Hari Aum.
I was reflecting on the power of mantra recently. What mantra has achieved for humanity from time immemorial to current times. As per our scriptures and sages, mantra is the energy of God, in fact it is God. A moksha mantra is the key to revealing our true nature as one with God. Okay we've all heard the theory. We know all this. We've read this time and again in different books. What about our experience of mantra? What has mantra done for us personally? To know this one has to repeat a mantra for a little while. It's like going to the gym to get fit. It's no good going once or twice and then standing in front of the mirror checking to see if one's biceps look bigger or one's tummy looks more toned. No - it takes weeks, months, may be a few years to get that fit toned physical body. Same thing with the mantra. It takes weeks, months, may be a few years to get that fit toned mantra mind. No point saying the mantra for 1-2 days and hoping for the spiritual biceps to immediately look bigger. That ain't going to happen. All good things come with time. And not necessarily after millennia as some despondent spiritual aspirants say - mantra is about speeding up God realisation. What would have taken millennia can take place in a lifetime or even part of a lifetime as per our sages. What is required is dogged determination and regular daily practice. We need to work those spiritual biceps every day with the mantra.
Anyway. I was reflecting how mantra is the be-all and end-all in a sense in spiritual life (on the mantra yoga path- there are of course other valid paths to God too- but the mantra is one of the most powerful).
Great yogis became great (or rather discovered their inherent greatness that was always there) with the help of the mantra. It would be reasonable in fact to say, that it was the mantra that revealed the extraordinary nature of the ordinary human being that took refuge in it. In other words, that the mantra is truly the philosopher's stone. It transforms the crude human rock into pristine divine gold.
It is important for us to recognise this as seekers in order to keep up our motivation and our practice. It is strange how people treat Gurus in one of two ways. Ignorant people dismiss true spiritual Gurus as fake, as frauds. Such people are to be pitied, but one day, they too will embrace a Guru- it is simply a matter of time and their evolution (this is the Lila of God that such persons exist).
Equally, and just as worryingly, genuine seekers eulogise the Guru's personality and refuse to believe the Guru when he/she says that our nature is the same as the Guru, the same as God. For example a mantra yogi Guru declares to the disciple "My friend, I gained whatever I did in spiritual life, by taking refuge in the mantra. I recited this so so often, virtually constantly. Pleased by my devotion to mantra, the deity of the mantra revealed Himself/Herself to me and I attained the Supreme Being. You too can do the same."
The last sentence is the critical part that we find hard to accept "You too can do the same". "No no" we say to the Guru. "You are great, you were born for greatness, you were a great yogi in the last xyz number of lifetimes- that is why you attained God in your one lifetime. I am a poor miserable soul, drowned in samsara- what hope is there for me- I will have to do sadhana for millions of lifetimes." With these thoughts apathy sets in- one subconsciously feels- "What is the rush- it'll take a few million lifetimes anyway".
The intensity of sadhana drops with this sort of negative thinking. This is also a way of disrespecting the mantra. The mantra is the ultimate transforming energy of God- how can one say that it will work so slowly on us? Are we saying that even God cannot transform us, though it transformed so many others?
It is foolish to have such faith in the lowness of our own character, and so much doubt in the mantra. How about reversing the situation? Let us have faith in the divine transforming power of the mantra, and let us doubt our the reality of our weaknesses (this is not to say we don't have weaknesses- this is to say the mantra is stronger than any weakness in us). In reality, let us remember, we are children of the Divine after all.
To emphasise the greatness of the mantra, I would like to say that as per our own sages, the mantra is everything, and the yogi himself/herself is and was nothing without the mantra.
Some examples from the Puranas and more recent times of great yogis who attained God through mantra:
1. Ratnakar was nothing before Rama mantra. He was a scoundrel, a criminal. Recitation of Rama mantra (repeated backwards as "Mara Mara") transformed the scoundrel into the great saint Valmiki, the one who told the story of Sri Rama in the form of the beautiful Ramayana.
Just to emphasise this point, I am expressing this view in the form of an equation:
Ratnakar + Rama mantra = Saint Valmiki.
Ratnakar - Rama mantra = Nothing, utter scoundrel
2. Ajamila was nothing before uttering the name of Narayana. He was a miserable fallen man. Recitation of the Name of Narayana instantly purified and uplifted him to new spiritual heights. He became a great devotee of the Lord though the mere utterance of His Name
Ajamila + Name of Narayana = Saintly person
Ajamila - Name of Narayana= Fallen miserable man
3. Gopaler Ma (great disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa) was nothing before she took to reciting the Gopala mantra. The mantra washed off her false personality and revealed the Divine within. She saw Gopala alone everywhere, she realised her oneness with the Divine.
