Om Sathguru Sri Seshadri Swamigal Thiruvadikkae
THE GURU MANTRA
(taken from the Guru Granth Sahib)
Guruji's Divine Thiruppaadam
- While walking and sitting, sleeping and waking, contemplate within your heart the Guru Mantra.
- Run to God’s Lotus Feet, and join the Saadh-Sangat.
- Cross over the terrifying world-ocean, and reach the other side.
- O mind! enshrine God’s Name Within your Heart!
- Love God, and commit your mind and body to Him; forget everything else.
- The soul, mind, body and breath of life belong to God; eliminate your self-conceit.
- This is right conduct, and this is the correct lifestyle to obey the Divine Will;
- This is your Bhagti (Bhakthi) – devotional worship.
A handicapped person with diseased or faulty legs needs the help of crutches to go around until his legs are cured. Similarly, our mind is inflicted with a chronic disease of a false sense of ego. It needs help! The desire of worldly pleasures and the fear of pains have crippled it. Dwelling in desires and fear, it has become dense, deluded or ignorant. The Absolute Peace (Sahaj), which is the mind’s True Nature, has been shattered by the Bikaars of the human-mind (lust, anger, greed, attachment, and false pride, and their numerous variations such as envy, obstinacy, ageing and psychological distress, efforts to acquire and abandon hopes and longings, violent expressions, ignorance, deception, cheating, hypocrisy, evil tendencies, crookedness, corruption, selfishness, perversities, fanaticism, and so on).
It’s needless to say that our twisted mind so flawed and conditioned needs help to retrace the steps back to its Real Nature, the Utter Quiescence (the Self or Soul Consciousness). The ancient Spiritual Scientists looked into this diseased and ignorant condition of the human mind, and came up with very potent antidotes.
And one of the antidotes is called Guru Mantra or simply Mantra (the Word of Shabad or Divine Name)! The poison of corruption flowers forth in the four directions; I have taken the Guru Mantra as my antidote.
WHAT IS MANTRA?
Mantra is a Sanskrit word, simply meaning “incantation”. Just as fragrance is contained in the flower, and the light of the sun is hidden in the colors, similarly, the essence of Divine Expression from the Supreme Consciousness is summed up in the Mantra. The letter form of Mantra is the expression of this subtle Primal Sound. Thus, the Mantra is not an ordinary word; it is embedded with the Transcendental vibratory sound that represents the Absolute Purity.
All Mantras are in the name of the Lord. By chanting them we try to invoke the Lord who resides Within. Thus, the Mantra is the Name of the Inner Being whom we call, or want to Realize. Therefore, if chanted with concentration, intuitive understanding, determination, constancy, assiduousness, faith and feeling, the Mantra will open a person to himself – it will bring the person face to face with the Self Within (Guru, Sathguru, Light, God, Atman…)
- Mantra, tantra, medicine and atonement, are all in God’s Name, the Support of the Soul and the breath.
- My Master is eternal. He is seen by practicing the mantra. He never perishes, He does not come and go – He neither takes birth nor does He die.
- In the Society of the Saint, whosoever has seen God within, God’s Name is sweet to him. All things are contained in One (Lord); (from That One Lord) so many various colors are seen (emanating). The nine treasures and the Amrit are in the Name of God. Within that person’s body is the place of rest. The Sunn Samaadhi, and the unstruck sound current of the Naad are there. The wonder of it cannot be described. He alone sees it, unto whom God Himself reveals it.
The Japa is the prelude to Spiritual Enlightenment.
- The Sathguru has given me the Mantra of God’s Name. By this support, my affairs have been resolved.
The Word of Mantra for Naam-Smaran are usually short, containing only a few syllables. The shorter Mantras of fewer syllables are more effective, because they are more likely to flow better with the natural rhythm of the breathing process, easy to remember and more suitable for concentration and remembrance.
THE GURU MANTRA
As discussed in the second part of this article, the Guru’s business is two-fold:
- to impart Self-knowledge (to remove the seeker’s veil of ignorance of the Self), and,
- to give the seeker Guru Mantra (the Word of Divine Name) whose unbroken chanting or meditation brings about mental-control called inner Purity.
God has countless Names, and the Wise call Him by specific names.
- O Lord, who can tell all Your Names? (The Wise) call You or describe You by (special) Names (according to Your) Leelas
- The Mantra of God’s Name is deep within my mind and body.
- The Guru has given the Mantra of the True Word of God. Meditating on this True Word, I sing the songs of joy, and my mind is rid of anxiety. I have found that God, who never leaves; Forever and ever, He sits with me.
