Decoding Mantra Meditation

Pandit Atul Krishna is an instructor with Narayana Institute and teaches Vedic Counseling for the Mind, Meditation, Sanskrit and Vedic Rituals. This podcast is based off on one of the classes he gave on meditation and use of mantra.

Transcript----

I'm Monica and you're listening to Vedic arts.

Have you ever wondered why a simple sound, repeated silently or even loudly can stop panic in its tracks, dissolve years of anger, or make you feel like this entire universe is listening now?

The sages didn't wander.

They knew.

They called it mantra.

Or how Americans like to say mantra.

It's the tool that turns ordinary human sound into divine technology today.

In this episode, you're going to discover exactly how mantra works, why science is finally catching up to this, and some mantras that can really help change your life.

You'll be listening to parts of a lecture by Pandit Atul Krishna in which he explains and breaks down the meaning of mantra and quotes from ancient Vedic scriptures.

Enjoy.

Om namo bhagavate Vasudeva.

This is a very ancient mantra.

It is invoking blessings of the Supreme Personality.

Vasudev Vasudev is the name of the Supreme Person, which means that he has only realized by those who were in the stage of Vishuddha Sattva.

Vishuddha Sattva means the stage of pure goodness which is uncontaminated.

What do we mean when we talk about mantra?

What is the Sanskrit definition of mantra?

Manastra ayate iti mantra, That which delivers the mind is called mantra.

What exactly do we mean by delivering the mind?

Mantra is a word that has become part of the English language.

Well, that's my mantra, you know, I mean, we've all heard people saying that, but usually they they take it to mean it's an assertion that may just be repeated or it's a slogan.

But really that's not what mantra means.

It's much deeper than that.

Yes, you can repeat a mantra.

You can either repeat a mantra silently or you you can sort of mutter it quietly.

That is called jupa.

Jupa is a Sanskrit word for the silent utterance or muttering of a mantra.

We're just, you know, repeating in a very soft voice.

But it really has a much deeper meaning.

And that's what we want to really talk about.

But really the core of it is that mantras are sacred vibrations.

They are invested with divine power.

And mantras will also reciprocate with us as we respect them.

You know, we talk in Ayurveda, we talk about connecting with energy, we talk about connecting with the universe.

We talk about aligning ourselves with, you know, positive energy of the universe.

And this is really a very much a part of it.

This is a a vehicle for connecting ourselves, connecting ourselves to higher power, making ourselves empowered, making our treatment of others empowered, even making our the things that we talk about empowered.

Beginning with an invocation is always auspicious.

It's always auspicious to begin with a mantra for invocation of blessings.

Mantra has shakti.

So there's there is power in mantra and when we repeat a mantra with respect, we are invoking power behind the mantra.

It's sort of like, you know, if I have a touch screen for a big power plant, you know, and it's just a little touch screen on the wall for some industrial control system, But what it's hooked up to, I touch a button on that screen and suddenly there are gigawatts of power that get routed down some cable, immense power.

And that's really what we're talking about when we say that mantras have power behind them, our ability to access the mantra, it depends on our qualification, it depends on our state of mind and our alignment of our lifestyle.

So you can't just, you know, do a, a regular hedonistic lifestyle, for example.

And then, you know, you go and I'm say, hey, I'm going to try a mantra and this is a cool thing.

And suddenly I'm going to tap into the same power as ancient sages who dedicated their whole lives.

No, you'll get some benefit from it, but it's not going to be the same.

If you dedicate yourself and if you respect the power of the mantra, you will get more benefit from it.

That's the take away here.

I just want to point out what Abdul Krishnaprabhu is saying is the sound vibration that started the world is Om.

It's a Pranava mantra, Om.

And then this is how the world began and it has inherent magical, powerful qualities in it which Atul Krishnaprabhu is now going to describe.

So sound vibration is the most subtle and it can carry immense power.

Sound also can permeate all layers of existence and specifically we are talking about our our psycho spiritual existence, our psycho physical spiritual existence, mind, intellect, ego, body, the senses.

Sound permeates all of these.

We can use mantras, which are sound vibrations, they can be uttered quietly, which is jappa, or they can be said out loud, which is kirtan, you know.

So I mean there's a, there's a kirtan.

For example, if you can say names of names of God like Govinda, Damodaramadhava, you know a kirtan might be like.

Govinda Damodara madhavati.

Govinda Damodara madhavati.

It's from a very ancient song by a Vaishnav poet.

Who is It's a very, very sweet narration talking about activities in the spiritual realm in a very personal way.

This is kirtan.

So when we are singing, we're saying out loud even, you know, for example, in the invocation starting out, I said om.

OM Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.

So this is a way that we can invoke a mantra and we do it respectfully.

We don't do it as a joke or anything like that.

But there are different types of mantras.

There are mantras that have specific invocations and purposes.

There are also divine mantras which can be used often and still with respect to obtain divine blessings.

We should always give respect to mantras and we should treat them as divine personalities and they will then reciprocate with us more.

Now one thing that we often hear is use of the sacred syllable Om.

So there is one etymology of Om which has been given by Srijiva Goswami.

He was a Vaishna philosopher about 500 years ago and a great scholar.

Akkaden O Chite Krishna Saravaloka Akanai.

Akkaha U.

Kareen O Chite Radha Makaro.