Gopaler Ma + Gopala mantra = Extraordinary saintly lady
Gopaler Ma - Gopala mantra = Very ordinary lady
4. Dr Kuppuswami (later Swami Sivananda) was a doctor. A kind man. A good man. But not a sage until he started repeating the mantra "Om Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaya". He recited this mantra incessantly and frequently- for years. He developed his spiritual biceps patiently for years. The mantra removed from this the wrong notion that he was Dr Kuppuswami or Swami Sivananda. It revealed to him that he was one with Lord Vasudeva Himself. Great was Dr Kuppuswami's delight on realising this - as he himself expressed in his poems about realising God. The doctor became Swami Sivananda to the world, but in reality, within himself, he was none other than Vasudeva.
Dr Kuppuswami + Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra = Swami Sivananda, God Realised saint and great world teacher
Dr Kuppuswami - Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra = Ordinary human doctor
5. Sridhar Rao was a noble gentle being. A great disciple of Sivananda. He was given the monastic name Swami Chidananda. He did kind deeds, he was gentle and compassionate. He took seriously to recitation of a Rama mantra. Day in day out he recited this mantra and remembered Lord Rama.
The Rama mantra transformed Sridhar Rao or Swami Chidananda completely. It showed him that he was neither Mr Rao, nor Swami Chidananda. It showed him that he was one with Sri Rama Himself.
In other words,
Sridhar Rao + Rama mantra = Swami Chidananda, great saint and God Realised soul
Sridhar Rao - Rama mantra = Ordinary kind human being
The point I am making here is that it is the mantra that gives everything to the yogi. The mantra gives purity, sattva, sadhana shakti, faith, devotion, conviction, surrender, protection, determination, perseverance, transformation and God Realisation. In the highest sense, the yogi does nothing, the mantra does everything.
Yogis are not born. They are primarily made. Yes some great yogis have done yoga sadhana in previous lifetimes. But they are not born perfect (like their disciples write in the biographies). No they were not born perfect. Many of them were like us initially. They had similar failings as us. They rose from strength to strength through sadhana. And they told us we can too.
This is the key point here.
They told us this is our birthright in fact. Sivananda states that God Realisation is our birthright. It is neither a fancy fictitious goal. Nor it is so impossibly high and pure a goal that it is beyond our reach. No- it is not too low nor too high a goal.
It is simply our birthright. That is all. Simply by being born human, we have a right to strive for this goal. We have a right to ask God for this goal. But we have to ask. Then God will give. As Jesus said "Ask and it shall be given to you". As Krishna said "Give up all dharmas and seek refuge in Me alone". We have to recognise that this is something we want. And then ask.
Recitation of the mantra is simply asking. Asking for devotion, asking for knowledge, asking for liberation. These are the things the Guru asks us to ask God for. We ask through mantra recitation.
If you are a mantra yogi, create your own equations above. We have to know that our destiny, as children of the divine, is to return to the divine. Being one with God is natural to us, it is our very nature. Being God Realised is not some supercool state where everyone admires us. It's just a state where we stop feeling that there are others and us (there is no us to be admired). It is a state where we see God and God alone everywhere, within us and without us. This is a state that cannot be described, we have to each experience it ourselves, and we will one day. There is no doubt about this.
Your equation:
You + your mantra = God Realised Being (of the future, assuming you are on your way but not yet there :)
You- your mantra= Ordinary human being
I am going to write my equation to motivate myself too:
Vishnupriya + Om Namo Narayanaya mantra = God Realised Being (of the future - not there yet ;)
Vishnupriya - Om Namo Narayanaya mantra = Nothing, ordinary human being
Let us dare to do it. Let us dare to believe it. As the ordinary people before us did. If we don't believe in ourselves, nobody else will. Let us doubt our doubts and have faith in the mantra, Guru and God. Let us take refuge in our mantras like never before. We have the same tools, the mantras, as the yogis before us. We are the yogis of today, we walk in the footsteps of the yogis of the past. The mantra will ensure our success in spiritual life as it did for the yogis before us.
As the Upanisads say "Arise. Awake. And stop not till the Goal is reached".
