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| Photo shows roof of Naini Mata temple in Nainital |
A face book friend and cousin - Pardeep - posted something this
morning about a Mantra on his wall:
Mantra Dhaarnaa Yon
Kar, Vidhi Se Le Kar Naam
Japiye Nishchaya Achal
Se, Shakti-Dhaam Sri Ram
These verses in Hindi may be translated as:
From right Teacher
learn right technique of repetition of right name
Then mediate with
greatest faith, Upon the Lord’s most vital name
I fully agree with my dear cousin that the chanting of
Mantras done correctly is a powerful technique, even magical. That is the
reason one has magicians chanting spells in fairy tales to perform magic.
Recently a college classmate and dear friend got into serious legal
difficulties. His name is Rajat Gupta. Until recently he was one of the most
senior corporate executives on our planet well known to Prime Ministers and
Presidents including Obama and Clinton. He can be found in Wikepedia. However,
amongst some of his friends were also some that indulged in illegal insider
trading. Those friends are in prison now but because of his association with
them some suspicion has fallen on Rajat Gupta as well and those proceedings
will begin in court tomorrow. We (his close friends) believe that he is innocent
and that would be proved in a court of law in due course. Over the previous year,
as he prepared for this trial, I have sent him emails with encouraging words.
My friends know of my interests in spiritual philosophy and in times of
difficulty sometimes expect some spiritual advice. Mind you though it is only
in times of difficulty because who cares for stuff like God and Spirituality
when the going is good? To my older friends I have just two suggestions
nowadays:
4. Trust and believe in God
5. Learn and practice a mantra
containing His name
This is for older friends though. For younger ones I add
three more steps:
- Enhance the virtues of Love, Truth and Simplicity
- Work hard but do not overwork
- Enhance cleanliness and order in your self and around you.
These first three steps are not suggested to older persons
because they presumably already know more about it than I do or are too far
gone to make any worthwhile changes in this direction now. These five steps are
just my own classification for spiritual progress and it is a classification I
have adapted from a spiritual teacher of Nainital (Baba Hairakhan). Others
divide spiritual methodologies into different number of steps. The eight steps
of yoga propounded by an ancient teacher of yoga – Patanjali – are the most
well known. Yoga is essentially any practice that enhances spirituality and
because each step enhances spirituality, individual steps are yogas too and can
be given special names. I have termed step number 3 as entropy yoga borrowing
from my engineering background and there is an entire older blog post on that
in this blog as well as other articles on the Internet on that. Step number 1
encompasses much of what is termed as ethical, moral and good behavior and
therefore at the present time we shall skip its elaboration so as to return to
the topic at hand – mantras. For example, simplicity includes absence of
affectations and pretensions, lack of greed, lack of pride, contentment,
humility etc. etc.
We have an email group of friends that corresponds regularly
sending group emails and a very dear friend Gill often responds that all this
spiritual stuff is all bunkum. My suspicion though is that secretly he
practices much spirituality because in his behavior he is very spiritual. I
suspect that he practices Mantra meditation too and that his secret mantra is
the most popular mantra of the Sikhs – Wahe Guru – meaning the Lord is great. I
shall send him a link to this blog and let him contradict what I have written
about him as a comment here if he wishes to.
On the other hand in his most recent email Rajat Gupta- the
other dear friend facing the Judge - has responded that he regularly practices
another mantra that is highly regarded by the Hindus since ancient times – The
Gaytri Mantra. This mantra is a bit long containing around fourteen words or so
in Sanskrit that praise God and seek his guidance for right behavior. I said
around fourteen words because in Sanskrit it is possible to join or disjoin
words changing their number in a phrase. I too practice the Gayatri mantra from
time to time but for regular chanting I prefer shorter ones. A mantra can be as short as a single word or
it may contain many.
In order to practice the chanting of mantras one needs to
learn a mantra and learn the associated techniques for their recitation. The
technique involves an examination of one’s breathing during recitation ensuring
that it is smooth and even. It also involves choosing a point or thought for
focus because without it the thoughts would wander and the mantra will become
ineffective. Mantras can be chanted aloud or silently. I believe they are more
powerful when chanted silently in a quiet place. At the outset I mentioned that
a Mantra should contain a reference to God but mantras without a reference to
God also produce beneficial effects. However the latter are less effective, in
my view. Including the name of God is only possible when one believes in God. I
can almost hear my friend Gill or my blogging friend Vincent screaming - I do
not believe in God. The Buddhists don’t either. Instead some of their mantras
include the name of Buddha such as
Buddham Sharnam
Gacchami
That means I go seek the protection and shelter of Buddha.
The favorite point of focus during recitation for Buddhists appears to be their
own breathing and it is my favorite too.
Mantra meditation is followed in all major religions of the
world as well as spiritual practices that are not religious. Ancient Christian
monks chanted their mantras with the help of rosary beads and the Muslim Sufis
frequently chant the single Name – Allah.
In my experience, Allah is the easiest and most beautiful
word to chant because it beautifully synchronizes with breathing when the Word
is spread over the inward and outward breaths as Al- Lah. However not being a
Muslim most often I chant other mantras.
Before practicing mantra meditation one must learn some
mantras that appeal. A yoga teacher – Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi – apparently made a
good pile of dough selling mantras to individuals. However one need not
purchase a mantra. One can discover or invent one’s own with some effort. Baba
Hairakhan of Naintal suggested the single Mantra to all who sought his advice,
Om Namha Shivai
This mantra includes the name of the Lord in his formless
aspect as Om and in a formed image as Shiva.
Perhaps if Baba Hairakhan had lived longer I would have asked him for some more
mantras. However in keeping with the tradition of the Young Babaji of Nainital
he left the world young at the age of 34. I have great regards for Baba
Hairakhan because he was not in the business of collecting money. He never asked
any from his disciples and even today one can go live and eat free in one of
his beautiful ashrams in Nainital and one would not be asked for any donations.
His free hospitals and ashrams are run from donations disciples offer
voluntarily in his temples or trust.The favorite mantra of the favorite eastern
teacher of Steve Jobs– Neem Karoli Baba (also from Nainital district) was
probably,
Jai Shri Hanuman
And that of Gandhi,
He Ram
Do you have a favorite mantra too? If so please tell us
about it as a comment.
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