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see also ::: Mantras of the Mother

see also ::: Mantras_of_the_Mother

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now begins generated list of local instances, definitions, quotes, instances in chapters, wordnet info if available and instances among weblinks


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
Aditi
constant_mantra
First_Name
Japa
Japam
Name_of_the_Beloved
Names_of_God
Om
Only_The_Divine
Prayer_Beads
repeat
repeat_my
Soham
Tat_Sat
SEE ALSO

Mantras_of_the_Mother

AUTH
The_Mother

BOOKS
Amrita_Gita
Bhakti-Yoga
Guru_Bhakti_Yoga
Infinite_Library
Integral_Life_Practice_(book)
Letters_On_Yoga
Letters_On_Yoga_II
Liber_ABA
Mantras_Of_The_Mother
My_Burning_Heart
Questions_And_Answers_1950-1951
Questions_And_Answers_1955
Savitri
Self_Knowledge
The_Book_of_Secrets__Keys_to_Love_and_Meditation
The_Essential_Songs_of_Milarepa
The_Great_Exposition_of_Secret_Mantra
The_Integral_Yoga
The_Key_to_the_True_Kabbalah
The_Study_and_Practice_of_Yoga
Writings_In_Bengali_and_Sanskrit

IN CHAPTERS TITLE
0_1958-12-15_-_tantric_mantra_-_125,000
1.02_-_Pranayama,_Mantrayoga
1.035_-_The_Recitation_of_Mantra
1.07_-_The_Mantra_-_OM_-_Word_and_Wisdom
1.10_-_Mantra_Yoga
1951-05-05_-_Needs_and_desires_-_Discernment_-_sincerity_and_true_perception_-_Mantra_and_its_effects_-_Object_in_action-_to_serve_-_relying_only_on_the_Divine
1955-10-26_-_The_Divine_and_the_universal_Teacher_-_The_power_of_the_Word_-_The_Creative_Word,_the_mantra_-_Sound,_music_in_other_worlds_-_The_domains_of_pure_form,_colour_and_ideas
1.ac_-_The_Mantra-Yoga
2.3.02_-_Mantra_and_Japa
30.08_-_Poetry_and_Mantra

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
00.01_-_The_Mother_on_Savitri
00.04_-_The_Beautiful_in_the_Upanishads
0.00_-_INTRODUCTION
0.00_-_The_Book_of_Lies_Text
01.02_-_Sri_Aurobindo_-_Ahana_and_Other_Poems
01.04_-_Sri_Aurobindos_Gita
01.04_-_The_Intuition_of_the_Age
01.06_-_Vivekananda
01.07_-_The_Bases_of_Social_Reconstruction
01.08_-_Walter_Hilton:_The_Scale_of_Perfection
01.09_-_William_Blake:_The_Marriage_of_Heaven_and_Hell
0.10_-_Letters_to_a_Young_Captain
01.12_-_Three_Degrees_of_Social_Organisation
0_1957-10-18
0_1958-05-11_-_the_ship_that_said_OM
0_1958-07-06
0_1958-08-29
0_1958-09-16_-_OM_NAMO_BHAGAVATEH
0_1958-12-15_-_tantric_mantra_-_125,000
0_1958-12-24
0_1959-01-06
0_1959-01-14
0_1959-01-21
0_1959-01-27
0_1959-01-31
0_1959-04-07
0_1959-05-19_-_Ascending_and_Descending_paths
0_1959-05-25
0_1959-06-03
0_1959-06-04
0_1959-06-07
0_1959-06-08
0_1959-06-25
0_1960-01-28
0_1960-05-28_-_death_of_K_-_the_death_process-_the_subtle_physical
0_1960-06-04
0_1960-07-12_-_Mothers_Vision_-_the_Voice,_the_ashram_a_tiny_part_of_myself,_the_Mothers_Force,_sparkling_white_light_compressed_-_enormous_formation_of_negative_vibrations_-_light_in_evil
0_1960-09-20
0_1960-10-11
0_1960-10-22
0_1960-10-25
0_1960-12-31
0_1961-01-22
0_1961-02-11
0_1961-04-07
0_1961-05-19
0_1961-08-05
0_1961-10-30
0_1961-11-05
0_1961-11-07
0_1961-11-12
0_1962-01-15
0_1962-01-27
0_1962-02-03
0_1962-02-13
0_1962-05-31
0_1962-06-06
0_1962-08-08
0_1962-11-27
0_1963-04-20
0_1963-04-29
0_1963-05-11
0_1963-06-03
0_1963-07-10
0_1963-10-16
0_1963-12-11
0_1964-01-04
0_1964-03-25
0_1964-08-22
0_1964-09-23
0_1964-09-30
0_1964-11-21
0_1965-01-24
0_1965-02-04
0_1965-02-19
0_1965-05-08
0_1965-06-09
0_1965-06-18_-_supramental_ship
0_1965-08-07
0_1965-08-18
0_1966-01-31
0_1967-03-25
0_1967-05-06
0_1967-08-02
0_1967-09-16
0_1967-11-22
0_1967-12-20
0_1968-02-03
0_1968-06-15
0_1968-07-06
0_1968-11-20
0_1968-12-04
0_1969-02-19
0_1969-04-23
0_1969-07-12
0_1969-07-19
0_1969-11-29
0_1970-07-04
0_1970-09-09
0_1970-10-07
0_1971-06-05
0_1971-08-18
0_1971-08-21
0_1972-01-29
0_1972-07-08
0_1972-10-28
0_1972-12-23
0_1973-01-24
0_1973-03-14
0_1973-05-05
02.02_-_Rishi_Dirghatama
02.03_-_The_Shakespearean_Word
02.05_-_Federated_Humanity
02.05_-_Robert_Graves
02.07_-_George_Seftris
02.14_-_Appendix
03.01_-_The_New_Year_Initiation
03.02_-_Yogic_Initiation_and_Aptitude
03.04_-_The_Body_Human
03.04_-_Towardsa_New_Ideology
03.06_-_The_Pact_and_its_Sanction
03.08_-_The_Democracy_of_Tomorrow
03.11_-_Modernist_Poetry
04.01_-_The_March_of_Civilisation
04.03_-_The_Call_to_the_Quest
05.11_-_The_Place_of_Reason
05.12_-_The_Revealer_and_the_Revelation
05.15_-_Sartrian_Freedom
05.18_-_Man_to_be_Surpassed
05.19_-_Lone_to_the_Lone
05.20_-_The_Urge_for_Progression
06.01_-_The_End_of_a_Civilisation
06.03_-_Types_of_Meditation
1.001_-_The_Aim_of_Yoga
10.04_-_Lord_of_Time
1.007_-_Initial_Steps_in_Yoga_Practice
10.15_-_The_Evolution_of_Language
1.01_-_Asana
1.01_-_Foreward
1.01_-_Maitreya_inquires_of_his_teacher_(Parashara)
1.01_-_MASTER_AND_DISCIPLE
1.01_-_Tara_the_Divine
10.23_-_Prayers_and_Meditations_of_the_Mother
10.24_-_Savitri
10.27_-_Consciousness
1.028_-_Bringing_About_Whole-Souled_Dedication
1.02_-_IN_THE_COMPANY_OF_DEVOTEES
1.02_-_Meditating_on_Tara
1.02_-_Pranayama,_Mantrayoga
1.02_-_SADHANA_PADA
1.02_-_Taras_Tantra
1.02_-_The_Eternal_Law
1.031_-_Intense_Aspiration
1.035_-_The_Recitation_of_Mantra
1.037_-_Preventing_the_Fall_in_Yoga
10.37_-_The_Golden_Bridge
1.03_-_Invocation_of_Tara
1.03_-_Japa_Yoga
1.03_-_Meeting_the_Master_-_Meeting_with_others
1.03_-_Tara,_Liberator_from_the_Eight_Dangers
1.03_-_The_End_of_the_Intellect
1.03_-_YIBHOOTI_PADA
1.04_-_Homage_to_the_Twenty-one_Taras
1.04_-_KAI_VALYA_PADA
1.04_-_Magic_and_Religion
1.04_-_Pratyahara
1.04_-_Religion_and_Occultism
1.04_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda
1.04_-_The_Praise
1.053_-_A_Very_Important_Sadhana
1.056_-_Lack_of_Knowledge_is_the_Cause_of_Suffering
1.05_-_Bhakti_Yoga
1.05_-_Buddhism_and_Women
1.05_-_Ritam
1.06_-_Hymns_of_Parashara
1.06_-_Incarnate_Teachers_and_Incarnation
1.06_-_Raja_Yoga
1.07_-_A_Song_of_Longing_for_Tara,_the_Infallible
1.07_-_Raja-Yoga_in_Brief
1.07_-_Savitri
1.07_-_The_Mantra_-_OM_-_Word_and_Wisdom
1.08_-_Attendants
1.08_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda_-_The_Secret_of_the_Veda
1.098_-_The_Transformation_from_Human_to_Divine
1.099_-_The_Entry_of_the_Eternal_into_the_Individual
1.09_-_Kundalini_Yoga
1.09_-_Legend_of_Lakshmi
1.1.02_-_The_Aim_of_the_Integral_Yoga
1.10_-_Concentration_-_Its_Practice
1.10_-_Mantra_Yoga
1.10_-_The_Secret_of_the_Veda
1.1.1.02_-_Creation_by_the_Word
11.11_-_The_Ideal_Centre
1.11_-_Correspondence_and_Interviews
1.11_-_Legend_of_Dhruva,_the_son_of_Uttanapada
1.1.2_-_Commentary
1.12_-_Independence
1.12_-_The_Herds_of_the_Dawn
1.12_-_The_Superconscient
1.13_-_THE_MASTER_AND_M.
1.14_-_INSTRUCTION_TO_VAISHNAVS_AND_BRHMOS
1.14_-_Noise
1.15_-_The_world_overrun_with_trees;_they_are_destroyed_by_the_Pracetasas
1.16_-_Man,_A_Transitional_Being
1.16_-_WITH_THE_DEVOTEES_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.17_-_The_Seven-Headed_Thought,_Swar_and_the_Dashagwas
1.17_-_The_Transformation
1.18_-_M._AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.18_-_The_Human_Fathers
1.19_-_THE_MASTER_AND_HIS_INJURED_ARM
1.200-1.224_Talks
1.2.03_-_The_Interpretation_of_Scripture
1.2.08_-_Faith
1.20_-_RULES_FOR_HOUSEHOLDERS_AND_MONKS
1.2.1.11_-_Mystic_Poetry_and_Spiritual_Poetry
1.2.11_-_Patience_and_Perseverance
1.21_-_A_DAY_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.2.2.01_-_The_Poet,_the_Yogi_and_the_Rishi
1.22__-_Dominion_over_different_provinces_of_creation_assigned_to_different_beings
1.23_-_Improvising_a_Temple
1.240_-_1.300_Talks
1.240_-_Talks_2
1.24_-_RITUAL,_SYMBOL,_SACRAMENT
1.25_-_ADVICE_TO_PUNDIT_SHASHADHAR
1.25_-_SPIRITUAL_EXERCISES
1.27_-_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.28_-_The_Killing_of_the_Tree-Spirit
1.300_-_1.400_Talks
1.3_-_Mundaka_Upanishads
1.400_-_1.450_Talks
14.01_-_To_Read_Sri_Aurobindo
14.03_-_Janaka_and_Yajnavalkya
1.4.03_-_The_Guru
14.04_-_More_of_Yajnavalkya
1.439
1.44_-_Serious_Style_of_A.C.,_or_the_Apparent_Frivolity_of_Some_of_my_Remarks
1.450_-_1.500_Talks
15.06_-_Words,_Words,_Words...
15.08_-_Ashram_-_Inner_and_Outer
1.68_-_The_God-Letters
17.08_-_Last_Hymn
17.11_-_A_Prayer
18.02_-_Ramprasad
1.83_-_Epistola_Ultima
1951-05-05_-_Needs_and_desires_-_Discernment_-_sincerity_and_true_perception_-_Mantra_and_its_effects_-_Object_in_action-_to_serve_-_relying_only_on_the_Divine
1954-04-07_-_Communication_without_words_-_Uneven_progress_-_Words_and_the_Word
1955-10-26_-_The_Divine_and_the_universal_Teacher_-_The_power_of_the_Word_-_The_Creative_Word,_the_mantra_-_Sound,_music_in_other_worlds_-_The_domains_of_pure_form,_colour_and_ideas
1955-11-16_-_The_significance_of_numbers_-_Numbers,_astrology,_true_knowledge_-_Divines_Love_flowers_for_Kali_puja_-_Desire,_aspiration_and_progress_-_Determining_ones_approach_to_the_Divine_-_Liberation_is_obtained_through_austerities_-_...
1956-05-23_-_Yoga_and_religion_-_Story_of_two_clergymen_on_a_boat_-_The_Buddha_and_the_Supramental_-_Hieroglyphs_and_phonetic_alphabets_-_A_vision_of_ancient_Egypt_-_Memory_for_sounds
1958-09-10_-_Magic,_occultism,_physical_science
1.ac_-_The_Mantra-Yoga
1.bni_-_Raga_Ramkali
1.cllg_-_A_Dance_of_Unwavering_Devotion
1.grh_-_Gorakh_Bani
1.kbr_-_Abode_Of_The_Beloved
1.nrpa_-_The_Viewm_Concisely_Put
1.rmpsd_-_I_drink_no_ordinary_wine
2.01_-_AT_THE_STAR_THEATRE
2.01_-_Mandala_One
2.01_-_On_Books
2.02_-_THE_DURGA_PUJA_FESTIVAL
2.03_-_Indra_and_the_Thought-Forces
2.03_-_On_Medicine
2.03_-_THE_MASTER_IN_VARIOUS_MOODS
2.04_-_ADVICE_TO_ISHAN
2.05_-_On_Poetry
2.06_-_WITH_VARIOUS_DEVOTEES
2.06_-_Works_Devotion_and_Knowledge
2.07_-_BANKIM_CHANDRA
2.07_-_The_Mother__Relations_with_Others
2.08_-_ALICE_IN_WONDERLAND
2.08_-_AT_THE_STAR_THEATRE_(II)
2.08_-_God_in_Power_of_Becoming
2.09_-_On_Sadhana
2.09_-_THE_MASTERS_BIRTHDAY
2.10_-_On_Vedic_Interpretation
2.14_-_AT_RAMS_HOUSE
2.16_-_The_15th_of_August
2.17_-_December_1938
2.19_-_THE_MASTER_AND_DR._SARKAR
2.21_-_IN_THE_COMPANY_OF_DEVOTEES_AT_SYAMPUKUR
2.2.1_-_The_Prusna_Upanishads
2.2.2_-_The_Mandoukya_Upanishad
2.24_-_THE_MASTERS_LOVE_FOR_HIS_DEVOTEES
2.25_-_AFTER_THE_PASSING_AWAY
2.25_-_List_of_Topics_in_Each_Talk
2.26_-_The_Ascent_towards_Supermind
2.28_-_Rajayoga
2.3.01_-_Aspiration_and_Surrender_to_the_Mother
2.3.02_-_Mantra_and_Japa
24.05_-_Vision_of_Dante
25.06_-_FORWARD
27.02_-_The_Human_Touch_Divine
29.06_-_There_is_also_another,_similar_or_parallel_story_in_the_Veda_about_the_God_Agni,_about_the_disappearance_of_this
29.09_-_Some_Dates
2_-_Other_Hymns_to_Agni
30.01_-_World-Literature
30.07_-_The_Poet_and_the_Yogi
30.08_-_Poetry_and_Mantra
30.09_-_Lines_of_Tantra_(Charyapada)
3.00_-_Introduction
30.13_-_Rabindranath_the_Artist
30.17_-_Rabindranath,_Traveller_of_the_Infinite
3.04_-_The_Way_of_Devotion
3.07_-_The_Formula_of_the_Holy_Grail
31.05_-_Vivekananda
3.15_-_Of_the_Invocation
3.2.08_-_Bhakti_Yoga_and_Vaishnavism
3.2.3_-_Dreams
33.04_-_Deoghar
33.07_-_Alipore_Jail
33.11_-_Pondicherry_II
33.13_-_My_Professors
3.3.1_-_Illness_and_Health
34.02_-_Hymn_To_All-Gods
34.07_-_The_Bride_of_Brahman
3.4.1.01_-_Poetry_and_Sadhana
3.4.2_-_Guru_Yoga
3.6.01_-_Heraclitus
36.07_-_An_Introduction_To_The_Vedas
36.08_-_A_Commentary_on_the_First_Six_Suktas_of_Rigveda
36.09_-_THE_SIT_SUKTA
37.04_-_The_Story_Of_Rishi_Yajnavalkya
38.04_-_Great_Time
3_-_Commentaries_and_Annotated_Translations
4.24_-_The_supramental_Sense
4.41_-_Chapter_One
7.11_-_Building_and_Destroying
9.99_-_Glossary
Appendix_4_-_Priest_Spells
Big_Mind_(ten_perfections)
Blazing_P3_-_Explore_the_Stages_of_Postconventional_Consciousness
BOOK_II._--_PART_II._THE_ARCHAIC_SYMBOLISM_OF_THE_WORLD-RELIGIONS
BOOK_I._--_PART_I._COSMIC_EVOLUTION
BOOK_I._--_PART_III._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_I._--_PART_II._THE_EVOLUTION_OF_SYMBOLISM_IN_ITS_APPROXIMATE_ORDER
DM_2_-_How_to_Meditate
Guru_Granth_Sahib_first_part
Jaap_Sahib_Text_(Guru_Gobind_Singh)
Liber_71_-_The_Voice_of_the_Silence_-_The_Two_Paths_-_The_Seven_Portals
MMM.02_-_MAGIC
P.11_-_MAGICAL_WEAPONS
Sayings_of_Sri_Ramakrishna_(text)
Talks_001-025
Talks_026-050
Talks_051-075
Talks_076-099
Talks_100-125
Talks_500-550
Talks_600-652
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_1
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_2
The_Act_of_Creation_text
The_Anapanasati_Sutta__A_Practical_Guide_to_Mindfullness_of_Breathing_and_Tranquil_Wisdom_Meditation
The_Coming_Race_Contents
Verses_of_Vemana

PRIMARY CLASS

SIMILAR TITLES
mantras
Mantras Of The Mother

DEFINITIONS


TERMS STARTING WITH


TERMS ANYWHERE

3. secret mantra vows (S. guhyamantrasaMvara; T. gsang sngags kyi sdom pa; C. mizhou lüyi 密咒律儀)

agamas. ::: Saiva scriptures that describe the rules and procedures for image worship, which include temple construction, installation and consecration of the deities, methods of performing pujas in the temples, philosophy, recitation of mantras, worship involving figures or yantras and bhakti yoga

Ajapa (Sanskrit) Ajapa [from a not + the verbal root jap to speak in a low voice] One who does not use orthodox prayers; a reciter of heterodox mantras or works. Ajapa is the form of mantra called hamsa, consisting of a series of inhalations and exhalations.

Akshara-suddhi: Clear pronunciation of the letters of the Mantras.

Always and everywhere the power of mantras and incantations has been recognized. Orators use mantras — they call them slogans — with instinctive knowledge of their efficacy, and set afloat phrases that stir the public mind and strongly influence events. Often in daily conversation we instinctively forbear to speak a name or a word, though we would make no objection to writing it.

A second meaning as a noun is one of the portions of Vedic literature containing rules for the proper chanting and usage of the mantras or hymns at sacrifices, and explanations in detail of what these sacrifices are, illustrated by legends and old stories. These Brahmanas are “pre-eminently occult works, hence used purposely as blinds. They were allowed to survive for public use and property only because they were and are absolutely unintelligible to the masses. Otherwise they would have disappeared from circulation as long ago as the days of Akbar” (SD 1:68). Though the Brahmanas are the oldest scholastic treatises on the primitive hymns, they themselves require a key for a proper understanding of them which Orientalists have hitherto failed to secure. Since the time of Gautama Buddha, the keys to the Brahmanical secret code have been in the possession of initiates alone, who guard their treasure with extreme and jealous care. There are indeed few, if any, individuals of the present-day Brahmanical cast in India who are even conscious that such keys exists; although no small number of them, possibly, have intimations or intuitions that a secret wisdom has been lost which is uniformly understood to have been in the possession of the ancient Indian rishis.

Astra (Sanskrit) Astra Missile, weapon; in the war between the Pandavas and Kurus in the Mahabharata, in addition to the regular weapons (astras), others are mentioned: mantra-astras (weapons made powerful by mantras); divya-astra (weapons received from higher beings); and agneyastras (weapons of fire). Likewise racial remnants of the earlier Atlanteans (commonly called Rakshasas) employed the power of hallucination (maya); this is also described in the Ramayana. See also ASHTAR

Atharva Veda (Sanskrit) Atharva Veda One of the principal Vedas, commonly known as the fourth; attributed to Atharvan or Atharva. The Rig-Veda states that he was the first to “draw forth fire” and institute its worship, as well as the offering of soma and prayers. Mythologically, Atharvan is represented as a prajapati, Brahma’s eldest son, instructed by his father in brahma-vidya: thus was he inspired to compose the Veda bearing his name. At a later period he is associated with Angiras and called the father of Agni. The Atharva-Veda, considered of later origin than the other three Vedas, comprises about 6000 verses, 760 being hymns, consisting of formulas and spells or incantations for counteracting diseases and calamities. The hymns are of slightly different character from those in the other Vedas: in addition to reverencing the gods, the worshiper himself is exalted and is supposed to receive benefits by reciting the mantras.

Atma-vidya (Sanskrit) Ātmavidyā [from ātma self + vidyā knowledge] Knowledge of the self; the highest form of spiritual-divine wisdom, because the fundamental or essential self is a flame or spark of the kosmic self. “Of the four Vidyas — out of the seven branches of Knowledge mentioned in the Puranas — namely, ‘Yajna-Vidya’ (the performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results); ‘Maha-Vidya,’ the great (Magic) knowledge, now degenerated into Tantrika worship; ‘Guhya-Vidya,’ the science of Mantras and their true rhythm or chanting, of mystical incantations, etc. — it is only the last one, ‘Atma-Vidya,’ or the true Spiritual and Divine wisdom, which can throw absolute and final light upon the teachings of the three first named. Without the help of Atma-Vidya, the other three remain no better than surface sciences, geometrical magnitudes having length and breadth, but no thickness. They are like the soul, limbs, and mind of a sleeping man: capable of mechanical motions, of chaotic dreams and even sleep-walking, of producing visible effects, but stimulated by instinctual not intellectual causes, least of all by fully conscious spiritual impulses. A good deal can be given out and explained from the three first-named sciences. But unless the key to their teachings is furnished by Atma-Vidya, they will remain for ever like the fragments of a mangled text-book, like the adumbrations of great truths, dimly perceived by the most spiritual, but distorted out of all proportion by those who would nail every shadow to the wall” (SD 1:168-9).

Avahana: The invocation by Mantras of the deity of the purpose of manifestation during the time of worship.

bīja. (T. sa bon; C. zhongzi; J. shuji; K. chongja 種子). In Sanskrit, "seed," a term used metaphorically in two important contexts: (1) in the theory of KARMAN, an action is said to plant a "seed" or "potentiality" in the mind, where it will reside until it fructifies as a future experience or is destroyed by wisdom; (2) in tantric literature, many deities are said to have a "seed syllable" or seed MANTRA that is visualized and recited in liturgy and meditation in order to invoke the deity. In the Chinese FAXIANG (YOGACARA) school, based on similar lists found in Indian Buddhist texts like the MAHAYANASAMGRAHA, a supplement to the YOGACARABHuMI, various lists of two different types of seeds are mentioned. (1) The primordial seeds (BENYOU ZHONGZI) and the continuously (lit. newly) acquired seeds (XINXUN ZHONGZI). The former are present in the eighth "storehouse consciousness" (ALAYAVIJNANA) since time immemorial, and are responsible for giving rise to a sentient being's basic faculties, such as the sensory organs (INDRIYA) and the aggregates (SKANDHA). The latter are acquired through the activities and sense impressions of the other seven consciousnesses (VIJNANA), and are stored within the eighth storehouse consciousness as pure, impure, or indeterminate seeds that may become activated again once the right conditions are in place for it to fructify. (2) Tainted seeds (youlou zhongzi) and untainted seeds (wulou zhongzi). The former are sowed whenever unenlightened activities of body, speech, and mind and the contaminants (ASRAVA) of mental defilements take place. The latter are associated with enlightened activities that do not generate such contaminants. In all cases, "full emergence" (SAMUDACARA, C. xiangxing) refers to the sprouting of those seeds as fully realized action. ¶ In tantric Buddhism the buddha field (BUDDHAKsETRA) is represented as a MAndALA with its inhabitant deities (DEVATA). The sonic source of the mandala and the deities that inhabit it is a "seed syllable" (bīja). In tantric practices (VIDHI; SADHANA) the meditator imagines the seed syllable emerging from the expanse of reality, usually on a lotus flower. The seed syllable is then visualized as transforming into the mandala and its divine inhabitants, each of which often has its own seed syllable. At the end of the ritual, the process is reversed and collapsed back into the seed syllable that then dissolves back into the nondual original expanse. Seed syllables in tantric Buddhism are connected with DHARAnĪ, mnemonic codes widespread in MahAyAna sutras that consist of strings of letters, often the first letter of profound terms or topics. These strings of letters in the dhAranĪ anticipate the MANTRAs found in tantric ritual practices. The tantric "seed syllable" is thought to contain the essence of the mantra, the letters of which are visualized as standing upright in a circle around the seed syllable from which the letters emerge and to which they return.

Blavatsky states that Sanskrit has never been known nor spoken in its true systematized form except by the initiated Brahmins. This form of Sanskrit was called — as well as by other names — Vach, the mystic speech, which resides in the sounds of the mantra. “The chanting of a Mantra is not a prayer, but rather a magical sentence in which the law of Occult causation connects itself with, and depends on, the will and acts of its singer. It is a succession of Sanskrit sounds, and when its strings of words and sentences is pronounced according to the magical formulae in the Atharva Veda, but understood by the few, some Mantras produce an instantaneous and very wonderful effect” (BCW 14:428n). This Vach, or the mystic self of Sanskrit, was the sacerdotal speech of the initiated Brahmins and was studied by initiates from all over the world.

Brahmana(Sanskrit) ::: A word having several meanings in Hindu sacred literature. Brahmana is both noun andadjective, as noun signifying a member of the first of the four Vedic classes, and as adjective signifyingwhat belongs to a Brahmana or what is Brahmanical. Secondly, it signifies one of the portions of theVedic literature, containing rules for the proper usage of the mantras or hymns at sacrifices, explanationsin detail of what these sacrifices are, illustrated by legends and old stories.Another adjective with closely similar meaning is Brahma. An old-fashioned English way of spellingBrahmana is Brahmin.

Brahmanas ::: [the portion of the Veda, distinct from its mantra (hymnal) portion, which contains rules for the employment of the mantras at various sacrifices, and also detailed explanations of the origin and meaning of the mantras and numerous old legends].

BrAhmī. In Sanskrit, "Holy Script"; name for one of the two predominant scripts (along with KHAROstHĪ) used in the GANDHARA region of northwest India; Buddhist texts using this script are found in Sanskritized GAndhArī and other Prakrit vernaculars (known as BUDDHIST HYBRID SANSKRIT). Buddhist documents were written in the Kharosthī script at least as early as the first half of the first century CE; these are now generally conceded to be the oldest extant Indian and Buddhist documents, although stone and coin inscriptions and edicts in Asokan BrAhmī date from considerably earlier. Documents using the BrAhmī script date from about one or two centuries later, during the second or third centuries CE; the latest BrAhmī documents date from the eighth century CE, around the time that Buddhism begins to vanish from the GandhAra region. The BrAhmī manuscripts are often written on palm leaves, while many of the Kharosthī manuscripts instead use birch bark. The greatest cache of BrAhmī manuscripts discovered so far are extensive fragments of a Sanskrit recension of the DĪRGHAGAMA ("Long Discourses"; see also DĪGHANIKAYA) attributed to the SARVASTIVADA school or its MuLASARVASTIVADA offshoot. Asokan-period BrAhmī has ten vowels and thirty-eight consonants and is written like all Indian alphabets from left to right; Kharosthī is written from right to left and appears to be based on an AramAic script. In the modern period, the BrAhmī script was deciphered by James Prinsep (1799-1840) of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. BrAhmī is also related to the SIDDHAM script used in East Asian for transcribing Sanskit DHARAnĪs and MANTRAs.

Brihaspati (Sanskrit) Bṛhaspati [from bṛh prayer + pati lord] Sometimes Vrihaspati. A Vedic deity, corresponding to the planet Jupiter, commonly translated lord of prayer, the personification of exoteric piety and religion, but mystically the name signifies lord of increase, of expansion, growth. He is frequently called Brahmanaspati, both names having a direct significance with the power of sound as uttered in mantras or prayer united with positive will. He is regarded in Hindu mythology as the chief offerer of prayers and sacrifices, thus representing the Brahmin or priestly caste, being the Purohita (family priest) of the gods, among other things interceding with them for mankind. He has many titles and attributes, being frequently designated as Jiva (the living), Didivis (the bright or golden-colored). In later times he became the god of exoteric knowledge and eloquence — Dhishana (the intelligent), Gish-pati (lord of invocations). In this aspect he is regarded as the son of the rishi Angiras, and hence bears the patronymic Angirasa, and the husband of Tara, who was carried off by Soma (the moon). Tara is

Bunkyo hifuron. (文鏡秘府論). In Japanese, "A Mirror on Literature and a Treasury of Marvels Treatise"; a work on classical Chinese poetics and prosody, composed by the Japanese SHINGONSHu monk KuKAI, probably in the early ninth century. The work was intended to serve as a vade mecum on classical Chinese writing style and literary allusions for Japanese ranging from novice monks who needed to know how to parse Buddhist MANTRAs and DHARAnĪs to diplomats or scribes who had to compose elegant Chinese prose and verse. The treatise is titled a "mirror on literature" because it describes correct Chinese style and a "treasury of marvels" because it serves as a literary compendium and thesaurus. The text is significant not only because of its impact on the development of Japanese classical-Chinese writing, but also because its extensive extracts of original Chinese sources (most now lost) stand as a valuable resource for the study of Tang literature.

Đạo Hạnh. (道行) (died 1117). Vietnamese monk, popularly known as Từ Đạo Hạnh; CHAN master and thaumaturge, whose miraculous exploits have captured the imagination of Vietnamese Buddhists for centuries. His personal name was Từ Lộ. The Thièn Uyẻn Tập Anh relates that as a young man he was a free spirit who harbored great aspirations. He befriended people of various social backgrounds and was a serious student, passing the royal examination for tăng quan (monk officers). After his father was killed by a sorcerer, Đạo Hạnh went to Mount Từ Sơn to live in seclusion and devoted himself to chanting the "Great Compassion" DHARAnĪ (see DABEI ZHOU) daily. After chanting it 108,000 times, he gained magical powers and avenged his father's death. He later began to wander to various Buddhist monasteries in search of enlightenment; eventually, under the guidance of Sùng Phạm (1004-1087), he gained realization. He is said to have tamed mountain snakes and wild beasts, burned his finger to pray for rain, and blessed water with mantras to cure disease. It is believed that Đạo Hạnh used his magical powers to reincarnate himself as the son of King Lý Nhan Tông (r. 1072-1127) and was eventually enthroned as King Lý Thàn Tông (r. 1128-1138). In northern Vietnam, the story of Đạo Hạnh is still reenacted during festivals.

Dharani (Sanskrit) Dhāraṇī [from the verbal root dhṛ to bear, support] In Buddhism, a mystical verse or mantra; in Hinduism, verses from the Rig-Veda. “In days of old these mantras or Dharani were all considered mystical and practically efficacious in their use. At present, however, it is the Yogacharya school alone which proves the claim in practice. When chanted according to given instructions a Dharani produces wonderful effects. Its occult power, however, does not reside in the words but in the inflexion or accent given and the resulting sound originated thereby” (TG 100).

Ekajatā. [alt. Ekajatī] (T. Ral gcig ma; C. Dujimu; J. Dokukeimo; K. Tokkyemo 獨髻母). In Sanskrit, "Having One Lock of Hair," an emanation of AKsOBHYA; she is often depicted in that Buddha's crown, with a single lock or knot of hair on her head. The wrathful goddess Mahācīnakrama-TĀRĀ or Ugra-Tārā (who is dark and short, with a protruding belly, fanged, with three eyes, a lolling tongue, and a single tawny-colored knot of hair) is iconographically identical to several forms of the Ekajatā worshiped in later Hinduism. According to one tradition, this form of Tārā was originally a pre-Buddhist Tibetan goddess who entered into Buddhist TANTRA with the tantric NĀGĀRJUNA in the seventh century. In the RNYING MA sect, in particular, she is said to be a form of DPAL LDAN LHA MO and is called Sngags srung (protectress of the MANTRAs). In this form, she is the protector of the RDZOGS CHEN tantras; she has a single eye, one sharp tooth, a single breast, and a single lock of hair above her head, and she wields a trisula (trident) and KAPĀLA (skull cup). She also serves as the consort of several forms of MAHĀKĀLA and YAMA and is also found as a member of the PARIVĀRA (retinue) of Dpal ldan lha mo. In other forms, she has one face and two or four hands and twelve faces and twenty-four hands.

fang yankou. (S. pretamukhāgnivālāyasarakāra; J. hoenko; K. pang yomgu 放焰口). In Chinese, "releasing the burning mouths," Chinese esoteric Buddhist ritual for those dead who have been reborn as hungry ghosts (PRETA). The "burning mouths" refers specifically to hungry ghosts, whose tiny mouths and narrow gullets leave them congenitally incapable of filling their distended bellies; even worse, as they try to feed themselves such tiny morsels, the tidbits turn into fire, ash, and burning iron in their mouths. The ritual is performed by monks during the ULLAMBANA festival for the dead or at the request of laypeople on behalf of their ancestors. The ritual typically takes five hours to complete and is always held in the evening when hungry ghosts can more easily travel from their realm of existence to attend. During the performance, the monks wear red or golden hats in the shape of a five-pointed crown, which symbolizes the five buddhas (S. PANCATATHĀGATA). At first, the five buddhas and other divinities are invited and offered "sweet dew" (C. ganlu; S. AMṚTA), viz., water consecrated through the recitation of a MANTRA. After summoning all the inhabitants of the six realms of existence (sAdGATI), the hungry ghosts are then released and feted; purged of their afflictions (KLEsA), they then pay homage to the three jewels (RATNATRAYA) and make a vow to become BODHISATTVAs. Finally, after being taught the Buddhist teachings, they are sent on their way to the PURE LAND. The ritual is accompanied by such features as ringing hand bells, chanting mantras, and performing MUDRĀ in order symbolically to open both the gates of the hells and the throats of the hungry ghosts and to remove their karmic obstructions (KARMĀVARAnA). The ritual is supposed to have been created in response to a nightmare of the Buddha's attendant ĀNANDA: after dreaming one night about the horrible plight of the hungry ghosts, Ānanda asked the Buddha to help beings avoid such a baleful rebirth and to rescue all the current residents of that bourne. The Buddha then recited DHĀRAnĪ on all their behalves. The Jiuba yankou egui tuoluoni jing (S. Pretamukhāgnivālāyasarakāradhāranī; T. Yi dwags kha la me 'bar ma la skyabs mdzad pa'i gzungs, "Dhāranī-Sutra for Liberating the Burning Mouth Hungry Ghosts"), translated by AMOGHAVAJRA during the eighth century, includes the earliest version of the ritual. The fangyan kou is still performed today within the Chinese Buddhist community, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

gate gate pāragate pārasaMgate bodhi svāhā. (T. ga te ga te pā ra ga te pā ra saM ga te bo dhi svā hā; C. jiedi jiedi boluojiedi boluosengjiedi puti sapohe; J. gyatei gyatei haragyatei harasogyatei boji sowaka; K. aje aje paraaje parasŭngaje moji sabaha 帝帝波羅帝波羅僧帝菩提薩婆訶). A Sanskrit MANTRA contained in the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASuTRA ("Heart Sutra"). At the conclusion of the SuTRA, the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEsVARA says to sĀRIPUTRA, "Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom is the mantra of great wisdom, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, the mantra that completely pacifies all suffering. Because it is not false, it should be known to be true. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated thus: gate gate pāragate pārasaMgate bodhi svāhā." Although most mantras are not translatable, this one can be roughly rendered into English as "gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightenment, svāhā" (svāhā is an interjection, meaning "hail," commonly placed at the end of a mantra). "Gate" in the mantra is most probably a vocative of gatā addressed to the goddess PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ (the iconographic representation of perfect wisdom); hence, the mantra may be addressed to PrajNāpāramitā and mean, "You who have gone, gone, gone beyond," etc. Given the ubiquity of the PrajNāpāramitāhṛdayasutra in MAHĀYĀNA Buddhism and its frequent ritual chanting by monks in both East Asia and Tibet, the mantra has been the subject of extensive commentary. Thus, some commentators correlate the first five words with the five paths (PANCAMĀRGA) to buddhahood: the first "gate" indicates the path of accumulation (SAMBHĀRAMĀRGA); the second "gate," the path of preparation (PRAYOGAMĀRGA); "pāragate," the path of vision (DARsANAMĀRGA); "pārasaMgate," the path of cultivation (BHĀVANĀMĀRGA); and BODHI, the adept path (AsAIKsAMĀRGA). Such an interpretation is in keeping with the Indian scholastic view of the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ sutras, where it is said that the sutras have two teachings, one explicit and one implicit. The explicit teaching is emptiness (suNYATĀ) and the implicit teaching is the various realizations (ABHISAMAYA) of the bodhisattva along the path to buddhahood. From this perspective, everything in the sutra up to the mantra provides the explicit teaching and the mantra provides the implicit teaching. Other commentators state that the first part of the sutra (up to the mantra) is intended for bodhisattvas of dull faculties and that the mantra is intended for bodhisattvas of sharp faculties (TĪKsnENDRIYA). Some of the commentators include "it is thus" (tadyathā) in the mantra and add oM at the beginning. Although the presence of DHĀRAnĪ is relatively common in Mahāyāna sutras, something that is explicitly called a mantra is not, leading some commentators to consider whether the PrajNāpāramitāhṛdayasutra should be classified as a sutra or a TANTRA.

Gayatri: One of the most sacred Vedic Mantras or texts of the Hindus.

gāyatr ::: song, hymn; a hymn composed in the gāyatrī meter. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda is perhaps the most well known, yet there are also Gayatri mantras to many other deities such as Shiva, Durga, Agni, etc. (also see the Gayatri page)

Guhya-vidya (Sanskrit) Guhyavidyā [from guhya secret from the verbal root guh to conceal, keep secret + vidyā knowledge, wisdom.] Secret knowledge, esoteric wisdom; in India, especially, the esoteric knowledge and science of the mantras and their true rhythm in chanting. Equivalent in grammatical meaning to gupta-vidya.

Hotri (Sanskrit) Hotṛ An offerer of an oblation with fire, or burnt offering; hence a sacrificer, a priest. As used in the Rig-Veda, one of the four kinds of officiating priests at a sacrifice: he who invokes the gods by reciting the mantras from the Rig-Veda. In the Anugita the plural is used symbolically for the seven senses, which are represented as being seven priests: “the senses supply the fire of mind (i.e., desire) with the oblations of external pleasures.” Thus these seven are the causes of emancipation (cf TG 146).

Hum (Sanskrit) Hum, Hūm A mystical syllable used as an interjection or exclamation in sentences in sacred texts such as mantras, closely akin to and virtually identic with the sacred syllables Om and Aum. In Vedic ritual, used before the singing of the Prastava (prelude), as well as during the chanting of the Pratihara (response). It is present in the well-known Tibetan mystical sentence Om mani padme hum.

INTEGRAL YOGA ::: This yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and holds it to be a reality; its object is to enter into a higher Truth-Consciousness or Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action and creation are the expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of the Truth, the Light, the Divine Ānanda. But for that, the surrender of the mortal mind, life and body to the Higher Consciousnessis indispensable, since it is too difficult for the mortal human being to pass by its own effort beyond mind to a Supramental Consciousness in which the dynamism is no longer mental but of quite another power. Only those who can accept the call to such a change should enter into this yoga.

Aim of the Integral Yoga ::: It is not merely to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter.

Conditions of the Integral Yoga ::: This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total earnest about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its demands in order to find themselves in the Divine. It cannot be done in a spirit of levity or laxity; the work is too high and difficult, the adverse powers in the lower Nature too ready to take advantage of the least sanction or the smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasyā needed too constant and intense.