- Everyone calls upon You with their palms pressed together, chanting Your Name, “Siva Siva”. O Merciful Lord, everyone cries out for Your Help.
- The Word of the Supreme Being, is the Mantra to rid the man of his mental ego.
Knowing the meaning of the Mantra is very helpful when one is concentrating on it. Then he will know when he reaches the goal which the Mantra is supposed to produce Within him.
- Meditate, O my mind, on the One Name. It alone will be of use to your soul. Night and day, sing the Glorious Praises of the Infinite God, through the Pure Mantra of the Perfect Guru
THE PURPOSE OF MANTRA
One not knowing a treasure of precious diamonds and gold, buried beneath his feet may walk over it repeatedly yet never find it. Similarly, all beings live every moment in the city of the Self-God, and yet never find Him. Why? Because, the illusion created by the false ego and ignorance, have deluded one’s mind.
The Purpose of the Mantra is to help remove the veil of this illusion from our mind. In other words, the Mantra consists in shifting the emphasis from the changeable mind (false ego) and its ephemeral world to the Immutable and Timeless Self, within.
The reason all religions, paths and Mantras exist is because there exists the phantom called the mind. It is so fickle, – even if it is tamed it does not remain steady, but gets restless in a moment like the surface of the ocean. It jumps from one object to other like a monkey jumps from tree to tree. This mind alone provides the senses with their intelligence; who, in turn, generate countless evil desires and notions. Hence, this ghost called ‘mind’ must be destroyed. This is the teaching of all world scriptures and the Masters.
- When the mind is conquered, its turbulent wanderings are stopped. Without annihilating (conquering) the mind, how can God be found? Rare is the one who knows the medicine to conquer the mind.
- The Moola Mantra is the only cure for the mind; I have installed faith in God in my mind
Death of the mind is the birth of the Spiritual Wisdom. How can this phantom called mind be killed or conquered? Depending on the temperament of the seeker, several means are available to him, the Word of Mantra among them.
Meditation on the Mantra helps purge the mind of mundane thoughts, which in turn, helps gain realization of the omnipresent Self (Aatman, Guru or Sathguru, God, Light, Infinite Consciousness, etc.). The Mantra has a great Transcendental vibratory force. Its devotional repetition, aloud or mentally, fills the mind with Divine vibrations that helps neutralize vibrations of material consciousness. When contemplated with sincere feeling, intuitive understanding, determination, constancy, assiduousness, faith and intense concentration it helps elevate the consciousness God-ward.
The mind is nothing but thoughts. Destruction, purification or conquering of the mind simply means the cessation of thoughts. The process for driving all mundane thoughts out of the mind is to make it focused on one thought, for example, one Word of the Mantra (Naam-Smaran). Ultimately, once the mind is purified (“killed”) of all thoughts, this one thought will also disappear, leading the devotee into the state of Sunn Samaadhi (Spiritual Silence). Therefore, the idea here is to clear the mind of worldly concepts, followed by immersion in the Naam-consciousness or Shabad-Surti, spontaneously. The more we contemplate on the Divine Naam in Sahaj Subhaaye (intuitive ease), the more it will sink in the Heart Within, rendering the mind finer and finer, free of material anxieties, agonies, desires and fear.
- The Divine Guru existed at the primal beginning, throughout the ages, in each and every age. The Divine Guru is the Mantra of God’s Name; chanting it, one is saved.
- The mind does not hold still, even for an instant. Distracted by all sorts of distractions, it wanders around aimlessly in all directions. I have found the Perfect Guru, through great good fortune; He has given me the Mantra of God’s Name, and my mind has become quiet and tranquil.
Thus, the purpose of the Mantra is to make the mind quiet and tranquil; free of its perversions and defects; which is its True Nature. However, due to the rise of false ego, it has forgotten its True Nature and has become restless. The proper chanting of the Mantra, aloud or mentally, helps purge the mind of mundane thoughts. So long as the mind is occupied with materialism, mental purity needed to upgrade our animal nature to Spiritual Nature cannot be attained. We have only one mind; either we can use it for Naam-Smaran or for the world-Smaran! The loving and unbroken repetition of the Naam Smaran results in thinning of the sense of ego, and ignorance, while the Smaran on the world manifests opposite effects.
- The Guru Mantra illumines the darkness of ignorance.
