the qualities mentioned in it(shivo bhUtvA shivam bhajet like)to derive the desired benefit. The "om" by itself,as also "soham", "ahambhrahmAsmi" etc are vedic mantras while a mantra like "om namaH shivAya" is a puranic (pourANic)mantra; and chantings like "bhrahmAnandam paramasukhadam kevalamdnyanamurtim
.......tasmai shrI gurave namaH" would qualify as shloka-s. Scholars, of course, might be able to throw more light on the topic (This is because, in this regard, I have not grown from where I was sixty years ago!).
...Shreyas

On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:59:03 +0530 wrote

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[Prabhakara Das]

Sloka is a mode or texture of writing. Another mode is prose. Mantra
is for "application" like meditation etc.

--
VRS
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[Prasad J]

Thank you very much for your answers Bhatji, Munshiji and Dasji. It helped me a lot.

Regards,

Prasad J