Method in the Integral Yoga ::: To concentrate, preferably in the heart and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness. One can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is the beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.

Integral method ::: The method we have to pursue is to put our whole conscious being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform Our entire being into His, so that in a sense God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes the sādhaka of the sādhana* as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal activity.

In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its whole field and all its apparatus to the Beyond-ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sādhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to enter into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for the weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It” makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills.” The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a Succour that upholds; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who upholds through all stumblings. Therefore this path is at once the most difficult imaginable and yet in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.

There are three outstanding features of this action of the higher when it works integrally on the lower nature. In the first place, it does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in the specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by the temperament of the individual in whom it operates, the helpful materials which his nature offers and the obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, therefore, each man in this path has his own method of Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but yet some kind of Shastra or scientific method of the synthetic Yoga.

Secondly, the process, being integral, accepts our nature such as it stands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential compels all to undergo a divine change. Everything in us is seized by the hands of a mighty Artificer and transformed into a clear image of that which it now seeks confusedly to present. In that ever-progressive experience we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation is constituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is the more or less distorted or imperfect figure of some elements or action in the harmony of the divine Nature. We begin to understand what the Vedic Rishis meant when they spoke of the human forefathers fashioning the gods as a smith forges the crude material in his smithy.

Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in Nature, in the other it becomes swift and selfconscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.

Key-methods ::: The way to devotion and surrender. It is the psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion and the removal of the ego that makes it possible to surrender.

The way to knowledge. Meditation in the head by which there comes the opening above, the quietude or silence of the mind and the descent of peace etc. of the higher consciousness generally till it envelops the being and fills the body and begins to take up all the movements.
Yoga by works ::: Separation of the Purusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being from the outer active one, so that one has two consciousnesses or a double consciousness, one behind watching and observing and finally controlling and changing the other which is active in front. The other way of beginning the yoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for the Mother, and not for oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one concretely feels the Divine Force taking up the activities and doing them for one.

Object of the Integral Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine.

Principle of the Integral Yoga ::: The whole principle of Integral Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone and to nobody else, and to bring down into ourselves by union with the Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power, wideness, peace, purity, truth-consciousness and Ānanda of the Supramental Divine.

Central purpose of the Integral Yoga ::: Transformation of our superficial, narrow and fragmentary human way of thinking, seeing, feeling and being into a deep and wide spiritual consciousness and an integrated inner and outer existence and of our ordinary human living into the divine way of life.

Fundamental realisations of the Integral Yoga ::: The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union with the Mother and in her Presence. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. The perception of the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and living in that infinite consciousness.

Results ::: First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by the relative consciousness; not only realisation of unity in the Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures.

Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sāyujya mukti, by which it becomes free even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the sālokya mukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of Sachchidananda ; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the divine, sādharmya mukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.

By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play remain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the Beloved. And by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.

The divine existence is of the nature not only of freedom, but of purity, beatitude and perfection. In integral purity which shall enable on the one hand the perfect reflection of the divine Being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its Truth and Law in us in the terms of life and through the right functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ānanda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ānanda of that which is not-world. And it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga.

Sādhanā of the Integral Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by a self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.

The yoga does not proceed by upadeśa but by inner influence.

Integral Yoga and Gita ::: The Gita’s Yoga consists in the offering of one’s work as a sacrifice to the Divine, the conquest of desire, egoless and desireless action, bhakti for the Divine, an entering into the cosmic consciousness, the sense of unity with all creatures, oneness with the Divine. This yoga adds the bringing down of the supramental Light and Force (its ultimate aim) and the transformation of the nature.

Our yoga is not identical with the yoga of the Gita although it contains all that is essential in the Gita’s yoga. In our yoga we begin with the idea, the will, the aspiration of the complete surrender; but at the same time we have to reject the lower nature, deliver our consciousness from it, deliver the self involved in the lower nature by the self rising to freedom in the higher nature. If we do not do this double movement, we are in danger of making a tamasic and therefore unreal surrender, making no effort, no tapas and therefore no progress ; or else we make a rajasic surrender not to the Divine but to some self-made false idea or image of the Divine which masks our rajasic ego or something still worse.

Integral Yoga, Gita and Tantra ::: The Gita follows the Vedantic tradition which leans entirely on the Ishvara aspect of the Divine and speaks little of the Divine Mother because its object is to draw back from world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation beyond it.

The Tantric tradition leans on the Shakti or Ishvari aspect and makes all depend on the Divine Mother because its object is to possess and dominate the world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation through it.

This yoga insists on both the aspects; the surrender to the Divine Mother is essential, for without it there is no fulfilment of the object of the yoga.

Integral Yoga and Hatha-Raja Yogas ::: For an integral yoga the special methods of Rajayoga and Hathayoga may be useful at times in certain stages of the progress, but are not indispensable. Their principal aims must be included in the integrality of the yoga; but they can be brought about by other means. For the methods of the integral yoga must be mainly spiritual, and dependence on physical methods or fixed psychic or psychophysical processes on a large scale would be the substitution of a lower for a higher action. Integral Yoga and Kundalini Yoga: There is a feeling of waves surging up, mounting to the head, which brings an outer unconsciousness and an inner waking. It is the ascending of the lower consciousness in the ādhāra to meet the greater consciousness above. It is a movement analogous to that on which so much stress is laid in the Tantric process, the awakening of the Kundalini, the Energy coiled up and latent in the body and its mounting through the spinal cord and the centres (cakras) and the Brahmarandhra to meet the Divine above. In our yoga it is not a specialised process, but a spontaneous upnish of the whole lower consciousness sometimes in currents or waves, sometimes in a less concrete motion, and on the other side a descent of the Divine Consciousness and its Force into the body.

Integral Yoga and other Yogas ::: The old yogas reach Sachchidananda through the spiritualised mind and depart into the eternally static oneness of Sachchidananda or rather pure Sat (Existence), absolute and eternal or else a pure Non-exist- ence, absolute and eternal. Ours having realised Sachchidananda in the spiritualised mind plane proceeds to realise it in the Supramcntal plane.

The suprcfhe supra-cosmic Sachchidananda is above all. Supermind may be described as its power of self-awareness and W’orld- awareness, the world being known as within itself and not out- side. So to live consciously in the supreme Sachchidananda one must pass through the Supermind.

Distinction ::: The realisation of Self and of the Cosmic being (without which the realisation of the Self is incomplete) are essential steps in our yoga ; it is the end of other yogas, but it is, as it were, the beginning of outs, that is to say, the point where its own characteristic realisation can commence.

It is new as compared with the old yogas (1) Because it aims not at a departure out of world and life into Heaven and Nir- vana, but at a change of life and existence, not as something subordinate or incidental, but as a distinct and central object.

If there is a descent in other yogas, yet it is only an incident on the way or resulting from the ascent — the ascent is the real thing. Here the ascent is the first step, but it is a means for the descent. It is the descent of the new coosdousness attain- ed by the ascent that is the stamp and seal of the sadhana. Even the Tantra and Vaishnavism end in the release from life ; here the object is the divine fulfilment of life.

(2) Because the object sought after is not an individual achievement of divine realisation for the sake of the individual, but something to be gained for the earth-consciousness here, a cosmic, not solely a supra-cosmic acbievement. The thing to be gained also is the bringing of a Power of consciousness (the Supramental) not yet organised or active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active.

(3) Because a method has been preconized for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods, but only as a part action and present aid to others that are distinctive.

Integral Yoga and Patanjali Yoga ::: Cilia is the stuff of mixed mental-vital-physical consciousness out of which arise the movements of thought, emotion, sensation, impulse etc.

It is these that in the Patanjali system have to be stilled altogether so that the consciousness may be immobile and go into Samadhi.

Our yoga has a different function. The movements of the ordinary consciousness have to be quieted and into the quietude there has to be brought down a higher consciousness and its powers which will transform the nature.


In this yoga there is no fixed Mantra, no stress is laid on Mantras although sadhakas can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the Consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a Mantra is found helpful for that, one uses if.

japa. ::: incantation; a spiritual discipline involving the meditative repetition of the Lord's name or a mantra as a means to a continual recollection of His presence; uttering the names of the gods or sacred mantras, like OM, either mentally or spoken softly as a method of spiritual practice

japamālā. (T. bzlas brjod kyi 'phreng ba; C. shuzhu/nianzhu; J. juzu/nenju; K. suju/yomju 數珠/念珠). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit. "garland for recitation," thus "prayer beads" or "rosary"; a string of beads held usually in the right hand and fingered by adherents to keep count of the number of recitations made in the course of a worship service, MANTRA recitation, or meditation session. The beads are often made from sandalwood or seeds of the BODHI TREE (Ficus religiosa), the tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, although rosaries made from a range of other materials are also common; in some tantric practices, a rosary with beads made from human bone is used. The number of beads on a rosary varies widely. The most common number is 108, the significance of which receives widely varying explanations. One common interpretation is that this number refers to a list of 108 afflictions (KLEsA); fingering all 108 beads in the course of a recitation would then be either a reminder to remain mindful of these afflictions or would constitute their symbolic purification. Alternatively, this 108 can refer to all of phenomenal existence, i.e., the eighteen elements (DHĀTU), viz., the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six sensory consciousnesses, in all of the six states of existence (GATI) (18 × 6 = 108). In Tibetan Buddhism, the number 111 is sometimes used, based on the assumption that for each ten mantras recited, one will be mistaken and need to be repeated, thus adding an additional ten beads for 110. An additional bead is then added to account for the mistaken recitation among the additional ten. Thus, although a mantra might be recited 111 times, only 100 are counted. The Chinese PURE LAND advocate DAOCHUO (562-645) is famous for having used small beans (xiaodou) to keep track of the number of times he had recited the buddha AMITĀBHA's name (see NIANFO); some believe his habit of using such counting beans is the origin of the East Asian japamālā. In many Buddhist traditions, carrying a rosary serves almost as a symbol of the faith. In East Asia, Buddhist monks and nuns, and even many lay adherents, will commonly wear the full-length rosary around their necks. Rosaries of abbreviated lengths, which are more typically worn around the wrist, are sometimes designated duanzhu (J. tanju; K. tanju), or "short rosary." These rosaries will be a maximum of fifty-four beads in length (half the usual length), which would require two repetitions to complete a full round of recitation, and a minimum of nine beads, which would take twelve repetitions. In Tibetan Buddhism, a short rosary is sometimes worn around the right hand while doing prostrations. The CHAN school often uses a short rosary with eighteen beads, requiring six repetitions. See also JAPA.

Japa (Sanskrit) Japa [from the verbal root jap to murmur, whisper] The practice of certain yogis of repeating in a murmuring tone passages from the scriptures or mantras, or the names of a deity.

japa. (T. bzlas brjod; C. niansong; J. nenju; K. yomsong 念誦). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "recitation"; usually oral recitations of invocations or MANTRAs, often counted by fingering a rosary (JAPAMĀLĀ). The various merits forthcoming from specific numbers of such recitations are related in different scriptures. The number of such recitations to be performed in a single sitting is often related to specific numerical lists, such as varying rosters of stages on the BODHISATTVA path. The recitation would then constitute a reenactment of the path, or a process of purification. Perhaps the most common number across traditions is 108, but these numbers range from as few as seven, to fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-seven, thirty-six, forty-two, or fifty-four, up to as many as 1,080. The common figure of 108 is typically said to correspond to a list of 108 proclivities or afflictions (see KLEsA), although other texts say it refers instead to lists of 108 enlightened ones or 108 SAMĀDHIs; 1,080 would then constitute these 108 across all the ten directions (DAsADIs). (See also other explanations in JAPAMĀLĀ, s.v.)

Kala Brahma (Gouri) Another name for the god Sabda Brahma, a mystic name for akasa or the astral light, the source of occult sounds and the power of mantras. Sabda Brahma’s “vehicle is called Shadja, and the latter is the basic tone in the Hindu musical scale. It is only after . . . passing through the study of preliminary sounds, that a Yogi begins to see Kala Brahma, i.e., perceives things in the Astral Light” (BCW 4:166; cf 4:164).

Kukai. (空海) (774-835). In Japanese, "Sea of Emptiness"; monk who is considered the founder of the tradition, often referred to as the SHINGONSHu, Tomitsu, or simply MIKKYo. He is often known by his posthumous title KoBo DAISHI, or "Great Master Who Spread the Dharma," which was granted to him by Emperor Daigo in 921. A native of Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku, Kukai came from a prominent local family. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to Nara, where he studied the Chinese classics and was preparing to become a government official. However, he seems to have grown disillusioned with this life. At the age of twenty, Kukai was ordained, perhaps by the priest Gonso, and the following year he took the full precepts at ToDAIJI. He is claimed to have experienced an awakening while performing the Kokuzo gumonjiho, a ritual dedicated to the mantra of the BODHISATTVA ĀKĀsAGARBHA. While studying Buddhist texts on his own, Kukai is said to have encountered the MAHĀVAIROCANĀBHISAMBODHISuTRA and, unable to find a master who could teach him to read its MANTRAs, decided to travel to China to learn from masters there. In 804, he was selected as a member of a delegation to China that set sail in four ships; SAICHo was aboard another of the ships. Kukai eventually traveled to the Tang capital of Chang'an, where he studied tantric MIJIAO Buddhist rituals and theory under HUIGUO and Sanskrit under the Indian monk PRAJNA. Under the direction of his Chinese master, Kukai was initiated into the two realm (ryobu) MAndALA lineages of YIXING, sUBHAKARASIMHA, VAJRABODHI, and AMOGHAVAJRA. In 806, Kukai returned to Japan; records of the texts and implements he brought with him are preserved in the Shorai mokuroku. Little is known about his activities until 809, when he moved to Mt. Takao by imperial request. Kukai described his new teachings as mikkyo, or "secret teachings," VAJRAYĀNA (J. kongojo), and MANTRAYĀNA (J. shingonjo). At the core of Kukai's doctrinal and ritual program was the belief that all acts of body, speech, and mind are rooted in, and expressions of, the cosmic buddha MAHĀVAIROCANA (see VAIROCANA), as the DHARMAKĀYA. Kukai argued that the dharmakāya itself teaches through the artistic and ritual forms that he brought to Japan. Once his teachings gained some renown, Kukai conducted several ABHIsEKA ceremonies, including one for the TENDAI patriarch SAICHo and his disciples. However, Kukai and Saicho's relationship soured when Kukai refused to transmit the highest level of initiation to Saicho. In 816, Emperor Saga granted Kukai rights to KoYASAN, to serve as a training center for his Shingon mikkyo tradition. In early 823, Kukai was granted the temple of ToJI in Kyoto, which became a second center for the Shingon tradition. In the summer of 825, Kukai built a lecture hall at Toji, and in 827 he was promoted to senior assistant high priest in the Bureau of Clergy. In 829, he built an abhiseka platform at Todaiji. In early 834, he received permission to establish a Shingon chapel within the imperial palace, where he constructed a mandala altar. Kukai passed into eternal SAMĀDHI (J. nyujo) in 835 on Mt. Koya, and it is said that he remains in his mausoleum in meditation waiting for the BODHISATTVA MAITREYA to appear. Kukai authored a number of important texts, including the BENKENMITSU NIKYoRON, a treatise outlining the inherent differences of kengyo (revealed) and mikkyo (inner) teachings; Sokushin jobutsugi, a treatise on the doctrine of attainment of buddhahood in "this very body" (J. SOKUSHIN JoBUTSU); Unjigi, a text describing the contemplation of Sanskrit syllables (S. BĪJA, J. shuji); Shojijissogi, a text outlining Kukai's theory of language in which all sounds and letters are themselves full embodiments of the dharmakāya's teachings; and his magnum opus, the HIMITSU MANDARA JuJuSHINRON, in which Kukai makes his case for recognizing Shingon mikkyo as the pinnacle of Buddhist wisdom. Kukai was an accomplished calligrapher, poet, engineer, and sculptor and is also said to have invented kana, the Japanese syllabary.

Lahash (Hebrew) Laḥash A whispering, sighing, or praying for help; magic, conjuration. Qabbalistically, the secret speech, “nearly identical in meaning with Vach, the hidden power of the Mantras” (SD 1:354).

Lamaism: A popular term for Tibetan esoteric Buddhism, not used by the Buddhists themselves. It designates the religious beliefs and institutions of Tibet, derived from Mahayana Buddhism (q.v.) which was first introduced in the seventh century by the chieftain Sron-tsan-gampo, superimposed on the native Shamais-tic Bon religion, resuscitated and mixed with Tantric (q.v.) elements by the mythic Hindu Padmasambhava, and reformed by the Bengalese Atisa in the 11th and Tsong-kha-pa at the turn of the 14th century. The strong admixture of elements of the exorcismal, highly magically charged and priest-ridden original Bon, has given Buddhism a turn away from its philosophic orientation and produced in Lamaism a form that places great emphasis on mantras (q.v.)—the most famous one being om mani padme hum —elaborate ritual, and the worship of subsidiary tutelary deities, high dignitaries, and living incarnations of the Buddha. This worship is institutionalized, incorporating a belief in the double incarnation of the Bodhisattva (q.v.) in the Dalai-Lama who resides with political powers at the capital Lhasa, and the more spiritual head Tashi-Lama who rules at Tashi-lhum-po.

Main works: Le fondemcnt de l'induction, 187; Psychologie et metaphysique, 1885; Etudes sur le syllogisme, 1907; Note sur le pari de Pascal. --L.W. Lamaism: (from Tibetan b La-ma, honorable title of a monk) The religious beliefs and institutions of Tibet, derived from Mahayana Buddhism (q.v.) which was first introduced in the 7th century by the chieftain Sron-tsan-gampo, superimposed on the native Shamaistic Bon religion, resuscitated and mixed with Tantric (q.v.) elements by the mythic Hindu Padmasambhava, and reformed by the Bengalese Atisa in the 11th and Tsong-kha-pa at the turn of the 14th century. The strong admixture of elements of the exorcismal, highly magically charged and priest-ridden original Bon, has given Buddhism a turn away from its philosophic orientation and produced in Lamaism a form that places great emphasis on mantras (q.v.) -- the most famous one being om mani padme hum) -- elaborate ritual, and the worship of subsidiary tutelary deities, high dignitaries, and living incarnations of the Buddha. This worship is institutionalized, with a semblance of the papacy, in the double incarnation of the Bodhisattva (q.v.) in the Dalai-Lama who resides with political powers at the capital Lhasa, and the more spiritual head Tashi-Lama who rules at Tashi-Ihum-po. Contacts with Indian and Chinese traditions have been maintained for centuries and the two canons of Lamaism, the Kan-jur of 108 books and the Tan-jur of 225 books represent many translations as well as original works, some of great philosophical value. -- K.F.L.

mālā. (T. 'phreng ba; C. man; J. man; K. man 鬘). In Sanskrit and Pāli, lit. "garland" a "rosary," viz., a string of beads usually held in the right hand and used for counting the recitations of prayers or MANTRAs; also called a JAPAMĀLĀ. The number of beads on the rosary varies by tradition, with some rosaries in pure land traditions having twenty-seven beads, and rosaries in Tibetan Buddhism commonly having 108 or 111 beads. The rationale for 111 beads is as follows: it is assumed that in each set of ten repetitions, one repetition will be faulty and need to be redone. Thus ten beads are added for the first hundred beads and one bead is added for the additional ten beads. The significance of the more common number of 108 is less clear. One common interpretation is that this number refers to a list of 108 afflictions (KLEsA); fingering all 108 beads in the course of a recitation would then be either a reminder to remain mindful of these afflictions or would constitute their symbolic purification. Alternatively, this 108 can refer to all of phenomenal existence, i.e., the eighteen elements (DHĀTU), viz., the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six sensory consciousnesses, in all of the six realms of existence (GATI) (18 × 6 = 108). See also JAPAMĀLĀ.

MaNjusrīmulakalpa. (T. 'Jam dpal gyi rtsa ba'i rgyud; C. Dafangguang pusazang wenshushili genben yigui jing; J. Daihoko bosatsuzo Monjushiri konpongikikyo; K. Taebanggwang posalchang Munsusari kŭnbon ŭigwe kyong 大方廣菩薩藏文殊師利根本儀軌經). In Sanskrit "The Fundamental Ordinance of MANJUsRĪ"; known in Tibetan as the "Fundamental Tantra of MaNjusrī." The work is an early and important Buddhist TANTRA (marking a transition between the SuTRA and tantra genres), dating probably from around the late sixth or early seventh centuries, which was later classed as a KRIYĀTANTRA. The text, which is in a compilation of fifty-five chapters, provides detailed instructions by the Buddha on the performance of rituals and consecrations, including the important jar or vase consecrations (KALAsĀBHIsEKA). The work is also among the first to introduce the notion of families (KULA) of divinities, in this case three families: the TATHĀGATAKULA, the PADMAKULA, and the VAJRAKULA. Like other tantric texts, it provides instruction on a wide range of topics, including the recitation of MANTRAs, the drawing of images and MAndALAs, and the nature of the VIDYĀDHARA, as well as on astrology, medicine. Among the many prophecies in the text is the oft-cited prophecy concerning NĀGĀRJUNA, in which the Buddha states that four hundred years after his passage into PARINIRVĀnA, a monk named Nāga will appear, who will live for six hundred years.

MANTRA Mantra yoga was originally based on the esoteric knowledge of the effect of sound. Most mantras (combinations of words) have become worthless now that the knowledge of correct intonation has been lost, fortunately for mankind. K
7.12.8


Mantra (Sanskrit) Mantra That portion of the Vedas which consist of hymns as distinct from the Brahmana and Upanishad portions. The mantras considered esoterically were originally as magical as they were religious in character, although the former today is virtually forgotten, although remembered as a fact which once was. In the composing of the mantras the rishis of old knew that every letter had its occult significance, and that the vowels especially contain occult and even formidable potencies when properly chanted. The words of the mantra were made to convey a certain hid meaning by certain secret rules involving first the secret potency of their sound, and incidentally the numerical value of the letters; the latter however was relatively unimportant. Hence their merely verbal significance is something quite different from their meaning as understood of old.

mantra. (T. sngags; C. zhenyan; J. shingon; K. chinon 眞言). In Sanskrit, "spell," "charm," or "magic formula"; a syllable or series of syllables that may or may not have semantic meaning, most often in a form of Sanskrit, the contemplation or recitation of which is thought to be efficacious. Indian exegetes creatively etymologized the term with the paronomastic gloss "mind protector," because a mantra serves to protect the mind from ordinary appearances. There are many famous mantras, ranging in length from one syllable to a hundred syllables or more. They are often recited to propitiate a deity, and their letters are commonly visualized in tantric meditations, sometimes within the body of the meditator. Although mantras are typically associated with tantric texts, they also appear in the SuTRAs, most famously in the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀHṚDAYASuTRA ("Heart Sutra"). Numerous tantric SĀDHANAs require the recitation of a particular mantra a specific number of times, with the recitations counted on a rosary (JAPAMĀLĀ). In Tibetan Buddhism, mantras are also repeated mechanically by turning "prayer wheels" (MA nI 'KHOR LO). Perhaps the most famous of all such spells is the six-syllable mantra of the bodhisattva AVALOKITEsVARA, OM MAnI PADME HuM, which is recited throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. The Japanese SHINGONSHu takes its name from the Sinitic translation of mantra as "true word" (C. zhenyan; J. shingon).

mantrayāna. (T. sngags kyi theg pa; C. zhenyan sheng; J. shingonjo; K. chinon sŭng 眞言乘). In Sanskrit, "mantra vehicle"; often used as a synonym of VAJRAYĀNA, suggesting the central place of mantras in tantric practice. According to one popular paronomastic gloss, the term MANTRA means "mind protector," especially in the sense of protecting the mind from the ordinary appearances of the world. In this sense, the mantrayāna would refer not simply to the recitation of mantra but to the entire range of practices designed to transform the ordinary practitioner into a deity and his ordinary world into a MAndALA. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan forms of the terms mantrayāna and guhyamantrayāna ("secret mantra vehicle") are used as commonly as vajrayāna and more commonly than TANTRAYĀNA.

marana. ::: causing destruction through the use of certain mantras

mijiao. (J. mikkyo; K. milgyo 密教). In Chinese, "esoteric teachings"; a term used to describe a large body of literature and practices that included both MAHĀYĀNA rituals introduced from India and Central Asia into China beginning in the third and fourth centuries CE, as well as more specifically "tantric" teachings translated into Chinese in the eighth century. Rather than representing a specific independent school, mijiao refers more generically to a range of esoteric practices (including the recitation of MANTRAs and the creation of MAndALAs), which came to be adopted by many of the Buddhist traditions of China. A more systematic form of mijiao appeared in the zhenyan zong (see SHINGONSHu), which flourished during the Tang dynasty, declining in influence after the Huichang persecution (see HUICHANG FANAN) of 842-845. Its adherents included the foreign masters sUBHAKARASIMHA, VAJRABODHI, and AMOGHAVAJRA, each of whom held influential positions at court during the Tang, where the image of the divine king, as well as rituals to protect the state (HUGUO FOJIAO), found favor. Among the most important texts for mijiao were the MAHĀVAIROCANĀBHISAMBODHISuTRA and the SARVATATHĀGATATATTVASAMGRAHA. See also MIKKYo.

Mulamantra: Root Mantra; the powerful and the most important of the Mantras of any deity.

Myongnang. (明郎) (d.u.). Korean monk of the Silla dynasty and reputed founder of the sinin (divine seal), or esoteric Buddhist, tradition; also known as Kugyuk. His father was a high-ranking court official and his cousin was the VINAYA master CHAJANG. Myongnang traveled to China in 632 and returned four years later to propagate the new teachings of esoteric Buddhism. He established the monasteries of Kŭmgwangsa and Wonwonsa and made them centers of esoteric Buddhist activity in Korea. He also was one of the teachers of the influential Korean scholiast WoNHYO (617-686). The monastery Sach'onwangsa is known to have been built at the site where Myongnang prepared a MAndALA and recited MANTRAs that spawned the typhoon that defeated the Tang Chinese invasion force. His teachings continued to flourish until the Koryo dynasty, when he came to be viewed retrospectively as the founder of the sinin tradition.

nyasas. ::: the assignment of different parts of the body to various deities, with mantras and gestures

Om Mani Padme Hum Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ (Sanskrit) Om! the jewel in the lotus, hum! One of the most sacred Buddhist mantras or verbal formulas; used very frequently in Tibet and in surrounding countries of the Far East. Not only is every syllable said to have a secret power of producing a definite result, but the whole invocation has a number of meanings. When properly pronounced or changed, it produces different results, differing from the others according to the intonation and will given to the formula and its syllables. This mystic sentence above all refers to the indissoluble union between man and the universe, and thus conveys “I am in thee and thou art in me.” Each of us has within himself the jewel in the lotus or the divine self within. When understood in a kosmic sense, it signifies the divine kosmic self within, inspiring all beings within the range of that kosmic divinity.

oM mani padme huM. (T. oM mani padme huM; C. an mani bami hong; J. on mani padomei un; K. om mani panme hum 唵嘛呢叭彌吽). In Sanskrit, "homage to the Jewel-Lotus One"; the most famous of all Buddhist MANTRAs and important especially in Tibetan Buddhism, where it is the mantra most commonly recited and most often placed in prayer wheels; indeed, the Tibetan term rendered in English as "prayer wheel" is MA nI 'KHOR LO, or "MAnI wheel." This phrase is the renowned mantra of the bodhisattva of compassion, AVALOKITEsVARA. The mantra seems to appear first in the KĀRAndAVYuHA, a MAHĀYĀNA SuTRA presumed to have been composed in KASHMIR sometime around the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century CE. The sutra exalts Avalokitesvara and praises the mantra at length, referring to it as the "six-syllable spell" (sAdAKsARĪVIDYĀ). Contrary to the widespread view, the mantra does not refer to "the jewel in the lotus." Instead, it is a call (in the vocative case in Sanskrit) to Avalokitesvara, using one of his epithets, Manipadma, "Jewel-Lotus One." The mantra receives extensive commentary in Tibetan Buddhism. For example, according to the MAnI BKA' 'BUM, the six syllables correspond to the six rebirth destinies (sAdGATI) of divinities, demigods, humans, animals, ghosts, and hell denizens, so that by reciting the mantra, one is closing the door for all sentient beings to any possibility of further rebirth. See also QIANSHOU JING.

Om Vajrapani Hum (Sanskrit) Om vajrapāṇi hum [from Om the mystical syllable, uttered at the commencement of mantras + vajrapāṇi from vajra thunderbolt + pānīn holder + hum Tibetan mystical syllable equivalent to Om] Om! the holder of the thunderbolt, hum! Many of the mantras used in India and Tibet are not completed grammatical sentences, as the mantra is said to derive its potency from its rhythm as well as from its tonal utterance. The title of thunderbolt-holder is properly given to one who holds the thunderbolt of the spirit — one who has awakened the divine monad within himself. Vajrapani with Northern Buddhists is a class of celestial beings, and also a dhyani-bodhisattva, the hierarch of this class of beings. This mantric sentence is therefore an appeal, by an elevation in aspiration, to at least temporary spiritual union with this class of celestial entities.

PrajNāpāramitāhṛdayasutra. (T. Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i mdo; C. Bore boluomiduo xin jing; J. Hannya haramitta shingyo; K. Panya paramilta sim kyong 般若波羅蜜多心經). In English, the "Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra" (or, in other interpretations, the "DHĀRAnĪ-Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom"); a work known in English simply as the "Heart Sutra"; one of only a handful of Buddhist SuTRAs (including the "Lotus Sutra" and the "Diamond Sutra") to be widely known by an English title. The "Heart Sutra" is perhaps the most famous, and certainly the most widely recited, of all Buddhist sutras across all Mahāyāna traditions. It is also one of the most commented upon, eliciting more Indian commentaries than any Mahāyāna sutra (eight), including works by such luminaries as KAMALAsĪLA, VIMALAMITRA, and ATIsA DĪPAMKARAsRĪJNĀNA, as well as such important East Asian figures as FAZANG, KuKAI, and HAKUIN EKAKU. As its title suggests, the scripture purports to be the quintessence or heart (hṛdaya) of the "perfection of wisdom" (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ), in its denotations as both supreme wisdom and the eponymous genre of scriptures. The sutra exists in long and short versions-with the longer version better known in India and the short version better known in East Asia-but even the long version is remarkably brief, requiring only a single page in translation. The short version, which is probably the earlier of the two recensions, is best known through its Chinese translation by XUANZANG made c. 649 CE. There has been speculation that the Chinese version may be a redaction of sections of the Chinese recension of the MAHĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA (also translated by Xuanzang) as a mnemonic encoding (dhāranī) of the massive perfection of wisdom literature, which was then subsequently translated back into Sanskrit, perhaps by Xuanzang himself. Although there is as yet no scholarly consensus on the provenance of the text, if this argument is correct, this would make the "Heart Sutra" by far the most influential of all indigenous Chinese scriptures (see APOCRYPHA). The long version of the text, set on Vulture Peak (GṚDHRAKutAPARVATA) outside RĀJAGṚHA, begins with the Buddha entering SAMĀDHI. At that point, the BODHISATTVA AVALOKITEsVARA (who rarely appears as an interlocutor in the prajNāpāramitā sutras) contemplates the perfection of wisdom and sees that the five aggregates (SKANDHA) are empty of intrinsic nature (SVABHĀVA). The monk sĀRIPUTRA, considered the wisest of the Buddha's sRĀVAKA disciples, is inspired by the Buddha to ask Avalokitesvara how one should train in the perfection of wisdom. Avalokitesvara's answer constitutes the remainder of the sutra (apart from a brief epilogue in the longer version of the text). That answer, which consists essentially of a litany of negations of the major categories of Buddhist thought-including such seminal lists as the five aggregates (skandha), twelve sense-fields (ĀYATANA), twelve links of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA), and FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS-contains two celebrated statements. The first, made in reference to the first of the five aggregates, is "form (RuPA) is emptiness (suNYATĀ); emptiness is form" (RuPAM suNYATĀ sUNYATAIVA RuPAM). This is one of the most widely quoted and commented upon statements in the entire corpus of Mahāyāna sutras and thus is not easily amenable to succinct explication. In brief, however, the line suggests that emptiness, as the nature of ultimate reality, is not located in some rarified realm, but rather is found in the ordinary objects of everyday experience. The other celebrated statement is the spell (MANTRA) that concludes Avalokitesvara's discourse-GATE GATE PĀRAGATE PĀRASAMGATE BODHI SVĀHĀ-which, unlike many mantras, is amenable to translation: "gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightenment, svāha." This mantra has also been widely commented upon. The presence of the mantra in the sutra has led to its classification as a TANTRA rather than a sutra in some Tibetan catalogues; it also forms the basis of Indian tantric SĀDHANAs. The brevity of the text has given it a talismanic quality, being recited on all manner of occasions (it is commonly used as an exorcistic text in Tibet) and inscribed on all manner of objects, including fans, teacups, and neckties in modern Japan.

Prema Nandakumar: “The title itself, at any rate to Hindu ears, is charged with untold significance. A very gem of a title, Savitri has a self-sufficing beauty of its own; trisyllabic, trinitarian, a union of light, strength and silence, three circles radiating from one centre, Love. Again, ‘Savitri’, being the other name of the holiest and hoariest of the Vedic mantras—the Gayatri—which for some thousands of years Hindus have chanted morning, noon and evening, at once starts psychic vibrations of incommensurable potency.” A Study of Savitri

raksā. [alt. rāksā] (P. rakkhā; T. srung ba; C. yonghu; J. ogo; K. ongho 擁護). In Sanskirt, "protection," "safeguard," referring to ritual actions or practices that are intended to ward off baleful and impure influences. These protective acts are often performed as a preliminary step in constructing a MAndALA, performing an initiation ritual (ABHIsEKA), or cultivating meditative practices. The ritual is performed by inviting or imagining deities who purify the body, speech, and mind of the practitioner, and remove all inner and outer obstacles and evils; a common form of the Tibetan ritual utilizes a distinctive form of propitiatory offering (S. bali) called a GTOR MA (torma), small conical cakes. The officiating tantric master (VAJRĀCĀRYA) attracts the negative forces (T. gegs) to the offering, where they are propitiated or bound and led away from the assembly. Setting up a "wheel of protection" is an integral part of many ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA ritual practices (SĀDHANA) (see RAKsĀCAKRA). A "protection cord" (raksāsutra; T. srung skud) is ritually embued with protective power by a tantric master and given to each supplicant at the start of an initiation ritual; this is a piece of string or a narrow strip of cloth, usually red, that is tied around the neck, arm, or the wrist to protect the wearer. Tibetan religious figures often give visitors a "protection cord" as a gift. Small amulets (T. ga'u) housing protective buddhas, relics, or tightly rolled copies of ritual invocations or mantras believed to be particularly efficacious against harm are also carried on a belt or around the neck. See also PARITTA; RATANASUTTA.

Rik: Mantras, verses, of the Rig Veda.

Rishi (Sanskrit) Ṛṣi An adept, seer, inspired person; in Vedic literature, used for the seers through whom the various mantras or hymns of the Veda were revealed. In later times the rishis were regarded as a particular class of beings, distinct from gods and men, the patriarchs or creators: thus there were the ten maharshis — the mind-born sons of Prajapati. In the Mahabharata, the seven rishis of the first manvantara are enumerated as Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vasishtha. In Satapatha-Brahmana the Vedic rishis are named as: Gotama, Bharadvaja, Visvamitra, Jamadagni, Vasishtha, Kasyapa, and Atri. The seven rishis (saptarshis) are especially associated with the constellation of the Great Bear.

rlung rta. (lung ta). In Tibetan, the word for "luck," lit. "wind horse"; in its secondary meaning, it is commonly referred to in English as a "prayer flag." It is a colored square of cloth, usually about one foot square, and often imprinted with a prayer. These flags are then attached to poles, the rooftops of monasteries and dwellings, or are strung from the cairns found at the summits of mountain passes. The wind is said to carry the benefits requested by the prayer imprinted on the fluttering flag, both to the person who flies the flag as well as to all beings in the region. The prayer flag has in its center an image of a deity or auspicious symbol usually two or three inches square, set within a single-line frame; the female bodhisattva TĀRĀ is commonly depicted, as is the "wind horse" itself, a horse carrying a jewel on its back. The prayer itself (often a series of mantras) appears on the flag as if on a sheet of paper, with lines breaking in the middle of the flag to accommodate the central image. Prayer flags are made from a wooden block print. The block is inked and the piece of cloth then laid across it and pressed with a roller to transfer the words and picture onto the cloth. With many prayer flags, there is a brief statement after the prayer of the benefits that will accrue from its flying.

sādhāranasiddhi. (T. thun mong gi dngos grub). In Sanskrit, "common attainment," a term used, especially in the tantric context, to refer to various supranormal powers, such as the ability to fly, walk through walls, and find buried treasure, which can be attained through the recitation of MANTRAs and the propitiation of deities by both Buddhist and non-Buddhist YOGINs. It is contrasted with the "uncommon attainment" (asādhāranasiddhi), which is synonymous with "supreme attainment" (UTTAMASIDDHI), viz., the attainment of buddhahood.

samhita. ::: "compilation of knowledge"; a collection of vedic mantras or hymns mainly concerned with nature and deities; the Samhitas form the first part of each of the four Vedas; one of the two primary sections of each of the Vedas, containing hymns and sacred formulae, the other section being the Brahmanas

saMvara. (P. saMvara; T. sdom pa; C. lüyi/sanbaluo; J. ritsugi/sanbara; K. yurŭi/samballa 律儀/三跋羅). In Sanskrit, "restraint," referring generally to the restraint from unwholesome (AKUsALA) actions (KARMAN) that is engendered by observance of the monastic disciplinary code (PRĀTIMOKsA), the BODHISATTVA precepts, and tantric vows. In the VAIBHĀsIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA, three specific types of restraint (SAMVARA) against unwholesomeness (akusala) are mentioned, which are all associated with "unmanifest material force" or "hidden imprints" (AVIJNAPTIRuPA): (1) the restraint proffered to a monk or nun when he or she accepts the disciplinary rules of the order (PRĀTIMOKsASAMVARA); (2) the restraint that is engendered by mental absorption (dhyānajasaMvara); and (3) the restraint that derives from being free from the contaminants (anāsravasaMvara). The restraint inherent in the disciplinary code (prātimoksasaMvara) creates a special kind of protective force field that helps to dissuade monks and nuns from unwholesome activity, even when they are not consciously aware they are following the precepts or even when they are asleep. This specific type of restraint is what makes a person a monk, since just wearing robes or following an ascetic way of life would not in themselves be sufficient to instill in him the protective power offered by the prātimoksa. The restraint engendered by DHYĀNA (dhyānajasaMvara) refers to the fact that absorption in meditation was thought to confer on the monk protective power against physical harm: the literature abounds with stories of monks who discover tiger tracks all around them after withdrawing from dhyāna, thus suggesting that dhyāna itself was a force that provided a protective shield against accident or injury. Finally, anāsravasaMvara is the restraint that precludes someone who has achieved the extinction of the contaminants (ĀSRAVA)-that is, enlightenment-from committing any action (karman) that would produce a karmic result (VIPĀKA), thus ensuring that their remaining actions in this life do not lead to any additional rebirths. ¶ In MAHĀYĀNA materials, such as the BODHISATTVABHuMI, the first of three types of morality that together codify the moral training of a bodhisattva is called saMvarasīla ("restraining morality"); under this heading is included the different sets of rules for BHIKsU, BHIKsUnĪ and so on in the prātimoksa, taken as a whole; two further codifications of rules called the morality of collecting wholesome factors (kusalasaMgrāhakasīla), and the morality that acts for the welfare of beings (sattvārthakriyāsīla; see ARTHAKRIYĀ); together, these three constitute the definitive and exhaustive explanation of bodhisattva morality, known as TRISAMVARA, the "three restraints" or "triple code." The original meaning of saMvara as "restraint" remains central in the Bodhisattvabhumi's account, but the text expands the scope of morality (sIKsĀPADA) widely, incorporating all altruistic acts under the rubric of skillful means employed for the sake of others, in essence formulating a code for bodhisattvas who are committed to acting like buddhas. In Indian and Tibetan tantra, the meaning of trisaMvara undergoes yet further expansion. Each of the five buddha KULA (in one list AKsOBHYA, VAIROCANA, RATNASAMBHAVA, AMITĀBHA, and AMOGHASIDDHI) has a vowed morality, called SAMAYA. This tantric code is the third of the three codes, the other two being the prātimoksa codes and the Bodhisattvabhumi's code for bodhisattvas. These three, then, are called the prātimoksasaMvara, the bodhisattvasaMvara, and the guhyamantrasaMvara ("secret mantra vows") (see SDOM GSUM RAB DBYE). ¶ In tantric literature, saMvara also has the sense of "union," a meaning that is conveyed in the proper name of (CAKRA)SAMVARA (see also HERUKA), a principal deity of the VAJRAYĀNA ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA tradition. A god named SaMvara appears in the Ṛg Veda as an enemy of the gods who hoarded the precious soma (the divine nectar) and kept it from INDRA, who eventually destroyed SaMvara's mountain fortress. The myth suggests the possibility that SaMvara or CakrasaMvara began his existence as a pre-Vedic Indian deity preserved in Buddhist tantra in a subordinated position. With his adoption into the Buddhist pantheon, SaMvara (likely the Buddhist version of siva) himself vanquishes the Vedic god-he is commonly depicted trampling BHAIRAVA (siva) and/or his consort. Alternate Indian names for him include sambara and Paramasukha CakrasaMvara. The Tibetan Bde mchog, or "supreme bliss," is a translation of paramasukha. Tantric cycles connected to SaMvara were introduced to Tibet by the translator MAR PA in the eleventh century CE. He is said to reside at the mountain of TSHA RI in Rdza yul, southern Tibet, as well as in the Bde mchog pho brang on Mount KAILĀSA, where the nearby Lake Manasarovar is sacred to him. His consort is VAJRAVĀRĀHĪ.

sandhyābhāsā. [alt. saMdhyābhāsyā] (T. dgongs bshad/dgongs skad). In Sanskrit, "intentional language," often mistranslated as "twilight language"; a kind of secret or coded speech, used especially, but not exclusively, in TANTRA. The term is used in a broader hermeneutical sense to explain how a difficult or otherwise problematic text requires commentary in order to bring out its doctrinally consistent meaning. The term is also used in an exclusively tantric sense to refer to a secret linguistic code that is understood and used by initiates of a particular tantric circle: e.g., "frankincense" means "blood" and "camphor" means "semen." The Pradīpoddyotana commentary by the tāntrika Candrakīrti on the Guhyasamājamulatantra explains sandhyābhāsā with a scheme of six alternatives (satkoti) in a series of four modes going from less to more profound. The six alternatives are provisional (NEYĀRTHA) and definitive (NĪTĀRTHA); requiring interpretation (ābhiprāyika) and not requiring interpretation (anābhiprāyika); and ayathāruta (when one cannot take words literally) and yathāruta (when one can take words literally). Complicated or obscure language (called VAJRA expression) that can be taken literally (yathāruta), or that can be taken at face value to convey meaning, provides a provisional meaning, i.e., a meaning that requires interpretation (neyārtha); this leads to what the statement does not say literally (ayathāruta), which is its definitive meaning (nītārtha). A passage about a topic not addressed in statements about lower stages of the tantric path, and therefore couched in words that are coded and apparently contradictory to other statements, in the sense that other passages about practices at lower stages of the tantric path contradict what it says, are ābhiprāyika, while straightforward statements about a topic that is not addressed at lower stages of the tantric path are anābhiprāyika; for example, direct statements about clear light (PRABHĀSVARA) and illusory bodies (māyākāya), the culminating attainments in the Guhyasamāja system. Finally, a statement couched in ordinary language about a topic that is relevant to both earlier and later stages of the tantric path is yathāruta (can be taken literally); statements using a specialized argot, using unusual words that are ordinarily meaningless, like some words in MANTRAs, are ayathāruta. See also ABHIPRĀYA; ABHISAMDHI.