Ji Baba Chaka Om is taken as a + U plus Ma, where A represents Krishna, the Supreme master of all worlds, who represents Radha, the divine supreme feminine potency and Ma, the individual Atma join together in service.

So Om is a mantra in and of itself.

It is also a seed invocation for other mantras.

This is how.

Om is written.

In David Nagri, of course, you know you can't.

You can't go anywhere without seeing om on maybe on a bumper sticker or something, or on a shirt.

9:12

It's a very popular symbol in the yoga community, but it represents the sacred syllable.

Now to simply meditate on Om, of course one can do this.

This can be done.

9:28

It is a sacred syllable, but it is often used as the seed invocation for a mantra.

SO1 might utter the mantra.

Om vishnave namaha.

We have used Om as the invocation because it is a way of saying I am invoking the divine blessings and then vishnave unto Vishnu the all pervading Supreme Personality, Namaha my obeisances.

9:59

Om vishnavenamaha Om vishnavenamaha so.

Many mantras begin with OM.

Now what do we do about sharing mantras?

10:17

If But if we are sharing mantras, we shouldn't share them with people who have no respect or if people are going to be disrespectful because this is called uparad.

Uparad means that it distances us from our object of veneration.

10:35

OK, very, very important concept.

We, we want to be respectful.

We can share mantras that invoke divine blessings with someone who's ready to respect them.

There should be some respect.

It shouldn't just be a joke or, or, you know, or, or the person is really skeptical and they they think that it's all nonsense and just want to know what nonsense we actually do.

11:00

Vishnu.

Mantras will never have I'll effect and they're good to share.

So mantras like Onamo.

That is the invocation that we started with.

That is a Vishnu mantra.

That is a good mantra.

Another Vishnu mantra that one can share is the IS.

11:18

Maha mantra.

You know, like.

Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Krishna Krishna Hari Hari Hari Rama Hari.

Rama Rama, Rama Hari Hari.

This is another Vishnu mantra which can which can be shared om Vishnavena Maha Sri.

11:34

Vishnavena Maha om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.

So these are all very positive mantras that can be invoked.

So some mantras that can be shared.

11:51

Om Namo Bhagavatevasudevaya Sri Rama ya namaha Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Krishna Krishna Hari Hari Rama Hari Rama Rama Rama Hari Hari om vishna VE namaha om namah shivaya om paravatyay namaha om surya ya namaha om ganeshaya namaha.

12:19

These are mantras om the MO Bhagavate.

Varsity by Ioffer my I salute the Supreme Personality, Vasudev.

Sri Ramayanamaha.

I salute Sriram.

Sriram is also a name of the divine.

12:36

Ramante Yogi no nante Satya nanda.

This is a verse from Gautamiya Tantra which is describing the etymology of the name Rama.

That person in whom Yogi's derive unlimited bliss, who is the reservoir of Sachit and Ananda, is known.

13:01

By the name.

Rama from Ramante.

It is a very beautiful etymology.

Hadi Krishna.

This is the Hadi Krishna Maha mantra.

It has been made fairly famous over the last few decades on street corners all over the world.

13:16

Pretty much everyone has heard of this.

It is actually a mantra.

It is a Vedic mantra.

It is in Kali Santana Upanishad, it is said that the Maha mantra can completely Vanquish all of the evils of the of the of the modern age of Khalid may age of quarrel and hypocrisy.

13:40

On the Shivaya Goodave, On the MO Bhagavate Vasudevaya my.

Namaha, Namaha means Ioffer my I bow down, I salute, and it means that I am offering it unto this person, unto this person who can bless me, who can bestow upon me power, who can cleanse away my ignorance and my problems.

14:15

We also offer obeisances to a spiritual guru with mantras like I'm.

Guruve and Omaha.

This is a different beach that I'm instead of Om because guru is, is respected as a representative of the divine, you know.

14:37

And so anyway, these mantras are all just, you know, amazing, wonderful mantras that we can adopt.

Sometimes meditating on a mantra, uttering a mantra quietly will give us reassurance.

It will give us strength.

14:53

It will give us freedom from fear, and it can also help to eradicate ignorance.

According to yoga philosophy, mind is the cause of our entanglement and worldly affairs and the suffering that results.

OK, let's remember, go back to when we started talking about mine and we said, what are the three vrittis of the mine?

15:14

Do you remember what are the three vrittis or three occupations of the mine?

Go ahead, put it in there.

Tell me, what are what do we, what are what is it that we've said in in this manasa course?

15:31

Are the three occupations the three primary occupations of the mind?

Those are the three gunas, Thomas, Rajas and Satva.

15:47

Exactly when meditating, you can do quiet utterance of a mantra in which you have faith and you can focus on the sound vibration.

Try to do it with dedication, even just if you even do it for a few minutes every day.

16:03

And when there's opportunity, when you're driving, when you're waiting for an appointment, you can do a kirtan.

You can say the mantra or you can sing it out loud.

And if there's a chance to take part in a song, kirtan.

If there's singing or chanting mantras or songs made of divine names in a group, that's a good thing.

16:24

That is a good thing to take part.

And there's a lot of things that people are very aware of nowadays.

We've really tried to go deep under the covers and look at how these things work, how it works within the context of Ayurveda, how it works within the context of yoga, how it works within the context of your life.