This is simple – very, very simple.
The mantras given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are sounds.
They are sounds without meaning.
“Man” means “mind” and “-tra” means “tool” – as translated from Sanskrit.
They are the “tools” to facilitate the experience of transcendence to access the deep silence or Being inherent in Nature.
Being able to access this deep silence is a very valuable technique for the human mind and body. Millenia of experience bears this out.
If you look at the FAQ section of the website a question is addressed about the mantras “association” with Hindu “Gods.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi addressed this issue very simply and very clearly – even India itself has fallen to the loss of the practical knowledge of the actual technical purpose of the mantras and in such times Maharishi Mahesh Yogi stated Hindus have come to associate the mantras with this and that “God” held within the Hindu Pantheon; with a complete loss of knowledge of the mantras actual practical/ technical purpose.
I will add this. It is very important for a Western audience to understand this.
I met an elderly Indian man on Southsea Common many years ago in the late 90s. He was absolutely adamant that Hinduism is a monotheistic religion the same as Islam, Judaism or Christianity. That these religions use different words for the same thing – in Islam “Allah” and in Judaism “Yahweh” and in Christianity “God.”
The elderly Indian man on Southsea Common stated the Hindu word for this is “Brahm” or “Brahman.”
The elderly Indian man stated all the so called Hindu “Gods” are simply facets of Nature.
We are all One. We all come from the same Source…and to that Source we all return one way or another.