Hence the mind crippled by the desires and fear gains strength from the practice of the Mantra. This dispassion and concentration, helps meditation. Slowly but surely the mind becomes one with the Mantra, then one gets to know that the Formless, Infinite Spirit is only fit to be worshiped, everything else is a passing show. Also, one gets to know that the losing of the one’s individuality is nothing but merging in the Self Within.
CHANTING THE MANTRA
The Self is not realized through instruction, much thinking, much speaking, observing external silence and fasting, intellectual powers, stubbornness, rituals, or much hearing.
It can be reached only by the one whom the Self chooses; to Him the “Jyothi-Swaroopa” is revealed. And this fortunate one is He who has purified his mind of desires and fear. He who has not renounced evil ways, who is not at peace with himself, who cannot concentrate with intuitive ease, and whose mind is not composed cannot reach the Self, even by right knowledge.
- I am just a worm, created by You, O God. If you bless me, then I chant Your Primal Mantra.
First of all, the ideal way to perform the Naam-Jap is said to be with Sahaj – naturally, without stubborn mindedness.
Second, when pronounced, the Mantra must be pronounced properly, slowly, thoughtfully, with love and feeling, concentration, spontaneously, mentally hearing its Transcendental vibratory sound. At the same time, we should work to bring out the positive feelings, such as inner joy, happiness or contentment. Thus, it should be a very meaningful experience.
If the Naam-Jap is not performed in the natural way (Sahaj), or if it is performed quickly like mechanical repetition or parrot-like chanting – what can be called “machine-gun Smaran!” – than it will be nothing more than an unmeaning ritual; bringing little benefit to the seeker.
The Mantra is either chanted aloud or mentally, repeating while inhaling and exhaling, effortlessly. In the beginning it is performed aloud. So doing, the Mantra is heard back by the mind and therefore the mind does not wander. Thus, it is relatively easier to concentrate. In the early stage of the practice, the student may want to take advantage of relatively more peaceful hours such as before sunrise and at sunset.
Sahaje Sahaje (slowly slowly) after the Naam-Jap is perfected aloud, it becomes mental. That is, it may be done silently, making the sound internally without the support of the tongue or any other external limbs of the body. This is what the Gurbani calls “Ajapaa Jaap”. The ultimate accomplishment in the performance of Naam-Jap is going to walk, stand, sit, eat, work, etc., while internally the Jap continues without a break, spontaneously. This is meditation. And to meditate, one must be free from anger, jealousy, contentions, fear, desires etc.
- The mind that does not forget the Chant which is chanted without chanting becomes immersed in the Primal Lord of the ages. Upon becoming a Gurmukh (spiritual being), all the senses are blessed with the five virtues, and one dwells in the Home of the Self deep within. Nanak is the slave of that one who seeks the Shabad and finds this inner Home.
Naam-Smaran is performed only for one reason: to link with the Original Source Within. Therefore, with the help of concentration and feeling, the mind needs to be focused only on the Naam-Smaran. If the mind is allowed to wander into irrelevant thoughts, the benefits of the Jap will be nullified. Thus, complete commitment of the body and mind, regularity and discipline are the conveyance.
Self-imposed limitations of place and time to perform devotional service will also block Spiritual Unfoldment of an aspirant. The word Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion) comes from the Sanskrit root word Bhaj, meaning “to serve”. Therefore, the process of Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion) must include three items or three B’s: Bhagat (servitor), Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion) (service), and Bhagwaan (the served). Accordingly, devotional service should be performed keeping in mind the omnipresence of the Bhagwaan (Infinite Consciousness). A sincere devotee, for that reason, will not limit his devotional service to a particular place or time. They see the All-pervading Being in everything, every where, and all the time. The limitation of time and place belongs only to the ignorant hypocrites (Manmukhs).
- Any time is a good time to meditate in remembrance (Smaran) of God.
- O Lord, without Your Name, there is no place at all.
- If one considers the time and the moment (for Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion)), then Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion) cannot be performed at any time. Night and day, one who is attuned to the Name becomes (one with) Truth. If someone forgets the Beloved (God), even for an instant, what sort of devotion is that?
For the practice of Naam-Smaran, Spiritual Company within and without is very important and helpful. In the association (Sangat) of Pious Beings, who’s hearts are already penetrated with the Naam, it’s relatively easy to concentrate. With concentration comes the inner transformation.
- In the Company of the Holy, there is no suffering (sggs 272).
- The Supreme Lord showers His Mercy, and we find the Saadhoo Sang, the Company of the Holy. More time we spend there (in Saadhoo Sang), the more we come to love God.
