Mantra
Excerpt from MANTRA
GURURAJ ANANDA YOGI: Last night I was asked to speak on mantra; how a mantra is derived, what is the purpose of a mantra and how does it work generally on the system. I have given many explanations of the deeper details of the vast range of consciousness from which a mantra comes, and that is what we are going to speak about this morning.
There are organizations of people who select mantras at random. These selections can be quite jarring to a person’s nervous system; to their physiology, biology, and their physic make-up. It could prove to be a great impediment to reaching the totality of themselves, the spiritual self of themselves. If these things are wrong and the proper sound basis is not used, then it could manifest itself physiologically and organically. When you speak about these things to some organizations, they say that you are pushing away stress. But this does not really explain much. If a mantra is not harmonious or given according to your own system, then it would be like you listening to a lovely Symphonic Concert while someone shoots off a firework, with a big bang. Your system would be jarred and shaken. And this could be very harmful. I have taught many people meditation. They have come to me in a terrible state, but of the thousands of people that we have initiated, we have never had any complaints of a mantra not being suitable.
So, what are the mechanics of selecting a mantra? I have heard stories that some people give you half a dozen mantras and say, “Look, pick and choose which one you like.” I have even heard of stories of people that give you a mantra and say “Look if you don’t like it come back in two weeks and we’ll change it for you.” All these kinds of things, be they true or not, are not my business. Let people do what they want to do. If they knock their heads against a wall, that’s their business. But if their head is painful, then come to me. I will massage it and put some balm on and try and heal it. That is my dharma.
A person’s consciousness or his or her mind has a very vast range that extends not only to this little head of ours, but is closely connected and part and parcel of the entire range of the mind. The entire range of the mind is as vast as the universe. The mind, being a manifestation of the Manifestor, is closely connected to the Manifestor. Divinity is permeating this entire range of what we call consciousness, but each person in his or her evolutionary progress is at a different stage of evolution. There are some people, like horses in a race, who might be running neck and neck– but they are very few. Most people are at a particular stage (in evolution), and because they are at a particular stage, every person becomes unique. This uniqueness is because of their own individual samskaras on this path of evolution. As a person progresses and then embarks on the spiritual path, the guru should be able to know where that person is at. When he knows where that person is at, then he will not select a mantra, but he will create a sound.
When I give you a mantra, it is not selected. To select a mantra means that there exists a whole list from which you select one to initiate someone. This is not the right process. Mantras do not fall in the realm of mechanical science. It is not a mathematical science in which two and two make four and four and four make eight. It is rather an art. It is an art form in which the artist or poet can tune himself to his higher self or to the universe. Because of his highly developed intuition and his purity in being a channel, he can conceive of the very subtlest vibration that permeates that person, of which that person is made, from its most subtle to its grosser and grosser ramifications, until the person reaches the physical body. When I initiate someone into a mantra practice, I focus on the photograph, the physiology of the person. That person and I both regress (from) the physical self to the subtlest value of that person. In that meditative state, through the mercy and the grace of God, I go to the level where that person is.
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