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Sri Humananda "Articulation is the last and grossest expression of divine sound-energy. The highest manifestation of sound-energy, the primal voice, the divine voice is Para. The Para voice becomes the root-ideas or germ-thoughts. It is the first manifestation of voice. In Para the sound remains in an undifferentiated form." The Mantra's Work I have mentioned elsewhere here that not everyone is cut out to be a yogi. This is especially true in the western world where business and commerce touches us all to the extent that we really have to partake in the game. Our lives are mostly involved with cars and the mortgage and college tuition and food and shopping and a myriad other items, and also a daily time-consuming job to support all these. We hunt around for what we call "free time" to just hang and chill for a while and that is very hard to come by. The world has its demands and they are many and unforgiving if we slack off our attention for even a minute. Where then can we ever find the time to do yoga? If memory still serves, to reach Enlightenment via the Path of Hatha yoga takes eight years! And that is 24/7. So with your hour a day, if that, this is gonna take a while and you may as well get used to the idea of a lifetime of Hatha. Most non-yogis take one look at this and say "nah, not for me". And I don't blame them. True, there are quicker yogas, Bhakti, Karma, Kundalini, Jnana, and many others and many paths, and of course, there is Kriya. But all these require either an inner orientation obtained or arrived at by evolutionary means or Divine Blessing or both to really be pursued in the best possible way. But what if you and the other 99% of the population around you have neither the orientation nor the quickening Blessing but still desire a way to lessen your tremendous suffering in your life and your world? The pills and drugs and TV and booze and shrinks don't really cut it for you any more – things just stay the same or slowly get worse. What then, in the name of Yoga, can you do? Well, first of all, you burn the name "yoga" because it creates all kinds of uncomfortable imagery inside of your psyche and your mind - like people standing on their heads and sitting for hours on end in a lotus in a damp cave in a loincloth living on beans. Forget about all that stuff. Yoga is nothing other than you living your life – that's all. So instead of saying "yoga", say "life". Because probably the worst thing about yoga is its name. There, now that that's out of the way, let's get on with it. For those who feel they have nothing, and I mean nothing auspicious – for them – for you maybe? – there is Mantra. Now bear with me a little… because Mantra (yoga) is a science. In its most basic of forms it consists of repeating a semi-monotonous set of words over and over again. The science is very involved and for those who find anything in this writing, I won't bore you beyond the basics other than these few words: Sound is a vibration. A vibration is energy and has frequency, and believe it or not it has color as well. Energy also affects the material world, well, duh! Ok, but you too are matter, and on a subtler level, you also have energy that vibrates not only as visible matter but also as emotional matter. Anger, for instance, is felt by most people around you because the energy is so great. All emotions are energy. In fact, nothing is not energy. Even depression radiates an energy. And then there is still spiritual energy, but maybe we leave that for now... The deeper science of mantra is hidden in the fact that most (authentic) mantras were created by some pretty powerful spiritual people, and so a mantra contains the energy instilled in it by that person. But much more – it also contains the energy of a deity, a "seed" of special power, the Life Force, a pillar, and some other things. And they are also mostly in Sanskrit because that is sort of considered a sacred language. Hmm, so now you're getting bored and all this seems a bit esoterically shaded… Ok, all these things are merely for your interest and you can forget them now if you feel you need to. If you can get to the point where you can mildly accept that any sound you utter or come into contact with has some correlative influence or at least relationship of some kind with your body and also your inner being (the way you feel, if you must), and that some sounds have a good influence on you (check out laughter) and some a negative influence (words of anger or snide and cutting remarks or a loud cry of pain), and then make the stretch that mantra may be a cool sound that may have a really cool effect on you and you are willing to give it a whirl for a while, then you have come to mantra, and you just may have picked up what could be the key to the lock on the chain that keeps you so unhappy and in almost perpetual and seemingly inescapable suffering. Ok, so if I agree then what? Then you need a mantra. Well where do I get a mantra? I don't know any gurus or yogis of note or auspiciousness, so what now? Well my Friends, Google it if you must, or check out some of these: Om Mani Padme Hum Om Namo Narayanaya Om Hanumate Namah (bestows victory and strength) Om Saravanabhavaya Namah (success in whatever you do) Om Sri Mahalakshmyai Namah (confers wealth or relieves suffering – money wise) Om Sarasvatyai Namah (confers wisdom, intelligence, inspiration, and the writing of great poetry) And there are many, many other mantras. Find one that feels to you as though it fits with you – you'll know almost right away, because after a day or so it already starts to make you feel kinda cool inside. Then find a nice rhythm and tune and go for it. Take a week or so. At first it will be distracting but you get used to it after a while. Say it out loud at first when you are out of earshot, just to get the hang of it, then whisper it for a while and eventually say it silently. Once you get it established, never change it. There is no right or wrong way to say your chosen mantra. Maybe you did not even choose it... hmm. In any event, your way, whatever that may end up to be, is the right way – your right way. Later the mantra sort of becomes your companion. Then it becomes your friend, and still later it becomes your Friend, and then the influence of the mantra on your inner energies really comes to life. After a while – and now I mean a long time – you don't "say" your mantra any more - it says you. It never leaves you because it has become part of you. Mantra has the most calming effect that you can ever imagine. And when your life and actions proceed from such calmness and equanimity, everything you touch – everything you and your consciousness come into contact with is affected in a pleasant way. Imagine that! So you change your life by your own volition and power and exertion. And that is what you wanted to do in the beginning, remember? But you didn't know how and you didn't want to get too deeply involved into the whole awkward and seemingly demanding yoga thing. Well then, there you go. You pick a mantra of your choice and feel it out and make it cool for you, and then do the work, albeit a little repetitive. The mantra does its own work, and pretty soon your life will start changing and you would not even have set foot in an ashram. "A what?" Never mind… say your mantra and be happy. It is really and truly as simple as that. Try it. What do you have to lose? Hmm, I thought so. Namaste.
Sri Humananda © Dwapara 307 (2007) |