Shingonshu. (眞言宗). In Japanese, lit. "True Word School." Shingon is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term ZHENYAN (true word), which in turn is a translation of the Sanskrit term MANTRA. In Japan, Shingon has also come to serve as the name for the various esoteric (MIKKYo) traditions that traced their teachings back to the eminent Japanese monk KuKAI. In his voluminous oeuvre, such as the HIMITSU MANDARA JuJuSHINRON, HIZo HoYAKU, Sokushin jobutsugi, and Shoji jissogi, Kukai laid the foundations of a new esoteric discourse that allowed the Buddhist institutions of the Heian period to replace Confucian principles as the ruling ideology of Japan. Kukai was able to effect this change by presenting the court and the Buddhist establishment with an alternative conception of Buddhist power, ritual efficacy, and the power of speech acts. Through Kukai's newly imported ritual systems, monks and other initiated individuals were said to be able to gain access to the power of the cosmic buddha Mahāvairocana, understood to be the DHARMAKĀYA, leading to all manner of feats, from bringing rain and warding off disease and famine, to achieving buddhahood in this very body (SOKUSHIN JoBUTSU). Kukai taught the choreographed ritual engagement with MAndALA, the recitation of MANTRAs and DHĀRAnĪ, and the performance of MUDRĀ and other ritual postures that were said to transform the body, speech, and mind of the practitioner into the body, speech, and mind of a particular buddha. Kukai's ritual teachings grew in importance to the point that he was appointed to the highest administrative post in the Buddhist establishment (sogo). From this position, Kukai was able to establish ordination platforms at the major monasteries in Nara and the capital in Kyoto. Later, the emperor gave Kukai both ToJI in Kyoto and KoYASAN, which subsequently came to serve as important centers of esoteric Buddhism. Kukai's Shingon mikkyo lineages also flourished at the monasteries of Ninnaji and DAIGOJI under imperial support. Later, Toji rose as an important institutional center for the study of Kukai's esoteric Buddhist lineages under the leadership of the monk Kangen (853-925), who was appointed head (zasu) of Toji, Kongobuji, and Daigoji. The Mt. Koya institution also grew with the rise of KAKUBAN, who established the monasteries of Daidenboin and Mitsugonin on the mountain. Conflict brewed between the monks of Kongobuji and Daidenboin when Kakuban was appointed the head of both institutions, a conflict that eventually resulted in the relocation of Daidenboin to nearby Mt. Negoro in Wakayama. The Daidenboin lineage came to be known as the Shingi branch of Shingon esoteric Buddhism. Attempts to unify the esoteric Buddhist traditions that claimed descent from Kukai were later made by Yukai (1345-1416), who eradicated the teachings of the "heretical" TACHIKAWARYu from Mt. Koya, and worked to establish a Kukai-centered Shingonshu orthodoxy. By the late medieval period, the major monastic landholding institutions in Kyoto, Nara, and Mt. Koya, many of which were profoundly influenced by the teachings of Kukai, suffered economic hardship with the initiation of the Warring States period (1467-1573) and the growing popularity of the so-called "Kamakura Schools" (e.g., JoDOSHu, JoDO SHINSHu, ZENSHu, and NICHIRENSHu). In particular, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) had crushed the major Buddhist centers on HIEIZAN. However, Mt. Koya, which was still a thriving center for the study of Kukai's Shingon esoteric Buddhism, was spared the same fate because the monks resident at the mountain successfully convinced Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) not to burn down their center. Thanks to the political stability of the Tokugawa regime, studies of esoteric Buddhism thrived until the harsh persecution of Buddhism by the Meiji government (see HAIBUTSU KISHAKU). As an effort to recover from the Meiji persecution, the disparate traditions of esoteric Buddhism came together under the banner of the Shingonshu, but after World War II, the various sub-lineages reasserted their independence.

siddhi. (T. dngos grub; C. xidi/chengjiu; J. shijji/joju; K. silchi/songch'wi 悉地/成就). In Sanskrit, "attainment" or "success," a power attained through tantric practice, often through the propitiation of a deity and the recitation of MANTRAs. Two types are identified: (1) mundane attainments (S. SĀDHĀRAnASIDDHI), which are magical powers such as the ability to fly, to paralyze an enemy, to attract a lover, and to find buried treasure; and (2) the supreme attainment (S. UTTAMASIDDHI), viz., the attainment of buddhahood.

sishijiu [ri] zhai. (J. shijuku[nichi]sai; K. sasipku [il] chae 四十九[日]齋). In Chinese, "forty-ninth day ceremony," the final funeral service performed on the day when rebirth will have occurred. The "forty-ninth day ceremony" is the culmination of the funeral observances performed every seventh day for seven weeks after a person's death, lit. the "seven sevens [days] services" (C. QIQI JI/qiqi [ri] zhai; J. shichishichi no ki/shichishichi [nichi] sai; K. ch'ilch'il ki/ch'ilch'il [il] chae), a term that is also used as an alternate for "forty-ninth day ceremony." Many traditions of Buddhism believe that the dead pass through an "intermediate state" (ANTARĀBHAVA) that leads eventually to the next rebirth. The duration of this intermediate period is variously presumed to be essentially instantaneous, to one-week long, indeterminate, and as many as forty-nine days; of these, forty-nine days eventually becomes a dominant paradigm. Ceremonies to help guide the transitional being (GANDHARVA) through the rebirth process take place once each week, at any point of which rebirth might occur; these observances culminate in a "forty-ninth day ceremony" (SISHIJIU [RI] ZHAI), which is thought to mark the point at which rebirth certainly will have taken place. Since the transitional being in the antarābhava is released from the physical body, it is thought to be unusually susceptible to the influence of the dharma during this period; hence, the preliminary weekly ceremonies and the culminating forty-ninth day ceremony both include lengthy chanting of SuTRAs and MANTRAs, often accompanied by the performance of MUDRĀs, in order to help the being understand the need to let go of the attachment to the previous life and go forward to at least a more salutary rebirth, if not to enlightenment itself. In Korea, the forty-ninth-day ceremony is usually performed in the Hall of the Dark Prefecture (MYoNGBU CHoN), the shrine dedicated to KsITIGARBHA, the patron bodhisattva of the denizens of hell, and the ten kings of hell (SHIWANG; see YAMA), the judges of the dead.

Sri Aurobindo: "The word is a sound expression of the idea. In the supra-physical plane when an idea has to be realised, one can by repeating the word-expression of it, produce vibrations which prepare the mind for the realisation of the idea. That is the principle of the Mantras and of Japa. One repeats the name of the Divine and the vibrations created in the consciousness prepare the realisation of the Divine. It is the same idea that is expressed in the Bible: ‘God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light". It is creation by the Word.” *The Future Poetry

Sruti (Sanskrit) Śruti [from the verbal root śru to hear] What is heard; teachings handed down in traditional writing, distinguished from smritis, the unwritten teachings handed down by tradition by word of mouth. The Srutis in India are considered to be divine in origin and everlasting, for they are the teachings of the divine oral revelation. Yet exactly the same observation may be made regarding the smritis — the unwritten tradition. The Srutis comprise first and foremost the Vedas, including the Mantras, Brahmanas, and Upanishads. The Hindu Srutis are all written in more or less metaphorical language.

tantra. (T. rgyud; C. tanteluo; J. dantokura; K. tant'ŭngna 檀特羅). In Sanskrit, lit. "continuum"; a term derived from the Sanskrit root √tan ("to stretch out," "to weave"), having the sense of an arrangement or a pattern (deployed not only in a ritual, but in military and political contexts as well). The term is thus used to name a manual or handbook that sets forth such arrangements, and is not limited to Buddhism or to Indian religions more broadly. Beyond this, the term is notoriously difficult to define. It can be said, however, that tantra does not carry the connotation of all things esoteric and erotic that it has acquired in the modern West. In Buddhism, the term tantra generally refers to a text that contains esoteric teachings, often ascribed to sĀKYAMUNI or another buddha. Even this, however, is problematic: there are esoteric texts that do not carry the term tantra in their title (such as the VAJRAsEKHARASuTRA), and there are nonesoteric texts in whose title the term tantra appears (such as the UTTARATANTRA). Scholars therefore tend to define tantra (in the textual sense) based on specific sets of elements contained in the texts. These include MANTRA, MAndALA, MUDRĀ, initiations (ABHIsEKA), fire sacrifices (HOMA), and feasts (GAnACAKRA), all set forth with the aim of gaining powers (SIDDHI), both mundane and supramundane. The mundane powers are traditionally enumerated as involving four activities: pacification of difficulties (sĀNTIKA), increase of wealth (PAUstIKA), control of negative forces (VAsĪKARAnA), and destruction of enemies (ABHICĀRA). The supramundane power is enlightenment (BODHI). The texts called tantras began to appear in India in the late seventh and early eighth centuries CE, often written in a nonstandard (some would say "corrupt") Sanskrit that included colloquial elements and regional terms. These anonymous texts (including such famous works as the GUHYASAMĀJATANTRA, the CAKRASAMVARATANTRA, and the HEVAJRATANTRA), typically provided mantras and instructions for drawing mandalas, among a variety of other elements, but their presentation and organization were usually not systematic; these texts came to serve as the "root tantra" for a cycle of related texts. The more systematic of these were the SĀDHANA (lit. "means of achievement"), a ritual manual by a named author, which set forth the specific practices necessary for the attainment of siddhi. The standard form was to create a mandala into which one invited a deity. The meditator would either visualize himself or herself as the deity or visualize the deity as appearing before the meditator. Various offerings would be made, mantras would be recited, and siddhis would be requested. Although scholars continue to explore the relation between the tantras and the MAHĀYĀNA sutras, tantric exegetes viewed the tantras, like the Mahāyāna sutras, as being the word of the Buddha (BUDDHAVACANA) and as setting forth forms of practice consistent with the bodhisattva vow and the quest for buddhahood, albeit more quickly than by the conventional path, via what came to be referred to as the VAJRA vehicle (VAJRAYĀNA). Thus, it was said that the Mahāyāna was divided into the pāramitānaya, the "mode of the perfections" set forth in the Mahāyāna sutras, and the mantranaya, the "mode of the mantras" set forth in the tantras. These two are also, although less commonly, known as the sutrayāna and the TANTRAYĀNA. In this context, then, the term "tantra" is often used by tantric exegetes in contrast to "sutra," which is taken to mean the corpus of exoteric teachings of the Buddha. For those who accept the tantras as the word of the Buddha, the term "sutras and tantras" would thus refer to the entirety of the Buddha's teachings. The corpus of tantras was eventually classified by late Indian Buddhist exegetes into a number of schemata, the most famous of which is the fourfold division into KRIYĀTANTRA, CARYĀTANTRA, YOGATANTRA, and ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA.

The function of a mantra is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness that will prepare it for the realisation of what the mantra symbolises and is supposed indeed to carry within itself. As a rule the only mantra used in this sadhana is that of the Mother or of my name and the Mother.In this Yoga there is no fixed mantra, no stress is laid on mantras, although sadhaks can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a mantra is found helpful for that, one uses it.
   Ref: SABCL Vol. 22-23-24, Page: 745


The hidden voice or active manifestation of the latent occult potency of the mantras is called vach. The would-be magician attempting to evoke the “spirits of the vasty deep” by uninstructed chanting or singing of any ancient mantras will never succeed in using the mantras effectively in a magical way, until he himself has become so cleansed of all human impurities as to be able at will and with inner vision to enter into communion if not direct confabulation with the inner realms.

The language of incantations or mantras is the element-language composed of sounds, numbers, and figures. He who knows how to blend the three will call forth the response from the regent-god of the specific element needed. For, in order to communicate with the gods, men must learn to address each one of them in the language of his element. Sound is “the most potent and effectual magic agent, and the first of the keys which opens the door of communication between Mortals and the Immortals” (SD 1:464).

The mythological aspect stresses the dutiful mother and faithful wife. Her sorrow upon the death of her husband, Osiris, as well as her wanderings in search of his body, are very similar to those of the Greek nature goddess Demeter searching for her daughter Persephone. To Isis is also attributed the knowledge of the potency of mantras, with which she revivifies her poisoned son, Horus.

The Scandinavian runes in certain respects correspond to the Hindu mantras.

  “Thus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers — the mantras — this liquor is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real soma — or the angel, and even into Brahma himself” (IU 1:xl-xli).

trisaMvara. (T. sdom gsum). In Sanskrit, "three vows" or "three restraints"; a collective term for three different sets of precepts. The TrisaMvaranirdesaparivarta of the RATNAKutASuTRA collection sets forth the three types of vows as the three types of bodhisattva morality found in the sīlaparivarta ("morality chapter") of the BODHISATTVABHuMI. Usually, however, trisaMvara refers to the three sets of precepts a practitioner of the VAJRAYĀNA may take: the prātimoksasaMvara or monastic precepts (see PRĀTIMOKsA), the BODHISATTVASAMVARA or bodhisattva precepts, and the guhyamantrasaMvara ("secret mantra precepts") or tantric vows (SAMVARA) or pledges (SAMAYA). The relations between and among these three types of precepts are the subject of an extensive, and often polemical, literature in Tibet, the most famous treatment being the SDOM GSUM RAB DBYE, or "Differentiation of the Three Vows," by SA SKYA PAndITA. See also SAMVARA; SDOM GSUM; PUSA JIE.

uchadana. ::: driving one out with the force of mantras

Vajrapāni. (P. Vajirapāni; T. Phyag na rdo rje; C. Jingangshou pusa; J. Kongoshu bosatsu; K. Kŭmgangsu posal 金剛手菩薩). In Sanskrit, "Holder of the VAJRA"; an important bodhisattva in the MAHĀYĀNA and VAJRAYĀNA traditions, who appears in both peaceful and wrathful forms. In the Pāli suttas, he is a YAKsA (P. yakkha) guardian of the Buddha. It is said that whoever refuses three times to respond to a reasonable question from the Buddha would have his head split into pieces on the spot; carrying out this punishment was Vajrapāni's duty. In such circumstances, Vajrapāni, holding his cudgel, would be visible only to the Buddha and to the person who was refusing to answer the question; given the frightening vision, the person would inevitably then respond. Vajrapāni is sometimes said to be the wrathful form of sAKRA, who promised to offer the Buddha protection if the Buddha would teach the dharma; he thus accompanies the Buddha as a kind of bodyguard on his journeys to distant lands. Vajrapāni is commonly depicted in GANDHĀRA sculpture, flanking the Buddha and holding a cudgel. In the early Mahāyāna sutras, Vajrapāni is referred to as a yaksa servant of the bodhisattvas, as in the AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ. In the SUVARnAPRABHĀSOTTAMASuTRA, he is called the "general of the yaksas" (yaksasenādhipati), and is praised as a protector of followers of the Buddha. In the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA, AVALOKITEsVARA explains that one of the forms that he assumes to convert sentient beings is as Vajrapāni. In later Mahāyāna and early tantric Buddhism, Vajrapāni becomes a primary speaker in important sutras and tantras, as well as a principal protagonist in them, and comes to be listed as one of the "eight close sons" (*UPAPUTRA), the principal bodhisattvas. In the MANJUsRĪMuLAKALPA, as leader of the vajra family (VAJRAKULA), he flanks sĀKYAMUNI in the MAndALA. In the SARVATATHĀGATATATTVASAMGRAHA, his transition from "general of the yaksas" to "the supreme lord of all tathāgatas" is played out through his subjugation of Mahesvara (siva). At the command of the buddha VAIROCANA, Vajrapāni suppresses all of the worldly divinities of the universe and brings them to the summit of Mount SUMERU, where they seek refuge in the three jewels (RATNATRAYA). Only Mahesvara refuses to submit to the uddha. Through Vajarpāni's recitation of a MANTRA, Mahesvara loses his life, only to be reincarnated in another world system, where he eventually achieves buddhahood. Vajrapāni's yaksa origins continue in his wrathful aspects, most common in Tibet, such as the three-eyed Canda Vajrapāni. It is in this form that he is part of a popular triad with Avalokitesvara and MANJUsRĪ known as the "protectors of the three families" (T. RIGS GSUM MGON PO). These three bodhisattvas are said to be the physical manifestation of the wisdom (MaNjusrī), compassion (Avalokitesvara), and power (Vajrapāni) of all the buddhas. Vajrapāni is also said to be the bodhisattva emanation of the buddha AKsOBHYA and the chief bodhisattva of the vajra family. He himself has numerous forms and emanations, including Mahābāla (who may have developed from his early attendant Vajrapurusa), Vajrasattva, Vajradhara, VajrahuMkāra, Ucchusma, Bhutadāmara, and Trailokyavijaya. Vajrapāni is closely related especially to VAJRADHARA, and indeed Vajradhara and Vajrapāni may have originally been two names for the same deity (the Chinese translations of the two deities' names are the same). Vajrapāni's MANTRA is oM vajrapāni huM phat. He is also known as Guhyakādhipati, or "Lord of the Secret." The secret (guhyaka) originally referred to a class of yaksas that he commanded, but expanded in meaning to include secret knowledge and mantras. Vajrapāni is the protector of mantras and those who recite them, and is sometimes identified as the bodhisattva responsible for the collection, recitation, and protection of the VIDYĀDHARAPItAKA.

Vajrasattva. (T. Rdo rje sems dpa'; C. Jingang saduo; J. Kongosatta; K. Kŭmgang sal'ta 金剛薩埵). In Sanskrit, lit. "VAJRA Being"; a tantric deity widely worshipped as both an ĀDIBUDDHA and a buddha of purification. Vajrasattva is sometimes identified as a sixth buddha in the PANCATATHĀGATA system, such as in the SARVATATHĀGATATATTVASAMGRAHA, where he is also identical to VAJRAPĀnI. Vajrasattva also occasionally replaces AKsOBHYA in the same system, and so has been considered an emanation of that buddha. As an ādibuddha, he is identical with VAJRADHARA. He is also one of the sixteen bodhisattvas of the vajradhātumandala. In the trikula system, an early tantric configuration, Vajrasattva is the buddha of the VAJRAKULA, with VAIROCANA the buddha of the TATHĀGATAKULA and Avalokitesvara the head of the PADMAKULA. East Asian esoteric Buddhism considers Vajrasattva to be the second patriarch of the esoteric teachings; VAIROCANA taught them directly to Vajrasattva, who passed them to NĀGĀRJUNA, who passed them to VAJRABODHI/VAJRAMATI, who taught them to AMOGHAVAJRA, who brought them to China in the eighth century. In Tibet, worship of Vajrasattva is connected to YOGATANTRA and ANUTTARAYOGATANTRA, such as the twenty-fifth chapter of the Abhidhanottaratantra, in which he is known as the Heruka Vajrasattva. He is particularly famous in Tibet for his role in a practice of confession and purification in which one repeats a hundred thousand times the hundred-syllable MANTRA of Vajrasattva. These repetitions (with the attendant visualization) are a standard preliminary practice (T. SNGON 'GRO) required prior to receiving tantric instructions. The mantra is: oM vajrasattva samayam anupālaya vajrasattva tvenopatistha dṛdho me bhava sutosyo me bhava suposyo me bhava anurakto me bhava sarvasiddhiM me prayaccha sarvakarmasu ca me cittaM sreyaḥ kuru huM ha ha ha ha hoḥ bhagavan sarvatathāgatavajra mā me muNca vajrī bhava mahāsamayasattva āḥ huM. Unlike many mantras that seem to have no semantic meaning, Vajrasattva's mantra may be translated as: "OM Vajrasattva, keep your pledge. Vajrasattva, reside in me. Make me firm. Make me satisfied. Fulfill me. Make me compassionate. Grant me all powers. Make my mind virtuous in all deeds. huM ha ha ha ha ho. All the blessed tathāgatas, do not abandon me, make me indivisible. Great pledge being. āḥ huM."

vasīkarana. (T. dbang du bya ba/dbang po'i las). In Sanskrit, "controlling"; also called bhāgyacāra, "activities of control"; one of the four types of activities (CATURKARMA) set forth in the Buddhist tantras. The other three are activities of increase (PAUstIKA) to increase prosperity, lengthen life, etc.; pacifying activities (sĀNTIKA) that purify the negativity that appears in such forms as hindrances and illness; and violent or drastic measures (ABHICĀRA) such as killing and warfare. Vasīkarana may be through physical force, but is more often done through MANTRAs or ritual; it brings control and influence over persons and situations.

veda ::: knowledge; knowledge of the Divine; the book of knowledge; [especially, Veda: a generic name for the most ancient Indian sacred literature, i.e. the Rg-veda, Yajur-veda,Sama-veda and Atharva-veda, each of these being divided into two portions, mantra and brahmana; the term " Veda" is generally reserved for the mantras or metrical hymns, especially those of the Rg-veda].

Vedas, dating from between 1400-1000 BC, consisting of formulas &

vidyādhara. (P. vijjādhara; T. rig pa 'dzin pa; C. chiming; J. jimyo; K. chimyong 持明). In Sanskrit, lit. "keeper of knowledge." Knowledge (VIDYĀ) in this context has the denotation of knowledge of sacred lore and magic, such that a vidyādhara functions as a kind of sorcerer or thaumaturge. The term is used to refer to tantric deities as well as to human tantric masters, such as the MAHĀSIDDHAs, whose great powers derived from their knowledge of MANTRAs. As the repository of tantric knowledge, the tantric corpus was sometimes called the VIDYĀDHARAPItAKA. See also WEIKZA.

  “Whether as Aditi, or the divine Sophia of the Greek Gnostics, she is the mother of the seven sons: the ‘Angels of the Face,’ of the ‘Deep,’ or the ‘Great Green One’ of the ‘Book of the Dead’ ” (SD 1:434). These feminine logoi are all correlations of light, sound, and ether. In many aspects Vach approaches Kwan-yin, she of the melodious voice. Sarasvati, the goddess of divine wisdom, is a later form of Vach. The Hebrew Lahgash is nearly identical in meaning with Vach as the hidden power of the mantras, the divine sound. “But Vach being also spoken of as the daughter of Daksha — ‘the god who lives in all the Kalpas’ — her Mayavic character is thereby shown: during the pralaya she disappears, absorbed in the one, all-devouring Ray” (SD 1:430-1).

While this is true enough, it is more important to understand that everything great or small, high or low, has its own keynote of sound, its mathematical number, so to speak. Hence every atom has its own particular characteristic sound or note; and it is possible to control such atom, or any other entity, provided one knows the characteristic sound which mathematically represents such entity. We see here one reason the mysteries of sound have been so carefully guarded, because “control” combined with knowledge would throw wide open the door to black magic of the worst kind, were such knowledge and power to fall into the hands of those morally unfit to possess it. The secret of all mantras, from the standpoint of practical magic, is not so much the words themselves or the letters they hold, although these latter have a certain meaning, but rather the finding of the keynote and chanting it. Rhythm, of course, is of the very essence of harmonic sympathy.

Word ::: “The word is a sound expression of the idea. In the supra-physical plane when an idea has to be realised, one can by repeating the word-expression of it, produce vibrations which prepare the mind for the realisation of the idea. That is the principle of the Mantras and of Japa. One repeats the name of the Divine and the vibrations created in the consciousness prepare the realisation of the Divine. It is the same idea that is expressed in the Bible: ‘God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light’. It is creation by the Word.” The Future Poetry

Yajna-vidya (Sanskrit) Yajña-vidyā [from yajña sacrifice + vidyā knowledge] The knowledge or science of sacrificial rites. These religious rites are performed by the Brahmins to produce certain results, although the esoteric significance of the true yajna has been lost sight of. The four vidyas are yajna-vidya, maha-vidya (the great magic knowledge, now degenerated into Tantric worship), guhya-vidya (the science of mantras, etc.), and atma-vidya (true spiritual and divine wisdom), the last of which contains the keys to the other three.

Yajus (Sanskrit) Yajus A sacrificial prayer or formula, also particular mantras muttered in a special manner at a sacrifice, distinguished from the rich and saman verses also recited at sacrifices.

Yantra: A mystic diagram of occult powers, usually drawn on copper or other metal tablets. The power of yantras used in connection with appropriate mantras is irresistible according to occult teachings.

yantra. ::: objects for ritualistic worship; geometrical designs of the energy patterns made by mantras when they are recited or which, when concentrated on produce the effects of the corresponding mantras

yi ge brgya pa. (yi ge gyapa). In Tibetan, "hundred-syllable MANTRA"; term used to describe a number of lengthy MANTRAs, most commonly that of VAJRASATTVA, recited as part of a Tibetan tantric confession and purification practice. This is one of the preliminary practices (SNGON 'GRO) of the RNYING MA sect of Tibetan Buddhism, involving one hundred thousand repetitions of the Vajrasattva mantra.



QUOTES [49 / 49 - 147 / 147]


KEYS (10k)

   42 The Mother
   2 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   2 Sri Aurobindo
   1 Wikipedia
   1 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
   1 Gyatrul Rinpoche

NEW FULL DB (2.4M)

   42 The Mother
   6 Frederick Lenz
   5 Elizabeth Gilbert
   4 Anonymous
   3 Mata Amritanandamayi
   2 Swami Vivekananda
   2 Steve Jobs
   2 Stephen Batchelor
   2 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   2 Sri Aurobindo
   2 Shashi Tharoor
   2 Robin S Sharma
   2 Robert I Sutton
   2 Paramahansa Yogananda
   2 Amit Ray

1:Everyday, at each moment, my blessings are with you.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 03 June,
2:A steady hope helps much on the way. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 15 August,
3:Let each suffering pave the wave to transformation. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
4:A constant aspirations conquers all defects. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, May 21,
5:It is our lack of faith that creates our limitations. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
6:The Divine's peace must dwell constantly in our hearts. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
7:All sincere prayers are granted, every call is answered. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
8:The more we know the more we can see that we do not know. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
9:Everything must be transformed by the knowledge of the Truth. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 6 May,
10:THe soul cannot think the Divine but knows Him with certitude. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 26 December,
11:When the aspiration is awake each day brings us nearer to the goal. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, [T4],
12:There is a great power in the simple confidence of a child. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 17th,
13:The only important thing is to follow the Divine's truth with love and joy. My blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 9 May,
14:Whatever the difficulty if we keep truly quiet the solution will come. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, [T5],
15:The sage is never alone... he bears in himself the Lord of all things. My Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 21 September,
16:Whatever happens we must remain quiet and trust the Divine's Grace. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 October,
17:A new light shall break upon the earth, a light of Truth and Harmony. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 24 December,
18:Let us constantly aspire to be a perfect instrument for the Divine's work. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 27 August,
19:When, in our despair, we cry to the Divine, always He answers to our call. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 21 December,
20:When waking up every morning, let us pray for a day of complete consecration. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 19 June,
21:The Truth is in you - but you must want it, in order to realise it. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, August 29th, [T5],
22:We must never forget that our goal is to manifest the Supramental Reality. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 May, [T5],
23:In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 8th,
24:The Supreme's power is infinite -it is our faith that is small. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 23 August, [T5],
25:We must gather ourselves in a calm resolution and an unshakable certitude. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 9th,
26:It is difficult to get rid of all habits. They must be faced with a steady determination. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
27:No Joy is comparable to the feeling of the eternal Presence in one's heart. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 04 July, [T5],
28:The Grace will never fail us - such is the faith we must keep constantly in our heart. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 10 May,
29:'I' is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of all mantras. Even OM is second to it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28-6-46, [T5],
30:Do not look behind, look always in front, at what you want to do - and you are sure of progressing With my blessings ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
31:Blessed will be the day when the earth, awaken to the Truth, lives only for the Divine. With My Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 28 August,
32:New words are needed to express new ideas, new forms are necessary to manifest new forces. With My blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 01 Augest,
33:We must know how to give our life and also our death, our happiness and also our suffering. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 28 December,
34:In peace and silence the eternal manifests; allow nothing to disturb you and the eternal will manifest.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 13 September, [T5],
35:The resistance with which we meet in the accomplishment of our work is proportional to its importance. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 10 October,
36:The Force is there waiting to be manifested, we must discover the new forms through which it can manifest. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 12 June,
37:Sri Aurobindo is always with us, enlightening, guiding, protecting. We must answer to his grace by a perfect faithfulness.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 14 AUGUST, [T1],
38:The things we cannot realise today we shall be able to realise tomorrow. The only necessity is to endure. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 20 August, [T5],
39:We ought to be in a constant state of aspiration, but when we cannot aspire let us pray with the simplcity of a child. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 July,
40:At the service of the Divine we are; it is the Divine who decides, ordains and puts in motion, directs and accomplishes the action. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 25 December,
41:In each human being there is a beast crouching ready to manifest at the slightest unwatchfulness. The only remedy us a constant vigilance. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 18 AUGUST,
42:We must never forget that we are here to serve the Supramental Truth and Light and to prepare its manifestation in ourselves and upon the earth. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, Aug 13th,
43:Our thoughts are still ignorant, they must be enlightened. Our aspiration is still imperfect, it must be purified. Our action is still powerless, it must become effective. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 August,
44:The sadhana of this Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart, and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [T3],
45:Visitor. I am taught that Mantra Japam is very potent in practice.
Bhagavan. The Self is the greatest of all mantras and goes on automatically and eternally. If you are not aware of this internal mantra, you should take to do it consciously as japam, which is attended with effort, to ward off all other thoughts.

By constant attention to it, you will eventually become aware of the internal mantra, which is the state of Realisation and is effortless. Firmness in this awareness will keep you continually and effortlessly in the current, however much you may be engaged on other activities.
Listening to Veda chanting and mantras has the same result as conscious repetitions of japam - its rhythm is the japam. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi,
46:The Vedic poets regarded their poetry as mantras, they were the vehicles of their own realisations and could become vehicles of realisation for others. Naturally, these mostly would be illuminations, not the settled and permanent realisation that is the goal of Yoga - but they could be steps on the way or at least lights on the way. Many have such illuminations, even initial realisations while meditating on verses of the Upanishads or the Gita. Anything that carries the Word, the Light in it, spoken or written, can light this fire within, open a sky, as it were, bring the effective vision of which the Word is the body. In all ages spiritual seekers have expressed their aspirations or their experiences in poetry or inspired language and it has helped themselves and others. Therefore there is nothing absurd in my assigning to such poetry a spiritual or psychic value and effectiveness to poetry of a psychic or spiritual character.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,
47:The Particular Necessity for Practice
The second part discusses "the particular necessity for practice."
Through the power of the yoga of speech, the stains that obscure the mind are removed. Once this happens, speech reaches its full potential. It is like discovering the true nature of your speech for the very first time.
To activate the yoga of speech, summon the primordial wisdom deities by calling their names. Just as calling someone's name naturally causes that person to draw closer to you, in the same way calling the wisdom deities by name brings them nearer to you.
They come to see what you want.
This does not mean the wisdom deities will not come if you do not call them. They could come even if you did not call their names.
You call their names-which is what you are doing when you recite mantras-because their names express their actual nature. A quote from the Dorje Kur (rDo rje gur) scripture reads: "To directly perceive the buddhas, bodhisattvas, dakinis and your own consort, get their attention by calling their names and invite them to come." Reciting the deity's name over and over purifies obscurations of speech and establishes the cause of vajra speech.
This cause produces the condition that averts adverse conditions.
The speech of the wisdom deities and your own speech will become the same-vajra speech. ~ Gyatrul Rinpoche, Generating the Deity,
48:Ekajaṭī or Ekajaṭā, (Sanskrit: "One Plait Woman"; Wylie: ral gcig ma: one who has one knot of hair),[1] also known as Māhacīnatārā,[2] is one of the 21 Taras. Ekajati is, along with Palden Lhamo deity, one of the most powerful and fierce goddesses of Vajrayana Buddhist mythology.[1][3] According to Tibetan legends, her right eye was pierced by the tantric master Padmasambhava so that she could much more effectively help him subjugate Tibetan demons.

Ekajati is also known as "Blue Tara", Vajra Tara or "Ugra Tara".[1][3] She is generally considered one of the three principal protectors of the Nyingma school along with Rāhula and Vajrasādhu (Wylie: rdo rje legs pa).

Often Ekajati appears as liberator in the mandala of the Green Tara. Along with that, her ascribed powers are removing the fear of enemies, spreading joy, and removing personal hindrances on the path to enlightenment.

Ekajati is the protector of secret mantras and "as the mother of the mothers of all the Buddhas" represents the ultimate unity. As such, her own mantra is also secret. She is the most important protector of the Vajrayana teachings, especially the Inner Tantras and termas. As the protector of mantra, she supports the practitioner in deciphering symbolic dakini codes and properly determines appropriate times and circumstances for revealing tantric teachings. Because she completely realizes the texts and mantras under her care, she reminds the practitioner of their preciousness and secrecy.[4] Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama meditated upon her in early childhood.

According to Namkhai Norbu, Ekajati is the principal guardian of the Dzogchen teachings and is "a personification of the essentially non-dual nature of primordial energy."[5]

Dzogchen is the most closely guarded teaching in Tibetan Buddhism, of which Ekajati is a main guardian as mentioned above. It is said that Sri Singha (Sanskrit: Śrī Siṃha) himself entrusted the "Heart Essence" (Wylie: snying thig) teachings to her care. To the great master Longchenpa, who initiated the dissemination of certain Dzogchen teachings, Ekajati offered uncharacteristically personal guidance. In his thirty-second year, Ekajati appeared to Longchenpa, supervising every ritual detail of the Heart Essence of the Dakinis empowerment, insisting on the use of a peacock feather and removing unnecessary basin. When Longchenpa performed the ritual, she nodded her head in approval but corrected his pronunciation. When he recited the mantra, Ekajati admonished him, saying, "Imitate me," and sang it in a strange, harmonious melody in the dakini's language. Later she appeared at the gathering and joyously danced, proclaiming the approval of Padmasambhava and the dakinis.[6] ~ Wikipedia,
49:GURU YOGA
   Guru yoga is an essential practice in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. This is true in sutra, tantra, and Dzogchen. It develops the heart connection with the masteR By continually strengthening our devotion, we come to the place of pure devotion in ourselves, which is the unshakeable, powerful base of the practice. The essence of guru yoga is to merge the practitioner's mind with the mind of the master.
   What is the true master? It is the formless, fundamental nature of mind, the primordial awareness of the base of everything, but because we exist in dualism, it is helpful for us to visualize this in a form. Doing so makes skillful use of the dualisms of the conceptual mind, to further strengthen devotion and help us stay directed toward practice and the generation of positive qualities.
   In the Bon tradition, we often visualize either Tapihritsa* as the master, or the Buddha ShenlaOdker*, who represents the union of all the masters. If you are already a practitioner, you may have another deity to visualize, like Guru Rinpoche or a yidam or dakini. While it is important to work with a lineage with which you have a connection, you should understand that the master you visualize is the embodiment of all the masters with whom you are connected, all the teachers with whom you have studied, all the deities to whom you have commitments. The master in guru yoga is not just one individual, but the essence of enlightenment, the primordial awareness that is your true nature.
   The master is also the teacher from whom you receive the teachings. In the Tibetan tradition, we say the master is more important than the Buddha. Why? Because the master is the immediate messenger of the teachings, the one who brings the Buddha's wisdom to the student. Without the master we could not find our way to the Buddha. So we should feel as much devotion to the master as we would to the Buddha if the Buddha suddenly appeared in front of us.
   Guru yoga is not just about generating some feeling toward a visualized image. It is done to find the fundamental mind in yourself that is the same as the fundamental mind of all your teachers, and of all the Buddhas and realized beings that have ever lived. When you merge with the guru, you merge with your pristine true nature, which is the real guide and masteR But this should not be an abstract practice. When you do guru yoga, try to feel such intense devotion that the hair stands upon your neck, tears start down your face, and your heart opens and fills with great love. Let yourself merge in union with the guru's mind, which is your enlightened Buddha-nature. This is the way to practice guru yoga.
  
