Having discussed the basis, philosophy and outcomes of mantra meditation practice, and introduced
the background to the phenomenon of trance in this context [1], I now wish to turn to the modern
“scientific” viewpoint on both of these. First we should be mindful that “The brain is an electrochemical
organ; researchers have speculated that a fully functioning brain can generate as much as 10 watts of
electrical power. Other more conservative investigators calculate that if all 10 billion interconnected
nerve cells discharged at one time that a single electrode placed on the human scalp would record
something like five millionths to 50 millionths of a volt. If you had enough scalps hooked up you might
be able to light a flashlight bulb. Even though this electrical power is very limited, it does occur in very
specific ways that are characteristic of the human brain” [2]. This is measurable through
“Electroencephalography (EEG) [which] is a study of changing electrical potential of the brain. The
apparatus used to measure this electric potential of the brain is called electroencephalograph, and the
tracing or the printout of the measured brainwave forms is electroencephalogram” [3]. Now, this is
linked to thought and emotion in the following way, for “If you are in a particular state, for example,
very anxious, then you will produce a unique 'signature' of brainwaves. This applies equally to other
states, such as learning and the focused concentration of competitive sport. These are states that can
take a long time and a lot of physical effort to attain. It is an appealing idea that all that hard work and
application could be bypassed and the perfect mental state produced through rapid artificial means”
[4]. The “pseudo-drug” effects of various brainwaves, as taken from [5] is detailed in Table 1. We can
then go on to present a summary of the range of brainwaves (arranged in order of decreasing
frequency), which can be measured in a living human brain with the technology described above.
These are normally labelled with letters of the Greek Alphabet, and here these have been
transliterated into English for convenience. In order to distinguish the special use of this terminology in
this context, the Greek words have been editorially capitalized in English throughout, without further
annotation. These brainwave ranges are to be correlated with experiences reported in “meditative”
and “trance” states of consciousness, either in a waking or in a sleeping subject.