Let us keep up that mantra practice until that Goal is reached.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
I was reflecting on the power of mantra recently. What mantra has achieved for humanity from time immemorial to current times. As per our scriptures and sages, mantra is the energy of God, in fact it is God. A moksha mantra is the key to revealing our true nature as one with God. Okay we've all heard the theory. We know all this. We've read this time and again in different books. What about our experience of mantra? What has mantra done for us personally? To know this one has to repeat a mantra for a little while. It's like going to the gym to get fit. It's no good going once or twice and then standing in front of the mirror checking to see if one's biceps look bigger or one's tummy looks more toned. No - it takes weeks, months, may be a few years to get that fit toned physical body. Same thing with the mantra. It takes weeks, months, may be a few years to get that fit toned mantra mind. No point saying the mantra for 1-2 days and hoping for the spiritual biceps to immediately look bigger. That ain't going to happen. All good things come with time. And not necessarily after millennia as some despondent spiritual aspirants say - mantra is about speeding up God realisation. What would have taken millennia can take place in a lifetime or even part of a lifetime as per our sages. What is required is dogged determination and regular daily practice. We need to work those spiritual biceps every day with the mantra.
Anyway. I was reflecting how mantra is the be-all and end-all in a sense in spiritual life (on the mantra yoga path- there are of course other valid paths to God too- but the mantra is one of the most powerful).
Great yogis became great (or rather discovered their inherent greatness that was always there) with the help of the mantra. It would be reasonable in fact to say, that it was the mantra that revealed the extraordinary nature of the ordinary human being that took refuge in it. In other words, that the mantra is truly the philosopher's stone. It transforms the crude human rock into pristine divine gold.
It is important for us to recognise this as seekers in order to keep up our motivation and our practice. It is strange how people treat Gurus in one of two ways. Ignorant people dismiss true spiritual Gurus as fake, as frauds. Such people are to be pitied, but one day, they too will embrace a Guru- it is simply a matter of time and their evolution (this is the Lila of God that such persons exist).
Equally, and just as worryingly, genuine seekers eulogise the Guru's personality and refuse to believe the Guru when he/she says that our nature is the same as the Guru, the same as God. For example a mantra yogi Guru declares to the disciple "My friend, I gained whatever I did in spiritual life, by taking refuge in the mantra. I recited this so so often, virtually constantly. Pleased by my devotion to mantra, the deity of the mantra revealed Himself/Herself to me and I attained the Supreme Being. You too can do the same."
The last sentence is the critical part that we find hard to accept "You too can do the same". "No no" we say to the Guru. "You are great, you were born for greatness, you were a great yogi in the last xyz number of lifetimes- that is why you attained God in your one lifetime. I am a poor miserable soul, drowned in samsara- what hope is there for me- I will have to do sadhana for millions of lifetimes." With these thoughts apathy sets in- one subconsciously feels- "What is the rush- it'll take a few million lifetimes anyway".
The intensity of sadhana drops with this sort of negative thinking. This is also a way of disrespecting the mantra. The mantra is the ultimate transforming energy of God- how can one say that it will work so slowly on us? Are we saying that even God cannot transform us, though it transformed so many others?
It is foolish to have such faith in the lowness of our own character, and so much doubt in the mantra. How about reversing the situation? Let us have faith in the divine transforming power of the mantra, and let us doubt our the reality of our weaknesses (this is not to say we don't have weaknesses- this is to say the mantra is stronger than any weakness in us). In reality, let us remember, we are children of the Divine after all.
To emphasise the greatness of the mantra, I would like to say that as per our own sages, the mantra is everything, and the yogi himself/herself is and was nothing without the mantra.
Some examples from the Puranas and more recent times of great yogis who attained God through mantra:
1. Ratnakar was nothing before Rama mantra. He was a scoundrel, a criminal. Recitation of Rama mantra (repeated backwards as "Mara Mara") transformed the scoundrel into the great saint Valmiki, the one who told the story of Sri Rama in the form of the beautiful Ramayana.
Just to emphasise this point, I am expressing this view in the form of an equation:
Ratnakar + Rama mantra = Saint Valmiki.
Ratnakar - Rama mantra = Nothing, utter scoundrel
2. Ajamila was nothing before uttering the name of Narayana. He was a miserable fallen man. Recitation of the Name of Narayana instantly purified and uplifted him to new spiritual heights. He became a great devotee of the Lord though the mere utterance of His Name
Ajamila + Name of Narayana = Saintly person
Ajamila - Name of Narayana= Fallen miserable man
3. Gopaler Ma (great disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa) was nothing before she took to reciting the Gopala mantra. The mantra washed off her false personality and revealed the Divine within. She saw Gopala alone everywhere, she realised her oneness with the Divine.
