by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 58 December . 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

MANAH, MANTRAH, MAUNATVAM- Some discussions on mind, mantra and silence of mind.

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

One always wonders, the way the Sanatan philosophy or vedic philosophy accords the pride of place to “Mantra”, its chanting, its effects and as an accomplice to sadhana, if the same is true for any other religious and spiritual philosophy.

Since the earliest of times, when the sanatan philosophy discovered that humans are essentially mental beings, and it is the mind that is the principal tool that determines the entire journey of the jiva, or individual soul, the research on controlling this principal tool has been the preoccupation of seekers after seekers.

Manah eva manusyAnAm kAranam karma mokshaye.-

They said, it is this mind indeed which can deliver man either to freedom or bondage.

The collective wisdom of all these minds handed down to the humanity from which the later developed philosophies drew heavily, is the science of mind, the kind of which even the much touted modern pshycology has not been able to fathom.

We know how the mind works and what effects it produces, but do not yet know why it works the way it works.

The explanation from the Upanishads that brings in the Divinity as the mind behind minds that directs the mind is what we fall back upon. We accept what is said in our scriptures simply because it works and it is the nearest logical explanation.

How does mind becomes so important? To understand this we have again to fall back on another unique observation in sanatan philosophy. To common perception, man ( for that matter all beings) is basically a physical entity. When we speak of a person, it always has one dimension, - the gross physical dimension and everything else is derived from it.

Sanatan philosophy however realized right from the beginning that we all have other dimensions to our existence. Man is not one but always a multidimensional entity.

The concept of koshas or sheaths such as material, vital, mental, knowledge-based and the blissful gnosis state, the so called five sheaths or the pancakoshas go to define these dimensions. There we also perceive each sheath to be of many gradations depending upon the levels of consciousness. But to make our understanding simpler, broadly speaking man has a triple existence. These are the body level, the mental level and the psychic or spiritual level. Together they constitute the complete understanding of man and not any single dimension taken out of context.

The physical dimension is that aspect of ours, which relates us to the material world around us. The primary objective of the material man is ‘to exist’ so that its very existence provides the foundation for further evolutionary purpose.

At the other end of the spectrum, the psychic or spiritual man relates to the final objective or goal for that purpose. It is that aspect of man where the individual soul, constantly seeking the divine, eventually finds it and dissolves in the state of satchidananda, the truth, its realization and the ensuing bliss.

The material aspires to be divine. The divine relentlessly works to draw the material to its own perfection. That is the entire story of sristi, sthiti and bilay- creation, existence and transformation.

The mind or the mental dimension being in the middle is the linkage between material and spiritual.

When the jiva tries to reach out to the vaguely known Brahman which is its goal, it obviously takes the help of all its faculties in possession, but finds that the sensory organs like eyes, skin, ears, nose or tongue are so grossly limited and inadequate. But it finds that its mental faculty or ‘mind’ is one such, which is unique in the respect that it has the capability to continuously expand and exceed itself. Hence it uses the mind as the principal tool, which offers hope to take him nearer to its understanding of the goal.

‘Mind’ thus becomes the intermediary, which it feels will free him from its gross physical and restrictive frame and lead towards the freedom of a liberated soul.

That explains the continuous effort to strengthen, purify, expand, accentuate and focus the mind on the goal as the predominant character of yogasadhanA.

If there is anything that can possibly take the sadhak to a near understanding of the goal, it is the ‘mind’. Hence sadhanA concentrates on exercises of ‘mind’.

Our seers of the past- the originators and past masters of human psychology- left no stones unturned trying to understand the workings of the mind, both at physical and psychic levels. They discovered and gave the humanity the power of “mantra’, to hone and sharpen the mind itself so that it can expand and surpass itself and experience a supramental consciousness. Mantra as strictly constructed and articulated in the sanatan philosophy has the power to do that.

Mantra, derived from the same root as manah or mind in Sanskrit, is all about mind and its functioning.

In our lower level of consciousness, when the world of Maya has not been well understood by us, and the we are under strong influence of the material things, we are satisfied to think that our mind is there only to assist us in our efforts for physical existence and to help us to enjoy living. That is not the primary purpose of the gift of mind to man. As we have said before the mind’s primary purpose is to set us up for conscious yoga and regain our promise back.