The Practice
   After the nine breaths, still seated in meditation posture, visualize the master above and in front of you. This should not be a flat, two dimensional picture-let a real being exist there, in three dimensions, made of light, pure, and with a strong presence that affects the feeling in your body,your energy, and your mind. Generate strong devotion and reflect on the great gift of the teachings and the tremendous good fortune you enjoy in having made a connection to them. Offer a sincere prayer, asking that your negativities and obscurations be removed, that your positive qualities develop, and that you accomplish dream yoga.
   Then imagine receiving blessings from the master in the form of three colored lights that stream from his or her three wisdom doors- of body, speech, and mind-into yours. The lights should be transmitted in the following sequence: White light streams from the master's brow chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your entire body and physical dimension. Then red light streams from the master's throat chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your energetic dimension. Finally, blue light streams from the master's heart chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your mind.
   When the lights enter your body, feel them. Let your body, energy, and mind relax, suffused inwisdom light. Use your imagination to make the blessing real in your full experience, in your body and energy as well as in the images in your mind.
   After receiving the blessing, imagine the master dissolving into light that enters your heart and resides there as your innermost essence. Imagine that you dissolve into that light, and remain inpure awareness, rigpa.
   There are more elaborate instructions for guru yoga that can involve prostrations, offerings, gestures, mantras, and more complicated visualizations, but the essence of the practice is mingling your mind with the mind of the master, which is pure, non-dual awareness. Guru yoga can be done any time during the day; the more often the better. Many masters say that of all the practices it is guru yoga that is the most important. It confers the blessings of the lineage and can open and soften the heart and quiet the unruly mind. To completely accomplish guru yoga is to accomplish the path.
   ~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep, [T3],

*** WISDOM TROVE ***

1:That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove
2:When doing archana (daily prayers) as a group, one person should chant the mantra and the others should repeat it. Mantras should be chanted slowly, clearly and with devotion. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove
3:One way for attaining Bhakti is by repeating the name of God a number of times. Mantras have effect: the mere repetition of words... . To obtain Bhakti, seek the company of holy men who have Bhakti, and read books like the Gita and the Imitation of Christ; always think of the attributes of God. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove
4:All sectarian religions take for granted that all men are equal. This is not warranted by science. There is more difference between minds than between bodies. One fundamental doctrine of Hinduism is that all men are different, there being unity in variety. Even for a drunkard, there are some Mantras-even for a man going to a prostitute! ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove
5:It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a self-realized master. Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like &
6:The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash. We get seduced by our own mantras (I'm a failure I'm lonely I'm a failure I'm lonely) and we become monuments to them. To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove
7:Do not get up immediately at the end of the archana. The beloved deity should be brought from the seat in front of us back into our hearts and re-installed there. Seeing the form of the deity seated in the heart, meditate for a little longer. If it is possible, it is good to sing 2 or 3 kirtans. After taking an injection, a patient is asked to rest for a few minutes to let the medicine spread throughout the body. Similarly, to obtain the full benefit of the mantras, we should keep the mind calm for a while after worship. ~ mata-amritanandamayi, @wisdomtrove

*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***

1:There are only two mantras, yum and yuck, mine is yum. ~ Tom Robbins,
2:Mantras are a great way to accomplish this objective. ~ Robin S Sharma,
3:Mantras are passwords that transform the mundane into the sacred. ~ Deva Premal,
4:a series of mantras that they would recite morning, noon and night. ~ Robin S Sharma,
5:We all need mantras, I guess - stories we tell ourselves to keep us going. ~ Lauren Oliver,
6:Seed mantras are the seeding suggestions to awaken the deep collective unconscious. ~ Amit Ray,
7:Everyday, at each moment, my blessings are with you.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 03 June,
8:One of my mantras is if I'm scared to do something, that means that I have to do it. ~ Julianne Hough,
9:That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. ~ Steve Jobs,
10:A steady hope helps much on the way. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 15 August,
11:Three mantras you should never say: (1) I don't know. (2) I'm not ready. (3) I can't do it. W ~ Yogi Bhajan,
12:Let each suffering pave the wave to transformation. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
13:One of Mama's parenting mantras was: "Oh, Helen Michelle, I have yet to begin to embarrass you. ~ Helen Ellis,
14:A constant aspirations conquers all defects. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, May 21,
15:It is our lack of faith that creates our limitations. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
16:There are thousands of mantras. Everyone has favorites. I prefer three - Aum, Sring, and Kring. ~ Frederick Lenz,
17:The Divine's peace must dwell constantly in our hearts. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
18:All sincere prayers are granted, every call is answered. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
19:The more we know the more we can see that we do not know. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
20:Everything must be transformed by the knowledge of the Truth. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 6 May,
21:THe soul cannot think the Divine but knows Him with certitude. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 26 December,
22:When the aspiration is awake each day brings us nearer to the goal. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, [T4],
23:There is a great power in the simple confidence of a child. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 17th,
24:The only important thing is to follow the Divine's truth with love and joy. My blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 9 May,
25:Whatever the difficulty if we keep truly quiet the solution will come. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, [T5],
26:The sage is never alone... he bears in himself the Lord of all things. My Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 21 September,
27:Whatever happens we must remain quiet and trust the Divine's Grace. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 October,
28:A new light shall break upon the earth, a light of Truth and Harmony. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 24 December,
29:Whenever human beings consciously change their thought vibrations they can change their life. Mantras are the thought vibrations. ~ Amit Ray,
30:I think that you have to believe. That's one of my biggest mantras, is believe. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe in myself. ~ Puff Daddy,
31:'I' is the name of God. It is the first and greatest of all mantras. Even OM is second to it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28-6-46, [T5],
32:Let us constantly aspire to be a perfect instrument for the Divine's work. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 27 August,
33:When, in our despair, we cry to the Divine, always He answers to our call. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 21 December,
34:When waking up every morning, let us pray for a day of complete consecration. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 19 June,
35:The Truth is in you - but you must want it, in order to realise it. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, August 29th, [T5],
36:We must never forget that our goal is to manifest the Supramental Reality. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 May, [T5],
37:In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 8th,
38:Laughter is more sacred than prayer, dancing more spiritual than chanting mantras, loving existence more cosmic than going to a church. ~ Rajneesh,
39:We must gather ourselves in a calm resolution and an unshakable certitude. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, November 9th,
40:It is difficult to get rid of all habits. They must be faced with a steady determination. With my blessings,
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
41:The Supreme's power is infinite -it is our faith that is small. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 23 August, [T5], #index,
42:No Joy is comparable to the feeling of the eternal Presence in one's heart. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 04 July, [T5],
43:The Grace will never fail us - such is the faith we must keep constantly in our heart. With my blessings
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 10 May,
44:Do not look behind, look always in front, at what you want to do - and you are sure of progressing With my blessings ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother,
45:Blessed will be the day when the earth, awaken to the Truth, lives only for the Divine. With My Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 28 August,
46:The highest type of meditation is done in silence. In silence there are no mantras. Mantras are not essential, but they can be very helpful. ~ Frederick Lenz,
47:New words are needed to express new ideas, new forms are necessary to manifest new forces. With My blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 01 Augest,
48:We must know how to give our life and also our death, our happiness and also our suffering. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 28 December,
49:In peace and silence the eternal manifests; allow nothing to disturb you and the eternal will manifest.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 13 September, [T5],
50:The resistance with which we meet in the accomplishment of our work is proportional to its importance. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 10 October,
51:The Force is there waiting to be manifested, we must discover the new forms through which it can manifest. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 12 June,
52:Sri Aurobindo is always with us, enlightening, guiding, protecting. We must answer to his grace by a perfect faithfulness.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 14 AUGUST, [T1],
53:We meditate so that our minds can be sharp and alert. We chant mantras so that your souls may be ignited like candles. We walk in the light of this beauty. ~ Harbhajan Singh Yogi,
54:The things we cannot realise today we shall be able to realise tomorrow. The only necessity is to endure. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 20 August, [T5],
55:We ought to be in a constant state of aspiration, but when we cannot aspire let us pray with the simplcity of a child. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 July,
56:I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable. ~ Philip Roth,
57:To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
58:When doing archana (daily prayers) as a group, one person should chant the mantra and the others should repeat it. Mantras should be chanted slowly, clearly and with devotion. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi,
59:At the service of the Divine we are; it is the Divine who decides, ordains and puts in motion, directs and accomplishes the action. With my blessings. ~ The Mother, Mantras of the Mother, 25 December,
60:Start a meditation session by repeating a mantra, perhaps, "Aum", which is the most powerful of all mantras. Then, after repeating the mantra perhaps a dozen times, focus on a yantra. ~ Frederick Lenz,
61:In each human being there is a beast crouching ready to manifest at the slightest unwatchfulness. The only remedy us a constant vigilance. With my blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 18 AUGUST,
62:I remind myself: I am the best. I have the best. And I deserve the best. This is one of my personal mantras that I tell myself every morning before auditions, character work, and performances. ~ Allison Holker,
63:I overcame my fears and troubles simply by praying and learning to calm down when scary things were happening - I formed certain mantras which helped me become pro-active vs. reactive, such as : ~ Kelly Cutrone,
64:We must never forget that we are here to serve the Supramental Truth and Light and to prepare its manifestation in ourselves and upon the earth. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, Aug 13th,
65:Mantras have an important place in meditation. But the idea has become somewhat prevalent in the West, and in the East to some extent, that the simple repetition of a mantra will eventually cause enlightenment ~ Frederick Lenz,
66:Mantras sounded better in Latin. Repeat any phrase in the educated fancy-pants language most of the ancient philosophers used, you sounded like a goddamn genius. Repeat the same phrase in English, you sounded like a loon. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
67:This ancient practice of the Rudrabhishekam, with the chanting of mantras, has been happening since thousands of years. It creates such a deep resonance in our consciousness, because our consciousness is very ancient ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
68:Yantras are specific designs that have a great deal of power in them, as do mantras, which are words of power. Yantras are designs of power that tap into other levels of attention. They remind us of things in other worlds. ~ Frederick Lenz,
69:Our thoughts are still ignorant, they must be enlightened. Our aspiration is still imperfect, it must be purified. Our action is still powerless, it must become effective. With my Blessings.
   ~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 August,
70:The Master is the Supreme God and the Supreme Goddess. He is the essence of all Mantras, the embodiment of all deities, and dwells in all creatures. One can worship all the gods and goddesses in and through Him. ~ Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi,
71:There are sayings and mantras that sometimes occur in filmmaking discussions, and one of them is that sometimes filmmaking is an olive branch or a reason or an excuse to be able to reach out and create an encounter with someone. ~ Debra Granik,
72:I think it's important to keep mantras fresh (sometimes the same verse can get stale). That being said, I love this powerful statement: 'Define yourself.' I rehearsed it a million times during the 2005 Chicago Marathon [her first win]. ~ Deena Kastor,
73:That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains. ~ Steve Jobs,
74:Vassals of an outdated ideology unrelated to the real world, they can, when questioned on this issue, only mumble neoliberal mantras that have delivered the world economic stagnation, rising inequality and global environmental crisis ~ Richard Flanagan,
75:Aum is the most powerful of all mantras. It is good to chant Aum seven or more times before and after each meditation. Chanting "Aum" puts you in harmony with the vibration of Eternity. "Aum" opens the gateway to the infinite highway of light. ~ Frederick Lenz,
76:As palavras organizam as coisas. Deve ser por isso que os hindus repetem mantras, para que este mundo pareça mais organizado do que ele realmente é, para que o sentido de tudo dê a impressão de caber espremido entre um punhado de letras ou de sons. ~ Adriana Lisboa,
77:I think a mantra I always told myself is, "No matter how many times somebody pitches the ball at you, if you swing every time, eventually one of them is going to connect." Being yourself and persistence are two things that became my daily mantras, I suppose. ~ Jamie Bell,
78:In Europe, where climate change absolutism is at its strongest, the quasi-religion of greenery in general and the climate change issue in particular have filled the vacuum of organised religion, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy. ~ Nigel Lawson,
79:The ancient rishis discovered these laws of sound alliance between nature and man. Because nature is an objectification of Aum, the Primal Sound or Vibratory Word, man can obtain control over all natural manifestations through the use of certain mantras or chants. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,
80:The extent to which dharma practice has been institutionalized as a religion can be gauged by the number of consolatory elements that have crept in: for example, assurances of a better afterlife if you perform virtuous deeds or recite mantras or chant the name of a Buddha. ~ Stephen Batchelor,
81:Fairness' is one of the great mantras of the left. Since everyone has his own definition of fairness, that word is a blank check for the expansion of government power. What fairness means in practice is that third parties -- busybodies -- can prevent mutual accommodations by others. ~ Thomas Sowell,
82:The major part of our species seems able to undergo any trauma without significantly re-examining its household mantras, including “everything happens for a reason,” “the show must go on,” “accept the things you cannot change,” and any other adage that gets people to keep their chins up. ~ Thomas Ligotti,
83:2. Evolve and Be God: As we invoke the presence of Source, holding the focus through our mantras, we are drawing more and more proximity to the object of worship and gradually, we attain all the attributes we are invoking, i.e., we slowly evolve to be Angelic, invoking the presence of God/Source. ~ Nandhiji,
84:I understand the importance of clearly expressing our goals and purposes in order to achieve them. I am not sure why we need mantras and formal statements in order to make that a reality. Somehow the church survived for almost two thousand years before Malphurs and Barna told us we had to have them. ~ Anonymous,
85:One way for attaining Bhakti is by repeating the name of God a number of times. Mantras have effect: the mere repetition of words.... To obtain Bhakti, seek the company of holy men who have Bhakti, and read books like the Gita and the Imitation of Christ; always think of the attributes of God. ~ Swami Vivekananda,
86:Il marmonna quelques mantras syllogistiques pour se consoler : - bah, le cerveau humain n’est conçu que pour nouer des relations avec des groupes restreints. On cherche ainsi à retrouver une sensation d’intimité, « entre proches ». Toute tentative de sociabilité reproduit des modèles probants d’empathie. ~ Pola Oloixarac,
87:If only we had the power to see ourselves in the same way that others see us.’ Of all the mantras one might adopt in life, this is surely one of the better ones and for anyone in a leadership role it should be an essential part of the checks and balances that are built into a company’s standard operating procedures. ~ Richard Branson,
88:I was inspired by the androgyny of Yohji Yamanoto's designs to translate the clothing's dualities onto screen and image. I was playing with a multitude of influences for the S/S 2012 campaign, inspired by the modernist literature and architecture that is in itself a fusion of political and architectural mantras, both dreamy and concrete. ~ Collier Schorr,
89:The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash. We get seduced by our own mantras (I’m a failure…I’m lonely…I’m a failure…I’m lonely…) and we become monuments to them. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
90:All sectarian religions take for granted that all men are equal. This is not warranted by science. There is more difference between minds than between bodies. One fundamental doctrine of Hinduism is that all men are different, there being unity in variety. Even for a drunkard, there are some Mantras-even for a man going to a prostitute! ~ Swami Vivekananda,
91:Music is sound, vibrations, whereas paintings are vibrations of whatever you pick up. It's not actually an energy vibration you get from a groovy painting, but music and sound seem to travel along vibrations, you know the whole thing with mantras is to repeat and repeat those sounds... it's vibrations in everything like prayers and hymns. ~ George Harrison,
92:All of those broken bones in northern Japan, all of those broken lives and those broken homes prompt us to remember what in calmer times we are invariably minded to forget: the most stern and chilling of mantras, which holds, quite simply, that mankind inhabits this earth subject to geological consent - which can be withdrawn at any time. ~ Simon Winchester,
93:Thoughtful design, code review, pair programming, and a considered test strategy (including TDD practices and fully automated unit test suites) are all of the utmost importance. Techniques like assertions, defensive programming, and code coverage tools will all help minimise the likelihood of errors sneaking past.  We all know these mantras. Don’t we? ~ Anonymous,
94:A lot of mantras that I use in my daily life to get through - to move through the world in peace and harmony with myself - find their way into the music that I make. Many of the lines that people seem to be drawn to in my music really come from these mantras that I repeat to myself to try and move through the world in more thoughtful, comfortable way. ~ Jenn Wasner,
95:On the one hand, we're constantly told about recycling and cutting back, and on the other hand we have to buy the next gadget that comes along three weeks after the last one you bought. It's absolutely insane. We've been suckered into buying and buying and upgrading and upgrading. We're being given two very different mantras at the moment, I think. ~ Martin Freeman,
96:Ageing destroys youth, sickness destroys health, degeneration of life destroys all excellent qualities and death destroys life. Even if you are a great runner, you cannot run away from death. you cannot stop death with your wealth, through your magic performances or recitation of mantras or even medicines. Therefore, it is wise to prepare for your death. ~ Dalai Lama,
97:These books and magazines acted as therapy for my working-class single mom who couldn’t afford to sit on someone’s sofa once a week to discuss her problems. She had a daughter to feed and bills to pay. This bookshelf and coffee-table therapy gave birth to two unspoken mantras that shaped our life together: “Take care of business” and “Daughter, heal thyself. ~ Brittney Cooper,
98:While it's true that most females born after 1960 have been told from childhood, 'The sky's the limit' and 'You can be anything you want to be,' a surprising number of women still hesitate when applying these mantras to their own careers. They need to be talked into believing in themselves and assured that others won't think less of them for setting high goals. ~ Kirsten Gillibrand,
99:I don’t know the derivation of this comfort craving, but there’s a quote from Cookie Monster that’s always inhabited my head: 'Today me will live in the moment, unless it’s unpleasant, in which case me will eat a cookie.' While I don’t take all of my mantras from goggle-eyed blue monsters with questionable grammar, this one has taken root. Lately I’ve been craving cookies a lot. ~ Steven Rowley,
100:How do I pray? Not in any organized form, really; I go to temples sometimes with my family, but they leave me cold. I think of prayer as something intensely personal, a way of reaching my hands out towards my maker. I recite some mantras my parents taught me as a child; there is something reassuring about those ancient words, hallowed by use and repetition over thousands of years. ~ Shashi Tharoor,
101:Covert narcissists blind you with their saccharine sweetness: they present the perfect public image, routinely go on their knees to pray, say their mantras on their yoga mats, preach ‘peace and compassion,’ all the while plotting on how to best stab you in the back. In some ways, covert narcissists are worse than overt ones. At least overt ones are open about how awful they really are. ~ Shahida Arabi,
102:It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a self-realized master. Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like 'Om Namah Shivaya', 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya', 'Om Namo Narayanaya', 'Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare', 'Om Shivashaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha' or even the names of Christ, Allah or Buddha. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi,
103:However true or not they may be to us, the trouble with all those tired, platitudinous, hackneyed mantras, which go along the lines of 'Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship,' is that many of us use them not as cries to embrace the grace of God but rather as licenses and/or excuses to celebrate sin. Make way for our beloved and ready, willing and able Christ to clean up your life already. ~ Criss Jami,
104:Just calling one's practice "approach and accomplishment" and staying in retreat for years will produce nothing but hardship. Completing hundreds of millions of mantras will not even bring the warmth of the ordinary qualities that mark one's progress on the path! In other words, if the essential points of the path are not taken into account, perseverance will amount to nothing more than chasing a mirage. ~ Patrul Rinpoche,
105:Because Shingon is Vajrayana, the main meditation practice involves working with visualizations, mantras, and mudra gestures. You replace your self-image with that of an archetype, you replace your usual mental talk with the mantra of that archetype, and you take on the physical and emotional body experience of that archetype through making mudras—ritual hand gestures. If your concentration is good enough, your identity briefly shifts. You become that archetype. ~ Shinzen Young,
106:Babineaux and Krumboltz, the two psychologists, have some advice for those who are prone to the curse of perfectionism. It involves stating the following mantras: “If I want to be a great musician, I must first play a lot of bad music.” “If I want to become a great tennis player, I must first lose lots of tennis games.” “If I want to become a top commercial architect known for energy-efficient, minimalist designs, I must first design inefficient, clunky buildings. ~ Matthew Syed,
107:Big organizations like to follow perfectionist regimes like Six Sigma and Total Quality Management, entire systems devoted to eliminating error from the conference room or the assembly line, but it’s no accident that one of the mantras of the Web startup world is fail faster. It’s not that mistakes are the goal—they’re still mistakes, after all, which is why you want to get through them quickly. But those mistakes are an inevitable step on the path to true innovation. ~ Steven Johnson,
108:It's not a matter of how much you know or can define, or how many millions of mantras or thousands of prostrations you have done, or how many months of wangs you've attended. The important thing is whether or not the mind is really changing, whether our negative emotions are really coming under control, whether we are really beginning to understand ourselves, whether our mind is really improving, and whether in our hearts there is genuine love and caring for other people. ~ Tenzin Palmo,
109:The sadhana of this Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart, and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, [T3],
110:Tami Lynn Kent added mantras to each of the five A’s to make them even more powerful: Attention: I see you Appreciation: I value you Approval: I accept you Affection: I love you Allowing: I trust you I suggest that you say these each morning out loud to yourself while looking right into your eyes in the mirror. You’ll feel an energy shift by day 20—or even earlier. And in the future, you can judge the value of your relationships by whether or not these five A’s are present or absent. ~ Christiane Northrup,
111:There is this persistent theme in all of these notions that death is made more easy, whatever that means, if you've learned the territory before you get there. And you know, in the Mahayana Buddhist situation it even becomes as extreme as saying; 'life is essentially a preparation for death, a studying of the maps of a learning of the skills a packing of your picnic basket so that when you get out there and demons are sniffing you up one side and down the other you don't bungle your mantras'. ~ Terence McKenna,
112:The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash. We get seduced by our own mantras (I'm a failure I'm lonely I'm a failure I'm lonely) and we become monuments to them. To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
113:The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash. We get seduced by our own mantras (I'm a failure... I'm lonely... I'm a failure... I'm lonely...) and we become monuments to them. To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
114:The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash. We get seduced by our own mantras (I['m a failure... I'm lonely... I'm a failure... I'm lonely...) and we become monuments to them. To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to top choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
115:Do not get up immediately at the end of the archana. The beloved deity should be brought from the seat in front of us back into our hearts and re-installed there. Seeing the form of the deity seated in the heart, meditate for a little longer. If it is possible, it is good to sing 2 or 3 kirtans. After taking an injection, a patient is asked to rest for a few minutes to let the medicine spread throughout the body. Similarly, to obtain the full benefit of the mantras, we should keep the mind calm for a while after worship. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi,
116:What indeed is madness but the orgasm between consciousness and unconsciousness; yet today psychology has passed this chaotic union between mind and soul: it is taking form, and one day it will be brought to the bed of a new priesthood. Already have the heralds of the last illusion blazoned forth the coming of the magicians. Freud and Jung and a host of followers have invented psycho-analysis, which today is still pure black magic, the anatomization of the mind by thought potientized by theories in place of panticles, mantras and spells. ~ J F C Fuller,
117:This is denying, making an attempt to go beyond your likes and dislikes – going on saying “no” to the mind. This is definitely far superior to drugs and mantras, because it will lead to a certain transformation within you. As you continue to say “no” to your mind, the mind becomes more and more subdued, it becomes lesser and lesser. It loses its edge. The mind loses the control over you, as you go on saying “no.” Whatever the mind says, you say “no.” That is the practice. When you become a total “no, no” to your mind, you will become a big “yes” to life. ~ Sadhguru,
118:Where it is strongest, it must still contend ceaselessly with macho, paranoiac, homogenizing, and other traditional forces that continue battling over the minds and actions of women and men – forces that may indeed be far more “natural” to us human animals, who are so innately egotistical and afraid. Add to this a plague of self-righteousness, in which both individuals and political factions seem more interested in the sweet mantras of their slogans than in finding pragmatic solutions to modern problems, and you have a formula for troubled times ahead. ~ David Brin,
119:The truth is there are a million steps, and we don't even know what the steps are, and worse, at any given moment we may not be willing or even able to take them; and still worse, they are different for you and they are always changing. I have come to believe the sooner we will fall in love with the God who keeps shaking things up, keeps changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him, teaching us to not rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic mantras, or genies in lamps, but rather in His guidance, His existence, His mercy, and His love. ~ Donald Miller,
120:There was Asuka, birthplace of Yamato Japan, with its long-vacant burial mounds, surfaces carved with supernatural images of beasts and semi-humans, their makers and their meaning lost in the timeless swaying of the rice paddies around them; Koya-san, the holy mountain, reputedly the resting place of Kobo Daishi, Japan’s great saint, who is said to linger near the mountain’s vast necropolis not dead but meditating, his vigil marked by the mantras of monks that drone among the nearby markers of the dead as ancient and eternal as summer insects in primordial groves; ~ Barry Eisler,
121:A spiritual path based on unverifiable ideas is stripped of any real accountability to the world we live in. If our spiritual path is not held accountable to the evidence of direct experience in the world, we have no real measuring stick for how our journey is progressing. At the extreme end of this spectrum, we might pay no attention to climate change because we are convinced the Rapture is coming soon. A more subtle instance of an unscientific spirituality might involve thinking that the number of compassion mantras we recite is more important than how well we treat our romantic partner. ~ Ethan Nichtern,
122:We’ve all heard the usual examples: Michael Jordan cut from his high school basketball team, Walt Disney fired by a newspaper editor for not being creative enough, the Beatles turned away by a record executive who told them that “guitar groups are on their way out.” In fact, many of their winning mantras essentially describe the notion of falling up: “I’ve failed over and over again in my life,” Jordan once said, “and that is why I succeed.” Robert F. Kennedy said much the same: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” And Thomas Edison, too, once claimed that he had failed his way to success. ~ Shawn Achor,
123:Without relying on any deities, mantras, or mandalas, without having to master the intricacies of any doctrine or philosophy, I vividly understood what it meant to be a fragile, impermanent creature in a fragile, impermanent world.
The mindfulness sharpened my attention to everything that was going on within and around me. My body became a tingling, pulsing mass of sensations. At times when I sat outside I felt as though the breeze were blowing through me. The sheen of the grass was more brilliant, the rustling leaves were like a chorus in an endlessly unfolding symphony. At the same time there was a deep stillness and poise at the core of this vital awareness. ~ Stephen Batchelor,
124:Students often ask if they should only invoke the guru in the context of a formal daily practice, or if it can be done anywhere. The answer is that it depends on the student. Dharma bums who roam the streets of Kathmandu smoking hashish and sitting in cafés nursing a half-empty cup of cappuccino for most of the day should probably sit formally and recite ten million or one hundred million mantras. Whereas those who have demanding jobs in London, New York or Paris might benefit more from reciting the mantra on their way to work, or as they wait for a bus. The method each student is given will depend entirely on their personal situation and how disciplined they are. ~ Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse,
125:Many secular observers and spiritual practitioners alike mistake mystical chanting as a kind of anthropological curiosity or interesting musical diversion from secular mainstream entertainment, sometimes labeling it 'world' or 'folk' music. But uttering or chanting spells, mantras or prayers shouldn't be regarded as a romantic excursion to a distant past, or faraway place, or as an escape from our everyday stresses, for relaxation or entertainment. These sounds are meant to be experienced as the timeless unity of energy currents. The chanting of ancient esoteric sounds enables us to realize we are never separate from the one continuously existing omnipresent vibration of the cosmos. ~ Zeena Schreck,
126:Visitor. I am taught that Mantra Japam is very potent in practice.
Bhagavan. The Self is the greatest of all mantras and goes on automatically and eternally. If you are not aware of this internal mantra, you should take to do it consciously as japam, which is attended with effort, to ward off all other thoughts.

By constant attention to it, you will eventually become aware of the internal mantra, which is the state of Realisation and is effortless. Firmness in this awareness will keep you continually and effortlessly in the current, however much you may be engaged on other activities.
Listening to Veda chanting and mantras has the same result as conscious repetitions of japam – its rhythm is the japam. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi,
127:Scaling is akin to running a long race where you don’t know the right path, often what seems like the right path turns out to be the wrong one, and you don’t know how long the race will last, where or how it will end, or where the finish line is located. Yet it is one of the fundamental challenges that every organization faces, whether it’s small or large, new or old, or somewhere in between. And the good news is that plenty of people and teams find ways to master this mess, take satisfaction in their daily accomplishments, and take pride in spreading constructive beliefs and behaviors far and wide. Those who succeed think and act as if they are fighting a ground war, not just an air war. This “ground war mindset” (along with the seven mantras) reverberates throughout the coming chapters on key decisions and scaling principles. ~ Robert I Sutton,
128:L'histoire des théologies nous montre que les chefs religieux ont toujours affirmé qu'au moyen de rituels, que par des répétitions de prières ou de mantras, que par l'imitation de certains comportements, par le refoulement des désirs, par des disciplines mentales et la sublimation des passions, que par un frein, imposé aux appétits, sexuels et autres, on parvient après s'être suffisamment torturé l'esprit et le corps, à trouver un quelque-chose qui transcende cette petite vie.
Voilà ce que des millions de personnes soi-disant religieuses ont fait au cours des âges ; soit en s'isolant, en s'en allant dans un désert, sur une montagne ou dans une caverne ; soit en errant de village en village avec un bol de mendiant ; ou bien en se réunissant en groupes, dans des monastères, en vue de contraindre leur esprit à se conformer à des modèles établis. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti,
129:The Vedic poets regarded their poetry as mantras, they were the vehicles of their own realisations and could become vehicles of realisation for others. Naturally, these mostly would be illuminations, not the settled and permanent realisation that is the goal of Yoga - but they could be steps on the way or at least lights on the way. Many have such illuminations, even initial realisations while meditating on verses of the Upanishads or the Gita. Anything that carries the Word, the Light in it, spoken or written, can light this fire within, open a sky, as it were, bring the effective vision of which the Word is the body. In all ages spiritual seekers have expressed their aspirations or their experiences in poetry or inspired language and it has helped themselves and others. Therefore there is nothing absurd in my assigning to such poetry a spiritual or psychic value and effectiveness to poetry of a psychic or spiritual character.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,
130:(It is suggested that while the Vedic era saw only the worship of a formless and imageless God, the conduct of rituals and the propitiation of the river and mountain and tree gods of local tribes, all of which were ‘portable’ and not confined to a fixed spot, it was the arrival of the Greeks under Alexander in the fourth century BCE that brought into India the idea of permanent temples enshrining stone images of heroes and gods.) Again, while the Hinduism of the Vedas emerged from mantras and rituals, including elaborate sacrifices, the Puranas promoted their values entirely on the basis of myths and stories. By developing the concept of the saguna Brahman to go with the exalted idea of the nirguna Brahman, the Puranic faith integrated the Vedic religion into the daily worship of ordinary people. Using the seductive power of maya (illusion), the nirguna Brahman of the Vedas took the form of saguna Brahman or Ishvara, the creator of prakriti, the natural world and the God or Bhagavan of all human beings. ~ Shashi Tharoor,
131:And while she read her cards and muttered to herself, I would leaf through my collection of cookery cards, incanting the names of never-tasted dishes like mantras, like the secret formulae of life. Boeuf en daube. Champignons farcis à la grèque. Escalopes à la Reine. Crème caramel. Schokoladentorte. Tiramisu. In the secret kitchen of my imagination I made them all, tested, tasted them, added to my collection of recipes wherever we went, pasted them into my scrapbook like photographs of old friends. They gave weight to my wanderings, the glossy clippings shining out from between the smeary pages like signposts along our erratic path.
I bring them out now like long-lost friends. Soupe de tomates à la gasconne, served with fresh basil and a slice of tartelette méridonale, made on biscuit-thin pâte brisée and lush with the flavors of olive oil and anchovy and the rich local tomatoes, garnished with olives and roasted slowly to produce a concentration of flavors that seems almost impossible. ~ Joanne Harris,
132:What amazes us is that parents all over the world are literally paying thousands of dollars in college tuition so that their sons and daughters can be taught the “truth” that there is no truth, not to mention other self-defeating postmodern assertions such as: 8220;All truth is relative” (Is that a relative truth?); “ There are no absolutes” (Are you absolutely sure?); and, “It’s true for you but not for me!” (Is that statement true just for you, or is it true for everyone?) “True for you but not for me” may be the mantra of our day, but it’s not how the world really works. Try saying that to your bank teller, the police, or the IRS and see how far you get! Of course these modern mantras are false because they are self-defeating. But for those who still blindly believe them, we have a few questions: If there really is no truth, then why try to learn anything? Why should any student listen to any professor? After all, the professor doesn’t have the truth. What’s the point of going to school, much less paying for it? And what’s the point of obeying the professor’s moral prohibitions against cheating on tests or plagiarizing term papers? ~ Norman L Geisler,
133:SCALING MANTRAS 1. Spread a mindset, not just a footprint.
Running up the numbers and putting your logo on as many people and places as possible isn’t enough. 2. Engage all the senses.
Bolster the mindset you want to spread with supportive sights, sounds, smells, and other subtle cues that people may barely notice, if at all. 3. Link short-term realities to long-term dreams.
Hound yourself and others with questions about what it takes to link the never-ending now to the sweet dreams you hope to realize later. 4. Accelerate accountability.
Build in the feeling that “I own the place and the place owns me.” 5. Fear the clusterfug.
The terrible trio of illusion, impatience, and incompetence are ever-present risks. Healthy doses of worry and self-doubt are antidotes to these three hallmarks of scaling clusterfugs. 6. Scaling requires both addition and subtraction.
The problem of more is also a problem of less. 7. Slow down to scale faster—and better—down the road.
Learn when and how to shift gears from automatic, mindless, and fast modes of thinking (“System 1”) to slow, taxing, logical, deliberative, and conscious modes (“System 2”); sometimes the best advice is, “Don’t just do something, stand there. ~ Robert I Sutton,
134:Basecamp was basically just trying to be one step above email. And by setting such a humble goal, we had to make a lot of decisions about how simple we could make things. We tried to make less software from the very beginning. It's one of the mantras we have. It's a win whenever we can get away with just a simple model, since we have to do less programming. I was the only programmer and I was dedicating 10 hours a week to this, while we were developing it. 37signals was paying me to do this out of its consultancy revenue, since we didn't have funds to fund it. So we had only a quarter of a programmer dedicated to the development and no funds really for doing this. The designers were giving it a third of their time at most. And we realized through this process that those constraints—which sound negative—were actually the greatest gift to the development of Basecamp. That whole constrained development model really focused our view on what we needed, and it forced us to make tough decisions about making less software all the time. And we keep getting feedback from customers that say, "I love this, it's just so simple to use. It's got just the features I need and not all the other stuff." There wasn't time for us to say, "Wouldn't it be cool to do this and that? ~ Jessica Livingston,
135:Cuatro nombres sirven especialmente, entre muchos otros en el sánscrito, para designar las diferentes ramas del saber esotérico, y aun el mismo de los Purânas exotéricos. 1º la Yajna Vidya, que es el conocimiento de los poderes ocultos que pueden despertarse en la Naturaleza por ciertas ceremonias y ciertos ritos religiosos; 2º la Maha Vidya “La Gran Ciencia”, respecto de la cual es a veces la magia de los cabalistas y la de los tantrikas, una hechicería de la peor especie; 3º, la Gupta– Vidya, la ciencia de los poderes místicos contenidos en el sonido (éter) y que son despertados por los Mantras (plegarias, cantos o encantamientos), cuyo efecto depende del ritmo y la melodía; una operación mágica, en fin, basada sobre el conocimiento de las fuerzas de la Naturaleza y su correlación, y 4º, el Alma Vidya que equivale a las palabras Ciencia del Alma o Sabiduría Verdadera cuyo sentido, entre los Orientales, alcanza una extensión mucho más considerable, que entre nosotros los europeos. Esta última ciencia del Alma Vidya es la sola especie del ocultismo a que debe aspirar todo teosofista admirador de “Luz sobre el sendero”, o la que desea llegar a ser un sabio despojándose del egoísmo. Las otras son solamente ramas de las “Ciencias ocultas”, es decir, partes basadas sobre el conocimiento de la esencia de las cosas en los diferentes reinos de la Naturaleza ~ Anonymous,
136:The Particular Necessity for Practice
The second part discusses "the particular necessity for practice."
Through the power of the yoga of speech, the stains that obscure the mind are removed. Once this happens, speech reaches its full potential. It is like discovering the true nature of your speech for the very first time.
To activate the yoga of speech, summon the primordial wisdom deities by calling their names. Just as calling someone's name naturally causes that person to draw closer to you, in the same way calling the wisdom deities by name brings them nearer to you.
They come to see what you want.
This does not mean the wisdom deities will not come if you do not call them. They could come even if you did not call their names.
You call their names-which is what you are doing when you recite mantras-because their names express their actual nature. A quote from the Dorje Kur (rDo rje gur) scripture reads: "To directly perceive the buddhas, bodhisattvas, dakinis and your own consort, get their attention by calling their names and invite them to come." Reciting the deity's name over and over purifies obscurations of speech and establishes the cause of vajra speech.
This cause produces the condition that averts adverse conditions.
The speech of the wisdom deities and your own speech will become the same-vajra speech. ~ Gyatrul Rinpoche, Generating the Deity,
137:103. Magic Mantras and Latex Poodles

My father has the irritating habit of saying the same thing whenever something bad happens. “This, too, shall pass,” he says. What annoys me is that he’s always right about it. What annoys me even more is that he always reminds me later when it does pass, as a smug “I told you so.”

He doesn’t say it to me anymore because Mom told him it was trite. Maybe it is, but I find that I say it to myself now. No matter how bad I’m feeling, I make myself say it, even if I’m not ready to believe it. This, too, shall pass. It’s amazing how little things like that can make a big difference.

It’s like that old Nike ad. “Just do it.” My mom likes to tell the story about how she had gained so much weight when Mackenzie was born, and exercise was so daunting, she didn’t know where to begin, so she just ate and got fatter. Finally she started telling herself “Just do it,” and it was the magic mantra to get her exercising regularly again. She dropped the weight before Mackenzie turned two. On the other hand, there was this bizarre cult that committed mass suicide wearing brand-new Nikes as their own warped homage to “Just do it.”