BENEFITS OF CHANTING THE MANTRA
The Mantra of the Divine Name helps awaken the mind so that the inflated ego may subside. This, in turn, opens up the inner doors to the Higher Consciousness. When chanted properly, it improves the protective aura of the individual, leading one into the Self-knowledge and Self-realization. Thus, taking on the Mantra or Naam is for mind control, Spiritual Unfoldment, Self-realization, or personal Enlightenment.
In the early stages, Truth may taste bitter and unpleasant to our inflated ego as our inner mind reveals to us our shocking crookedness, perversions, and weaknesses. Overwhelmed by these shocks, many seekers may shrink from Naam-Jap very quickly, as the inner self plays back such impurities working Within, becoming a little afraid of what might happen if they are to continue. However, diligent attempt, consistent self-effort, and continuous mental alertness is the key to the conquest. In all earnestness if the Naam-Jap is given a chance, it will sink in and then taste sweet later! As long as Truth does not enter into Consciousness, the Divine Presence is not realized! The Mantra is like a medicine. Scriptures are like label on this medicine. The purpose of label is to describe the medicine’s name, nature, composition, dosage, etc. However, if one keeps reading the label day in and day out without taking the medicine, he cannot expect to be cured! Can he? In order to be cured, one has to take the medicine and stop mere reading of the label; for the healing of the medicine works, whether or not we consciously comprehend it. Similarly, until the mind is engaged in the sincere Naam-Smaran (medicine), the reading of scriptures (labels) will not have any effect on the healing process of the medicine. One may be able to gain all sorts of knowledge by reading the labels, however, Knowledge without Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion) is empty as one’s married life to an eunuch!
- O mind, there is only One medicine, Mantra and healing herb; center your consciousness firmly on One God!
- One who is blessed with the medicine of the Guru Mantra, the Name of God, does not suffer the agonies of reincarnation.
- God cannot be understood by reading scriptures; deceitful pretenders are deluded by doubt .
Naam-Smaran is a journey to a place within, which we have forgotten. It harmonizes the physical body with the mental body and Spiritual forces through the life force. In turn, it harmonizes various states of the mind, altering the consciousness and taking the devotee to the Realization of the Transcendental vibratory sounds (Panch Shabad, Anhata Dhuni, etc.) emanating from the great depth of the timelessness, formlessness and spacelessness.
The chanting of the Divine Name aids in depolarization and transmutation of the individual consciousness, the false ego. As we intone the Transcendental vibratory sound of the Naam, we release the creative energy into the brain. In turn, the brain pours it out through the body, mind and intellect to create a new world for us. Thus, the unbroken repetition of the Naam bursts forth Spiritual Wisdom (Aatma-Gyaan) from Within.
- All can be enlightened with the Beej Mantra, the Seed Mantra, is spiritual wisdom for everyone. Anyone from four Varnas can meditate on it
The verbal chanting of Divine Name leads to mental uttering, which in turn leads to uttering without the physical or mental utterance (Sunn Samaadhi or total absorption). Here the devotee becomes one with the Divine Name Within. This is the ultimate Realization, the state of living liberated (Jeevanmukta).
- All read, hear and reflect upon God’s Name; but (due to lust, anger, etc.) they cannot develop the Divine Love, and they cannot Experience God within. How can iron be transformed into gold, unless it touches the Philosopher’s Stone? Lust, anger, Maya, intoxication (with pride. arrogance, etc.) and jealousy – these five have combined to plunder the world. (As a result) the knot of skepticism from within, does not get untied.
HOLY MANTRAS ARE NEITHER SECRET NOR FOR SALE
Many fake Gurus, Yogis or Swamis sell Mantras in secrecy in a format like packaged merchandise, and amass wealth from ignorant or unsuspecting people all over the world. This is a mundane business, which has nothing to do with Spirituality. The reason they do not give Mantras openly and freely is that they have no genuine interest in giving people a helping hand. Instead, all they are interested in is how to plunder money out of them. This is because people want to be cheated. In fact many devotees pay dearly to receive the Mantra, only to forget it a few hours or days later! But in this age of Kali Yuga, the people are so deluded that if you charge fee and bluff and cheat them, they will follow you! We must know that, from ancient time, all traditional Mantras were neither sold nor acclaimed secret in India! Because God’s Name is ever free!
The Gurbani (SGGS) comes from the All-pervading Consciousness. It makes it very clear that God’s Word is not a property of any person or a group; for it belongs to the entire mankind. In other words, nowhere the SGGS indicates if a particular group of people has exclusive rights or monopoly over the Lord’s Name. In order to understand the Essence of the Divinity, everybody can take advantage of it. Those who do not take full advantage of the Divine Teaching, or those who have their consciousness devoid of the sincere Naam-Smaran are compared with the animals and insects.
