A "mantra" (/ˈmæntrə, ˈmɑːn-, ˈmʌn-/ (Sanskrit: मन्त्र); ) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers. Mantra meditation helps to induce an altered state of consciousness. A mantra may or may not have a syntactic structure or literal meaning.