I suppose even a simple slogan can be twisted into whatever shape we want, like a balloon animal—we can even make it loop back around on itself, becoming a noose. In the end, the measure of who we are can be seen in the shapes of our balloon animals. ~ Neal Shusterman,
138:Cuatro nombres sirven especialmente, entre muchos otros en el sánscrito, para designar las diferentes ramas del saber esotérico, y aun el mismo de los Purânas exotéricos. 1º la Yajna Vidya, que es el conocimiento de los poderes ocultos que pueden despertarse en la Naturaleza por ciertas ceremonias y ciertos ritos religiosos; 2º la Maha Vidya “La Gran Ciencia”, respecto de la cual es a veces la magia de los cabalistas y la de los tantrikas, una hechicería de la peor especie; 3º, la Gupta– Vidya, la ciencia de los poderes místicos contenidos en el sonido (éter) y que son despertados por los Mantras (plegarias, cantos o encantamientos), cuyo efecto depende del ritmo y la melodía; una operación mágica, en fin, basada sobre el conocimiento de las fuerzas de la Naturaleza y su correlación, y 4º, el Alma Vidya que equivale a las palabras Ciencia del Alma o Sabiduría Verdadera cuyo sentido, entre los Orientales, alcanza una extensión mucho más considerable, que entre nosotros los europeos. Esta última ciencia del Alma Vidya es la sola especie del ocultismo a que debe aspirar todo teosofista admirador de “Luz sobre el sendero”, o la que desea llegar a ser un sabio despojándose del egoísmo. Las otras son solamente ramas de las “Ciencias ocultas”, es decir, partes basadas sobre el conocimiento de la esencia de las cosas en los diferentes reinos de la Naturaleza –minerales, plantas, animales –ciencias materiales en suma, por más que la esencia de las cosas sea invisible hasta el punto de haber escapado hasta aquí a las investigaciones de la Ciencia. ~ Anonymous,
139:In India, music as well as painting and the drama is considered a divine art. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—the Eternal Trinity—were the first musicians. The Divine Dancer Shiva is scripturally represented as having worked out the infinite modes of rhythm in His cosmic dance of universal creation, preservation and dissolution, while Brahma accentuated the time-beat with the clanging cymbals and Vishnu sounded the holy mridanga or drum. Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, is always shown in Hindu art with a flute, on which he plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the human souls wandering in maya delusion. Saraswati, Goddess of Wisdom, is symbolised as performing on the vina, mother of all stringed instruments. The Sama Veda of India contains the world’s earliest writings on musical science. The foundation stone of Hindu music is the ragas or fixed melodic scales. The six basic ragas branch out into 126 derivative raginis (wives) and putras (sons). Each raga has a minimum of five notes: a leading note (vadi or king), a secondary note (samavadi or prime minister), helping notes (anuvadi, attendants) and a dissonant note (vivadi, the enemy). Each one of the six basic ragas has a natural correspondence with a certain hour of the day, season of the year and a presiding deity who bestows a particular potency. Thus (1) the Hindole Raga is heard only at dawn in the spring, to evoke the mood of universal love; (2) Deepaka Raga is played during the evening in summer, to arouse compassion; (3) Megha Raga is a melody for midday in the rainy season, to summon courage; (4) Bhairava Raga is played in the mornings of August, September, October, to achieve tranquillity; (5) Sri Raga is reserved for autumn twilights, to attain pure love; (6) Malkounsa Raga is heard at midnights in winter, for valour. The ancient rishis discovered these laws of sound alliance between nature and man. Because nature is an objectification of Aum, the Primal Sound or Vibratory Word, man can obtain control over all natural manifestations through the use of certain mantras or chants. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,
140:As former deputy head of the presidential administration, later deputy prime minister and then assistant to the President on foreign affairs, Surkov has directed Russian society like one great reality show. He claps once and a new political party appears. He claps again and creates Nashi, the Russian equivalent of the Hitler Youth, who are trained for street battles with potential prodemocracy supporters and burn books by unpatriotic writers on Red Square. As deputy head of the administration he would meet once a week with the heads of the television channels in his Kremlin office, instructing them on whom to attack and whom to defend, who is allowed on TV and who is banned, how the President is to be presented, and the very language and categories the country thinks and feels in. The Ostankino TV presenters, instructed by Surkov, pluck a theme (oligarchs, America, the Middle East) and speak for twenty minutes, hinting, nudging, winking, insinuating though rarely ever saying anything directly, repeating words like “them” and “the enemy” endlessly until they are imprinted on the mind. They repeat the great mantras of the era: the President is the President of “stability,” the antithesis to the era of “confusion and twilight” in the 1990s. “Stability”—the word is repeated again and again in a myriad seemingly irrelevant contexts until it echoes and tolls like a great bell and seems to mean everything good; anyone who opposes the President is an enemy of the great God of “stability.” “Effective manager,” a term quarried from Western corporate speak, is transmuted into a term to venerate the President as the most “effective manager” of all. “Effective” becomes the raison d’être for everything: Stalin was an “effective manager” who had to make sacrifices for the sake of being “effective.” The words trickle into the streets: “Our relationship is not effective” lovers tell each other when they break up. “Effective,” “stability”: no one can quite define what they actually mean, and as the city transforms and surges, everyone senses things are the very opposite of stable, and certainly nothing is “effective,” but the way Surkov and his puppets use them the words have taken on a life of their own and act like falling axes over anyone who is in any way disloyal. ~ Peter Pomerantsev,
141:Nirvana Shatakam
1)
I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego,
nor the reflections of inner self (chitta).
I am not the five senses.
I am beyond that.
I am not the ether, nor the earth,
nor the fire, nor the wind (the five elements).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
2)
Neither can I be termed as energy (prana),
nor five types of breath (vayus),
nor the seven material essences,
nor the five coverings (pancha-kosha).
Neither am I the five instruments of elimination,
procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
3)
I have no hatred or dislike,
nor affiliation or liking,
nor greed,
nor delusion,
nor pride or haughtiness,
nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty (dharma),
nor any money,
nor any desire (kama),
nor even liberation (moksha).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
4)
I have neither merit (virtue),
16
I
nor demerit (vice).
do not commit sins or good deeds,
nor have happiness or sorrow,
pain or pleasure.
do not need mantras, holy places,
scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yagnas).
am none of the triad of
the observer or one who experiences,
the process of observing or experiencing,
or any object being observed or experienced.
am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
5)
I do not have fear of death,
as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self,
no doubt about my existence,
nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother,
nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative,
nor the friend,
nor the guru,
nor the disciple.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
6)
I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes,
and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world,
nor to liberation (mukti).
I have no wishes for anything
because I am everything,
everywhere,
every time,
always in equilibrium.
I am indeed,
17
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
~ Adi Shankaracharya,
142:The Saddhu Of Couva
When sunset, a brass gong,
vibrate through Couva,
is then I see my soul, swiftly unsheathed,
like a white cattle bird growing more small
over the ocean of the evening canes,
and I sit quiet, waiting for it to return
like a hog-cattle blistered with mud,
because, for my spirit, India is too far.
And to that gong
sometimes bald clouds in saffron robes assemble
sacred to the evening,
sacred even to Ramlochan,
singing Indian hits from his jute hammock
while evening strokes the flanks
and silver horns of his maroon taxi,
as the mosquitoes whine their evening mantras,
my friend Anopheles, on the sitar,
and the fireflies making every dusk Divali.
I knot my head with a cloud,
my white mustache bristle like horns,
my hands are brittle as the pages of Ramayana.
Once the sacred monkeys multiplied like branches
in the ancient temples: I did not miss them,
because these fields sang of Bengal,
behind Ramlochan Repairs there was Uttar Pradesh;
but time roars in my ears like a river,
old age is a conflagration
as fierce as the cane fires of crop time.
I will pass through these people like a cloud,
they will see a white bird beating the evening sea
of the canes behind Couva,
and who will point it as my soul unsheathed?
Naither the bridegroom in beads,
nor the bride in her veils,
their sacred language on the cinema hoardings.
I talked too damn much on the Couva Village Council.
I talked too softly, I was always drowned
68
by the loudspeakers in front of the stores
or the loudspeakers with the greatest pictures.
I am best suited to stalk like a white cattle bird
on legs like sticks, with sticking to the Path
between the canes on a district road at dusk.
Playing the Elder. There are no more elders.
Is only old people.
My friends spit on the government.
I do not think is just the government.
Suppose all the gods too old,
Suppose they dead and they burning them,
supposing when some cane cutter
start chopping up snakes with a cutlass
he is severing the snake-armed god,
and suppose some hunter has caught
Hanuman in his mischief in a monkey cage.
Suppose all the gods were killed by electric light?
Sunset, a bonfire, roars in my ears;
embers of brown swallows dart and cry,
like women distracted,
around its cremation.
I ascend to my bed of sweet sandalwood.
~ Derek Walcott,
143:Ekajaṭī or Ekajaṭā, (Sanskrit: "One Plait Woman"; Wylie: ral gcig ma: one who has one knot of hair),[1] also known as Māhacīnatārā,[2] is one of the 21 Taras. Ekajati is, along with Palden Lhamo deity, one of the most powerful and fierce goddesses of Vajrayana Buddhist mythology.[1][3] According to Tibetan legends, her right eye was pierced by the tantric master Padmasambhava so that she could much more effectively help him subjugate Tibetan demons.

Ekajati is also known as "Blue Tara", Vajra Tara or "Ugra Tara".[1][3] She is generally considered one of the three principal protectors of the Nyingma school along with Rāhula and Vajrasādhu (Wylie: rdo rje legs pa).

Often Ekajati appears as liberator in the mandala of the Green Tara. Along with that, her ascribed powers are removing the fear of enemies, spreading joy, and removing personal hindrances on the path to enlightenment.

Ekajati is the protector of secret mantras and "as the mother of the mothers of all the Buddhas" represents the ultimate unity. As such, her own mantra is also secret. She is the most important protector of the Vajrayana teachings, especially the Inner Tantras and termas. As the protector of mantra, she supports the practitioner in deciphering symbolic dakini codes and properly determines appropriate times and circumstances for revealing tantric teachings. Because she completely realizes the texts and mantras under her care, she reminds the practitioner of their preciousness and secrecy.[4] Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama meditated upon her in early childhood.

According to Namkhai Norbu, Ekajati is the principal guardian of the Dzogchen teachings and is "a personification of the essentially non-dual nature of primordial energy."[5]

Dzogchen is the most closely guarded teaching in Tibetan Buddhism, of which Ekajati is a main guardian as mentioned above. It is said that Sri Singha (Sanskrit: Śrī Siṃha) himself entrusted the "Heart Essence" (Wylie: snying thig) teachings to her care. To the great master Longchenpa, who initiated the dissemination of certain Dzogchen teachings, Ekajati offered uncharacteristically personal guidance. In his thirty-second year, Ekajati appeared to Longchenpa, supervising every ritual detail of the Heart Essence of the Dakinis empowerment, insisting on the use of a peacock feather and removing unnecessary basin. When Longchenpa performed the ritual, she nodded her head in approval but corrected his pronunciation. When he recited the mantra, Ekajati admonished him, saying, "Imitate me," and sang it in a strange, harmonious melody in the dakini's language. Later she appeared at the gathering and joyously danced, proclaiming the approval of Padmasambhava and the dakinis.[6] ~ Wikipedia,
144:Failures as people: millions of Americans felt that this description fit them to a T. Seeking a solution, any solution, they eagerly forked over their cash to any huckster who promised release, the quicker and more effortlessly the better: therapies like “bioenergetics” (“The Revolutionary Therapy That Uses the Language of the Body to Heal the Problems of the Mind”); Primal Scream (which held that when patients shrieked in a therapist’s office, childhood trauma could be reexperienced, then released; John Lennon and James Earl Jones were fans); or Transcendental Meditation, which promised that deliverance could come if you merely closed your eyes and chanted a mantra (the “TM” organization sold personal mantras, each supposedly “unique,” to hundreds of thousands of devotees). Or “religions” like the Church Universal and Triumphant, or the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, or “Scientology”—this last one invented by a science fiction writer, reportedly on a bet. Devotees paid cash to be “audited” by practitioners who claimed the power—if, naturally, you paid for enough sessions—to remove “trauma patterns” accreted over the 75 million years that had passed since Xenu, tyrant of the Galactic Confederacy, deposited billions of people on earth next to volcanoes and detonated hydrogen bombs inside those volcanos, thus scattering harming “body thetans” to attach to the souls of the living, which once unlatched allowed practitioners to cross the “bridge to total freedom” and “unlimited creativity.” Another religion, the story had it, promised “perfect knowledge”—though its adherents’ public meeting was held up several hours because none of them knew how to run the movie projector. Gallup reported that six million Americans had tried TM, five million had twisted themselves into yoga poses, and two million had sampled some sort of Oriental religion. And hundreds of thousands of Americans in eleven cities had plunked down $250 for the privilege being screamed at as “assholes.” “est”—Erhard Seminars Training, named after the only-in-America hustler who invented it, Werner Erhard, originally Jack Rosenberg, a former used-car and encyclopedia salesman who had tried and failed to join the Marines (this was not incidental) at the age of seventeen, and experienced a spiritual rebirth one morning while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge (“I realized that I knew nothing. . . . In the next instant—after I realized that I knew nothing—I realized that I knew everything”)—promised “to transform one’s ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself,” all that in just sixty hours, courtesy of a for-profit corporation whose president had been general manager of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of California and a former member of the Harvard Business School faculty. A ~ Rick Perlstein,
145:The process of receiving teaching depends upon the student giving something in return; some kind of psychological surrender is necessary, a gift of some sort. This is why we must discuss surrendering, opening, giving up expectations, before we can speak of the relationship between teacher and student. It is essential to surrender, to open yourself, to present whatever you are to the guru, rather than trying to present yourself as a worthwhile student. It does not matter how much you are willing to pay, how correctly you behave, how clever you are at saying the right thing to your teacher. It is not like having an interview for a job or buying a new car. Whether or not you will get the job depends upon your credentials, how well you are dressed, how beautifully your shoes are polished, how well you speak, how good your manners are. If you are buying a car, it is a matter of how much money you have and how good your credit is. But when it comes to spirituality, something more is required. It is not a matter of applying for a job, of dressing up to impress our potential employer. Such deception does not apply to an interview with a guru, because he sees right through us. He is amused if we dress up especially for the interview. Making ingratiating gestures is not applicable in this situation; in fact it is futile. We must make a real commitment to being open with our teacher; we must be willing to give up all our preconceptions. Milarepa expected Marpa to be a great scholar and a saintly person, dressed in yogic costume with beads, reciting mantras, meditating. Instead he found Marpa working on his farm, directing the laborers and plowing his land. I am afraid the word guru is overused in the West. It would be better to speak of one’s “spiritual friend,” because the teachings emphasize a mutual meeting of two minds. It is a matter of mutual communication, rather than a master-servant relationship between a highly evolved being and a miserable, confused one. In the master-servant relationship the highly evolved being may appear not even to be sitting on his seat but may seem to be floating, levitating, looking down at us. His voice is penetrating, pervading space. Every word, every cough, every movement that he makes is a gesture of wisdom. But this is a dream. A guru should be a spiritual friend who communicates and presents his qualities to us, as Marpa did with Milarepa and Naropa with Marpa. Marpa presented his quality of being a farmer-yogi. He happened to have seven children and a wife, and he looked after his farm, cultivating the land and supporting himself and his family. But these activities were just an ordinary part of his life. He cared for his students as he cared for his crops and family. He was so thorough, paying attention to every detail of his life, that he was able to be a competent teacher as well as a competent father and farmer. There was no physical or spiritual materialism in Marpa’s lifestyle at all. He did not emphasize spirituality and ignore his family or his physical relationship to the earth. If you are not involved with materialism, either spiritually or physically, then there is no emphasis made on any extreme. Nor is it helpful to choose someone for your guru simply because he is famous, someone who is renowned for having published stacks of books and converted thousands or millions of people. Instead the guideline is whether or not you are able actually to communicate with the person, directly and thoroughly. How much self-deception are you involved in? If you really open yourself to your spiritual friend, then you are bound to work together. Are you able to talk to him thoroughly and properly? Does he know anything about you? Does he know anything about himself, for that matter? Is the guru really able to see through your masks, communicate with you properly, directly? In searching for a teacher, this seems to be the guideline rather than fame or wisdom. ~ Ch gyam Trungpa,
146:GURU YOGA
   Guru yoga is an essential practice in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. This is true in sutra, tantra, and Dzogchen. It develops the heart connection with the masteR By continually strengthening our devotion, we come to the place of pure devotion in ourselves, which is the unshakeable, powerful base of the practice. The essence of guru yoga is to merge the practitioner's mind with the mind of the master.
   What is the true master? It is the formless, fundamental nature of mind, the primordial awareness of the base of everything, but because we exist in dualism, it is helpful for us to visualize this in a form. Doing so makes skillful use of the dualisms of the conceptual mind, to further strengthen devotion and help us stay directed toward practice and the generation of positive qualities.
   In the Bon tradition, we often visualize either Tapihritsa* as the master, or the Buddha ShenlaOdker*, who represents the union of all the masters. If you are already a practitioner, you may have another deity to visualize, like Guru Rinpoche or a yidam or dakini. While it is important to work with a lineage with which you have a connection, you should understand that the master you visualize is the embodiment of all the masters with whom you are connected, all the teachers with whom you have studied, all the deities to whom you have commitments. The master in guru yoga is not just one individual, but the essence of enlightenment, the primordial awareness that is your true nature.
   The master is also the teacher from whom you receive the teachings. In the Tibetan tradition, we say the master is more important than the Buddha. Why? Because the master is the immediate messenger of the teachings, the one who brings the Buddha's wisdom to the student. Without the master we could not find our way to the Buddha. So we should feel as much devotion to the master as we would to the Buddha if the Buddha suddenly appeared in front of us.
   Guru yoga is not just about generating some feeling toward a visualized image. It is done to find the fundamental mind in yourself that is the same as the fundamental mind of all your teachers, and of all the Buddhas and realized beings that have ever lived. When you merge with the guru, you merge with your pristine true nature, which is the real guide and masteR But this should not be an abstract practice. When you do guru yoga, try to feel such intense devotion that the hair stands upon your neck, tears start down your face, and your heart opens and fills with great love. Let yourself merge in union with the guru's mind, which is your enlightened Buddha-nature. This is the way to practice guru yoga.
  
The Practice
   After the nine breaths, still seated in meditation posture, visualize the master above and in front of you. This should not be a flat, two dimensional picture-let a real being exist there, in three dimensions, made of light, pure, and with a strong presence that affects the feeling in your body,your energy, and your mind. Generate strong devotion and reflect on the great gift of the teachings and the tremendous good fortune you enjoy in having made a connection to them. Offer a sincere prayer, asking that your negativities and obscurations be removed, that your positive qualities develop, and that you accomplish dream yoga.
   Then imagine receiving blessings from the master in the form of three colored lights that stream from his or her three wisdom doors- of body, speech, and mind-into yours. The lights should be transmitted in the following sequence: White light streams from the master's brow chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your entire body and physical dimension. Then red light streams from the master's throat chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your energetic dimension. Finally, blue light streams from the master's heart chakra into yours, purifying and relaxing your mind.
   When the lights enter your body, feel them. Let your body, energy, and mind relax, suffused inwisdom light. Use your imagination to make the blessing real in your full experience, in your body and energy as well as in the images in your mind.
   After receiving the blessing, imagine the master dissolving into light that enters your heart and resides there as your innermost essence. Imagine that you dissolve into that light, and remain inpure awareness, rigpa.
   There are more elaborate instructions for guru yoga that can involve prostrations, offerings, gestures, mantras, and more complicated visualizations, but the essence of the practice is mingling your mind with the mind of the master, which is pure, non-dual awareness. Guru yoga can be done any time during the day; the more often the better. Many masters say that of all the practices it is guru yoga that is the most important. It confers the blessings of the lineage and can open and soften the heart and quiet the unruly mind. To completely accomplish guru yoga is to accomplish the path.
   ~ Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep, [T3],
147:Passage To America
I.
On the day of the feast
death had its celebration
the teevees and the movies
told us the same story
death in the morning death in the evening
death in the cellar death in the alley
death on the highway the boy returning from the rally
death in the cornfield the girl going to the grocer's
death in the valley and high on the mountain
death from pollution and great disillusion
death in the mind in the womb in the cradle
death from belief and its comic relief
the winds from the north and the winds from the south
sowed the seeds of death and waited for the harvest
death was riding nightmares
on the streets of civilization
someone had coughed in the women's room
and kleenex caught her vaginal sneeze
while history knocked at the door
and waited in the winter outside
the computer counted the errors
and discounted others
a woman had died but it was a mistake
someone wanted to undo it
learned it was too late
and walked to the seashore
and watched the tidal waves
death was riding the receding waves
death was roaring in the generation gap
and lying in history's lap
was sucking on its sap
on the day of the feast
death had its celebration
knocked out of sleep by the casualty list
someone was still groping in daylight
but it's christmas and new year
time to stop worrying over those that are dead
time to start thinking of living yet
24
while the sun is still hot and the day not done
perhaps a mistake to suppose it so
it's easy enough to suppose it so
and it's easy enough to die in these circumstances
but think of the horror and the glory of having to live
II.
My sitar
my guitar
from east or west
i do not care
whatever i dare
is for the best
fingers of the left
tripping on nipples
fingers of the right
strumming the ripples
around the lotus bud
as we set on the bed
each petal quakes
as the raga awakes
raises in dizzy spirals
towers and gyres
steeples and spires
domes and minarets
pagodas pyramids
fabled hoofs
trot on gabled roofs
as the tala quickens
we rocket to the heavens
to gather the starlust
and then we fall
falter and fall
like flakes of feathered snow
sprinkled with stardust
o my guitar
o my sitar
III.
Having learnt
in a short lifetime
that chalk doesn't write on chalk
25
he turned
to look
for sunflowers
in beds
of roses
IV.
Twice-punctured silver belle
suspended in the cerulean
her sea of tranquility
disturbed by hymen penetration
her darkness filmed and douched
unable to recover her cherry nights
fears yet longs for
the next assault
in sweet dread of periodic stress
her bashful beams dreaming downward
for a metallic man-thrust
V.
The poet chews the afternoon like his moustache
he drones on about a new civilization
his mystic beard points to the seed of time
his tongue trips on the syllables of a sutra
my girl she sleeps
and slides on to my shoulder
her breasts rise and fall
where the words of the poet rebound
her dark green shirt exudes the smell of sweat
her golden hair the sinuous oily flesh of hair
curves creeps and curls into my veins
words wary sliders reveal their mystery
my girl she stirs turns around
her bellybutton shows a foetus face
a snake tongue smacks her swollen lips
the soft hairs on her upper lip
now moist and alive
a dog walks in and lies down at my feet
he listens to the poet
reading chanting enchanting
like a dream called off in the middle
the poet pauses poised for breath between the mantras
the tangled thighs of minutes
26
the dog gets up stretches himself walks away
wagging his tail in total agreement
soft nervous fingers touch me from the side
they keep me from the poet
a dog is dignified by his tail
i wish i had one
VI.
Time to say farewell
Pale faces
after a nightlong wake
do not need to kiss
Before another nightfall
sometime during the day
we have to say farewell
How shall we part then
Write an autograph
and put a period after it
Take a long walk
and sigh in the wind
Recite a few verses
and smile at the end
Perhaps a last smutty story
to leave a scratch on the memory
Look how the spring sun
Struggles with the rain!
VII.
It's as if i suddenly meet you on the way
when i go for my usual walk in the evening
the earth that begins at your feet
seems to end at mine
the air you breathe out
enters into my lungs
and the light that escapes from your eyes
focuses on mine
america
i see your map
like the palm of a hand stretched out on my lap
mississippi traces your lifeline to the south
while the great lakes draw circles
along the st lawrence headline
27
but where is your heartline
on the mount of jupiter
new england cocks its eyes at europe
your venus is still in heat
in the far south of florida
and the mount of moon
shimmers on the california beach
but america
where has vanished your heartline
has some test explosion
sucked it underground
i remember river phalgun
that goes dry in summer defying our prayers
where once the buddha got enlightenment
and learned to take the earth for a begging bowl
but here the fission and the fusion
your scientists envision
offer your palmist nothing but confusion
sailing back from mescalin to marijuana
someone said
there never was such a line
in this ancient newborn land
where we grow corn and PL 480
and make cover tv sets in plenty
till our chests are nearly empty
and brains spout tons of TNT
it's christmas again
the shape of a heart neatly pinned to a cross
that stands on a hill we have set up with skill
(Translated by the author, with the help of J.O. Perry, Dakshinamoorthy, K.
Satchidanandan, and Esther Y. Smith.)
~ Ayyappa Paniker,

IN CHAPTERS [104/104]



   45 Integral Yoga
   16 Yoga
   4 Hinduism
   4 Buddhism
   3 Occultism
   1 Integral Theory


   21 The Mother
   21 Satprem
   15 Sri Aurobindo
   13 Nolini Kanta Gupta
   7 Sri Ramakrishna
   6 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   4 Swami Krishnananda
   4 Bokar Rinpoche
   4 A B Purani
   3 Swami Vivekananda
   3 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
   3 Aleister Crowley
   2 Vyasa
   2 Thubten Chodron


   9 Agenda Vol 01
   8 Talks
   7 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
   4 The Study and Practice of Yoga
   4 Tara - The Feminine Divine
   4 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
   4 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
   3 Vedic and Philological Studies
   3 The Secret Doctrine
   3 Liber ABA
   3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
   3 Agenda Vol 02
   2 Vishnu Purana
   2 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
   2 Raja-Yoga
   2 Letters On Yoga II
   2 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
   2 Amrita Gita
   2 Agenda Vol 09
   2 Agenda Vol 04


0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
   Hindu priests are thoroughly acquainted with the rites of worship, but few of them are aware of their underlying significance. They move their hands and limbs mechanically, in obedience to the letter of the scriptures, and repeat the holy mantras like parrots. But from the very beginning the inner meaning of these rites was revealed to Sri Ramakrishna. As he sat facing the image, a strange transformation came over his mind. While going through the prescribed ceremonies, he would actually find himself encircled by a wall of fire protecting him and the place of worship from unspiritual vibrations, or he would feel the rising of the mystic Kundalini through the different centres of the body. The glow on his face, his deep absorption, and the intense atmosphere of the temple impressed everyone who saw him worship the Deity.
   Ramkumar wanted Sri Ramakrishna to learn the intricate rituals of the worship of Kali. To become a priest of Kali one must undergo a special form of initiation from a qualified guru, and for Sri Ramakrishna a suitable brahmin was found. But no sooner did the brahmin speak the holy word in his ear than Sri Ramakrishna, overwhelmed with emotion, uttered a loud cry and plunged into deep concentration.
  --
   Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
   It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens the portal of the spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation he built a place in the northern wooded section of the temple garden. With Hriday's help he planted there five sacred trees. The spot, known as the Panchavati, became the scene of many of his visions.
  --
   In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.
   The teacher and the disciple repaired to the meditation room near by. Totapuri began to impart to Sri Ramakrishna the great truths of Vedanta.

01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   These are luminous life-giving mantras and the world and humanity of today, sore distressed and utterly confounded, have great need of them to live them by and be saved.
   ***

01.07 - The Bases of Social Reconstruction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   And yet we have no hesitation today to call them Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us the right thing is proved further by the fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in the educational system will not bring about the desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon the system and not upon man himself. And finally, look to all the religions of the worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churches and templesand yet human life and society do not seem to be any the more worthy for it.
   Are we then to say that human nature is irrevocably vitiated by an original sin and that all our efforts at reformation and regeneration are, as the Indian saying goes, like trying to straighten out the crooked tail of a dog?

0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   But yesterday, in fact, I was looking (with all these mantras and these prayers and this whole vibration that has descended into the atmosphere, creating a state of constant calling in the atmosphere), and I remembered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. And it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense Being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. And then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its Consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. And one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it remained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self-control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can BE in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
   And then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do itand with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!

0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   I have a whole stock of mantras; they have all come spontaneously, never from the head. They sprang forth spontaneously, as the Veda is said to have sprung forth.
   I dont know when it begana very long time ago, before I came here, although some of them came while I was here. But in my case, they were always very short. For example, when Sri Aurobindo was here in his body, at any moment, in any difficulty, for anything, it always came like this: My Lord!simply and spontaneouslyMy Lord! And instantly, the contact was established. But since He left, it has stopped. I can no longer say it, for it would be like saying My Lord, My Lord! to myself.
  --
   For the moment, of all the formulas or mantras, the one that acts most directly on this body, that seizes all the cells and immediately does this (vibrating motion) is the Sanskrit mantra: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.
   As soon as I sit for meditation, as soon as I have a quiet minute to concentrate, it always begins with this mantra, and there is a response in the body, in the cells of the body: they all start vibrating.
  --
   The physical seems to be more open to something that is repetitious for example, the music we play on Sundays, which has three series of combined mantras. The first is that of Chandi, addressed to the universal Mother:
   Ya devi sarvabhuteshu matrirupena sansthita
  --
   So for these mantras, everything depends upon what you want to do with them. I am in favor of a short mantra, especially if you want to make both numerous and spontaneous repetitionsone or two words, three at most. Because you must be able to use them in all cases, when an accident is about to happen, for example. It has to spring up without thinking, without calling: it should issue forth from the being spontaneously, like a reflex, exactly like a reflex. Then the mantra has its full force.
   For me, on the days when I have no special preoccupations or difficulties (days I could call normal, when I am normal), everything I do, all the movements of this body, all, all the words I utter, all the gestures I make, are accompanied and upheld by or lined, as it were, with this mantra:
  --
   You have no mantras that have come to you, that give you a more living feeling? Are their mantras long?
   Yes, they are long. And he2 has not given me any mantra of the Mother, so They exist, but he has not given me any I dont know, they dont have much effect on me. It is something very mental.
  --
   The different mantras or prayers that came to Mother and which She grouped under the heading Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells, are included as an addendum to the Agenda of 1959.
   ***

0 1959-01-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   And it happened just as I was despairing of ever getting out of it. I seemed to be touching a kind of fundamental bedrock, so painful, so suffering, and full of revolt because of too much suffering. And I saw that all my efforts, all the meditations, aspirations, mantras, were only covering up this suffering bedrock without touching it. I saw this fundamental thing in me very clearly, a poignant knot, ever ready for an absolute negation. I saw it and I said to you, Mother, only your grace can remove this. I said this to you in the temple that morning, in total despair. And then, the knot was undone. Xs action contri buted a lot, with your grace acting through him. But truly, I have traversed a veritable hell this last while.
   X continues his work on me daily; it is to last 41 days in all. He told me that he wants to undo the things of several births. When it is over, he will explain it all to me. I do not know how to tell you how luminous and good this man is, he is a very great soul. He is also giving me Sanskrit lessons, and little by little, each evening, speaks to me of the Tantra.

0 1959-01-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   Sweet Mother, I have a kind of fear that all these mantras are not bringing me nearer to you I mean you in your physical body, for it is not upon you physically that I was told to concentrate. Also, I almost never see you in my dreams any longer, or else only very vaguely. Last night, I dreamed that I was offering you flowers (not very pretty ones), one of which was called mantra, but I did not see you in my dream. Mother, I would like to be true, to do the right thing, to be as you want me to be.
   I am your child. I belong to you alone.

0 1959-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   X knows very little about your true work and what Swami has been able to explain to him is rather inadequate, for I do not believe that he himself understands it very well. So I shall have to try to make myself understood quite clearly to X and tell him exactly and simply what it is you need. The word transformation is too abstract. Each mantra has a very specific actionat least I believe soand I must be able to tell X in a concrete way the exact powers or capacities you are now seeking, and the general goal or the particular results required. Then he will find the mantra or mantras that apply.
   My explanations will have to be simple, for X speaks English with difficulty, thus subtleties are out of the question. (I am teaching him a little English while he is teaching me Sanskrit, and we manage to understand each other rather well all the same. He understands more than he can speak.)
   I do not want to mention this to Swami, as X is not very happy about the way Swami seizes upon every occasion to appropriate things, and particularly mantras (I will explain this to you when we meet again). It is especially the way he says I. Nothing very seriousit is Swamis bad side, though he has good ones too. You know that, however.
   So I would like to speak to X knowledgeably, in a very precise way, and I am waiting only for you to tell me what I should say. The thing is too important to be approached lightly and vaguely.

0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   I can easily understand that your task on this earth is not particularly encouraging and you must find our human matter stupid and rebellious. I do not wish to throw upon you more bad things than you already receive, but I wish you could also understand certain things. I am not made for this withered life, not made for putting sentences together all day long, not made for living alone in my holefriendless, loveless, with nothing but mantras, and waiting for a better that never comes. For three years I have wanted to leave and each time I yielded out of scruples that you needed me, though also because I am attached to you. But after the [book on] Sri Aurobindo, there will be something else, there will always be something else that will make my departure look like a betrayal. I am fed up with living in my head, always in my head, with paper and ink. It was not of this that I dreamed when I was ten years old and ran with the wind over the untamed heaths. I am suffocating. You ask too much of me; or rather, I am not worth your expectation.
   A love for you might have held me here. And indeed, for you I have devotion, veneration, respect, an attachment, but there has never been this marvelous thing, warm and full, that links one to a being in the same beating of a heart. Through love, I could do all, accept all, endure all, sacrifice all but I do not feel this love. You cannot give yourself with your head, through a mental decision, yet that is what I have been doing for five years. I have tried to serve you as best I could. But I am at the end of my rope. I am suffocating.

0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   Once Im relaxed, I have developed the habit of repeating my mantra. But its very strange with these mantras I dont know how it is for others; Im speaking of my own mantra, the one I myself foundit came spontaneously. Depending on the occasion, the time, depending on what I might call the purpose for repeating it, it has quite different results. For example, I use it to establish the contact while walking back and forth in my roommy mantra is a mantra of evocation; I evoke the Supreme and establish the contact with the body.
   This is the main reason for my japa. Theres a power in the sound itself, and by forcing the body to repeat the sound, you force it to receive the vibration at the same time. But Ive noticed that if something in the bodys working gets disturbed (a pain or disorder, the onset of some illness) and I repeat my mantra in a certain waystill the same words, the same mantra, but said with a certain purpose and above all in a movement of surrender, surrender of the pain, the disorder, and a call, like an openingit has a marvelous effect. The mantra acts in just the right way, in this way and in no other. And after a while everything is put back in order. And simultaneously, of course, the precise knowledge of what lies behind the disorder and what I must do to set it right comes to me. But quite apart from this, the mantra acts directly upon the pain itself.

0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   It reminded me of tantric things. I have seen tantric formations and how forces are systematically separated by themeach vibration, each color. Its very interesting. They are all one, and yet each is distinct. That is, they are separated in order to be distinguished and for each one to be used individually. Each one represents a particular action for obtaining something in particular. This is the special knowledge the tantrics have, I believe. Or its the reflection of their knowledge. And my impression is that when they do their pujas or say their mantras, what they are trying to do is recombine all that into the white light. Im not sure. I know they use each one separately for a separate purpose, but when they speak of their puja succeeding, it may mean that they have been able to recombine the light. But I say this very guardedly. For I would have to see X do his puja one day to really knowfrom afar Im not so sure. Its merely an impression.
   This is what I am constantly seeing now, but along with this Divine Force or this Divine Consciousness that Sri Aurobindo speaks of when he says, Mothers Force is with you. When it comes, it is sparkling white, perfectly white and perfectly luminous. And as it accumulates inside, it makes living vibrations of every color. And it goes on and on and on. Sometimes it lasts half an hour, three-quarters of an hour, an hournothing goes out. And it keeps constantly entering. And it piles up. Its as if it is all being accumulated or compressed together.

0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   But for us who want an integral realization, are all these mantras and this daily japa really a help, or do they also shut us in?
   It gives discipline. Its an almost subconscious discipline of the character more than of thought.

0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   I have never written or spoken to X about this, but through mental contact I have told him I dont know how many times: Satprem has a work to accomplish that is INFINITELY more important than reciting mantras. If it can help him to discipline himself, fine, but its nothing more; he will not accomplish his work by reciting mantras. He has something to do and he will do it. I have hammered that into his head (Mother laughs).
   So, petit, see you tomorrow.

0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   When he first read the Vedastranslated by Western Sanskritists or Indian pandits they appeared to Sri Aurobindo as an important document of [Indian] history, but seemed of scant value or importance for the history of thought or for a living spiritual experience.2 Fifteen years later, however, Sri Aurobindo would reread the Vedas in the original Sanskrit and find there a constant vein of the richest gold of thought and spiritual experience.3 Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo had had certain psychological experiences of my own for which I had found no sufficient explanation either in European psychology or in the teachings of Yoga or of Vedanta, and which the mantras of the Veda illuminated with a clear and exact light.4 And it was through these experiences of his own that Sri Aurobindo came to discover, from within, the true meaning of the Vedas (and especially the most ancient of the four, the Rig-veda, which he studied with special care). What the Vedas brought him was no more than a confirmation of what he had received directly. But didnt the Rishis themselves speak of Secret words, clairvoyant wisdoms, that reveal their inner meaning to the seer (Rig-veda IV, 3.16)?
   It is not surprising, therefore, that exegetes have seen the Vedas primarily as a collection of propitiatory rites centered around sacrificial fires and obscure incantations to Nature divinities (water, fire, dawn, the moon, the sun, etc.), for bringing rain and rich harvests to the tribes, male progeny, blessings upon their journeys or protection against the thieves of the sunas though these shepherds were barbarous enough to fear that one inauspicious day their sun might no longer rise, stolen away once and for all. Only here and there, in a few of the more modern hymns, was there the apparently inadvertent intrusion of a few luminous passages that might have justifiedjust barely the respect which the Upanishads, at the beginning of recorded history, accorded to the Veda. In Indian tradition, the Upanishads had become the real Veda, the Book of Knowledge, while the Veda, product of a still stammering humanity, was a Book of Worksacclaimed by everyone, to be sure, as the venerable Authority, but no longer listened to. With Sri Aurobindo we might ask why the Upanishads, whose depth of wisdom the whole world has acknowledged, could claim to take inspiration from the Veda if the latter contained no more than a tapestry of primitive rites; or how it happened that humanity could pass so abruptly from these so-called stammerings to the manifold richness of the Upanishadic Age; or how we in the West were able to evolve from the simplicity of Arcadian shepherds to the wisdom of Greek philosophers. We cannot assume that there was nothing between the early savage and Plato or the Upanishads.5

0 1961-11-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Yet in Vedic times they spoke of The Word the creative Word [Vak]. This is the idea behind the mantra. Too bad a book cant be written using mantras!
   ???

0 1962-05-31, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Mother is not speaking here of only her mantra but of all mantras. As she later added: "No mantra has any effect unless it is ACCEPTED by the Power being addressed. When (like the Tantrics, for example) you do a mantra for a certain deity, if this deity accepts the mantra, that gives it power; but if the deity doesn't accept your mantra, it has no power at all. This isn't something I got out of a book, I know it from my own experience but I believe it has been explained in Tantric texts."
   In the substance of the body.

0 1963-06-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Because its also through japa, mantras, the awakening of the physical consciousness, that the Tantric power operates.
   I think their power comes from a higher layer [higher than the cellular mind]. Because their action is very cerebral: its effect is always here (gesture at the forehead and temples), it takes you here (same gesture)its even painful!

0 1963-10-16, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Every time a new truth has attempted to manifest upon earth, it has been immediately attacked, corrupted and diverted by pseudo-spiritual forceswhich did represent a certain spirituality at a given time, but precisely the one that the new truth wants to go beyond. To give but one example of those sad spiritual diversions which clutter History, Buddhism was largely corrupted in a sizable part of Asia by a whole Tantric and magic Buddhism. The falsity lies not in the old spirituality which the new truth seeks to go beyond, but in the eternal fact that the Past clings to its powers, its means and its rule. As Mother said in her simple language, Whats wrong is to remain stuck there. And Sri Aurobindo with his ever-present humor: The traditions of the past are very great in their own place, in the past. We could expect the phenomenon to recur today. In India, Tantrism represents a powerful discipline from the Past and it was inevitable that Mother should experience the better and the worse of that system in her attempt to transform all the means and elements of the old earththis Agenda has made abundant mention of a certain X, symbol of Tantrism. Now, as it happens, we are witnessing the same phenomenon of diversion, and today this same Tantrism is seeking to divert the new truth by convincing as many adepts as possible not to say Mothers Mantra, which is too advanced for ordinary mortals, and to say Tantric mantras in its stead. This is purely and simply an attempt to take Mothers place. One has to be quite ignorant of the mechanism of forces not to understand that saying a mantra of the old gods puts you under the influence and into the orbit of precisely that which resists the new truth. Mother had foreseen the phenomenon and forewarned me in the following conversation. Unfortunately, until recently, I always wanted to believe that Tantrism would be converted. Nothing of the sort. It is attempting to take Mothers place and lead astray those who are not sincere enough to want ONE SINGLE THING: the new world.
   ***

0 1964-09-30, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   But if we look at it from another point of view, I had noticedor rather WE [Mother and Satprem] had noticed that Xs presence or contact always brought conflicts, difficulties, a sort of struggle with Nature (personal or surrounding Nature). But judging by the effect of his mantras, that would correspond to his line of action; and because of what he is himself, his line of action is located in a relatively very material domain: the physical, the immediate vital and the physical mindnot the higher, speculative or intellectual mind, no: the physical mind, the one that has an action on Matter, then the vital with all the vitals entities (he always mentions them, and he also gives the ways of mastering them, of overcoming them), and then the physical. And when people around him complained about headaches or difficulties, as he once said to me (he himself said it to me, it was downstairs, I remember), I put them in contact with the nonhabitual Nature. Therefore, its part of his mode of action. And it struck me, I remember, it struck me, because several times when I felt a pressure, a discomfort, something unpleasant, I asked myself, Is it because the bodys cells arent accustomed to the force thats acting? So I would do a work of opening, of broadening, and indeed it always succeeded: the discomfort always stopped.
   Sri Aurobindo said that all the Tantrics start from below; they start right down below, and so right down below, thats how things must be, obviously. While with him, you went from above downward, so that you dominated the situation. But if you start right down below, its obvious that, right down below, thats how things are: anything thats a little stronger or a little vaster or a little truer or a little purer than ordinary Nature brings about a reaction, a revolt, a contradiction and a struggle.

0 1967-08-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Actually, there are, inside oneself naturally (and consequently around oneself), forces that oppose ones realization, and the system of those [Tantric] mantras is to look for the support of those Overmind beings against those forces, which are much more powerful than they (the gods)the proof is that despite all their goodwill, they (the Overmind gods) have never been able to make the earth a harmonious place. We cant help noting the fact. So I told him it was a direct fight, all those mantras are a direct fight against the difficulty, whereas (and thats what gave him the terrible headache he complains about: its dangerous, of course, it can unsettle the whole functioning). I told him to stop and use that (Mothers Mantra). I explained it all to him yesterday. I told him he shouldnt wage a direct fight: one must try to find the support in the force one has inside oneself, which is everywhere and can overcome the difficulty: Instead of fighting, live in the other consciousness. But I saw he was closedlocked inwith a hard look. He didnt want to understand. So
   For half an hour he kept me here. It was half past twelve!

0 1968-11-20, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   V. is the disciple who had a vision of a prelate repeating mantras.
   A Catholic monk who has been lodging at the Ashram for about a year.

0 1968-12-04, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   The disciple who had for the first time seen that mitered prelate repeating mantras.
   For the reforms of the Church.

