Mantra, The Word, Aum

I am glad my daughter is taking immense interest in spirituality.  This beautiful and royal road to God has become complicated by everyone claiming to know the way, giving their own versions of concocted ideas and floating in the world of thoughts and ideas but not walking the royal road to God.  This blog will clarify all ideas and opinions about the word, aum and Mantras.

First of all, let us be very clear about Raj Yoga or the royal road to God.  It is when ones prana goes inside the brahma nadi and it takes our prana thus our consciousness straight to God.  There is NO other royal road. 

One has to know a little bit about how the universe and when I say universe, I refer to all 3 universes, the gross physical, subtle and causal worlds was created.  God exists in the primary undifferentiated form.  This is God or Parmatma or Sacchidananda.  After this, the first part of creation was the Son of God.  This son of God goes by a few names, Christ, or Christ Consciousness or Krishna Consciousness or Kutasta Chaitanya or Narayana.  Just remember Jesus was an avatari person, Christ is a state of spirituality.  This aspect, the son of God is the consciousness present everywhere.  One day, Gurudev explained this to me.  He had a short bout of pharyngitis.  He was in his chowki upstairs in his room and I was there.  He coughed up a little phlegm and the phlegm was floating in the water.  He pointed it to me and said, this is the primary creation called as narayana.  Naar meaning water and ayana meaning ball.  Both phlegm is mostly water but yet it differentiated itself from water and formed a “ball” floating in the water, thus the meaning Narayana. Thus Narayana is synonymous with son of God or Kutastha Chaitanya.  I hope the reader can see how great men live!  EVERYTHING reminds them of God.

The next step of creation was aum or as known in the Bible as the word or the holy Ghost.  Remember, so far nothing has been created.  A primary sound, called Aum or the word came about.  Subsequently from this primary sound or the first word, Bija Mantras came about.  They are for example Hrim, Klim, Gam, etc.  From these Bija mantras the causal universe and the subtle universe came into existence.  Thus two shaktis appeared from the holy ghost or Aum.  One is Aditi or Para shakti who created the causal and subtle universe and the other was her “sister” Diti or Apara shakti from whom the gross physical world appeared.  In the vedas, it is said that the soul has 2 mothers, diti and aditi.  This of course refers to the soul hiding behind the causal, subtle and gross body.

I hope the reader can understand why it is said in the bible in John, first there was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. 

In order to reach God, one has to travel back in the reverse direction.  So the task of a Guru is awaken the Word in the disciple.  This word or Aum is to be heard not recited.  One can be saved from eons of labor by having a Guru who awakens this sound and one has reached the level of the Holy Ghost and the disciple tries to remain immersed in this holy word or Aum. This is the true Brahmacharya or celibacy and this is the true Mantra.

Thus, we now come to Mantra and Mantras.  The true Mantra is Aum.  The true Mantra diksha is when one sits in meditation and just listens to it and becomes immersed in it. This is the true baptism, true awakening of the shakti.

So what do we do if we our Aum is not awakened and we do not hear this sound?  This royal awakening is NOT for everyone.  Very few souls can endure this kind of awakening.

The next step is, the Guru or teacher gives a different Mantra.  Like we talked about previously, from the primary Aum, the bija mantras came into existence.  From the bija mantra different Gods and Goddesses appeared.  Anyone who has  heard the Bija Mantra or Aum can say that the Mantra is “awake” or “Jagrat”.  This means, it is not just a word but it has power in it.  If God permits it, the Guru gives this Mantra or Bija Mantra to the disciple and the disciple has received a Mantra which is not just words but is shakti or a live spiritual power.  The disciple, in time by using the mantra is able to go to Aum and reach the ultimate.

So, how does one recite the mantra?

1)

Best is if the disciple can sit in meditation and just listen to it. 

2) Since this cannot be done at all times, the next step is to recite it.  The best way is to recite it with ones mind without using our lips, tongue and done in total silence.  Moreover, since Aum or the holy ghost is at the Agna chakra, the area between the eye brows, one should have his or gaze “fixed” at that area.  This seems simple enough but it is quite difficult to perform.  Not only should one have the gaze fixed but also feel the presence of the deity or ones Guru or the divinity to whom this Mantra is addressed to, at the Agna chakra.  It is ok to use a Rosary with this method.

3) Since this method is not easy and not everyone can do it, the next best technique is to use the rosary, not use our lips or tongue, recite the mantra in our mind but imagine being at a divine place or Siddha Pitha.  There are some areas in India, where God appeared and has left his or her divine vibrations there.  For eg.  the Jyotirlinga.  Or one can use the place of Samadhi of an enlightened person and use the mantra directed to the enlightened person.  The disciple should imagine being there, recite the mantra and with every mantra recited, at the end of it, offer the mantra to the divinity in the form of a lotus with a strong will of reaching God or offering the divinity our faults, all our karmas etc. This should be done without fear.  Without having a single thought of doubt in the mind and with love.

4) If you cant do the mantra in this fashion, the next best way is to recite the mantra with slight motion of the lips and tongue and keeping eyes closed, try to imagine as best as possible the above scene and repeatedly try to do the above step 3

5) If you cannot focus enough next step is to repeatedly recite the mantra mechanically, letting the mind wander, every so often reminding the mind of its task, but try to keep eyes closed and use the rosary

6) Even if that fails, recite the mantra loudly provided NO ONE else can hear it.   It is very important that if the disciple has been given a jagrat or live mantra, that he or she does not recite it loudly in the presence of others.

These steps have been alluded to in the SRF lessons and Yogananda’s explanation of the Gita, God talks with Arjuna.

In time, by following the above steps, the disciple can reach a state where the Mantra is heard.  Usually when one reached this stage, the body starts to become numb and the prana enters the brahmanadi.   The mantra takes over, a deeper part of the mind, not the mind that is active with the gross body but something much deeper, the thought or mind of the causal body begins to take over. 

There are a few other injunctions to be followed but that will have to wait for some other time.