Q. Is there any Manthra or Japa that will give us this Santhi
state that you spoke about just now? If there is any, which is the
important one?
A. Manthra and Japa are essential for all types of men. What is a
manthra? 'Ma' means 'manana' and 'thra' means 'saving'; so
'manthra' means that which can save you if you meditate on it.
Manthra will save you from being caught up in the coils of this
worldly life which is infested with death, grief and pain. Of all
manthras, the Pranava is the highest and the best. It is the very
head and crown of all of them.
Q. Suppose each one does the Japam of the name of the
Ishtadevatha according to his own light; I believe it is not
wrong. Or is it?
A. You mean that however savage or foolish a man may be, he cannot
but call on the Lord! Well, if the name is recited along with the
Pranava, it is bound to be beneficial. Just as the waters of the
ocean are raised into the sky by the rays of the sun and then,
falling as rain, they form rills and rivers and rush towards the
ocean to become once again the waters of the ocean, all sounds and
manthras that were once only Pranava, reach the Pranava through
the Japa and other disciplines and rites. They all get merged in
the Pranava, their source.
Q. Swami! Some elders have said that the more bija-aksharas a
manthra has, the more effective it is. Are such manthras to be
preferred to others which have only a few bija-aksharas?
A. I don't agree with the view that when the number of
bija-aksharas diminishes, there is less chance for concentration
in Dhyana. Sadhakas would be benefited more if they repeat the
Panchakshari or Ashtakshari with the Pranava added in the
beginning. When they have proceeded some distance thus, they can
give up even the words and concentrate on the Form depicted
through the sound and transform the Manthra into the Devatha
Himself. That is why the Sruthi says, 'Nissabdo Brahma Uchyathe' -
"Brahma is Silence, absence of Sound."
Q. How are we to create a vacuum of sound? How can that be
Brahmam?
A. The Sruthis declare that this objective world, this Prakrithi,
is Maya; they also say that He who has all this Maya under His
control is Eswara. So, try to have all this creation under control
and become Eswara yourself. The stage when, so far as you are
concerned, the objective world has come to naught, is the stage
when you attain Brahmam. Until that is set at naught, you cannot
attain Brahmam; that is certain. Like the snake that discards its
skin and assumes a new skin, the Sadhaka discards the old skin,
puts on the skin of the Deity indicated by the manthra that he
concentrates upon.
Q. Pardon me, Swami! I cannot understand all this. Make it
clear through some more examples.
A. You have seen an egg, is it not? When the bird sits on the egg
for some time, the chick grows inside it to its full stature and
then, when the shell of the egg is broken, it emerges and assumes
its real form. In the same way, when the Sadhaka, with purified
consciousness dwells on the manthra and its meaning, and revolves
its significance in his mind without break, the vision grows in
his mind without break, the shell of Ajnana breaks and he shines
in the splendour of the Divinity that he has formed in his
consciousness.
Q. All things originate from Pranava and all things finally
merge in Pranava, they say. Then why is it that the very elders
who say this declare that some can pronounce this and some cannot?
A. What is Prakrithi, except the commingling of the Five Elements?
The Pranava is the very life of all the elements and so it is the
life-breath of Prakrithi itself. The roar of waters falling down a
cliff, the beating of waves on a promontory of the shore, both
repeat the Pranava only. The sound of inhaling and exhaling breath
is itself the Pranava, is it not? Whether they know it or not, the
heigh-ho of the men who carry along a palanquin on their
shoulders, the heave of those who lift weights, the heehoy of
those who beat clothes on slabs by the riverside; all resound with
the Pranava. Repeat it with a full knowledge of its inner
significance and you will soon be relieved of the burden of this
world's worry. The Pranava of the breathing process is also the
saviour from grief. It is meaningless to argue that some have the
right to utter the Pranava and some have not. Those who do not
breathe may not have the authority to utter it; but all who
breathe are reciting it already in the process and so there is no
sense in denying it to any one. When Arjuna asked how one should
remember the Lord at the point of death, do you not know the reply
that Krishna gave? He said that he should recall to his mind the
Pranava which is undifferentiated from Him. Such a Bhaktha will,
He said, attain the highest goal. So every one has the right to
this great manthra, the Pranava.
Q. How can the goal be reached through the Upasana of Pranava?
How can the person who meditates become transformed into the thing
meditated upon? Please make this unequalled manthra and the way it
helps us clearer to me by means of easy illustrations.
A. Very good. Pranava is the bow; the Atma is the arrow;
Parabrahmam is the target. So the Sadhaka must, like the
practitioner of the art of archery, be unaffected by things that
agitate the mind. He should pay one-pointed attention to the
target; then the bowman is filled with the target; he becomes the
thing meditated on. In the Kaivalyopanishad, the Mundakopanishad
and in various parts of the Sruthi, the Pranava is extolled in
various ways. Therefore this manthra which liberates man can be
recited and meditated upon by all. All can practise the Pranava
Upasana; you need have no doubts on this point.