02.02 - Rishi Dirghatama, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Indeed the darkness and the blindness seem to have been the Divine's grace upon him, for his eyes turned inward to other domains and saw strange truths and stranger facts. We remember in this connection another blind old poet who even though fallen on such evil days composed the world famous epic poem (I am referring obviously to Milton and his Paradise Lost). We remember also here the deaf incomparable master of music Beethoven. Many of the sayings of Dirghatama have become so current that they are now familiar even to the common man. They are mottoes and proverbs we all quote at all times. "Truth is one, the wise call it in different ways"the mantra is from Dirghatama. "Heaven is my father, Earth my mother"this is also from Dirghatama. The famous figure of two birds with beautiful wing dwelling on the same tree comes also from Dirghatama. There are a good many sayings of this kind that have become intimate companions to our lips of which the source we do not know. When we read the mantras of Dirghatama we are likely to exclaim even as the villager did when he first saw Hamlet played in London, "It is full of quotations."
   You must have already noticed that the utterance of Dirghatama carries a peculiar turn, even perhaps a twist. In fact his mantras are an enigma, a riddle to which it is sometimes difficult to find the fitting key. For example when he says, "What is above is moving downward and what is down is moving upward; yes, they who are below are indeed up above, and they who are up are here below," or again, "He who knows the father below by what is above, and he who knows the father who is above by what is below is called the poet (the seer creator)", we are, to say the least, not a little puzzled.
   The old delightful rishito use the epithets he gives to his Agniand blind into the bargain, continues, the substance and manner in the same way paradoxical and enigmatic, perhaps deliberately tantalising and confusing:
  --
   About the Word, the mystery which Dirghatama unveils is an extraordinary revelationso curious, so illuminating. In later times many lines of spiritual discipline have adopted his scheme and spread it far and wide. Dirghatama himself was an uncommon wizard of words. The truths he saw and clothed in mantras have attained, as I have already said, general celebrity. He says: "The Word is off our categories. It has four stations or levels or gradations." The Rishi continues: "Three of them are unmanifested, unbodied; only the fourth one is manifest and bodied, on the tongue of man." This terminology embodying a fundamental principle has had many commentaries and explanations. Of these the most well-known is that given by the Tantras. They have named the fourfold words as (1) par, supreme; (2) payant, the seeing one; (3) madhyam, the middle one or the one within and (4) vaikhar, the articulate word. In modern language we may say that the first one is the self-vibration of the Supreme Being or Consciousness; the second is the vibration of the higher-mind or the pure intelligence; the third is the vibration of the inner heart; and the fourth the vibration of physical sound, of voice. In philosophical terms of current English we may name these as (1) revelatory, (2) intuitive, (3) inspirational and (4) vocal.
   Now in conclusion I will just speak of the fundamental vision of the rishi. His entire realisation, the whole Veda of his life, he has, it appears, pressed into one single k We have heard it said that the entire range of all scriptures is epitomised in the Gita and the Gita' itself is epitomised in one slokasarvadharmn parityajya... Even so we may say that Rishi Dirghatama has summarised his experience, at least the fundamental basic one, and put it into a sutra. It is the famous k with which he opens his long hymn to Surya:

05.11 - The Place of Reason, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   In Sri Aurobindo, Reason and Intuition possess a dual relation of mutual negation and mutual affirmation, of exclusiveness and inclusiveness, as indeed is the relation of Brahman and the World. One negates the other in the sphere of ignorance but in knowledge one affirms the other. That is to say, Reason or mental logic, so long as it is dominated by the senses, by the external impressions from things and by its analytic or exclusively separative method of procedure, is a denial of Intuition and a bar to spiritual experience. But Reason can be purified, relieved of its dross, illumined (sam-buddha)sublimated and uplifted then it comes to its own, becomes what it really is and should bea frame to give body to what is beyond and unembodied, a mirror in conceptual terms to what is supra-conceptual. It loses its hard rigidity and becomes supple, loses its obscurity, density and becomes transparent: it attains a new rhythm and gait and capacity. Many of the Upanishadic mantras, a good part of the Gita, do that. And Sri Aurobindo's own exposition is a miracle in that style. "Reason was a helper, Reason is the bar"and, we can add, Reason will again be an aid. The world, as it is, is anything but Divine; and yet it is nothing but the Divine essentially and fundamentally; it can and will attain the divine figure apparently and externally too. Even so with regard to man's mind and reason and all his other limbs.
   Calcutta Review, January 1949.

1.007 - Initial Steps in Yoga Practice, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  Yoga scriptures tell us that we must also choose a particular place, as far as possible not that today we meditate in Haridwar, tomorrow in Delhi and the day after tomorrow in Benares. That is not all right if we want real success. We must be in one place. As a matter of fact, people who practise mantra purascharana, or disciplinary chanting of mantras for a chosen period, do this and what can be a greater purascharana than meditation? So when we take to exclusive spiritual practice as a very serious affair and not merely as a hobby, it would be necessary, I would say for beginners, that a period of at least five years is called for. If we are very serious and in dead earnest about it not taking it only as a kind of educational procedure for informative purposes and not being very earnest about achieving anything substantially we may have to stick to one place for five years continuously, and not less than that. If our point is to achieve something substantial, concrete and definite, then this amount of discipline is called for, which is a definite place, a definite time, and a chosen method of meditation a definite system, arranged in one's own mind, which should not be changed continuously.
  Whenever there is repeated persistence in one given direction with reference to any chosen point of attention, we will see that some sort of success results. If a laboratory scientist is to analyse the structure of an atom, he will analyse a particular atom repeatedly by bombarding it with various kinds of light rays, but he will not go on changing the atoms today this atom, tomorrow that atom, today a hydrogen atom, tomorrow some other thing. That will not lead to success. A particular object will be taken up for consideration, observation and analysis, and a repeated attempt will be made to go deep into its structure until its mystery is revealed. So for this, great leisure is necessary, persistence is necessary, energy and willpower are necessary, and there is no need to mention that we must be free from all other outward distractions. When one takes to the practice of yoga, there should be no distraction of any pronounced nature. Minor distractions may be there, but serious distractions which will divert our attention markedly from the point of attention should not be there.

1.01 - Foreward, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  impersonal Truth which they embodied in mantras, revealed
  verses of power, not of an ordinary but of a divine inspiration
  --
  For it is a fact that the tradition of a secret meaning and a mystic wisdom couched in the Riks of the ancient Veda was as old as the Veda itself. The Vedic Rishis believed that their mantras were inspired from higher hidden planes of consciousness and contained this secret knowledge. The words of the Veda could only be known in their true meaning by one who was himself a seer or mystic; from others the verses withheld their hidden knowledge. In one of Vamadeva's hymns in the fourth Mandala (IV.3.16) the Rishi describes himself as one illumined expressing through his thought and speech words of guidance, "secret words" - nin.ya vacamsi - "seer-wisdoms that utter their inner meaning to the seer" - kavyani kavaye nivacana. The Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Riks, the mantras of the Veda, as existing "in a supreme ether, imperishable and immutable in which all the gods are seated", and he adds "one who knows not That what shall he do with the Rik?" (I.164.39) He further alludes to four planes from which the speech issues, three of them hidden in the secrecy while the fourth is human, and from there comes the ordinary word; but the word and thought of the Veda belongs to the higher planes (I.164.45).
  Elsewhere in the Riks the Vedic Word is described (X.71) as that which is supreme and the topmost height of speech, the best and the most faultless. It is something that is hidden in secrecy and from there comes out and is manifested. It has entered into the truth-seers, the Rishis, and it is found by following the track of their speech. But all cannot enter into its secret meaning. Those who do not know the inner sense are as men who seeing see not, hearing hear not, only to one here and there the Word desiring him like a beautifully robed wife to a husb and lays open her body. Others unable to drink steadily of the milk of the Word, the Vedic cow, move with it as with one that gives no milk, to him the Word is a tree without flowers or fruits. This is quite clear and precise; it results from it beyond doubt that even then while the Rig Veda was being written the Riks were regarded as having a secret sense which was not open to all. There was an occult and spiritual knowledge in the sacred hymns and by this knowledge alone, it is said, one can know the truth and rise to a higher existence. This belief was not a later tradition but held, probably, by all and evidently by some of the greatest Rishis such as Dirghatamas and Vamadeva.

1.01 - MASTER AND DISCIPLE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  "Listen to a story. Some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in a meadow where a terrible poisonous snake lived. Everyone was on the alert for fear of it. One day a brahmachari was going along the meadow. The boys ran to him and said: 'Revered sir, please don't go that way. A venomous snake lives over there.' 'What of it, my good children?' said the brahmachari. 'I am not afraid of the snake. I know some mantras.'
  So saying, he continued on his way along the meadow. But the cowherd boys, being afraid, did not accompany him. In the mean time the snake moved swiftly toward him with upraised hood. As soon as it came near, he recited a mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm. The brahmachari said: 'Look here. Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word. By repeating it you will learn to love God. Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent nature.' Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life. The snake bowed before the teacher and said, 'Revered sir, how shall I practise spiritual discipline?'

1.02 - Meditating on Tara, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
  Sadhanas, with their visualization practices and mantras, contain within them
  the entire meaning of the gradual path to enlightenment. I emphasize this
  --
  doesnt practice only Vajrayana. Visualizations and the chanting of mantras
  are not separate practices that are unrelated to other Buddhist practices. To

1.02 - Pranayama, Mantrayoga, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Any sentence may be used as a mantra, and possibly the Hindus are correct in thinking that there is a particular sentence best suited to any particular man. Some men might find the liquid mantras of the Quran slide too easily, so that it would be possible to continue another train of thought without disturbing the mantra; one is supposed while saying the mantra to meditate upon its meaning. This suggests that the student might construct for himself a mantra which should represent the Universe in sound, as the pantacle
    footnote: See Part II.
  --
  The ideal mantra should be rhythmical, one might even say musical; but there should be sufficient emphasis on some syllable to assist the faculty of attention. The best mantras are of medium length, so far as the beginner is concerned. If the mantra is too long, one is apt to forget it, unless one practises very hard for a great length of time. On the other hand, mantras of a single syllable, such as "Aum,"
    footnote: However, in saying a mantra containing the word "Aum," one sometimes forgets the other words, and remains concentrated, repeating the "Aum" at intervals; but this is the result of a practice already begun, not the beginning of a practice.
  are rather jerky; the rhythmical idea is lost. Here are a few useful mantras:
  1. Aum.
  --
    footnote: Meanings of mantras:
    1 Aum is the sound produced by breathing forcibly from the back of the throat and gradually closing the mouth. The three sounds represent the creative, preservative, and destructive principles. There are many more points about this, enough to fill a volume.
  --
  There are many other mantras. Sri Sabapaty Swami gives a particular one for each of the Cakkras. But let the student select one mantra and master it thoroughly.
  You have not even begun to master a mantra until it continues unbroken through sleep. This is much easier than it sounds.

1.02 - Taras Tantra, #Tara - The Feminine Divine, #unset, #Zen
  of their mantras.
  IS A TANTRA?

1.035 - The Recitation of Mantra, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  The mystic formulas, known as mantras, have some peculiar features. A mantra, in its spiritual connotation, is not an ordinary name like John, Jack, or Rama, Krishna, Govinda, Gopala, etc., as we have in respect of ordinary human beings. It is a specialised combination of vibrations which are packed into a very concentrated form, so that when they are repeated, what happens is not merely the generation of an idea in the mind in the sense of any abstract notion, but a positive vibration, though it may be invisible. When we take a powerful homeopathic dose, for instance, we cannot see the vibration, but it has its own effect. Words are really symbols of vibration. They are charged with the force of which they are supposed to be the external shape or the form. The mind, which itself is charged with consciousness, is associated with the meaning of the word with which it connects itself, and so sympathetically there is an effect produced in consciousness itself on merely hearing the word uttered. The word-symbol is a concentrated energy presented to us, which can be thrust into our system and made part of our nature.
  In Indian tradition, we have the mantras which are also associated with certain factors other than merely a combination of words, one aspect of which is what is known as chandas. This a peculiar feature of the formation of a mantra. A chandas is a particular method of combining words according to a rule called ghana shastra, which is known in mystical circles in India. A particular word, when it is combined with another particular word, produces a particular effect. Rhetoricians are well acquainted with this subject. Great novelists and poets in India, especially those endowed with special genius and charged with divine power, such as Kalidasa, followed this technique of ghana shastra, and knowing the power of words, composed their poems or their works in such a way that they follow the rules of accepted rhetoric. Ordinary literature is not acquainted with this secret of Sanskrit literature. The greatness of a poet can be judged from the way he starts the work. How does he start the work? What is the word that he uses in the beginning? It is the belief among great writers in India that the initial phrases at the commencement of the work tell upon the nature of the entire work that is to follow.
  This system of the combination of particular words with other words of the requisite character is followed in the composition of a mantra, which literally means, 'that which protects a person who thinks of it'. Mananat trayate iti mantrah a mantra is that which protects us when we chant it. It protects us like armour, like a shield that we wear in a war, by generating in us a resisting power against any kind of influence which is extraneous in nature, and which is unwanted for the purpose on hand. Chandas is the peculiar chemical combination of the letters, we may say. Particular chemical substances produce special results or effects when they are combined with certain types of other chemical components. But when they are mixed together, they may create a third force altogether.
  --
  Thus, the purpose of the recitation of pranava or mantra is to produce a condition in the subtle body the vehicle of the mind which is sympathetic in nature with the universal objective of harmony. What is harmony? It is equal attention paid to every structure, and every component of the structure of one's being. It cannot be done easily and, therefore, we take to the method of the chanting of mantra. The mantra, pranava, is supposed to be the king of mantras because the various parts of the soundbox in our vocal system that ordinarily operate in the chanting of any mantra, or the utterance of any word of any language, take part in the utterance of Om. The entire soundbox vibrates from the bottom to the top, and so it is believed in many mystical circles that Om is inclusive of every language. Every word conceivable is included in it in a very potential latent form, and because it is thus the most general of all symbols conceivable, it is the best designation of God, Who is the greatest of universals.
  This has to be chanted again and again, says Patanjali tajjapa tadarthabhvanam (I.28). Here, Patanjali does not say that the chanting of the mantra alone is sufficient. He also says that we have to concentrate on the meaning of the mantra to a produce quick result. Tadarthabhvanam the meaning should be felt in the mind. We must be feeling the content of the mantra. "What does it signify? What am I chanting? What does it mean, ultimately?" When the intention behind the mantra is coupled with the chanting, there is a quickening of the process in the realisation of the objective. There are many various other prescriptions mentioned here for the purpose of accelerating the process of realisation through the chanting of the mantra, such a proper seat, a proper direction, a proper time, a proper place and given circumstances, etc. all of which are known to us.

1.03 - Invocation of Tara, #Tara - The Feminine Divine, #unset, #Zen
  - Our speech recites the text and mantras, which serve
  as support to the activity of the mind. Words allow us
  --
  of a ritual with visualizations, recitation of mantras,
  the accomplishment of mudras, and the use of various

1.04 - The Gods of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The beliefs and conclusions of today are, in these rapid and unsettled times, seldom the beliefs and conclusions of tomorrow. In religion, in thought, in science, in literature we march daily over the bodies of dead theories to enthrone fresh syntheses and worship new illuminations. The realms of scholarship are hardly more quiet and secure than these troubled kingdoms; and in that realm nowhere is the soil so boggy, nowhere does scholastic ingenuity disport itself with such light fantastic footsteps over such a quaking morass of hardy conjecture and hasty generalisation as in the Sanscrit scholarship of the last century. But the Vedic question at least seemed to have been settled. It was agreedfirmly enough, it seemed that the Vedas were the sacred chants of a rude, primitive race of agriculturists sacrificing to very material gods for very material benefits with an elaborate but wholly meaningless & arbitrary ritual; the gods themselves were merely poetical personifications of cloud & rain & wind, lightning & dawn and the sky & fire to which the semi-savage Vedic mind attributed by crude personal analogy a personality and a presiding form, the Rishis were sacrificing priests of an invading Aryan race dwelling on the banks of the Panjab rivers, men without deep philosophical or exalted moral ideas, a race of frank cheerful Pagans seeking the good things of life, afraid of drought & night & various kinds of devils, sacrificing persistently & drinking vigorously, fighting the black Dravidians whom they called the Dasyus or robbers,crude prototypes these of Homeric Greek and Scandinavian Viking.All this with many details of the early civilisation were supposed to be supplied by a philological and therefore scientificexamination of the ancient text yielding as certain results as the interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyph and Persian inscription. If there are hymns of a high moral fervour, of a remarkable philosophical depth & elevation, these are later compositions of a more sophisticated age. In the earlier hymns, the vocabulary, archaic and almost unintelligible, allows an adroit & industrious scholarship waving in its hand the magic wand of philology to conjure into it whatever meaning may be most suitable to modern beliefs or preferable to the European temperament. As for Vedanta, it can be no clue to the meaning of the mantras, because the Upanishads represent a spiritual revolt against Vedic naturalism & ceremonialism and not, as has been vainly imagined for some thousands of years, the fulfilment of Vedic truth. Since then, some of these positions have been severely shaken. European Science has rudely scouted the claims of Comparative Philology to rank as a Science; European Ethnology has dismissed the Aryo-Dravidian theory of the philologist & tends to see in the Indian people a single homogeneous race; it has been trenchantly suggested and plausibly upheld that the Vedas themselves offer no evidence that the Indian races were ever outside India but even prove the contraryan advance from the south and not from the north. These theories have not only been suggested & widely approved but are gaining upon the general mind. Alone in all this overthrow the European account of Vedic religion & Vedic civilisation remains as yet intact & unchallenged by any serious questioning. Even in the minds of the Indian people, with their ancient reverence for Veda, the Europeans have effected an entire divorce between Veda & Vedanta. The consistent religious development of India has been theosophic, mystical, Vedantic. Its beginnings are now supposed to have been naturalistic, materialistic, Pagan, almost Graeco-Roman. No satisfactory explanation has been given of this strange transformation in the soul of a people, and it is not surprising that theories should have been started attri buting to Vedanta & Brahmavada a Dravidian origin. Brahmavada was, some have confidently asserted, part of the intellectual property taken over by the Aryan conquerors from the more civilised races they dispossessed. The next step in this scholars progress might well be some counterpart of Sergis Mediterranean theory,an original dark, pacific, philosophic & civilised race overwhelmed by a fairskinned & warlike horde of Aryan savages.
  The object of this book is to suggest a prior possibility,that the whole European theory may be from beginning to end a prodigious error. The confident presumption that religion started in fairly recent times with the terrors of the savage, passed through stages of Animism & Nature worship & resulted variously in Paganism, monotheism or the Vedanta has stood in the way of any extension of scepticism to this province of Vedic enquiry. I dispute the presumption and deny the conclusions drawn from it. Before I admit it, I must be satisfied that a system of pure Nature worship ever existed. I cannot accept as evidence Sun & Star myth theories which, as a play of ingenious scholastic fancy, may attract the imagination, but are too haphazard, too easily self-contented, too ill-combined & inconsequent to satisfy the scientific reason. No other religion of which there is any undisputed record or sure observation, can be defined as a system of pure Nature worship. Even the savage-races have had the conception of gods & spirits who are other than personified natural phenomena. At the lowest they have Animism & the worship of spirits, ghosts & devils. Ancestor-worship & the cult of snake & four-footed animal seem to have been quite as old as any Nature-gods with whom research has made us acquainted. In all probability the Python was worshipped long before Apollo. It is therefore evident that even in the lowest religious strata the impulse to personify Nature-phenomena is not the ruling cult-idea of humanity. It is exceedingly unlikely that at any time this element should have so far prevailed as to cast out all the others so as to create a type of cult confined within a pure & rigid naturalism. Man has always seen in the universe the replica of himself. Unless therefore the Vedic Rishis had no thought of their subjective being, no perception of intellectual and moral forces within themselves, it is a psychological impossibility that they should have detected divine forces behind the objective world but none behind the subjective.
  --
  But even such a science, when completed, could not, owing to the paucity of our records be, by itself, a perfect guide. It would be necessary to discover, fix & take always into account the actual ideas, experiences and thought-atmosphere of the Vedic Rishis; for it is these things that give colour to the words of men and determine their use. The European translations represent the Vedic Rishis as cheerful semi-savages full of material ideas & longings, ceremonialists, naturalistic Pagans, poets endowed with an often gorgeous but always incoherent imagination, a rambling style and an inability either to think in connected fashion or to link their verses by that natural logic which all except children and the most rudimentary intellects observe. In the light of this conception they interpret Vedic words & evolve a meaning out of the verses. Sayana and the Indian scholars perceive in the Vedic Rishis ceremonialists & Puranists like themselves with an occasional scholastic & Vedantic bent; they interpret Vedic words and Vedic mantras accordingly. Wherever they can get words to mean priest, prayer, sacrifice, speech, rice, butter, milk, etc, they do so redundantly and decisively. It would be at least interesting to test the results of another hypothesis,that the Vedic thinkers were clear-thinking men with at least as clear an expression as ordinary poets have and at least as high ideas and as connected and logical a way of expressing themselvesallowing for the succinctness of poetical formsas is found in other religious poetry, say the Psalms or the Book of Job or St Pauls Epistles. But there is a better psychological test than any mere hypothesis. If it be found, as I hold it will be found, that a scientific & rational philological dealing with the text reveals to us poems not of mere ritual or Nature worship, but hymns full of psychological & philosophical religion expressed in relation to fixed practices & symbolic ceremonies, if we find that the common & persistent words of Veda, words such as vaja, vani, tuvi, ritam, radhas, rati, raya, rayi, uti, vahni etc,an almost endless list,are used so persistently because they expressed shades of meaning & fine psychological distinctions of great practical importance to the Vedic religion, that the Vedic gods were intelligently worshipped & the hymns intelligently constructed to express not incoherent poetical ideas but well-connected spiritual experiences,then the interpreter of Veda may test his rendering by repeating the Vedic experiences through Yoga & by testing & confirming them as a scientist tests and confirms the results of his predecessors. He may discover whether there are the same shades & distinctions, the same connections in his own psychological & spiritual experiences. If there are, he will have the psychological confirmation of his philological results.
  Even this confirmation may not be sufficient. For although the new version may have the immense superiority of a clear depth & simplicity supported & confirmed by a minute & consistent scientific experimentation, although it may explain rationally & simply most or all of the passages which have baffled the older & the newer, the Eastern & the Western scholars, still the confirmation may be discounted as a personal test applied in the light of a previous conclusion. If, however, there is a historical confirmation as well, if it is found that Veda has exactly the same psychology & philosophy as Vedanta, Purana, Tantra & ancient & modern Yoga & all of them indicate the same Vedic results which we ourselves have discovered in our experience, then we may possess our souls in peace & say to ourselves that we have discovered the meaning of Veda; its true meaning if not all its significance. Nor need we be discouraged, if we have to disagree with Sayana & Yaska in the actual rendering of the hymns no less than with the Europeans. Neither of these great authorities can be held to be infallible. Yaska is an authority for the interpretation of Vedic words in his own age, but that age was already far subsequent to the Vedic & the sacred language of the hymns was already to him an ancient tongue. The Vedas are much more ancient than we usually suppose. Sayana represents the scholarship & traditions of a period not much anterior to our own. There is therefore no authoritative rendering of the hymns. The Veda remains its own best authority.

1.04 - The Praise, #Tara - The Feminine Divine, #unset, #Zen
   TUTTARA AND HUNG: mantras used by Tara to
  accomplish the activity mentioned in the stanza.
  --
  methods such as weapons, poisons, mantras, and so
  on. Tara has the power to overcome all their
  --
   SOHA and OM: mantras used by Tara.
   PURITY: these mantras are pure, that is, perfectly
  au thentic. This explains their benefits.
  --
  emptiness," which is the mantra. The deity's mantras,
  symbolized here by SOHA and OM, are the expression
  --
   TARA AND P'AT: mantras used by Tara to neutralize
  poisons.
  --
   ARMOR: mantras consecrated by Tara and the
  mudras that she accomplishes provide to those who
  --
  of the armor provided by Tara's mantras and mudras.
  Stanza 20
  --
   HARA AND TUTTARA: mantras through which Tara
  dispels epidemics. Beside the literal meaning,

1.053 - A Very Important Sadhana, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  A daily recitation with the understanding of the meaning of such hymns as the Purusha Sukta from the Veda, for instance, is a great svadhyaya, as Vachaspati Mishra, the commentator on the Yoga Sutras, mentions. Also, the Satarudriya which we chant daily in the temple without perhaps knowing its meaning is a great meditation if it is properly understood and recited with a proper devout attitude of mind. Vachaspati Mishra specifically refers to two great hymns of the Veda the Purusha Sukta and the Satarudriya which he says are highly purifying, not only from the point of view of their being conducive to meditation or concentration of mind, but also in other purifying processes which will take place in the body and the whole system due to the chanting of these mantras. These Veda mantras are immense potencies, like atom bombs, and to handle them and to energise the system with their forces is a spiritual practice by itself. This is one suggestion.
  There are various other methods of svadhyaya. It depends upon the state of ones mind how far it is concentrated, how far it is distracted, what these desires are that have remained frustrated inside, what the desires are that have been overcome, and so on. The quality of the mind will determine the type of svadhyaya that one has to practise. If nothing else is possible, do parayana of holy scriptures the Sundara Kanda, the Valmiki Ramayana or any other Ramayana, the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, the Srimad Bhagavadgita, the Moksha Dharma Parva of the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Purana, or any other suitable spiritual text. It has to be recited again and again, every day at a specific time, in a prescribed manner, so that this sadhana itself becomes a sort of meditation because what is meditation but hammering the mind, again and again, into a single idea? Inasmuch as abstract meditations are difficult for beginners, these more concrete forms of it are suggested. There are people who recite the Ramayana or the Srimad Bhagavata 108 times. They conduct Bhagvat Saptaha. The purpose is to bring the mind around to a circumscribed form of function and not allow it to roam about on the objects of sense.

1.05 - Buddhism and Women, #Tara - The Feminine Divine, #unset, #Zen
  loved, as well as other mantras-Avalokiteshvara and
  Padmasambhava mantras-and other prayers. Mo~t
  often, while doing other tasks or watching their herds
  of yaks and sheep, they would recite mantras and
  prayers almost continuously.
  --
  recited mantras almost constantly.
  Today, young people, women or men, study,

1.06 - Hymns of Parashara, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  uttered the mantras formed by the heart.
  ajo n "A\ dADAr pETvF\ t-tMB A\ m/
  --
  heaven with his mantras of truth. Guard the cherished footprints of the Cow of vision; O Fire, thou art universal life,
  enter into the secrecy of secrecies.8

1.06 - Raja Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
  7. Niyama is observance of five canons, viz., Saucha (internal and external purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhyaya (study of religious books and repetitions of mantras), and Ishvarapranidhana (self-surrender to God, and His worship).
  8. Ahimsa is perfect harmlessness and positive love also. This removes the brutal nature in man and streng thens the will.

1.07 - A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
  mind and trying to turn it right-side up so that the sunlight can ll it. Reciting verses and mantras sincerely and with proper understanding of their
  meaning makes our mind open and receptive so that the inspiration and
  --
  Vajrasattva mantras, 100,000 mandala offerings, and take refuge 100,000
  times. Its not the number 100,000 thats so important; its the purication

1.07 - Raja-Yoga in Brief, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
  The following are helps to success in Yoga and are called Niyama or regular habits and observances; Tapas, austerity; Svdhyya, study; Santosha, contentment; Shaucha, purity; Ishvara-pranidhna, worshipping God. Fasting, or in other ways controlling the body, is called physical Tapas. Repeating the Vedas and other mantras, by which the Sattva material in the body is purified, is called study, Svadhyaya. There are three sorts of repetitions of these mantras. One is called the verbal, another semi-verbal, and the third mental. The verbal or audible is the lowest, and the inaudible is the highest of all. The repetition which is loud is the verbal; the next one is where only the lips move, but no sound is heard. The inaudible repetition of the Mantra, accompanied with the thinking of its meaning, is called the "mental repetition," and is the highest. The sages have said that there are two sorts of purification, external and internal. The purification of the body by water, earth, or other materials is the external purification, as bathing etc. Purification of the mind by truth, and by all the other virtues, is what is called internal purification. Both are necessary. It is not sufficient that a man should be internally pure and externally dirty. When both are not attainable the internal purity is the better, but no one will be a Yogi until he has both. Worship of God is by praise, by thought, by devotion.
  We have spoken about Yama and Niyama. The next is Asana (posture). The only thing to understand about it is leaving the body free, holding the chest, shoulders, and head straight. Then comes Pranayama. Prana means the vital forces in one's own body, yma means controlling them. There are three sorts of Pranayama, the very simple, the middle, and the very high. Pranayama is divided into three parts: filling, restraining, and emptying. When you begin with twelve seconds it is the lowest Pranayama; when you begin with twenty-four seconds it is the middle Pranayama; that Pranayama is the best which begins with thirty-six seconds. In the lowest kind of Pranayama there is perspiration, in the medium kind, quivering of the body, and in the highest Pranayama levitation of the body and influx of great bliss. There is a Mantra called the Gyatri. It is a very holy verse of the Vedas. "We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds." Om is joined to it at the beginning and the end. In one Pranayama repeat three Gayatris. In all books they speak of Pranayama being divided into Rechaka (rejecting or exhaling), Puraka (inhaling), and Kurnbhaka (restraining, stationary). The Indriyas, the organs of the senses, are acting outwards and coming in contact with external objects. Bringing them under the control of the will is what is called Pratyahara or gathering towards oneself. Fixing the mind on the lotus of the heart, or on the centre of the head, is what is called Dharana. Limited to one spot, making that spot the base, a particular kind of mental waves rises; these are not swallowed up by other kinds of waves, but by degrees become prominent, while all the others recede and finally disappear. Next the multiplicity of these waves gives place to unity and one wave only is left in the mind. This is Dhyana, meditation. When no basis is necessary, when the whole of the mind has become one wave, one-formedness, it is called Samadhi. Bereft of all help from places and centres, only the meaning of the thought is present. If the mind can be fixed on the centre for twelve seconds it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dharanas will be a Dhyana, and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi.

1.07 - The Mantra - OM - Word and Wisdom, #Bhakti-Yoga, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
  But we are now considering not these Mah-purushas, the great Incarnations, but only the SiddhaGurus (teachers who have attained the goal); they, as a rule, have to convey the germs of spiritual wisdom to the disciple by means of words ( mantras) to be meditated upon. What are these mantras?
  The whole of this universe has, according to Indian philosophy, both name and form (Nma-Rupa) as its conditions of manifestation. In the human microcosm, there cannot be a single wave in the mindstuff (Chittavritti) unconditioned by name and form. If it be true that nature is built throughout on the same plan, this kind of conditioning by name and form must also be the plan of the building of the whole of the cosmos.

1.08 - The Gods of the Veda - The Secret of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Yet the most fundamental and important part of this imperishable Scripture, the actual hymns and mantras of the Sanhitas, has long been a sealed book to the Indian mind, learned or unlearned. The other Vedic books are of minor authority or a secondary formation. The Brahmanas are ritual, grammatical & historical treatises on the traditions & ceremonies of Vedic times whose only valueapart from interesting glimpses of ancient life & Vedantic philosophylies in their attempt to fix and to interpret symbolically the ritual of Vedic sacrifice. The Upanishads, mighty as they are, only aspire to bring out, arrange philosophically in the language of later thinking and crown with the supreme name of Brahman the eternal knowledge enshrined in the Vedas. Yet for some two thousand years at least no Indian has really understood the Vedas. Or if they have been understood, if Sayana holds for us their secret, the reverence of the Indian mind for them becomes a baseless superstition and the idea that the modern Indian religions are Vedic in their substance is convicted of egregious error. For the Vedas Sayana gives us are the mythology of the Adityas, Rudras,Maruts, Vasus,but these gods of the Veda have long ceased to be worshipped,or they are a collection of ritual & sacrificial hymns, but the ritual is dead & the sacrifices are no longer offered.
  Are we then to conclude that the reverence for the Vedas & the belief in the continued authority of the Vedas is really no more than an ancient superstition or a tradition which has survived its truth? Those who know the working of the human mind, will be loth to hasten to that conclusion. Great masses of men, great nations, great civilisations have an instinct in these matters which seldom misleads them. In spite of forgetfulness, through every misstatement, surviving all cessation of precise understanding, something in them still remembers their origin and holds fast to the vital truth of their being. According to the Europeans, there is a historical truth at the basis of the old persistent tradition, but a historical truth only, a truth of origin, not of present actuality. The Vedas are the early roots of Indian religion, of Indian civilisation; but they have for a long time past ceased to be their present foundation or their intellectual substance. It is rather the Upanishads & the Puranas that are the living Scriptures of mediaeval and modern Hinduism. But if, as we contend, the Upanishads & the Puranas only give us in other language, later symbols, altered forms of thought the same religious truths that we find differently stated in the Rigveda, this shifting of the immediate point of derivation will make no real difference. The waters we drink are the same whether drawn at their clear mountain sources or on their banks in the anchorites forest or from ghats among the faery temples and fantastic domes of some sacred city.The Hindus belief remains to him unshaken.
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  The word vja, usually rendered by Sayana, food or ghee,a sense which he is swift to foist upon any word which will at all admit that construction, as well as on some which will not admit it,has in other passages another sense assigned to it, strength, bala. It is the latter significance or its basis of substance & solidity which I propose to attach to vja in every line of the Rigveda where it occursand it occurs with an abundant frequency. There are a number of words in the Veda which have to be rendered by the English strength,bala, taras, vja, sahas, avas, to mention only the most common expressions. Can it be supposed that all these vocables rejoice in one identical connotation as commentators and lexicographers would lead us to conclude, and are used in the Veda promiscuously & indifferently to express the same idea of strength? The psychology of human language is more rich and delicate. In English the words strength, force, vigour, robustness differ in their mental values; force can be used in offices of expression to which strength and vigour are ineligible. In Vedic Sanscrit, as in every living tongue, the same law holds and a literary and thoughtful appreciation of its documents, whatever may be the way of the schools, must take account of these distinctions. In the brief list I have given, bala answers to the English strength, taras gives a shade of speed and impetuosity, sahas of violence or force, avas of flame and brilliance, vja of substance and solidity. In the philological appendix to this work there will be found detailed reasons for concluding that strength is in the history of the word vja only a secondary sense, like its other meanings, wealth and food; the basic idea is a strong sufficiency of substance or substantial energy. Vja is one of the great standing terms of the Vedic psychology. All states of being, whether matter, mind or life and all material, mental & vital activities depend upon an original flowing mass of Energy which is in the vivid phraseology of the Vedas called a flood or sea, samudra, sindhu or arnas. Our power or activity in any direction depends first on the amount & substantiality of this stream as it flows into, through or within our own limits of consciousness, secondly, on our largeness of being constituted by the wideness of those limits, thirdly, on our power of holding the divine flow and fourthly on the force and delight which enter into the use of our available Energy. The result is the self-expression, ansa or vyakti, which is the objective of Vedic Yoga. In the language of the Rishis whatever we can make permanently ours is called our holding or wealth, dhanam or in the plural dhanni; the powers which assist us in the getting, keeping or increasing of our dhanni, the yoga, s ti & vriddhi, are the gods; the powers which oppose & labour to rob us of this wealth are our enemies & plunderers, dasyus, and appear under various names, Vritras, Panis, Daityas, Rakshasas, Yatudhanas. The wealth itself may be the substance of mental light and knowledge or of vital health, delight & longevity or of material strength & beauty or it may be external possessions, cattle, progeny, empire, women. A close, symbolic and to modern ideas mystic parallelism stood established in the Vedic mind between the external & the internal wealth, as between the outer sacrifice which earned from the gods the external wealth & the inner sacrifice which brought by the aid of the gods the internal riches. In this system the word vja represents that amount & substantial energy of the stuff of force in the dhanam brought to the service of the sacrificer for the great Jivayaja, our daily & continual life-sacrifice. It is a substantial wealth, vjavad dhanam that the gods are asked to bring with them. We see then in what sense Saraswati, a goddess purely mental in her functions of speech and knowledge, can be vjebhir vjinvat. Vjin is that which is composed of vja, substantial energy; the plural vj h or vj ni the particular substantialities of various composed. For the rest, to no other purpose can a deity of speech & knowledge be vjebhir vjinvat. In what appropriateness or coherent conceivable sense can the goddess of knowledge be possessed of material wealth or full-stored with material food, ghee & butter, beef & mutton? If it be suggested that Speech of the mantras was believed by these old superstitious barbarians to bring them their ghee & butter, beef & mutton, the answer is that this is not what the language of the hymns expresses. Saraswati herself is said to be vjinvat, possessed of substance of food; she is not spoken of as being the cause of fullness of food or wealth to others.
  This explanation of vjebhir vjinvat leads at once to the figurative sense of maho arnas. Arnas or samudra is the image of the sea, flood or stream in which the Vedic seers saw the substance of being and its different states. Sometimes one great sea, sometimes seven streams of being are spoken of by the Rishis; they are the origin of the seven seas of the Purana. It cannot be doubted that the minds of the old thinkers were possessed with this image of ocean or water as the very type & nature of the flux of existence, for it occurs with a constant insistence in the Upanishads. The sole doubt is whether the image was already present to the minds of the primitive Vedic Rishis. The Europeans hold that these were the workings of a later imagination transfiguring the straightforward material expressions & physical ideas of the Veda; they admit no real parentage of Vedantic ideas in the preexistent Vedic notions, but only a fictitious derivation. I hold, on the contrary, that Vedantic ideas have a direct & true origin & even a previous existence in the religion & psychology of the Vedas. If, indeed, there were no stuff of high thinking or moral sensibility in the hymns of the Vedic sages, then I should have no foundation to stand upon and no right to see this figure in the Vedic arnas or samudra. But when these early minds,early to us, but not perhaps really so primitive in human history as we imagine,were capable of such high thoughts & perceptions as these three Riks bear on their surface, it would be ridiculous to deny them the capacity of conceiving these great philosophical images & symbols. A rich poetic imagery expressing a clear, direct & virgin perception of the facts of mind and being, is not by any means impossible, but rather natural in these bright-eyed sons of the morning not yet dominated in their vision by the dry light of the intellect or in their speech & thought by the abstractions & formalities of metaphysical thinking. Water was to them, let us hold in our hypothesis, the symbol of unformed substance of being, earth of the formed substance. They even saw a mystic identity between the thing symbolised & the symbol.
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  What is this subjective function of the Aswins? We get it, I think, in the key words chanasyatam, rsthm. Whatever else may be the character of the Aswins, we get from the consonance of the two Rishis this strong suggestion that they are essentially gods of delight. Is there any other confirmation of the suggestion? Every epithet in this first rik testifies strongly to its correctness. The Aswins are purubhuj, much-enjoying; they are ubhaspat, lords of weal or bliss, or else of beauty for ubh may have any of these senses as well as the sense of light; they are dravatpn, their hands dropping gifts, says Sayana, and that agrees well with the nature of gods of delight who pour from full hands the roses of rapture upon mortals, manibus lilia plenis. But dravat usually means in the Veda, swift, running, and pni, although confined to the hands in classical Sanscrit, meant, as I shall suggest, in the old Aryan tongue any organ of action, hand, foot or, as in the Latin penis, the sexual organ. Even so, we have the nature of the Aswins as gods of delight, fully established; but we get in addition a fresh characteristic, the quality of impetuous speed, which is reinforced by their other epithets. For the Aswins are nar, the Strong ones; rudravartan,they put a fierce energy into all their activities; they accept the mantras of the hymn avray dhiy, with a bright-flaming strength of intelligence in the understanding. The idea of bounteous giving, suggested by Sayana in dravatpn and certainly present in that word if we accept pni in its ordinary sense, appears in the dasra of the third rik, O you bounteous ones. Sayana indeed takes dasr in the sense of destroyers; he gives the root das in this word the same force as in dasyu, an enemy or robber; but das can also mean to give, dasma is sometimes interpreted by the scholiasts sacrificer and this sense of bounteous giving seems to be fixed on the kindred word dasra also, at least when it is applied to the Aswins, by the seventeenth rik of the thirtieth Sukta, unahepas hymn to Indra & the Aswins,
    win, avvaty, ish ytam avray,
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  For what functions are they called to the Sacrifice by Madhuchchhanda? First, they have to take delight in the spiritual forces generated in him by the action of the internal Yajna. These they have to accept, to enter into them and use them for delight, their delight and the sacrificers, yajwarr isho .. chanasyatam; a wide enjoyment, a mastery of joy & all pleasant things, a swiftness in action like theirs is what their advent should bring & therefore these epithets are attached to this action. Then they are to accept the words of the mantra, vanatam girah. In fact, vanatam means more than acceptance, it is a pleased, joyous almost loving acceptance; for vanas is the Latin venus, which means charm, beauty, gratification, and the Sanscrit vanit means woman or wife, she who charms, in whom one takes delight or for whom one has desire. Therefore vanatam takes up the idea of chanasyatam, enlarges it & applies it to a particular part of the Yajna, the mantras, the hymn or sacred words of the stoma. The immense effectiveness assigned to rhythmic Speech & the meaning & function of the mantra in the Veda & in later Yoga is a question of great interest & importance which must be separately considered; but for our present purpose it will be sufficient to specify its two chief functions, the first, to settle, fix, establish the god & his qualities & activities in the Sacrificer,this is the true meaning of the word stoma, and, secondly, to effectualise them in action & creation subjective or objective,this is the true meaning of the words rik and arka. The later senses, praise and hymn were the creation of actual ceremonial practice, and not the root intention of these terms of Veda. Therefore the Aswins, the lords of force & joy, are asked to take up the forces of the sacrifice, yajwarr isho, fill them with their joy & activity and carry that joy & activity into the understanding so that it becomes avra, full of a bright and rapid strength.With that strong, impetuously rapid working they are to take up the words of the mantra into the understanding and by their joy & activity make them effective for action or creation. For this reason the epithet purudansas is attached to this action, abundantly active or, rather, abundantly creative of forms into which the action of the yajwarr ishah is to be thrown. But this can only be done as the Sacrificer wishes if they are in the acceptance of the mantra dhishny, firm and steady.Sayana suggests wise or intelligent as the sense of dhishnya, but although dhishan, like dh, can mean the understanding & dhishnya therefore intelligent, yet the fundamental sense is firm or steadily holding & the understanding is dh or dhishan because it takes up perceptions, thoughts & feelings & holds them firmly in their places.Vehemence & rapidity may be the causes of disorder & confusion, therefore even in their utmost rapidity & rapture of action & formation the Aswins are to be dhishnya, firm & steady. This discipline of a mighty, inalienable calm supporting & embracing the greatest fierceness of action & intensity of joy, the combination of dhishny & rudravartan , is one of the grandest secrets of the old Vedic discipline. For by this secret men can enjoy the world as God enjoys it, with unstinted joy, with unbridled power, with undarkened knowledge.
  Therefore the prayer to the Aswins concludes: The Soma is outpoured; come with your full bounty, dasr & your fierce intensity, rudravartan. But what Soma? Is it the material juice of a material plant, the bitter Homa which the Parsi priests use today in the ceremonies enjoined by the Zendavesta? Does Sayanas interpretation give us the correct rendering? Is it by a material intoxication that this great joy & activity & glancing brilliance of the mind joined to a great steadfastness is to be obtained? Yuvkavah, says Sayana, means mixed & refers to the mixing of other ingredients in the Soma wine. Let us apply again our usual test. We come to the next passage in which the word yuvku occurs, the fourth rik of the seventeenth Sukta, Medhatithi Kanwas hymn to Indra & Varuna.
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  Brahmni therefore may mean either the soul-activities, as dhiyas means the mental activities, or it may mean the words of the mantra which express the soul. If we take it in the latter sense, we must refer it to the girah of the second rik, the mantras taken up by the Aswins into the understanding in order to prepare for action & creation. Indra is to come to these mantras and support them by the brilliant substance of a mental force richly varied in its effulgent manifestation, controlled by the understanding and driven forward to its task in various ways. But it seems to me that the rendering is not quite satisfactory. The main point in this hymn is not the mantras, but the Soma wine and the power that it generates. It is in the forces of the Soma that the Aswins are to rejoice, in that strength they are to take up the girah, in that strength they are to rise to their fiercest intensity of strength & delight. Indra, as mental power, arrives in his richly varied lustre; yhi chitrabhno. Here says the Rishi are these life-forces in the nectar-wine; they are purified in their minute parts & in their whole extent, for so I understand anwbhis tan ptsah; that is to say the distillings of Ananda or divine delight whether in the body as nectar, [or] in the subjective system as streams of life-giving delight are purified of all that impairs & weakens the life forces, purified both in their little several movements & in the whole extent of their stream. These are phenomena that can easily be experienced & understood in Yoga, and the whole hymn like many in the Veda reads to those who have experience like a practical account of a great Yogic internal movement accurate in its every detail. Streng thened, like the Aswins, by the nectar, Indra is to prepare the many-sided activity supported by the Visve devah; therefore he has to come not only controlled by the understanding, dhishnya, like the Aswins, but driven forward in various paths. For an energetic & many-sided activity is the object & for this there must be an energetic and many-sided but well-ordered action of the mental power. He has to come, thus manifold, thus controlled, to the spiritual activities generated by the Soma & the Aswins in the increasing soul (vghatah) full of the life-giving nectar, the immortalising Ananda, sutvatah. He has to come to those soul-activities, in this substance of mental brilliancy, yhi upa brahmni harivas. He has to come, ttujna, with a protective force, or else with a rapidly striving force & uphold by mind the joy of the Sacrificer in the nectar-offering, the offering of this Ananda to the gods of life & action & thought, sute dadhishwa na chanah. Protecting is, here, the best sense for ttujna. For Indra is not only to support swift & energetic action; that has already been provided for; he has also to uphold or bear in mind and by the power of mind the great & rapid delight which the Sacrificer is about to pour out into life & action, jvayja. The divine delight must not fail us in our activity; hostile shocks must not be allowed to disturb our established pleasure in the great offering. Therefore Indra must be there in his light & power to uphold and to protect.
  We have gained, therefore, another great step in the understanding of the Veda. The figure of the mighty Indra, in his most essential quality & function, begins to appear to us as in a half-luminous silhouette full of suggestions. We have much yet to learn about him, especially his war with Vritra, his thunderbolt & his dealings with the seven rivers. But the central or root idea is fixed. The rest is the outgrowth, foliage & branchings.
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  We have now arrived, in the thought of the Sukta, at a stage when the strength & delight supported by the Soma, taken up through the mantras into the understanding, poured into a strong & many-sided mental activity can be utilised for action and poured out on the world. Therefore the next invocation is to the Visve Devah, to whom also three riks are devoted:
    Omsa charshandhrito, vive devsah gata,