Once that is understood, the awakened mind’s first reaction is to cry out for the desired objective. Mantra is the cry of the separated soul for its mother source.

But the genius of our seers, was not satisfied with mere articulation of the desire. Justifying the precission of total approach for which sanatan philosophy is known, the language, the structure, the etymology, the delivery and most importantly the deeper than the deepest meaning the words can convey, all came to be arrived at, perfected and sanctified. All these constitute the very character of every mantra. Mantras became the _expression for every seeker no matter what path of Yoga he followed.

The language of the mantra is essentially Sanskrit. Earlier we have discussed why sanskrit occupies this pre-eminent position amongst all languages. Its original ‘root’ sources, the grammar, the phonetics, the etymology, the sandhis or formation of words by conjunction all have that uniqueness not found in any other language. Please refer back to the articles ‘Preparations for Sadhana –Part 3” AHWAN Vol 22 August /September 2002 issue, and “Attempts to understand Brahman” Parts 2 and 3 AHWAN Vol 28/29 May/June 2003 issues to understand how and why not a single word, sentence or text in the srutis is replaceable or interchangeable. Why you can not rewrite sruti. Why they call them suktas. (Sukta simply means su i.e. very well and ukta i.e. expressed- something that is very well expressed or rendered to perfection, is a su- ukta or sukta. The whole effectiveness of the result or meaning it produces gets distorted if it is altered any manner whatsoever.)

In a mantra, each word is chosen with the concept that it must convey not ‘just a meaning’ but as a trigger to the mind to probe further, for new unfolding of knowledge.

If every recitation or reading of a mantra does not encourage you to think and probe deeper, then its effectiveness is yet to be understood. Sanatan philosophy believes that every ‘being’ is indeed endowed with that ultimate truth, the true knowledge, but locked up deep inside in the cave of one’s inner sanctum. Every word or a string of words in a mantra, is to serve as a key to open that lock and let that truth to be discovered by the aspirant himself.

Mantras are meant to be pronounced. (uccharan). When said aloud, they produce sound vibrations. The searching mind of the seers saw that vibrations release power. The influence of this power on all around could change the way the things are. Everything around us is in a state of dynamic change under the influence of the divine power. Any additional vibration produced, which is in harmony with this divine vibration, will produce for us beneficial effects and discordant vibrations will trigger unnatural and harmful fall-outs. It is not difficult to understand that if this vibration, its power and its effects could be fully understood, potentially man could change his very existence, his character, and his destiny. The tradition of collective chanting of Vedas in organized yajnas, emphasizes this point.

Every single object in this creation, every single cell that constitutes a body, the cells of the human body, being constantly in motion all are believed to have a natural frequency of vibration. This entire creation of which we are a part is ever dynamic and has a universal harmony of vibration which is the divine vibration or the BrahmanAda. Every object as long as it remains in harmony with this frequency of vibration remains in perfect functioning order. Certain frequencies produced or emanated externally have a positive impact on them strengthening their activity and discordant vibrations have the impact of interfering with their proper functioning.

Since right vibrations and wrong vibrations are to be differentiated, the use of letters and words in mantras were chosen with extreme care, and once chosen were forbidden against any kind of corruption, lest evil minds unleash evil vibrations. We see that every mantra is invariably dedicated either to Brahman or some divine aspect of the Brahman whom we adore as a devata or god. The association of divinity to a mantra gave it utmost sanctity and a kind of protection against playing around by those who do not understand the profoundness of the mantra itself.

When a mantra is recited it produces those vibrations that accentuate the proper functioning of the body. A feeling of general well being is fully assured. When one is loudly reciting a mantra, one is able to control the distractions (vikshyepa) better. In sanatan philosophy or vedantic philosophy the recommendation for loud chanting and with correct pronunciation and phonetic format is very definite. Seers of the past learnt it from their own experience and laid down the rules for posterity to follow.

The benefits of recitation of mantras having been understood, we should now try to understand what lies beyond the mere chanting.