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An alambana, is a suitable object of meditation, on which you concentrate your attention. Of all the alambanas commonly used for meditation, mantras are perhaps used more extensively than any other. Mantras are sacred invocations, usually in the ancient Sanskrit language that are repeated mentally for meditation.
The word japa means recitation or repetition. Mantra japa is
one of the most widely used meditation techniques, probably because it's
extremely powerful. And yet it's quite simple to practice. The meaning of the
word mantra, derived from its syllables ‘man’ and ‘tra’ is a tool or instrument
for the mind. Mantras are mental devices for focusing your attention.
The purpose of focusing your attention on a mantra or any
other object of meditation is to reach Dhyana, the 7th of the eight limbs, or
angas of yoga, defined by Patanjali. Dhyana simply means meditation. According
to Patanjali, Dhyana is the result of practicing concentration. Dhyana prepares
you for the final limb samadhi absorption.
Patanjali defines Dhyana as तत्र
प्रत्यैकतानता ध्यानम्। a continual stream
of identical thoughts -tatra on that on the alambana, which means a stream of
thoughts directed towards the object of meditation. Dharana is a series of
identical thoughts, or vrittis, an unbroken flow that's not interrupted by
extraneous thoughts. When practicing mantra japa, dhyana is a state in which
your attention is focused on the mantra alone, without any distractions
whatsoever. Another definition of Dhyana used by traditional teachers is
sajatiya vritti pravaha, literally a current or flow of identical vritti or
thoughts.
They describe the state using a striking metaphor. Suppose
you pour cooking oil from a vessel. If you pour it slowly and steadily, it will
form a delicate ribbon of oil that appears to be motionless, like a solid band
of liquid suspended in space. Even though the oil inside the ribbon is
constantly moving, the ribbon itself seems perfectly still. This example is
used to describe the state of Dhyana. When a perfectly steady stream of
identical thoughts flows in your mind, you'll ironically experience it as a
state of stillness, for example, while practicing mantra japa. If each mantra
is followed by an identical mantra without any deviation or interruption,
you'll feel a sense of deep silence. It's a wonderful feeling.
In meditation workshops, I'm often asked which mantra is
best. If one particular mantra was truly more powerful and effective than any
other, this question could be easily answered. But the fact is, there's no such
thing as a best mantra. On the other hand, there are Vedic mantras and mantras
from other ancient scriptures like the Puranas. There are short mantras and
long mantras. There are mantras that incorporate sacred sound symbols, and
mantras that invoke God with thousands of different names. None of these
mantras can be considered best, yet each has its unique qualities.
To help us explore the relative merits of all these mantras,
let's return to the elephant story. A mahout leads his elephant to a rural
construction site where it'll help move heavy trees and boulders. On the way,
they have to pass through a bazaar filled with stalls overflowing with various
fruits and vegetables being sold. The mahout wants to prevent the elephant from
reaching out with its trunk to grab a bunch of bananas. So before they even
reach the bazaar, he gives the elephant a stick to grasp with its trunk. The
elephant obediently holds onto the stick, and this clever trick prevents it
from grabbing any bananas.
Like the mahout gives his elephant a stick to grasp, in the
practice of mantra japa, you give your mind a mantra to repeat, and that
prevents your mind from wandering.
Now, based on this analogy, asking which mantra is best for
meditation is like asking what kind of stick is best for the elephant. Should
the mahout give it an elegantly carved piece of sandalwood or a costly silver
plated stick? In fact, neither of those would restrain the elephant's trunk any
better than an ordinary stick picked up from the roadside. The elephant doesn't
really care about what kind of stick it's given. It has no preference.
The mahout, on the other hand, would certainly prefer a
silver plated stick rather than an ordinary stick, or even one of carved
sandalwood. The mahout's preference for one stick over another represents our
preference for one mantra over another. In principle, any mantra will work just
fine. Yet we're naturally inclined to choose a mantra we think is best or most
valuable. That's really significant, because the more valuable we perceive
something to be, the more tightly we'll hold on to it. An ordinary scrap of
paper will quickly be thrown away, but not a $100 bill.
For this reason, a mantra you consider valuable will hold
your attention better than one you consider ordinary. So a mantra's
effectiveness depends in part on how valuable you think it is. But what is it
that truly determines a mantra's value?
Every traditional mantra possesses shakti, an inherent power
or capacity that we'll discuss shortly. But what if you lack the knowledge
needed to evaluate and appreciate the shakti of a particular mantra? Its value
isn't obvious, it has to be discovered. For example, a dilapidated old chair
might look like a useless piece of junk to you, but someone who's an expert in
antique furniture might know that it's worth several hundred dollars. So to
misquote an old saying, value is in the eye of the beholder. This principle is
clearly shown by a traditional story about a young student who approached a
guru and asked to be given a mantra.
The guru said, Come back next month. A month later, the
student returned. But the guru said once again, come back next month. Each time
the student returned, he was told to wait one more month. After twelve long
years had passed in this way, the guru finally gave him a mantra.