1.099 - The Entry of the Eternal into the Individual, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  But, greater means than this is the power of mantras. The continuous recitation of certain mantras, or spiritual formulae, may create internal vibrations which enable a person to exercise supernormal powers. And the effects that follow from this practice are more lasting than the use of medicinal herbs. If a mantra is recited continuously, for a very long period, with deep concentration of mind, it sets up certain vibrations which release energy from the body and the entire system. Then, what works in ones system is the mantra itself. The deity of the mantra begins to operate. Thus, the aphorism tells us that this also is one of the ways of acquiring powers by yoga.
  Austerity, or tapas, of an intense character may also generate powers. The subjugation of the senses, beyond a certain degree, will set up a corresponding reaction from within, and that reaction comes in the form of powers. Any form of self-control should bring powers; it is a natural consequence thereof. We are perpetually endowed with supernormal energy, but we look weak and incapacitated on account of indulgence of the senses. Our minds and senses are the channels for the loss of energy of the system, on account of which we appear to be divested of power. So when we block the channel by which energy is depleted, there is a rousing of the force with which we are perpetually associated. This force is not created from within. In fact, the achievements or powers we are speaking of are not generated, manufactured or invented nothing of the kind. Only they are allowed to reveal themselves, while at other times their revelation is blocked by an obstructive activity of the mind and the senses a fact which is mentioned in the next sutra.

1.09 - Legend of Lakshmi, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  [9]: The four Vidyās, or branches of knowledge, are said to be, Yajña vidyā, knowledge or performance of religious rites; Mahā vidyā, great knowledge, the worship of the female principle, or Tāntrika worship; Guhya vidyā, knowledge of mantras, mystical prayers, and incantations; and Ātma vidyā, knowledge of soul, true wisdom.
  [10]: Or Vārttā, explained to mean the Śilpa śāstra, mechanics, sculpture, and architecture; Āyur-veda, medicine, &c.

1.1.02 - The Aim of the Integral Yoga, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The sadhana of this Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart, and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.
  The aim of the Yoga is to open the consciousness to the Divine, to live in the inner consciousness more and more while acting from it on the external life, to bring the inmost psychic into the front and by the power of the psychic to purify and change the being so that it may become ready for transformation and in union with the Divine Knowledge, Will and Love. Secondly, to develop the Yogic consciousness - i.e. to universalise the being on all the planes, become aware of the cosmic being and cosmic forces and be in union with the Divine on all the planes up to the Overmind. Thirdly, to come into contact with the transcendent Divine, beyond the Overmind, through the supramental consciousness, supramentalise the consciousness and the nature and make oneself an instrument for the realisation of the dynamic Divine Truth and its transforming descent into the earth-nature.

1.10 - Mantra Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
  5. mantras are in the form of praise and appeal to the deities, craving for help and mercy. Some mantras control and comm and the evil spirits. Rhythmical vibrations of sound give rise to forms. Recitation of the mantras gives rise to the formation of the particular figure of the deity.
  6. Repetition of Sarasvati Mantra OM Sarasvatyai Namah will bestow on you wisdom and good intelligence. You will get inspiration and compose poems. Repetition of Om Sri Mahalakshmyai Namah will confer on you wealth and remove poverty. Ganesha Mantra will remove any obstacle in any undertaking. Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra will remove accidents, incurable diseases and bestow long life and immortality. It is a Moksha Mantra too.
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  9. OM, Soham, Sivoham, Aham Brahmasmi are Moksha mantras. They will help you to attain Self-realisation. Om Sri Ramaya Namah, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya are Saguna mantras which will enable you to attain Saguna realisation first and then Nirguna realisation in the end.
  10. Mantra for curing scorpion stings and cobra bites should be repeated on eclipse days for getting Mantra Siddhi quickly. You should stand in the water and repeat the Mantra. This is more powerful and effective. They can be recited on ordinary days also for attaining Mantra-Siddhi.
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  12. Chronic diseases can be cured by mantras. Chanting of mantras generate potent spiritual waves or divine vibrations. They penetrate the physical and astral bodies of the patients and remove the root causes of sufferings. They fill the cells with pure Sattva or divine energy. They destroy the microbes and vivify the cells and tissues. They are best, most potent antiseptics and germicides. They are more potent than ultra-violet rays or Roentgen rays.
  13. Mantra Siddhi should not be misused for the destruction of others. Those who misuse the Mantra power for destroying others are themselves destroyed in the end.

1.10 - The Secret of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  But the ritualistic interpretation of the Rigveda does not stand on the authority of Sayana alone. It is justified by Shankaracharyas rigid division of karmakanda and jnanakanda and by a long tradition dating back to the propaganda of Buddha which found in the Vedic hymns a great system of ceremonial or effective sacrifice and little or nothing more. Even the Brahmanas in their great mass & minuteness seem to bear unwavering testimony to the pure ritualism of the Veda. But the Brahmanas are in their nature rubrics of directions to the priests for the right performance of the outward Vedic sacrifice,that system of symbolic & effective offerings to the gods of Soma-wine, clarified butter or consecrated animals in which the complex religion of the Veda embodied itself for material worship,rubrics accompanied by speculative explanations of old ill-understood details & the popular myths & traditions that had sprung up from obscure allusions in the hymns. Whatever we may think of the Brahmanas, they merely affirm the side of outward ritualism which had grown in a huge & cumbrous mass round the first simple rites of the Vedic Rishis; they do not exclude the existence of deeper meanings & higher purposes in the ancient Scripture. Not only so, but they practically affirm them by including in the Aranyakas compositions of a wholly different spirit & purpose, the Upanishads, compositions professedly intended to bring out the spiritual gist and drift of the earlier Veda. It is clear therefore that to the knowledge or belief of the men of those times the Vedas had a double aspect, an aspect of outward and effective ritual, believed also to be symbolical,for the Brahmanas are continually striving to find a mystic symbolism in the most obvious details of the sacrifice, and an aspect of highest & divine truth hidden behind these symbols. The Upanishads themselves have always been known as Vedanta. This word is nowadays often used & spoken of as if it meant the end of Veda, in the sense that here historically the religious development commenced in the Rigveda culminated; but obviously it means the culmination of Veda in a very different sense, the ultimate and highest knowledge & fulfilment towards which the practices & strivings of the Vedic Rishis mounted, extricated from the voluminous mass of the Vedic poems and presented according to the inner realisation of great Rishis like Yajnavalkya & Janaka in a more modern style and language. It is used much in the sense in which Madhuchchhandas, son of Viswamitra, says of Indra, Ath te antamnm vidyma sumatnm, Then may we know something of thy ultimate right thinkings, meaning obviously not the latest, but the supreme truths, the ultimate realisations. Undoubtedly, this was what the authors of the Upanishads themselves saw in their work, statements of supreme truth of Veda, truth therefore contained in the ancient mantras. In this belief they appeal always to Vedic authority and quote the language of Veda either to justify their own statements of thought or to express that thought itself in the old solemn and sacred language. And with regard to this there are spoken these Riks.
  In what light did these ancient thinkers understand the Vedic gods? As material Nature Powers called only to give worldly wealth to their worshippers? Certainly, the Vedic gods are in the Vedanta also accredited with material functions. In the Kena Upanishad Agnis power & glory is to burn, Vayus to seize & bear away. But these are not their only functions. In the same Upanishad, in the same apologue, told as a Vedantic parable, Indra, Agni & Vayu, especially Indra, are declared to be the greatest of the gods because they came nearest into contact with the Brahman. Indra, although unable to recognise the Brahman directly, learned of his identity from Uma daughter of the snowy mountains. Certainly, the sense of the parable is not that Dawn told the Sky who Brahman was or that material Sky, Fire & Wind are best able to come into contact with the Supreme Existence. It is clear & it is recognised by all the commentators, that in the Upanishads the gods are masters not only of material functions in the outer physical world but also of mental, vital and physical functions in the intelligent living creature. This will be directly evident from the passage describing the creation of the gods by the One & Supreme Being in the Aitareya Upanishad & the subsequent movement by which they enter in the body of man and take up the control of his activities. In the same Upanishad it is even hinted that Indra is in his secret being the Eternal Lord himself, for Idandra is his secret name; nor should we forget that this piece of mysticism is founded on the hymns of the Veda itself which speak of the secret names of the gods. Shankaracharya recognised this truth so perfectly that he uses the gods and the senses as equivalent terms in his great commentary. Finally in the Isha Upanishad,itself a part of the White Yajur Veda and a work, as I have shown elsewhere, full of the most lofty & deep Vedantic truth, in which the eternal problems of human existence are briefly proposed and masterfully solved,we find Surya and Agni prayed to & invoked with as much solemnity & reverence as in the Rigveda and indeed in language borrowed from the Rigveda, not as the material Sun and material Fire, but as the master of divine God-revealing knowledge & the master of divine purifying force of knowledge, and not to drive away the terrors of night from a trembling savage nor to burn the offered cake & the dripping ghee in a barbarian ritual, but to reveal the ultimate truth to the eyes of the Seer and to raise the immortal part in us that lives before & after the body is ashes to the supreme felicity of the perfected & sinless soul. Even subsequently we have seen that the Gita speaks of the Vedas as having the supreme for their subject of knowledge, and if later thinkers put it aside as karmakanda, yet they too, though drawing chiefly on the Upanishads, appealed occasionally to the texts of the hymns as authorities for the Brahmavidya. This could not have been if they were merely a ritual hymnology. We see therefore that the real Hindu tradition contains nothing excluding the interpretation which I put upon the Rigveda. On one side the current notion, caused by the immense overgrowth of ritualism in the millennium previous to the Christian era and the violence of the subsequent revolt against it, has been fixed in our minds by Buddhistic ideas as a result of the most formidable & damaging attack which the ancient Vedic religion had ever to endure. On the other side, the Vedantic sense of Veda is supported by the highest authorities we have, the Gita & the Upanishads, & evidenced even by the tradition that seems to deny or at least belittle it. True orthodoxy therefore demands not that we should regard the Veda as a ritualist hymn book, but that we should seek in it for the substance or at least the foundation of that sublime Brahmavidya which is formally placed before us in the Upanishads, regarding it as the revelation of the deepest truth of the world & man revealed to illuminated Seers by the Eternal Ruler of the Universe.

1.11 - Correspondence and Interviews, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
  Apart from these discussions on politics in which Sri Aurobindo gave a prophetic warning about China's intention and about the Hindu-Moslem situation in Bengal, Surendra Mohan speaks of some astrological reading regarding Sri Aurobindo, which vitally concerned us. According to Bhrigu astrology, he says, Sri Aurobindo after his 78th year, would develop a loathing towards his body and then would leave it; otherwise death was in his control, he was such a great Yogi.... It was also mentioned there that the Mother or he himself could perform a particular yaja, a sacrificial ceremony following elaborate instructions and repeating certain mantras. On hearing this Surendra Mohan immediately came here and informed the Mother about it. When Sri Aurobindo heard of it, he consoled him saying, "Don't worry." The Mother asked him to send a copy of those instructions but due to some misunderstanding they arrived too late to be of any possible use. Now, this reading took place probably in October 1950. I remember very well the Mother having a talk with Sri Aurobindo on this point. That the reading was unhappily true has been borne out by later developments. Sri Aurobindo's answer to Surendra Mohan was equivocal; we now know that he had already decided to leave a year before. Had the instructions arrived earlier and the yaja been performed, it is still improbable that Sri Aurobindo would have changed his decision. The whole thing still remains a baffling mystery. We can only quote the Mother's words on the subject, uttered on 28.12.50: "Our Lord has sacrificed himself totally for us.... He was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality.... And when one cannot understand, the only thing is to keep a respectful silence." Another utterance on 18.1.51: "We stand in the Presence of Him who has sacrificed his physical life in order to help more fully his work of transformation.
  "He is always with us, aware of what we are doing, of all our thoughts, of all our feelings and all our actions."

1.12 - Independence, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
  The power of words. There are certain sacred words called mantras, which have power, when repeated under proper conditions, produce these extraordinary powers. We are living in the midst of such a mass of miracles, day and night, that we do not think anything of them. There is no limit to man's power, the power of words and the power of mind.
  Mortification. You find that in every religion mortification and asceticisms have been practised. In these religious conceptions the Hindus always go to the extremes. You will find men with their hands up all their lives, until their hands wither and die. Men keep standing, day and night, until their feet swell, and if they live, the legs become so stiff in this position that they can no more bend them, but have to stand all their lives. I once saw a man who had kept his hands raised in this way, and I asked him how it felt when he did it first. He said it was awful torture. It was such torture that he had to go to a river and put himself in water, and that allayed the pain for a little while. After a month he did not suffer much. Through such practices powers (Siddhis) can be attained.

1.12 - The Superconscient, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  There exists in India a secret knowledge based upon sounds and the differences of vibratory modes found on different planes of consciousness. If we pronounce the sound OM, for example, we clearly feel its vibrations enveloping the head centers, while the sound RAM affects the navel center. And since each of our centers of consciousness is in direct contact with a plane, we can, by the repetition of certain sounds (japa), come into contact with the corresponding plane of consciousness.200 This is the basis of an entire spiritual discipline, called "tantric" because it originates from sacred texts known as Tantra. The basic or essential sounds that have the power to establish the contact are called mantras. The mantras, usually secret and given to the disciple by his Guru,201 are of all kinds (there are many levels within each plane of consciousness), and may serve the most contradictory purposes. By combining certain sounds, one can at the lower levels of consciousness generally at the vital level come in contact with the corresponding forces and acquire many strange powers: some mantras can cause death (in five minutes, with violent vomiting), some mantras can strike with precision a particular part or organ of the body, some mantras can cure, some mantras can start a fire, protect, or cast spells. This type of magic, or chemistry of vibrations, derives simply from a conscious handling of the lower vibrations. But there is a higher magic, which also derives from handling vibrations, on higher planes of consciousness. This is poetry, music, the spiritual mantras of the Upanishads and the Veda, the mantras given by a Guru to his disciple to help him come consciously into direct contact with a special plane of consciousness, a force or a divine being. In this case, the sound holds in itself the power of experience and realization it is a sound that makes one see.
  Similarly, poetry and music, which are but unconscious processes of handling these secret vibrations, can be a powerful means of opening up the consciousness. If we could compose conscious poetry or music through the conscious manipulation of higher vibrations, we would create masterpieces endowed with initiatory powers. Instead of a poetry that is a fantasy of the intellect and a nautch-girl of the mind,202 as Sri Aurobindo put it, we would create a mantric music or poetry to bring the gods into our life. 203 For true poetry is action; it opens little inlets in the consciousness we are so walled in, so barricaded! through which the Real can enter. It is a mantra of the Real,204 an initiation. This is what the Vedic rishis and the seers of the Upanishads did with their mantras, which have the power of communicating illumination to one who is ready. 205 This is what Sri Aurobindo has explained in his Future Poetry and what he has accomplished himself in Savitri.
   mantras, great poetry, great music, or the sacred Word, all come from the overmind plane. It is the source of all creative or spiritual activity (the two cannot be separated: the categorical divisions of the intellect vanish in this clear space where everything is sacred, even the profane). We might now attempt to describe the particular vibration or rhythm of the overmind. First, as anyone knows who has the capacity to enter more or less consciously in contact with the higher planes a poet, a writer, or an artist it is no longer ideas one perceives and tries to translate when one goes beyond a certain level of consciousness: one hears. Vibrations, or waves, or rhythms, literally impose themselves and take possession of the seeker, and subsequently garb themselves with words and ideas, or music, or colors, during the descent. But the word or idea, the music or color is merely a result, a byproduct: it only gives a body to that first, highly compelling vibration. If the poet, the true one, next corrects and recorrects his draft, it is not to improve the form, as it were, or to find a more adequate expression, but to capture the vibrating life behind more accurately; if the true vibration is absent, all the magic disintegrates, as a Vedic priest mispronouncing the mantra of the sacrifice. When the consciousness is transparent, the sound can be heard distinctly, and it is a seeing sound, as it were, a sound-image or a sound-idea, which inseparably links hearing to vision and thought within the same luminous essence. All is there, self-contained, within a single vibration. On all the intermediate planes higher mind, illumined or intuitive mind the vibrations are generally broken up as flashes, pulsations, or eruptions, while in the overmind they are great notes.
  --
  201 - One may read mantras in a book and repeat them endlessly to no avail. They will have no power or "active force" unless given by a Master or Guru.
  202 - The Human Cycle, 15:5

1.14 - Noise, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  We are really trying to discuss something totally different; something practical in daily life. Very well, then; you remark that Goetia actually means "howling", that we use officially the Bell, the Tom-Tom, the Incantations, the mantras and so on. All quite true, about Magick; but none of it applies to Yoga, for even with the Mantra the practice is to go faster and more quietly as one proceeds, until it becomes "Mental Muttering." M is the letter that is pronounced with the lips firmly closed; and Silence is the meaning of the MU root of Mystery.
  However, we must admit the value of rhythmical, one-pointed sound; that is very different from Noise. Old French has noise, nose, a debate, quarrel, noise; Provenal noisa, nausa, nueiza. But Diez claims the derivation from nausea and by the Living Jingo, I consider Diez a hundred per cent white man!

1.16 - Man, A Transitional Being, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  experience.295 But in the original, he discovered a constant vein of the richest gold of thought and spiritual experience. 296 . . . I found that the mantras of the Veda illuminated with a clear and exact light psychological experiences of my own for which I had found no sufficient explanation either in European psychology or in the teachings of Yoga or of Vedanta.297 It can well be imagined how Sri Aurobindo might have become a little perplexed by his own experiences, and how it took him several years to understand exactly what was happening to him. We have described the supramental experience of Chandernagore as if the steps had neatly followed one another, each with its own explanatory note, but, in reality, the explanations came long afterwards. At the time, there were no signposts at all to guide him. Yet here was the most ancient of the four Vedas,298 the Rig Veda, unexpectedly suggesting that he was not completely alone or astray on this planet. That the Western and even the Indian scholars had not understood the extraordinary vision of these texts is perhaps not so surprising when we realize that Sanskrit roots lend themselves to a double or even a triple meaning, which in turn can be invested with a double symbolism, esoteric and exoteric.
  These hymns can be read on two or three different levels of meaning,

1.200-1.224 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  D.: Should the form be supplemented by repetition of mantras or dwelling on divine attributes?
  M.: When japa is the predominating tendency, vocal japa becomes eventually mental, which is the same as meditation.

1.2.03 - The Interpretation of Scripture, #Essays Divine And Human, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The heterodox on the other hand swear by Max Muller and the Europeans. It is enough for them that Max Muller should have found henotheism in the Vedas for the Vedas to be henotheistic. The Europeans have seen in our Veda only the rude chants of an antique and primitive pastoral race sung in honour of the forces of Nature, and for many their opinion is conclusive of the significance of the mantras. All other interpretation is to them superstitious. But to me the ingenious guesses of foreign grammarians are of no more authority than the ingenious guesses of Sayana. It is irrelevant to me what Max Muller thinks of the
  Veda or what Sayana thinks of the Veda. I should prefer to know what the Veda has to say for itself and, if there is any light there on the unknown or on the infinite, to follow the ray till I come face to face with that which it illumines.

1.22 - Dominion over different provinces of creation assigned to different beings, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  [7]: The great Yoga is produced. This great Yoga, or union, is to have its relation or dependance, which is Viṣṇu; and its seed, or mystical ejaculations; and to be accompanied with mantras and silent repetitions, or Japa.
  [8]: Or of pearl, ruby, emerald, sapphire, and diamond.

1.240 - 1.300 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  D.: How to do japa (repetition of mantras)?
  M.: It is of two kinds - gross and subtle. The latter is meditation on it, and it gives strength to the mind.

1.240 - Talks 2, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  D.: How to do japa (repetition of mantras)?
  M.: It is of two kinds - gross and subtle. The latter is meditation on it, and it gives strength to the mind.
  --
  They also say that the Guru makes some rites with fire, water, japa, mantras, etc., and call such fantastic performances dikshas, as if the disciple (sishya) becomes ripe only after such processes are gone through by the Guru.
  If the individual is sought he is nowhere to be found. Such is the
  --
  M.: It has a deep significance. There are 43 corners with sacred syllables in them. Its worship is a method for concentration of mind. The mind is wont to move externally. It must be checked and turned within. Its habit is to dwell on names and forms, for all external objects possess names and forms. Such names and forms are made symbolic mental conceptions in order to divert the mind from external objects and make it dwell within itself. The idols, mantras, yantras, are all meant to give food to the mind in its introvert state, so that It may later become capable of being concentrated, after which the superb state is reached automatically.
  20th April, 1937

1.300 - 1.400 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  They also say that the Guru makes some rites with fire, water, japa, mantras, etc., and call such fantastic performances dikshas, as if the disciple (sishya) becomes ripe only after such processes are gone through by the Guru.
  If the individual is sought he is nowhere to be found. Such is the

1.3 - Mundaka Upanishads, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  beheld in the mantras1 were in the Treta2 manifoldly extended. Works do ye perform religiously with one passion
  for the Truth; this is your road to the heaven of good deeds.

1.400 - 1.450 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  M.: It has a deep significance. There are 43 corners with sacred syllables in them. Its worship is a method for concentration of mind. The mind is wont to move externally. It must be checked and turned within. Its habit is to dwell on names and forms, for all external objects possess names and forms. Such names and forms are made symbolic mental conceptions in order to divert the mind from external objects and make it dwell within itself. The idols, mantras, yantras, are all meant to give food to the mind in its introvert state, so that It may later become capable of being concentrated, after which the superb state is reached automatically.
  395

1.439, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  What does it all mean? Although the sun and the other luminaries are said to be self luminous, yet they do not shine forth of themselves but they shine by the light of the Supreme Being. (na tatra suryo....vibhati). So long as they are said to be separate from Brahman their Self-luminosity is the luminosity of Brahman. All these mantras mentioning the sun, etc., speak only of Brahman.
  Talk 469.
  --
  D.: Quite true. I see the force of the words. But yet are not mantras, etc., helpful?
  M.: They are helpful. What is mantra? You are thinking of the simple sounds of the mantra. Repetition of the same excludes all other thoughts. The single thought of the mantra japa remains. That too drops away giving place to the Infinite Self, which is the mantra itself.
  --
  Sastri offered to initiate Harijans with mantras and make Brahmins of them. But the Harijans did not come forward to accept the offer.
  That shows they are themselves afflicted by an inferiority complex.

1.450 - 1.500 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  What does it all mean? Although the sun and the other luminaries are said to be self luminous, yet they do not shine forth of themselves but they shine by the light of the Supreme Being. (na tatra suryo....vibhati). So long as they are said to be separate from Brahman their 'Self-luminosity' is the luminosity of Brahman. All these mantras mentioning the sun, etc., speak only of Brahman.
  457
  --
  D.: Quite true. I see the force of the words. But yet are not mantras, etc., helpful?
  M.: They are helpful. What is mantra? You are thinking of the simple sounds of the mantra. Repetition of the same excludes all other thoughts. The single thought of the mantra japa remains. That too drops away giving place to the Infinite Self, which is the mantra itself.

15.06 - Words, Words, Words..., #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   So the mantras you declare as divine words, you must make them living powers, gods themselves embodied in you. The basis is here: the Mother has laid the foundations here for her creation the roots from where the shoots and branches are to emerge and spread out abroad and everywhere. In any case, here or elsewhere, as the Mother has announced in her own voice:
   Built is the golden tower, the flame-child born.

17.11 - A Prayer, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   This High Knowledge (Vidya) has been very secretly taught by the different branches of Yajurveda in their hymns and their Upanishadic versions. It has been mysteriously revealed by the various branches of Rigveda in their hymns or their Upanishadic versions. It is mystically awakened through a certain subtle duct in the body, evoked by manifold metrical hymns of the Sarna Veda. This Vidya is commonly found in all the Vedas. It is the essence of all Vedic mantras, Brahmanas and Upanishads. It is the Queen of the Shaktichakra, a wave of supremely great light, a form or embodiment of supreme consciousness. This is a mystic truth inherited from a tradition of Gurus.
   The tradition enjoins that to realise this Maha-Vidya a sadhaka should take an initiation and do the ceremonial worship as directed. And when initiated by a true adept he must first meditate on the Holy Feet, Sri Mahapaduka, uttering the sacred words that mean "I adore the Sri Mahapaduka in the eight-petalled white lotus that looks upward, that has twelve extremities and that is established within the womb of the thousand-petalled lotus, spread out like an umbrella and facing downward. The great Holy Feet is possessed of all sciences, embodies the Powers of all deities. It represents the three strides of the holy preceptor in the three centres, the crown (Brahma-randhra), the heart and the lower abdomen, even as it is richly decorated with resplendent ornaments."

1956-05-23 - Yoga and religion - Story of two clergymen on a boat - The Buddha and the Supramental - Hieroglyphs and phonetic alphabets - A vision of ancient Egypt - Memory for sounds, #Questions And Answers 1956, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  I read somewhere that the priests of Egypt used to give initiation with mantras.
  Sanskrit mantras? But that must be in a novel, surely!
  A few Sanskrit words.

2.01 - AT THE STAR THEATRE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  So saying, he took a pinch of dust, muttered some mantras over it, and threw it at the elephant. The beast struggled awhile in pain and then dropped dead. The Lord said: 'What power you have! You have killed the elephant!' The sdhu laughed. Again the Lord spoke: 'Now can you revive the elephant?' 'That too is possible', replied the sdhu. He threw another pinch of charmed dust at the beast. The elephant writhed about a litle and came back to life. Then the Lord said: 'Wonderful is your power. But may I ask you one thing? You have killed the elephant and you have revived it. But what has that done for you? Do you feel uplifted by it? Has it enabled you to realize God?' Saying this the Lord vanished.
  "Subtle are the ways of dharma. One cannot realize God if one has even the least trace of desire. A thread cannot pass through the eye of a needle if it has the smallest fibre sticking out.

2.03 - Indra and the Thought-Forces, #The Secret Of The Veda, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   suppose the worlds to have been created by the goddess Word and sound as first etheric vibration to have preceded formation. In the Veda itself there are passages which treat the poetic measures of the sacred mantras, - anus.t.ubh, tris.t.ubh, jagat, gayatr, - as symbolic of the rhythms in which the universal movement of things is cast.
  By expression then we create and men are even said to create the gods in themselves by the mantra. Again, that which we have created in our consciousness by the Word, we can fix there by the

2.03 - On Medicine, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Disciple: Are there no psychic or spiritual mantras and do they not undergo change by being put to egoistic purposes?
   Sri Aurobindo: The psychic is the psychic and remains the psychic, it does its work. It does not fail, it does not try to play God as the vital and other forces do.

2.03 - THE MASTER IN VARIOUS MOODS, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  According to this school the name of God is enough to liberate a soul. There is no need of such things as worship, sacrifice, the discipline of Tantra, and the recitation of mantras.
  Path of devotion for Kaliyuga
  "But the teachings of the Vedas are different. According to the Vedas none but a brahmin can be liberated. Further, the worship is not accepted by the gods unless the mantras are recited correctly. One must perform sacrifice, worship, and so on, according to scriptural injunction. But where is the time in the Kaliyuga to perform the Vedic rituals? Therefore in the Kaliyuga the path of devotion prescribed by Nrada is best. The path of karma is very difficult. Karma becomes a cause of bondage unless it is performed in a spirit of detachment. Further, the life of man nowadays depends on food. He has no time to observe the rituals enjoined by the scriptures. The patient dies if he tries to cure his fever by taking the decoction of herbs prescribed by the orthodox native physicians.
  Therefore he should take a modern 'fever mixture'.

2.05 - On Poetry, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Disciple: They say the mantras were heard by the Rishis. Is it the inner hearing?
   Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it is the inner hearing. Sometimes one hears a line, a passage, a whole poem, or sometimes they come down. The best poetry is always written in that way.

2.06 - WITH VARIOUS DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  "When the devotee develops raga-bhakti, passionate love of God, he realizes Him. But one loses vaidhibhakti, formal devotion, as easily as one gains it. This is formal devotion: so much japa, so much meditation, so much sacrifice and homa, so many articles of worship, and the recitation of so many mantras, before the Deity. Such devotion comes in a moment and goes in a moment. Many people say: 'Well, friend, we have lived on havishya for so many days! How many times we have worshipped the Deity at our home! And what have we achieved?' But there is no falling away from raga-bhakti. And who gets this passionate love for God? Those who have performed many meritorious deeds in their past births, or those who are eternally perfect. Think of a dilapidated house, for instance: while clearing away the undergrowth and rubbish one suddenly discovers a fountain fitted with a pipe. It has been covered with earth and bricks, but as soon as they are removed the water shoots up.
  Sign of a true devotee

2.08 - ALICE IN WONDERLAND, #God Exists, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
  The idea of the Ultimate Reality is the principal doctrine of Plato; and I started by saying that we are living in a world of ideas when we live a spiritual life, when we behave religiously, conduct worship and chant mantras, do prayers, do Japa and even meditation; but there is a very uncomfortable consequence following the idea that, after all, the Reality is an idea.
  Ideas are abstractions, notions which are supposed to correspond to realities, and as long as ideas correspond to realities, they are valid. I have an idea that there is a building in front of me. This idea is a valid idea, because it corresponds with the real existence of the building outside. So, the validity of my idea depends upon the reality of the object which is in front of it, but my idea itself has no reality. It is borrowed reality. It hangs on the existence of something else outside, in this case, the building. So, if the idea of the Ultimate Reality or God is to hang on the existence of another thing, God is not a real being. This is a very subtle difficulty that may trouble the minds of even sincere seekers. Dont you think that the world is real? It is not merely real, it is very, very real, hard to the core, flint-like and no one can gainsay that it is. Perhaps that alone is.

2.08 - God in Power of Becoming, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Sama among the mantras. I am Time the head of all reckoning to those who reckon and measure. I am spiritual knowledge among the many philosophies, arts and sciences. I am all the powers of the human being and all the energies of the universe and its creatures.
  Those in whom my powers rise to the utmost heights of human attainment are myself always, my special Vibhutis. I am among men the king of men, the leader, the mighty man, the hero. I am Rama among warriors, Krishna among the Vrishnis,

2.14 - AT RAMS HOUSE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  MASTER: "Captain has many virtues. Every day he attends to his devotions. He himself performs the worship of the Family Deity. How many mantras he recites while bathing the image! He is a great ritualist. He performs his daily devotions, such as worship, japa, rati, recital of the scriptures, and chanting of hymns.
  "I scolded Captain and said: 'Too much reading has spoiled you. Don't read any more.'
  --
  "Sometimes a perfect Jnni behaves like a ghoul. He does not discriminate about food and drink, holiness and unholiness. A perfect knower of God and a perfect idiot have the same outer signs. A perfect Jnni perhaps does not utter the mantras while bathing in the Ganges. While worshipping, God, perhaps he offers all the flowers together at His feet. He doesn't utter the mantras, nor does he observe the rituals.
  "A man cannot renounce action as long as he desires worldly enjoyment. As long as one cherishes a desire for enjoyment, one performs action.

2.16 - The 15th of August, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Sri Aurobindo: Well, you can help the attempt by one-pointed aspiration. You should reject everything that stands in the way of fulfilling this ideal. But, if instead of doing that, you go on accepting the suggestions of the hostile forces and repeat their mantras which give you or others the idea that it is not possible, then you help the hostile forces.
   Disciple: I will put one question.

2.25 - AFTER THE PASSING AWAY, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  "How many visions I have seen! How many mantras shining in letters of gold! How many visions of the Goddess Kali! How many other divine forms! But still I have no peace.
  "Will you kindly give me six pice?"

2.25 - List of Topics in Each Talk, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   | 13-12-38 | Inner hearing, best poetry, mantras of Rishis, Shakespeare |
   | 03-01-39 | Ferrer and English hexameter; Manmohan, Binyon, Phillips, Wilde |

2.3.02 - Mantra and Japa, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The Vedic poets regarded their poetry as mantras, they were the vehicles of their own realisations and could become vehicles of realisation for others. Naturally, these mostly would be illuminations, not the settled and permanent realisation that is the goal of Yoga but they could be steps on the way or at least lights on the way. Many have such illuminations, even initial realisations while meditating on verses of the Upanishads or the Gita. Anything that carries the Word, the Light in it, spoken or written, can light this fire within, open a sky, as it were, bring the effective vision of which the Word is the body. In all ages spiritual seekers have expressed their aspirations or their experiences in poetry or inspired language and it has helped themselves and others. Therefore there is nothing absurd in my assigning to such poetry a spiritual or psychic value and effectiveness to poetry of a psychic or spiritual character.
  ***
  --
  In this Yoga there is no fixed mantra, no stress is laid on mantras, although sadhaks can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a mantra is found helpful for that, one uses it. OM if rightly used (not mechanically) might very well help the opening upwards and outwards (cosmic consciousness) as well as the descent.
  ***

24.05 - Vision of Dante, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   *Paradiso,*Canto III, 85.It was he who thus uttered the famous mantraso well known to all. Dante wondered and felt illumined hearing the reply of the saint.
   *Paradiso,*Canto XXXI, n. 79-85.

2 - Other Hymns to Agni, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  the mantras and the sacrifice set our pilgrim-sacrifice in the
  gods.

30.08 - Poetry and Mantra, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   But it is not that mantra means something solely dealing with spiritual disciplines or religious practices. Even the experiences and realisations of this terrestrial world can reveal themselves through the mantras provided their fundamental truth is the truth of delight.
   Take the famous utterance of Shakespeare:
  --
   In these phrases we observe nothing of so-called spirituality. Here we get the utterance of common men like you and me. But I place them on the same footing with the mantras, or here speech is not the dress or outer garb of an experience, but the realisation of an inner delight, and it has become inseparably one with that inner delight. That is why mantra sublates speech, unveils its inner potency and gives a concrete shape to that reality. Speech does not retain its normal free individuality here it becomes faithful by obedience to the truth beyond speech. There is a type of form that retains its own uniqueness, its own independent value. There the manifestation of the Spirit is secondary, however beautiful and charming it may be; it is based on ignorance or partial lesser knowledge and it is perishable. The beauty of Greek sculpture is of this type. The Greeks wanted to express this lesser beauty and charm of life. But there is another type which surrenders its independent existence and becomes the vehicle and embodiment of Immortality. I believe herein lies the secret of India's sculpture, and the aim of many Indian spiritual disciplines was this Immortality.
   Kalidasa is a great poet - he stands in the vanguard of the world's greatest poets. He really deserves this place. Yet he is only a poet and does not seem to be a seer or creator of mantras like the poets of the Upanishads.
   What Matthew Arnold said of the poet Wordsworth we all know. In places where Wordsworth's poetry, he says, reaches the acme of perfection one feels as if the poet has disappeared: Nature herself has used his pen. I would like to say that the speciality of all the mantras lies in this impersonality. The poet cannot claim to be a seer or creator of mantras so long as there is the stamp of an individual ego in his creation. In such a case he is nothing more than a poet. When the poet is fully conscious of himself as a poet and nothing more, he rarely forgets the excellence of his creation. That is why with a heart full of pride Bhavabhuti could declare:
   "Whatever may be their knowledge, my efforts are not for those who look down upon me. I believe I have some equals on earth, and if not I will have some from the womb of future, for time has no end and the earth too is boundless."