Gopaler Ma + Gopala mantra = Extraordinary saintly lady
Gopaler Ma - Gopala mantra = Very ordinary lady
4. Dr Kuppuswami (later Swami Sivananda) was a doctor. A kind man. A good man. But not a sage until he started repeating the mantra "Om Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaya". He recited this mantra incessantly and frequently- for years. He developed his spiritual biceps patiently for years. The mantra removed from this the wrong notion that he was Dr Kuppuswami or Swami Sivananda. It revealed to him that he was one with Lord Vasudeva Himself. Great was Dr Kuppuswami's delight on realising this - as he himself expressed in his poems about realising God. The doctor became Swami Sivananda to the world, but in reality, within himself, he was none other than Vasudeva.
Dr Kuppuswami + Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra = Swami Sivananda, God Realised saint and great world teacher
Dr Kuppuswami - Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya mantra = Ordinary human doctor
5. Sridhar Rao was a noble gentle being. A great disciple of Sivananda. He was given the monastic name Swami Chidananda. He did kind deeds, he was gentle and compassionate. He took seriously to recitation of a Rama mantra. Day in day out he recited this mantra and remembered Lord Rama.
The Rama mantra transformed Sridhar Rao or Swami Chidananda completely. It showed him that he was neither Mr Rao, nor Swami Chidananda. It showed him that he was one with Sri Rama Himself.
In other words,
Sridhar Rao + Rama mantra = Swami Chidananda, great saint and God Realised soul
Sridhar Rao - Rama mantra = Ordinary kind human being
The point I am making here is that it is the mantra that gives everything to the yogi. The mantra gives purity, sattva, sadhana shakti, faith, devotion, conviction, surrender, protection, determination, perseverance, transformation and God Realisation. In the highest sense, the yogi does nothing, the mantra does everything.
Yogis are not born. They are primarily made. Yes some great yogis have done yoga sadhana in previous lifetimes. But they are not born perfect (like their disciples write in the biographies). No they were not born perfect. Many of them were like us initially. They had similar failings as us. They rose from strength to strength through sadhana. And they told us we can too.
This is the key point here.
They told us this is our birthright in fact. Sivananda states that God Realisation is our birthright. It is neither a fancy fictitious goal. Nor it is so impossibly high and pure a goal that it is beyond our reach. No- it is not too low nor too high a goal.
It is simply our birthright. That is all. Simply by being born human, we have a right to strive for this goal. We have a right to ask God for this goal. But we have to ask. Then God will give. As Jesus said "Ask and it shall be given to you". As Krishna said "Give up all dharmas and seek refuge in Me alone". We have to recognise that this is something we want. And then ask.
Recitation of the mantra is simply asking. Asking for devotion, asking for knowledge, asking for liberation. These are the things the Guru asks us to ask God for. We ask through mantra recitation.
If you are a mantra yogi, create your own equations above. We have to know that our destiny, as children of the divine, is to return to the divine. Being one with God is natural to us, it is our very nature. Being God Realised is not some supercool state where everyone admires us. It's just a state where we stop feeling that there are others and us (there is no us to be admired). It is a state where we see God and God alone everywhere, within us and without us. This is a state that cannot be described, we have to each experience it ourselves, and we will one day. There is no doubt about this.
Your equation:
You + your mantra = God Realised Being (of the future, assuming you are on your way but not yet there :)
You- your mantra= Ordinary human being
I am going to write my equation to motivate myself too:
Vishnupriya + Om Namo Narayanaya mantra = God Realised Being (of the future - not there yet ;)
Vishnupriya - Om Namo Narayanaya mantra = Nothing, ordinary human being
Let us dare to do it. Let us dare to believe it. As the ordinary people before us did. If we don't believe in ourselves, nobody else will. Let us doubt our doubts and have faith in the mantra, Guru and God. Let us take refuge in our mantras like never before. We have the same tools, the mantras, as the yogis before us. We are the yogis of today, we walk in the footsteps of the yogis of the past. The mantra will ensure our success in spiritual life as it did for the yogis before us.
As the Upanisads say "Arise. Awake. And stop not till the Goal is reached".
Let us keep up that mantra practice until that Goal is reached.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