TRANSCENDING THE MANTRA
The object of Mantra-Jap is to Realize that the same Jap is already going on Within even without any effort! To put it otherwise, in the final analysis, the Shabad, Naam or Mantra is the person’s True Nature, which is also the ultimate state of Spiritual Realization. With proper repetition, the Jap finally reveals itself as being Eternal; which is the man’s Real Nature, the Self. This is also called the state of Self-realization.
Once the needed concentration or quietness of the mind is attained, the Mantra comes to its end. In other words, it burns itself out and blends into one’s very existence; like when you stir the fire with a wooden stick, you burn the stick too! The concept or thought disappears, the Essence remains! It’s just like the pair of crutches: a person with broken legs needs the aid of crutches until he is cured. The Gurbani reveals that the state of Pure Being is “Sunn Samaadhi”, which is the state of motionlessness or Spiritual Silence. Therefore, clinging to any type of thought or notion will turn into an obstacle for attaining the ultimate state of Realization, which is beyond any conceptualization.
As revealed in the Gurbani, “Sunn Samaadhi” or the state of “no-mind” is the state of becoming one with the Naam Within – the state where there is no time (or birth and death), no creator, no creation, no destruction, no worlds, no universe, no existence, no names, no forms, no “I” and “me”, no “mine” and “your”, no “this”, no “that”, no truth, no false, no likes and dislikes, no humans, no demons, no elements, no bodies or senses, no mind, no thought, no meditation, no chanting, no remembrance, no forgetfulness, no sorrow, no enjoyment, no gurus, no disciples, no duality, no non-duality, no beginning, no middle, no end: all is at all times, beyond the comprehension of the body-mind-intellect. Only the Infinite Awareness exists there.
Therefore, in the final stage of the Naam-Smaran, the Mantra must turn into one’s actions, the Mantra must turn into one’s love and compassion, the Mantra must turn into one’s life, and it then bursts forth into Intuitive Wisdom. In other words, from that point on, one does not only know the Truth, but he also lives by It; because, as the Gurbani says, this in itself is a Mantra! The Naam then reflects in His words, deeds and speech, rendering him Jeevanmukta (living liberated).
The Holy One has shown the Way to God; I chant the Guru Mantra.
The chanting of Mantra or Naam is thus a way of tuning in with the subtle Divine Forces Within. The scriptures warn the sincere seeker to be careful here to avoid the entrapment of any Siddhis (occult powers) that may come along the way as the by-product of the Bhagti (Bhakthi-devotion). Too often what happens is that the seeker falls prey to their temptations and loses union with God. Since the psychic powers are limited to the restless or egoistic mind, the spiritual teachers and scriptures teach sincere aspirants to avoid their temptations; for they are hindrance to Spiritual Wisdom. Therefore, all inferior powers should not interest the man of Self-knowledge so long he is perfectly content in himself. As Spiritual Wisdom is the greatest gain, the man of such Wisdom is free from the least desire for anything.
- Riches and the supernatural spiritual powers are all emotional attachments (egoism); through them, Naam – the Lord’s Name – does not come to dwell in the mind.
Here is a little story about Baalmeek:
There lived a highwayman by the name of Ratnaakar, who made his living by robbing and killing people. It so happened that one day a holy man fell into his hands. To cut the long story short, the holy man told Ratnaakar he could help him become a good man if he agreed to chant God’s Name. “How?”, inquired Ratnaakar. The holy man gave him the Word “Raam” as Mantra, and asked him to chant it with sincere feeling, faith, determination, and intense concentration. As Ratnaakar’s consciousness had become so filthy by putting people to death, at first his tongue was unable to utter the word “Raam”. The bandit asked the holy man if he could utter “Maraa” (meaning “dead”!) instead of “Raam”. The holy man said, “if you feel comfortable with uttering “Maraa”, so be it”. He then began chanting the Word “Maraa, Maraa, Maraa…”, with utter love and faith. With concentrated practice, first the sound “Maraa Maraa…” spontaneously turned into “Raam Raam…”, then, in due course, he became absorbed in its Transcendental vibratory sound. Later, that bandit came to be known as Rishi Baalmeek, who wrote the famous epic of Ramayana!
- O mind! Be conscious, be conscious, be conscious… Why do you not look at Baalmeek?