3.00 - Introduction, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work
  of the wand and the work of the sword: these he shall learn and

33.07 - Alipore Jail, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The case dragged on for quite sometime, for several months in fact. And then, the trial once over, came a period of utter loneliness. We could do nothing but await the results his state of dark night lasted nearly two months. I too had occasional fits of depression during this period. "Why, and what, and where, and which way?" These were questions at came up and clouded the mind. There was a sense of wariness. The one solace I found - it came towards the end - was in the company of Vivekananda. That was 1en his book, Colombo to Almora,came to my hands. What faith and confidence, what strength, what courage breathed through his words and his manner! All seemed to get cleared up, especially when I read aloud the Vedic and Upanishadic mantraslike,
   vedaham etam purusam mahantam

33.11 - Pondicherry II, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Amarendra had suddenly disappeared one day. He lived the life of a primitive savage in the jungles of Assam; he had been selling poultry and eggs at the steamship stations along the rivers of East Bengal, in the garb of a Muslim complete with Lungi and Fez. And so many other things he had done just in order to avoid the Government's vigilant eye. It was a long romantic tale. Finally, he made himself a Sannyasin, became a Guruji. Near Tanjore he set up his Ashram. Disciples gathered, his mantras and teachings brought him fame; he styled himself, if I remember aright, Swami Kaivalyananda. The British Government were completely fooled.
   The Swamiji, our Amarendra, came here to obtain Sri Aurobindo's instructions as to what to do next. This, as I have said, was after the end of the War, when practically all the political prisoners had been set free and even those deported to the Andamans had been allowed to come back. He wished to know if he could now disclose himself and also what he was to do afterwards. He was advised to go back to Calcutta and await the turn of events for a while. The Swamiji now ordered his disciples back to the Ashram and. said that he would like to live in solitude for some time.

3.4.1.01 - Poetry and Sadhana, #Letters On Poetry And Art, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The Vedic poets regarded their poetry as mantras, they were the vehicles of their own realisations and could become vehicles of realisation for others. Naturally, these mostly would be illuminations, not the settled and permanent realisation that is the goal of Yoga but they could be steps on the way or at least lights on the way. Many have such illuminations, even initial realisations while meditating on verses of the Upanishads or the Gita. Anything that carries the Word, the Light in it, spoken or written, can light this fire within, open a sky, as it were, bring the effective vision of which the Word is the body. In all ages spiritual seekers have expressed their aspirations or their experiences in poetry or inspired language and it has helped themselves and others. Therefore there is nothing absurd in my assigning to such poetry a spiritual or psychic value and effectiveness to poetry of a psychic or spiritual character.
  24 December 1934

3.4.2 - Guru Yoga, #The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, #Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, #Buddhism
  There are more elaborate instructions for guru yoga that can involve prostrations, offerings, gestures, mantras, and more complicated visualizations, but the essence of the practice is mingling your mind with the mind of the master, which is pure, non-dual awareness. Guru yoga can be done any time during the day; the more often the better. Many masters say that of all the practices it is guru yoga that is the most important. It confers the blessings of the lineage and can open and soften the heart and quiet the unruly mind. To completely accomplish guru yoga is to accomplish the path.

36.07 - An Introduction To The Vedas, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08, #unset, #Zen
   Here arises the second question. The Western and modern scholars are prone to make a difference between the Veda and the Shruti. According to them, the term Shruti is synonymous with the Upanishad and not with the Veda proper. But what is it that we actually find in the Upanishad that is considered by all scholars, oriental and occidental, as the repository of knowledge of the highest order? The Upanishad has been studied much more than the Veda in India and abroad. The reason is this that the ideas and language of the Upanishad are simpler than those of the Veda, and also more familiar to modern thought. The Upanishad is free from all the intricacies of sacrificial rites, ceremonies and obscure mantras, etc. It deals precisely with the clear realised truths that form the basis of the philosophical doctrines. That is why the Europeans hold that the Upanishad comes in as a reaction and protest against the Veda. Towards the end of the Vedic era the Aryan Hindus bade farewell to their cult of Nature-worship and sacrifices and turned towards the quest of God and metaphysical truths and thus a new era was ushered in. Now, on what ground do the European scholars make such an assertion as regards the historical development of Indian thought? As a matter of fact, we do notice that every teacher of Philosophy whenever he has cited anything from the Upanishad has also tried to corroborate it with a similar quotation from the Veda for its justification. There is no iota of proof that the Upanishad held any view contrary to that of the Veda or ever contradicted it. The Upanishad is the culmination of or a complement to the Veda. Since the advent of the dialectic philosopher Hegel it has become a fashion among Western scholars to find an antithesis in every field of historical truth. From their own history they come to learn that Christianity arose as a revolt against the idolatry of the Romans, again Martin Luther and Protestantism stood out against the Roman Catholic Church. Likewise they are, as it were, eager to discover a revolt in the religious history of India. It is not that such a spirit of antithesis is altogether absent in the history of Indian religions, but it is utterly meaningless to say that this antithesis exists as between the Veda and the Upanishad as well. In fact, the Upanishad has always approached the Veda most reverentially and hardly failed to mention: "This we heard from the ancient sages who had explained it to us."
   Besides, in the current commentaries on the Veda we come across explanations which are at places self-contradictory, inconsistent, lacking in clarity, fanciful and arbitrary. The same word has been used at different places to convey different meanings without any justification, and also at times the commentators have been constrained to keep silent or to confess that they could make neither head nor tail of a passage, a sentence or a word. For instance, the word ghrta (clarified butter) has been explained as jala (water) and the word water has been used for antariksa (ether) and the word vyoman (ether) has been interpreted as prthivi (earth). That is why in the interpretations of Sayana or Ramesh Dutta, in spite of their supplying synonyms of words, a passage taken as a whole appears to be quite odd, confusing and utterly meaningless. One is at a loss to know whether one should indulge in laughter or shed tears over such a performance. It may be argued that the Veda was written in a remote antiquity, hence much of its archaic language is not likely to be understood by men of the present age. It is enough on our part to be able to form a general idea of it. But when one has to resort to a makeshift hocus-pocus even for gathering this general idea, then it becomes quite clear that there must have been some serious blunder somewhere. If it were possible to get the general idea of the Veda quite easily, then all the interpreters would necessarily have pursued it. But unfortunately in the present age we find that besides the sacrificial and naturalistic interpretations there are historical (by Abinash Chandra Das), geographical (by Umesh Chandra Vidyaratna), astronomical (by Tilak), scientific (by Paramasiva Aiyar) and even an interpretation based on Chemistry (by Narayan Gaur) and so on and so forth. Many minds, many ways: nowhere else may this oft-quoted adage be so aptly applied as in the case of the multifarious interpretations of the Veda. A few portions of the Veda that had appealed to an interpreter most in accordance with his own bent of mind gave him the impetus to endeavour to interpret the whole of the Veda in that light. The result has been that the same sloka has been interpreted in ever so many ways. But none of these interpreters has even attempted interpreting the whole or the major portion of the Veda. From this we can dare conclude that the key to the proper interpretation of the Vedic mysteries has not hitherto been found. All are but groping in the dark.
  --
   However, to be at home in the central theme of the Vedas, the method that we should follow is: to proceed from the known to the unknown. In the Vedic texts we often come across some important words that admit of no ambiguity. With the help of the obvious meanings of these words we have to find out the implications of the words partly obscure or totally obscure. In the Vedas there are such mantras (incantations), sentences and words in abundance which reflect modern ideas and appear quite familiar to the present-day intellect. It is at once advisable and reasonable to accept such self-evident meanings. It is of no avail to leave aside such clear meanings and seek out roundabout abstruse meanings on the ground that what we are dealing with are the Vedas, the writings of hoary antiquity. Ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti (The one Truth is expressed differently by the men of knowledge) or, tat Visno param padam...diviva cakuratatam (That is the supreme Status of Vishnu, as if an Eye wide open in the heavens) or, Brhaspatih prathamam jayama mano jyotisah parame Vyoman (Brihaspati being born first as a great Light in the supreme Heaven)-the meanings of these words are by no means obscure or ambiguous. The meanings as well as the ideas with which these words are infused are quite plain and clear enough. These expressions convey no indication of the lisping of the babe or an aborigine or an uncultured mind or even a ritualistic mind. Here we find expressions of a mature mind enlightened with knowledge flowing from a profound realisation of Truth. Neither the befitting rhythm nor rhyme is missing. Further,
   Codayitri sunrtanam cetanti sumatinam
  --
   We have already said that the seers of the Upanishads have time and again cited the Vedic mantras while expounding their own philosophical truths. So it is quite reasonable if we place the Veda on the same footing with their spiritual philosophy and do not consider the former as something exclusively dealing with Nature and ceremonies. For example, dva suparna... ("Two birds, beautiful of wing, close companions, cling to one common tree: of the two one eats the sweet fruit of the tree, the other eats not but watches his fellow."6
   Vedaham etam purusam... ("I know this Purusha, Supreme, of the Light of the Sun, beyond the darkness.") We all know that this is a famous utterance of the Upanishad. But do we know that it is a mere ocho of the Vedic mantra udvayam tamasaspari... (1.50.10) ("We have seen the supreme Light beyond the darkness, we have attained the God amongst the gods, the Sun, the Supreme Light.")? Or, hdra manasa...8
  --
   As for instance, when the Vedic seers speak of fire, they mean something of which the gross form is fire and which itself is tejas (luminous energy) in its subtle form. In the spiritual world, in its subtler form it is called energising consciousness. Likewise the sun is, serially and simultaneously, light, the power of revelation and knowledge. When the Vedic seers say, idam srestham jyotisam... (This is the Light, the highest of all lights; it has come; the Supreme knowledge, beautiful and diverse, vast and all-pervading, has taken birth), they make use of the gross dawn to hint at some subtle dawn. They could visualise the entire creation in its wholeness. That is why their realisations had the stamp of wholeness which can be applied to all the levels and phases of creation. We, the modernists, look upon truth as something entirely comprehensible by the intellect. We put it syllogistically and understand it part by part separately. The ancients used to grasp the truth through the fullness of their heart, the inner being. So it could manifest as an indivisible embodiment of mundane forms and supraphysical concepts. To us the truth has three distinct forms: in the material, vital and mental worlds. Each is different from the other, having a definition of its own. But the angle of vision of the ancient seers was not of such an analytical type. Their synthetic realisation revealed such mantras as comprised the essence of all the levels.
   In the process of Nature, in the material world and in its activities they did not see something mundane and material, but found in them a reflection of the supernatural. It may be asked: if, the gross forms were mere symbols, then why is the Veda so replete with them and why has so much importance been given to them? Then we have to enquire into the symbolism of the ancients. Here in this connection we want only to mention that the language of the ancients used to flow from their heart. It was not subject to any intellectual reasoning and was not analytical as that of t day. The language was simply symbol of their direct realisation. All languages originate from the perceptions of the senses and the emotions of the heart. The inner urge was kept intact in the language of the ancients. The language and their direct perception were not intercepted by the syllogistic reasoning. So the subtle experiences when expressed in language used to entail the corresponding gross perceptions as well. The ceremonials and the sacrifices are but symbols of inner experiences. According to the Chhandogya Upanishad, yavanva ayamakasastavanesontarhrdaya akash ... (The sky that we see in the outer space is also in our inner heart. Both the Heaven and the earth, Agni as well as Vayu all are concentrated in our inner heart).
  --
   The very name Veda is self-explanatory. The Veda signifies knowledge. It is derived from the root "vid" (to know). The Veda particularly refers to the embodiment of that knowledge which is the soul and basis of the culture, education and civilisation of the Hindus, the Indians, the whole Aryan race. This knowledge was realised by a body of aspirants called Rishis - where and when it is difficult to trace with certainty. And it is the succession of the Rishis, the realised ones, that has kept up, multiplied and systematised this knowledge. The Veda is otherwise called Shruti, for it is said that from generation to generation the disciples used to receive the Vedic mantras from their preceptors by hearing and store them up in their memory. But this is only a secondary human interpretation. The real reason why the Veda is called Shruti is that the Seers received, by an occult hearing, these mantras pregnant with knowledge. At times they could see the mantras during their meditation. Hence they are called the Seers of mantras and the knowledge acquired by them goes by the name Shruti (things heard). And this gives us the clue to the reason why the Veda is supposed to have no human origin, neither a beginning nor an end. The Divine Knowledge is not a human creation. It comprises the principles of truth inherent in creation. And it will endure for all time, The Seers are merely the instruments for its manifestation.
   The Veda as we see it today is not in its original form. A whole book entitled Veda was not composed at any definite time or at any particular place. The mantras of the Veda were revealed to the different Seers at different times and places. They were scattered all around without being systematised. It was later that they were collected and systematised. Some, nay, the major part of the mantras failed to see the light of day. And it happened also that mantras of later origin got mixed up with the earlier ones.
   The systematic collection, no doubt, could not be achieved all at once. A great speciality of the spiritual discipline of the ancient Seers is this that they carried on their spiritual discipline in a body. It was their practice to use the plural terms like we, you all, friends, etc. In this way different groups of spiritual seekers followed different types of discipline. These collectivities consisted of the Masters and their disciples or an ancestor and his descendants. Thus the Veda grew up into innumerable branches, sub-branches and their offshoots. The present Veda comprises only a limited portion of those branches. The major portion of the Veda is buried in oblivion. So it is no wonder that the Veda got automatically divided into branches according to the lineage and succession of the Masters and their disciples.
   However, later on, all the available Vedic mantras were principally divided into three groups, known as trayi (a group of three) - Rik, Sama and Yajur. Rik consists of verses or poems; Sama of songs; Yajur of prose works. Miscellaneous things were collected in the Atharva. Thus the Veda developed into four parts.
   According to the Puranas the Seers who collected these Vedic mantras are named Vedavyasas. They are as many as twenty-eight successive Vedavyasas whose successive efforts gave the Veda its present form. The last Vedavyasa who divided the Veda into four parts is Krishnadwaipayana Vedavyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. And it is said that in future there will come up another Vyasa of the name of Draunivyasa to rearrange the Veda once more.
   There are indications to suppose that the mantras of the Rigveda were meant for the fire-worshippers, and the mantras of the Samaveda for the worshippers of the Sun, and those of Yajurveda for the worshippers of Vayu, the life-principle. However, we refrain at present from going into the details of the matter. In the concluding paragraphs we shall observe whether or not the classification of the Vedas has been in any way regulated by the different methods of spiritual discipline.
   There are four Vedas and each Veda consists of several parts. The principal parts of each Veda are known as the Samhitas and the Brahmanas. The Samhitas are the collection of the mantras, the Veda proper. The Brahmanas are the commentaries, interpretations or new suggestions. Again the Brahmanas are divided into the Brahmanas proper, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. The Samhitas comprise the general Vedic experiences and the mantras necessary for the propitiation and manifestation of the gods. And the Brahmanas provide all the details connected with the ceremonies, sacrificial rites, etc. The Upanishads are the repository of the knowledge of the supreme Being divested of ceremonies and allegories. The Samhitas have laid stress on the forms of religious culture, while the Upanishads on the spirit of it. In a way, the Aranyakas combined in themselves both the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. To sum up, the first and foremost part of the Vedas are the Samhitas which are immediately followed by the Brahmanas culminating in the Aranyakas which in their turn terminate in the Upanishads. But there are exceptions. For example, the Aitareya Aranyaka introduces the Rigveda Samhita, while the Brihadaranyaka itself is an Upanishad.
   These four divisions of the Veda are said to correspond to the four stages of human life. In the first stage, the foremost duty of a Brahmachari (a student practising celibacy) is to recite the mantras of the Samhitas which contain the quintessence of the ideal of life. In the next stage, on entering upon household life one has to practise ceremonies and sacrificial rites and thus the stress is laid on the Brahmanas. In the third stage of life, when one renounces the household life and retires into the forest one has to practise all those sacrificial rites and ceremonies symbolically as a part of one's spiritual discipline following the teachings of the Aranyakas. In the fourth and final stage, one gives up all one's earlier practices and in conformity with the guidance of the Upanishads one takes to the contemplation of the supreme Truth which cannot be attained by reasonings and discussions (naisa tarkena matiraPaneya). ow we may say that the Samhitas, the Brahmanas and the Upanishads indicate changes in the practice of the Vedic truth undergone with the march of time. The spiritual discipline of the Samhitas has for its aim the attainment of Godhood which is an aspect of the cosmic manifestation of the transcendental triune principle, Existence-Consciousness. Bliss. The discipline of the Brahmanas tries to manifest the spirit of the former through external practice. And the spiritual discipline of the Upanishads does not concern itself so much with the manifestation of the gods as it does with getting absorbed in the ultimate Source from whence the gods originated. In other words, the aim of the Upanishadic truth is to indicate how the light of consciousness dwelling in the heart of everyone like a steady flame of the size of the thumb can be merged into the boundless ocean of the transcendental consciousness.
   Strictly speaking, the stages of the Samhitas, the Brahmanas and the Upanishads cannot be regarded successive stages. For there are many Upanishads which appeared earlier than many Brahmanas and some portions of the Samhitas. As we understand it, first there were the earlier mantras of the Samhitas from which there arose the two branches, Brahmanas and the Upanishads. The Brahmanas laid stress on the exoteric portions of the Samhitas, and the Upanishads on the esoteric side related to the knowledge of the ultimate Truth.
   In the subsequent ages people were attracted more to the exoteric side dealing with ceremonies and sacrificial rites as a means of temporal happiness, and it is the Brahmanas that professed to explain the Vedas. On the other hand, the Upanishads tried to maintain the spirit of the ultimate realisation suggested in the Vedas. That is why the Upanishads have been looked upon as the system of knowledge, while the Brahmanas as that of work.
   The Rigveda is the oldest of all the parts of the Vedas, and its Samhita part marks the hoariest antiquity. The tenth chapter may be, as the European scholars have concluded, of a later origin. Besides, many of the mantras of the Rigveda with slight alterations are to be found in other parts of the Vedas. In this respect the Samaveda owes the greatest debt to the Rigveda. It will be no exaggeration to hold that the Samaveda is only a novel brand of the Rigveda. On that strength, curiously enough, attempts have been made to prove the Samaveda to be the oldest of all the Vedas.
   The Rigveda Samhita also has been suitably divided and arranged in different chapters. Two different methods have been adopted in this arrangement. Firstly, the whole of the Samhita has been divided into ten books, and each book is called a mandala and each Mandala is composed of different series of mantras; each series is called a sukta, each mantra is called a rk. Each Mandala or book is generally attributed to a Rishi. For instance, the second Mandala has been the contri bution of the Rishi Gritsamada and his descendants. The authorship of the third Mandala goes to the Rishi Vishwamitra. The fourth Mandala is attri buted to Vamadeva, while the fifth, the sixth, the seventh are respectively attri buted to Atri, Bharadwaja and Vasishtha. The whole of the ninth Mandala has been exclusively devoted to the god Soma. The first and the tenth have been the contri butions of many Rishis. Each sukta of these two books contains mantras offered to a particular god or several gods related to that very god. Besides, there is another method by which the whole of the Samhita has been divided into eight parts and each part is called an astaka (a group of eight). Again each astaka is divided into adhyayas (chapters), sub-chapters and a series of cognate mantras. But the principle followed in this kind of division is hard to determine.
   Be that as it may, we are not so much concerned with the external forms of the Veda as with its inner significance. For long the Veda has been solely the subject of archaeological researches. To be sure, the Veda has a living spirit. The true significance of the Veda lies in the fact that it points out to man the true goal and the means to the attainment of a higher and nobler life. In spite of his ignorance, lack of power and want of bliss, the dream that man has dreamt, the ideal that he has pursued through all the vicissitudes of his life has been: "What shall I do with that which can not bring me Immortality?" This quest for Immortality of the human soul finds its absolute fulfilment in the Veda which is truly a vast ocean of boundless delight. The true purpose of one's studying the Veda is served only when its mantras arouse in oneself the aspiration for the divine Delight.
   Rigveda 111.62.10. It is clearly stated in the Upanishad: "Savitre satyaprasavaya (the Sun is the origin of truth). Further, the sun of knowledge and the light of knowledge are not expressions unfamiliar to us. We always make use of such comparisons and allegories. If ever the Vedic sages made use of such a comparison, then has it to be regarded as something describing mere natural phenomena? Finally we cannot resist the temptation of quoting another instance. This will serve as a typical example as to what extent quite a simple idea can be twisted. And it will enable us to appreciate what a terrible injustice the Veda has to suffer at the hands of the commentators. The phrase amrtasya vani that is found in the Veda should convey to all the essence of the Veda. But do you know what meaning Sayana has ascribed to it? He has translated amrtasya vani (the message of immortality) as the current of water. Can we be at one with him? In fact, what we want to say is that the Veda is the expression of Yogic realisations, spiritual experiences, the knowledge of the ultimate Truth; It is thus that we can discover the fundamental concept and the esoteric mystery of the Veda. If we follow this course we shall find how easily and consistently the meaning of the whole Veda unfolds itself and becomes crystal-clear. No doubt, at places if we want to delve into the minutest detail, there will be occasions for uncertainty and confusion. But it will not prove an obstacle to the apprehension of the fundamental truths of the Veda provided we can rightly focus the attention of our intelligence on it. Can we not have any access to the Mahabharata because of Vyasakutas[^73]
  --
   Translated by Sri Aurobindo.) This sloka of the Mundaka Upanishad is bodily taken out of the mantras (1.164.20) of Dirghatamas, the Rishi of the Rigveda. Or take agne naya supatha... ("O god Agni, knowing all things that are manifested, lead us by the good path to the felicity; remove from us the devious attraction of sin. To thee completest speech of submission we would dispose."[^78]
   ibid.) This last utterance of the Isha Upanishad derives from a mantra in the Rigveda. Rishi Agastya begins his Agni Sukta (Hymns to the Mystic Fire) (1.189) with this mantra. Thus the Upanishads have made liberal use of innumerable Vedic mantras. No doubt, the Upanishads do not always exactly repeat the Vedic mantras. But even there the words and ideas are so similar that we find no difficulty in saying that they possess the same vision of-the inner Self.
   Katha Upanishad. "in the heart and the mind and the supermind He is seated"). A similar truth we find in the Veda also: hrdi pratisya [^80]

36.08 - A Commentary on the First Six Suktas of Rigveda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08, #unset, #Zen
   This sukta (the word literally means "well spoken", the faultless speech, the infallible words of the seasoned seer of Truth) can be divided into three parts each containing three riks in accordance with the special differences in the current of thoughts. The first three riks deal with the theme: Who is Fire, what are his particulars, name and form? The second three deal with the subject: What is Fire, what his virtues, nature and innate tendencies? The third group describes the relationship between Fire and the aspirant in the matter of spiritual practice, the holy sacrifice. The mantras are composed in the metre called Gayatri, which too has three feet. Thus every rik too has three metrical divisions.
   THE SECOND SUKTA
  --
   The first group begins with the invocation of the twin Riders. Who are these Riders? According to the narration of the Puranas, the Aswinikumaras are generally known as the twin heavenly physicians. It means, they drive away disease, decay and incapacity from the being and make the life-energy pure, sound and indomitable. In other words, they are the gods of immortality. Their work is to found immortality and an eternal youth of divinity in life. Pranavayu,which is the conveyance of the divine power, has been symbolically expressed as the horses. It may be asked why they have the twin forms. Perhaps it is because the one gives knowledge, the other the energy for work. Both are the presiding deities of immortality and both of them embody the most benevolent delight. Hence they are called Subhaspati.Also they are called Purubhuja,for they bring into life the divine enjoyment in. profusion. However, the one gives much importance to the energy of work, the other to the powerful pure intelligence. Whatever may be the difference in their outlook, they are the twin faces of one and the same God. The two horsemen open the fount of that very divine exhilaration in life by which there awakes and ascends an upward flame in the being of the aspirant. As the aspirant has been the possessor of an intense diversified delight, he is now able to proceed farther and farther, higher and higher by sacrificing his lower aspiration to the higher one. It is an immortalised life-energy that makes all the realisation effective, real and beautiful. It infuses spirit and power into the intelligence. The aspirant is endowed with an occult power of hearing and is initiate with the power of mantras which expresses and manifest the Truth. That is why the twin gods are called Nasatya(the Guides on the path). They are the leaders in our spiritual adventure. They lead us speedily through the different levels of consciousness to the vast ocean of the higher truth.
   The second group of riks: The spiritual delight and to immortal power of life will found themselves in a calm, pill and firmly rooted basis of the entire being. And this immortal delight will lead the spiritual practicant to the Divine Mind, to the pure Intelligence, to the realm of Indra. An ordinary man is unable to have a glimpse of the higher mind, the pure Intelligence because he is confined to the narrow limits of the lower material world and his life abounds wit restless, impure and hurtful desires. It is not by a gross inert inspiration but by a subtle inward power that the enjoyment of life must be purified and divinised. Then only the slot of the mind will be replaced by the divine Intelligence. With the divine Intelligence of Indra the aspirant enjoys a pure delight in life. It is Indra who fills the different aspects each object with a luminous truth. The inspiration surcharged with the effulgent knowledge of Indra will bring down and manifest in the aspirant the delightful truth of the Self which is the main support of the divine in the aspirant.
  --
   In the Vedic literature, very often we get the reference to vak(Word). So it will be no exaggeration on our par to hold that the aim of the Vedic spiritual discipline is to get the significant sound aspect of the truth. And for this the Vedic seers of truth are called the seers of mantras O the creators of mantras. Vakis the living image of truth There lies a rhythm in the being of truth and the movement of this rhythm produces a note which was later on called nada(the unsounded sound) or Shabda Brahman (the Brahman manifested as Sound). When the rhythm of this note is found in out intelligence and mind, it takes the form of a sentence and this very thing is called a true mantra. The more a language can express intimately and direct the primal form and rhythm of truth, the more the mantra becomes living. Therefore the aspirant who has acquired this mantra has also acquired truth and the power of truth. The Vedic seers have placed the name of truth in different categories, e.g., Rk,
   Stoma, Uktha, Brahman,etc. At the beginning of the present sukta too, in the spiritual practice of truth gih,the vakor name that reveals the truth clearly in the consciousness of the aspirant has been invoked with the help of the twin equestrians. Then with Indra's help the Brahman, that is to say, the true message of the inner Self was invoked. When man gets a purified mind and purified intelligence, he discovers the real Being within and another name of this Being is Brahmanaspati(the Lord of the inner Self). Finally comes in Sarasvatiwho is the power of the Infinite Truth in which the multiple aspects of the truth of the universal God are manifest.

3 - Commentaries and Annotated Translations, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  of sacrifice. In this worldwide karmakanda the mantras of the
  Veda are the teachers of right action (ritam) and it is therefore
  --
  of action in the human being or these mantras expressing the
  sense of that action; in either case Agni is to take & fulfil them
  --
  with constant oblation, who with expressive mantras seeketh to
  satisfy in his own being, in its gated house, may that sacrifice of
  --
  But the question is whether there is anything to show that there was actually such a doubling of functions in the Veda. Now in the first place, how was the transition effected from the alleged purely materialistic Nature-worship of the Vedas to the extraordinary psychological and spiritual knowledge of the Upanishads unsurpassed in their subtlety and sublimity in ancient times? There are three possible explanations. First, this sudden spirituality may have been brought in from outside; it is hardily suggested by some scholars that it was taken from an alleged highly spiritual non-Aryan southern culture; but this is an assumption, a baseless hypothesis for which no proof has been advanced; it rests as a surmise in the air without foundation. Secondly, it may have developed from within by some such transmutation as I have suggested, but subsequent to the composition of all but the latest Vedic hymns. Still even then it was effected on the basis of the Vedic hymns; the Upanishads claim to be a development from the Vedic knowledge, Vedanta repeatedly appeals to Vedic texts, regards Veda as a book of knowledge. The men who gave the Vedantic knowledge are everywhere represented as teachers of the Veda. Why then should we rigidly assume that this development took place subsequent to the composition of the bulk of the Vedic mantras? For the third possibility is that the whole ground had already been prepared consciently by the Vedic mystics. I do not say that the inner Vedic knowledge was identical with the Brahmavada.
  Its terms were different, its substance was greatly developed,
  --
  and replaced by clear and open philosophic phrases and conceptions. Certainly, the Vedic mantras had already become obscure
  and ill-understood at the time of the Brahmanas. And still the
  --
  begin, had it no root origins in the earlier mantras? It is certain
  that some of the gods, Varuna, Saraswati, had a psychological as
  --
  in these who by the confirming mantras of praise, as Purushas
  of the Sun, enjoy the fullnesses.
  --
  How is this to be done? By the mantras of the hymn of praise,
  stomebhih.

4.41 - Chapter One, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
    I,37: Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach.
    I,38: He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.

7.11 - Building and Destroying, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  So he went to visit the young poet and asked for his help. Then Tiruvalluvar took some ashes and spread them on the palm of his hand and on it wrote five sacred letters, uttered some mantras, then threw the ashes into the air. And the power of the letters and the mantras fell upon the demon, so that he died. This filled the people of Kaveripakam with joy.
  Later, when Tiruvalluvar came to the town of Madura, many people gathered together to hear him recite lines from his beautiful poem, and they were enchanted by the verses composed by the child from the Illupay grove:

Big Mind (ten perfections), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  ZAZEN: A lot of people confuse true meditation with concentration exercises. Now it's true that there are a lot of concentration exercises: concentrating on mantras, or your questions, or focusing on the breath, or counting the breath - these are all valid exercises, and they do lead to me, they can lead to me. In other words, if someone is following their breath in meditation, when they become completely one with breathing, so that there's no one breathing, there's no separate watcher, no separate witness, and there's just breathing, then that's me, I'm there. So that is a way - I don't consider it the best way - but it is a way to get to me, to access me. By counting the breath, they can focus their mind, concentrate it, until they become the count itself or the number itself or the breath itself.
  In Zen, there are the puzzles called koans, and people sitting with koans can become me when they become one with the koan. So let's look at one of the koans used in Zen, the koan Mu. Traditionally, a student is told to concentrate and become one with Mu. Now, this works, but it usually takes time, sometimes a very long time, even years. At some point, the one doing the concentrating and the object of that concentration merge. If you concentrate or focus on anything long enough, the distinction between subject and object will disappear, and subject and object will come to their true state of oneness. That's the basic true state of being. So the subject/object, or dualistic division will drop away and they'll become Mu.

BOOK I. -- PART I. COSMIC EVOLUTION, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  potencies. The mantras (esoterically, magical rather than religious) are chanted by the Brahmins and
  so are the Vedas and other Scriptures.
  --
  worship; "Guhya-Vidya," the science of mantras and their true rhythm or chanting, of mystical
  incantations, etc. -- it is only the last one, "Atma-Vidya," or the true Spiritual and Divine wisdom,

BOOK I. -- PART III. SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE CONTRASTED, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  European mystics -- all this is found in the Hindu hymns and mantras to the "Gods, Monads, and
  Atoms," in their fulness, for they are inseparable. In esoteric teachings, the most transcendental

BOOK I. -- PART II. THE EVOLUTION OF SYMBOLISM IN ITS APPROXIMATE ORDER, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
  the magic efficacy of the Rig-Vedic mantras or the future Kalpas, are declared by Dr. Weber and
  others to be modern compilations "belonging probably only to the time of the Puranas," it is useless to
  --
  credited with the authorship of the mantras or Hymns of the Rig Veda. They are sometimes seven,
  sometimes ten, when they become prajapati, the "Lord of Beings"; then they rebecome the seven and
  --
  Thus this "language" is that of incantations or of mantras, as they are called in India, sound being
  the most potent and effectual magic agent, and the first of the keys which opens the door of
  --
  Hence the ritual in the exoteric worship of this deity was founded on magic. The mantras are all taken
  from special books kept secret by the priests, and each is said to work a magical effect; as the reciter

Talks 001-025, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
    M.: No. He must be competent and initiated in such mantras.
    Maharshi illustrated this by the following story: A King visited his Premier in his residence. There he was told that the Premier was engaged in repetition of sacred syllables (japa). The King waited for him and, on meeting him, asked what the japa was.
  --
    The order was often repeated, and still not obeyed. The King flew into a rage and ordered the same man to hold the Minister, and it was immediately done. The Minister laughed and said that the incident was the explanation required by the King. How? asked the King. The Minister replied, The order was the same and the executor also, but the authority was different. When I ordered, the effect was nil, whereas, when you ordered, there was immediate effect. Similarly with mantras.
    --- Talk 9.

Talks 026-050, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
    D.: Why should one adopt this self-hypnotism by thinking on the unthinkable point? Why not adopt other methods like gazing into light, holding the breath, hearing music, hearing internal sounds, repetition of the sacred syllable (Pranava) or other mantras?
    M.: Light-gazing stupefies the mind and produces catalepsy of the will for the time being, yet secures no permanent benefit. Breath control benumbs the will for the time being only. Sound-hearing produces similar results - unless the mantra is sacred and secures the help of a higher power to purify and raise the thoughts.

Talks 051-075, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Sage). Here is no mention of siddha for granting boons. The Jnani can do so. The mantras again, swe mahimni pratishtitah (abiding in his own grandeur), anantam Brahma (Brahman is infinite), will seem confounding when read with the slokas cited above. Sarvam
  Khalvidam Brahma (All this is Brahman); Brahmavid Brahmaiva

Talks 500-550, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Sastri offered to initiate Harijans with mantras and make Brahmins of them. But the Harijans did not come forward to accept the offer.
  That shows they are themselves afflicted by an inferiority complex.

Talks With Sri Aurobindo 1, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  some passages from the Veda. I would like to know how the mantras in the
  Vedas and the Upanishads were composed. It seems they were actually

The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
  Yogic recitation of mantras to Coue's 'every day in every way . . .\
  However, unlike the beat of the tom-tom, or the rattle of the car-
  --
  recital of mantras fulfils a magic function; in Tibetan Buddhism
  the work is left to the prayer mill. This attitude lingers on in medieval

The Anapanasati Sutta A Practical Guide to Mindfullness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  the chanting of mantras. These are forms of Hindu practices
  that have sneaked into Buddhism for a few hundred years.

The Coming Race Contents, #The Coming Race, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
  sermons and mantras, of churches and
  templesand yet human life and society do

Verses of Vemana, #is Book, #unset, #Zen
  There are abundance of those who recite the (tantra) treatises on religion. But there are none who mention the mantras. They have become powerless as the puppets of a show man.
  328
  --
  They muse on the mantras but know not their meaning; ignorant of that signification they become blind. To become reborn and great let him learn it from the Teacher.
  1018
  --
  They think on the mantras, but know not their meaning. How are those twice born who are ignorant of the meaning. He who comprehends the signification this is the only Bramha Rishi.
  1028

WORDNET



--- Overview of noun mantra

The noun mantra has 2 senses (no senses from tagged texts)
                  
1. mantra ::: (a commonly repeated word or phrase; "she repeated `So pleased with how its going' at intervals like a mantra")
2. mantra ::: ((Sanskrit) literally a `sacred utterance' in Vedism; one of a collection of orally transmitted poetic hymns)


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun mantra

2 senses of mantra                          

Sense 1
mantra
   => motto, slogan, catchword, shibboleth
     => saying, expression, locution
       => speech, speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, language, voice communication, oral communication
         => auditory communication
           => communication
             => abstraction, abstract entity
               => entity

Sense 2
mantra
   => sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text
     => writing, written material, piece of writing
       => written communication, written language, black and white
         => communication
           => abstraction, abstract entity
             => entity


--- Hyponyms of noun mantra
                                    


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun mantra

2 senses of mantra                          

Sense 1
mantra
   => motto, slogan, catchword, shibboleth

Sense 2
mantra
   => sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text




--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun mantra

2 senses of mantra                          

Sense 1
mantra
  -> motto, slogan, catchword, shibboleth
   => catchphrase, catch phrase
   => mantra
   => war cry, rallying cry, battle cry, cry, watchword

Sense 2
mantra
  -> sacred text, sacred writing, religious writing, religious text
   => scripture, sacred scripture
   HAS INSTANCE=> Adi Granth, Granth, Granth Sahib
   HAS INSTANCE=> Avesta, Zend-Avesta
   HAS INSTANCE=> Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavadgita, Gita
   HAS INSTANCE=> Mahabharata, Mahabharatam, Mahabharatum
   => Bible, Christian Bible, Book, Good Book, Holy Scripture, Holy Writ, Scripture, Word of God, Word
   => Paralipomenon
   HAS INSTANCE=> Torah, Pentateuch, Laws
   HAS INSTANCE=> Torah
   HAS INSTANCE=> Tanakh, Tanach, Hebrew Scripture
   HAS INSTANCE=> Prophets, Nebiim
   HAS INSTANCE=> Hagiographa, Ketubim, Writings
   => Testament
   => Gospel, Gospels, evangel
   => Synoptic Gospels, Synoptics
   HAS INSTANCE=> Book of Mormon
   => prayer
   => service book
   => Apocrypha
   => sapiential book, wisdom book, wisdom literature
   => Pseudepigrapha
   HAS INSTANCE=> Koran, Quran, al-Qur'an, Book
   => Talmudic literature
   HAS INSTANCE=> Gemara
   HAS INSTANCE=> Mishna, Mishnah
   => Vedic literature, Veda
   HAS INSTANCE=> Upanishad
   => mantra
   => psalm
   HAS INSTANCE=> Psalm




--- Grep of noun mantra
mantra
mantrap



IN WEBGEN [10000/264]

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https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Shurangama_Mantra
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Kent#From_Slogans_to_Mantras
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Talk:Mantra
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Tantra#Mantra_and_yantra
Kheper - mantra -- 33
selforum - mantras and mudras
selforum - repetition of mantra
selforum - poetry transcends to become mantra
selforum - sri aurobindo translated 3000 mantras
selforum - savitri is mantra of realisation of
selforum - our own mantra of surrender will be yet
selforum - to utter mantra is to invoke deity
selforum - religious springboards mantras pictures
https://thoughtsandvisions-searle88.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-mysteries-of-mantra.html
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/BreakingBadMikeEhrmantraut
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/HumanTraffic
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumanTrafficJam
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS1E1TheManTrap
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/HumanTrafficking
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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mantra
Ruby Gloom (2006 - 2008) - Ruby is a young girl who can find happiness in anything. "Look on the bright side" is her mantra. There isn't a single thing in the world that gets her down or a single negative that she can't turn into a positive. Her positive attitude has been shown to be helpful, as it allows Ruby to act as the v...
Gorilla at Large(1954) - At sinister carnival The Garden of Evil, the main attraction is Goliath, "world's largest gorilla...cost the lives of 1,000 men before his capture." Barker Joey Matthews is about to enter the gorilla act, teamed with seductive mantrap Laverne, the owner's wife. Then a man is found dead of a broken n...
Dance, Girl, Dance(1940) - Dance, Girl, Dance is a film released in 1940 and directed by Dorothy Arzner. Judy O'Brien is an aspiring ballerina in a dance troupe. Also in the company is Bubbles, a brash mantrap who leaves the struggling troupe for a career in burlesque. When the company disbands, Bubbles gives Judy a thankless...
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Inna's_Mantra
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Conviction
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Evasion
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Healing
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Retribution
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra_of_Salvation
https://dreamfiction.fandom.com/wiki/Mantralia
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Miraak's_Mantra
https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/Concordium:_Erollisi_Mantraps
https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mantra
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Mantrap
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Guardian's_Mantra
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Venus_Mantrap_(audio_story)
Ping Pong the Animation -- -- Tatsunoko Production -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Drama Psychological Seinen Sports -- Ping Pong the Animation Ping Pong the Animation -- "The hero comes. The hero comes. The hero comes. Chant these words in your mind, and I'll surely come to you..." This mantra is what Makoto Tsukimoto repeats as a source of motivation when he fights through the stress of not only grueling ping pong matches, but also in situations of his life. Makoto doesn't fight alone; he and his friend, Yutaka Hoshino, nicknamed Smile and Peco respectively, are two boys who have grown up playing ping pong together nearly every day. Peco, brimming with confidence, aims to be the best table tennis player in the world; Smile, on the other hand, shows little ambition. Nevertheless, the two have always stuck together, with a bond built upon their mutual love for this sport. -- -- Every year, students from all across Japan gather for the inter-high table tennis competition to achieve national and international stardom. Through intense training and competition, only the very best persevere. -- -- From the avant-garde director of Tatami Galaxy, Masaaki Yuasa, Ping Pong the Animation serves a tale of ambition with its fair share of bumps along the way. Whatever the odds, Peco and Smile will face them together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 281,560 8.62
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Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra
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