Why did the guru make him wait so long? Well, if he got a
mantra immediately, the immature student might have assumed that anything
obtained so easily must be quite ordinary and of little value. With that
attitude he would have found it more difficult to concentrate on the mantra in
spite of its inherent power or shakti. The long wait made his dedication grow strong
and when the mantra was finally given, he received it as a precious gift.
Having to wait a long time instilled in him a tremendous
value for the mantra and that helped him concentrate on it. This story shows
how your attitude towards the mantra determines in part how effective it will
be as an aid for concentrating your attention.
Another example of this principle is seen in a well-known
spiritual organization that charges a fee for giving you a mantra. No
traditional guru would demand payment for a mantra. So why is this done? One
reason might be that the organization is guided by a familiar western saying
you get what you pay for. A mantra that's given freely could be considered
worthless, but if you have to pay for it, you're likely to consider it more
valuable. Charging a fee or making you wait twelve years are methods used to
instill in the minds of meditators, significant value for the mantras they are
given. But most gurus have no need for methods like these. Instead, when they
give you a mantra, they also teach you the mantra's true value, the value born
of its inherent power, its shakti.
Traditional mantras possess an inherent power or capacity to
attract your attention during meditation. That capacity is the mantra's shakti,
it's power. Several factors are responsible for that shakti.
First of all, traditional mantras are drawn from highly
revered sacred scriptures. And most of those mantras are short invocations or
prayers addressed to various aspects of God. Any form of prayer connects us to
a power infinitely greater than ourselves. And that infinite power is invoked
when traditional mantras are used for meditation.
In modern times, a number of non-traditional mantras have
also been used. An American physician named Herbert Benson researched the use
of mantra japa in clinical settings. He instructed his test subjects to repeat
the word one as a mantra. Another example is the spiritual organization
mentioned before that gives mantras they themselves describe as being
meaningless syllables. In both cases, a deliberate effort was made to remove
any religious elements from the practice of mantra japa to create a purely
secular practice. It's certainly possible to concentrate your attention on the
word one or on meaningless syllables. But those mantras are not prayers and as
a result they fail to connect you to the infinite power of the divine source of
the universe.
According to Patanjali, mantras should be meaningful. In the
yoga sutras he prescribes that a mantra's meaning should be reflected upon
during mantra japa. He says तज्जपस्तदर्थभावनम्।
taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam| A mantra should be repeated and tad aratha
bhavanam -its meaning should be contemplated upon.
Traditional mantras have profound meanings worthy of deep
reflection, and knowing the meaning of a mantra will increase your value for
it, making it more effective, as we discussed before. On the other hand,
reciting a mantra without knowing its meaning can lead to mindless mechanical
repetition, which is a serious problem for the practice of mantra japa.
Fortunately, most mantras aren't difficult to understand.
Many follow a common pattern. That pattern usually begins with om, a sound
symbol that represents God or absolute reality. As explained before, many
mantras also include the word namah, which is generally translated as
salutations. Namah is derived from a Sanskrit root that means to bend or bow.
So namah suggests bowing with reverence, or with an attitude of surrender. Due
to rules of grammar, namah often becomes namo, namas, or namah, depending on
the word that follows it. The most important word in a traditional mantra is a
name for a particular deity, a form or manifestation of God. When that deity's
name is joined to the word namah, its ending is changed to mean salutations
unto that deity. For example, om nama shivaya means salutations unto Shiva. Om
namo Narayanaya means salutations unto Narayana, a name for Vishnu. Any of the
thousands of Sanskrit names for various aspects of God can be used in a mantra.
Most mantras are quite short. Some have just three words,
like in the previous example. Others, including the well known, Gayatri mantra,
are longer. Mantras of all lengths are effective, but for beginning meditators,
short mantras might be easier to use at first. On the other hand, longer mantras
demand more attention, and they can sometimes be more effective in preventing
your mind from wandering, even though they're more difficult to learn.
Practically speaking, if your mind wanders a lot with a
short mantra, try using a longer one. The mantra om alone is usually not
recommended for mantra japa for several reasons, including the fact that it's
too short. Your mind can easily lose hold of it and wander away. Some mantras
include one or more sound symbols known as seed syllables or bijaksharas. These
are syllables like SHRIIM, HRIIM and AIM. These seed syllables are often
associated with particular deities. For example, SHRIIM usually represents
Lakshmi, goddess of wealth is associated with prosperity. HRIIM represents Durga, the goddess of power. And AIM is used for
Saraswati, goddess of knowledge.
A mantra has shakti, not just because it's a prayer from a
sacred scripture, but also because of the very sounds of its Sanskrit words.
Sanskrit is called Deva bhasha, the language of the gods, and it's believed to
be of divine origin. For this reason, Sanskrit mantras are revered as sacred
sounds. Even if you don't accept this belief, Sanskrit is indeed an
extraordinary language. It's an ancient scriptural language not derived from
any other. It has a precise system of pronunciation, a vast vocabulary and an
unusually sophisticated grammar. All of these qualities make Sanskrit, unique among the world's languages and
perfectly suited for Mantras.
