The Power of Mantra

Some say that our thoughts are powerful. It is not thoughts that are powerful, but the ocean of silence between them.

We can embrace that ocean through meditation. Then there is the possibility that a thought-wave might take on the power of the whole ocean, which is the base of every wave.

In meditation, there is a mantra. Yet there is no need to repeat a mantra, or an affirmation. Meditation is not repetition. Repetition just dulls the mind. It makes the mind dull, mechanical and small. Simply brush the mantra ever so softly with awareness, then drop it like a sprouted seed in the rich dark loam of silence. In that silence, attention effortlessly slips from the head into the heart. Rest there.

Contrary to public misinformation, techniques like Transcendental Meditation or Sahaj Samadhi are not based on repetition of a mantra. They utilize a much subtler science. The fruitfulness of mantra consists not in its repetition, but in its power to dissolve the mind. If the mantra does not dissolve the mind into silence, it is not a real mantra: it is just another thought rattling around in the skull.

Mantra fulfills the definition of Yoga as given in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: Yogas chitti-vritti nirodahah. "Yoga stills the vritti, the vibrations of consciousness." Mantra settles the mind in the silence that was there before God said, "Let there be light." In Sanskrit, mantra means vehicle for the mind: manas - mind, tra - vehicle. Tra is the root of our English suffix, tron. Electrons carry electricity. Positrons carry positivity. Mantras carry mind to its source.

At the base of every wave is the still ocean. At the base of every energy-vibration is the emptiness of the vacuum. This whole creation is composed of energy-vibration, yet these waves are waves of silence. Silence is not inert. It is alive with consciousness. As the still ocean empowers waves, the silent vacuum of pure consciousness empowers the vibrating universe.

The Gospel of John reveals that "in the beginning was the Word." So the Vedas declare, "In the beginning, God manifested the universe through a current of sound." But what is before the beginning, before the Word? Uncreated silence.

The opening verse of the Bible describes this living but uncreated silence. As in quantum physics, the Biblical creation story reveals a universe arising in vibrations of a field that is "formless and void" (in Hebrew, tohu wa bohu). Before the Word of creation, there are ripples in the ocean of silence, just as there are fluctuations in the vacuum of quantum physics. The Bible associates these ripples in the void with the power of breath, ruach. This word means both Breath and Spirit in Hebrew. It is the Spirit-Breath of God that stirs up waves in the primordial waters of the void. "Darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit-breath of God was stirring over the waters." (Genesis) Here, the Hebrew verb for stirring, is rachaf. The root of this verb describes the constant motion of a mother bird's feathers as she sits on her egg, warming it to life with her vibration.

From this vibrant sea of silence, the Word of creation is born: "And God said, Let there be light." Then what is the mantra? It is the Word of creation, the Logos, in reverse. As the Word impels silence outward into creation, so the mantra draws creation back to its silent source, restoring vibration to its first stillness. Through mantra, wave returns to sea, mind returns to God.

When the mantra has done its work in you, you won't be repeating anything. Your awareness will rest in pure Being, floating in primordial silence. It is not "original sin," but original innocence, that will irradiate your heart with the radiance of joy. This is real meditation.

Jai Guru Dev

 

Photo by Peter Shefler