Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
We are now undertaking basic technical
discourse on Vedanta. The text
forming the basis of these posts is 'Kindle Life'. Please do reread previous posts using the labels 'Workings-days' or
'Kindle Life'.
Ch.
28 गायत्री मन्त्र /gaayatrii maantra.
In
Western tradition, prayer is uttered with a view of supplication and request of
the Lord. Mostly these prayers are driven by specifics of the individual or the
community. There is only one 'set' prayer which all are expected to memorise
and repeat on a daily basis. The Lord's Prayer which Jesus taught his
disciples.
In
Hindu practice, all prayers are taught prayers and have a formula of
repetition. They are called as mantras. They still address the individual or
the community needs, but are based upon the fact that every individual and
every community, in the end, have the same needs and therefore standardisation
of prayer is there. There is a positive to this in that there is nothing for
which there cannot be found an appropriate mantra. Also, it eliminates the
tendency to selfishness of 'free prayer'. One can certainly have a personal
conversation with one's chosen face of God, but when it comes to prayer, there
ought to be no ego involved. There can be negatives, in that prayer time
becomes 'automated'; the lips can move but the mind can wander. It is also possible
for those who are seen as the spiritual leaders to issue (or not) mantras in
rather a controlling manner.
Mantras
have been provided by the Rsis, men of intense wisdom who realised the deep and
meaningful uses of such verses. Every mantra relates to one or other of the
many faces of deity. It is considered that when one chants, one is keeping the
mind focused on the presiding deity of that particular mantra and directed away
from the small self. The number of repetitions of a mantra can have effects
also; ten thousand times of japa can only bring a positive influence in the
life of the japist. 108 is the auspicious number. 1008 for healing… and so on.
Whenever japa of a mantra is undertaken, the murti of the presiding deity ought
to be visualised. One of the ways any particular deity is invoked for a japa
session is to use the meditation stanza ( ध्यान श्लोक /dhyaana shloka) which actually
describes said deity. These mantras are
known as gaayatrii. All deities have
one. But of course, there is Maha-gaayatri,
The Great Meter… gaayatri being a rhythm of chanting based on 24 beats.
The
matter of mantras can be quite a contentious one. There are those who insist upon ritualism and
formality with respect to the उपासन /upaasana (approach, the drawing near [to God])
part of the Vedas. The orthodox and traditionalists hold that japa must be
accumulated, alongside the undertaking of certain rituals such as होम /homa (fire
ceremony), तर्पण /tarpana (offering items to the deity), भिक्ष /bhiksha (providing alms to
many), as all being part of japa. This is not a universal view, however. There
is another school of thought that sincerity and faith are the core of
japa-saadhana and that anyone with a pure intention in their heart, filled with
Love, can equally as well perform and gain benefit from japa. Vedanta, and very
specifically the Chinmaya Mission and other similar institutions, fall into the
later category.
There
are three types of mantra; for invocation of the lower powers of nature
(wishing personal and individual satisfaction of a desire = tamaasik); for
invocation of betterment (wishing personal but also community satisfaction
based on acquisition - rajaasik); invocation for the good of all (knowing that
this includes the individual making the supplication = sattvik). Here we see the triguna at play.
There
is another classification, which is two-part; first, mantras that need only be
chanted whether or not one understands their meaning; second those mantras
which are of nature of invocation and therefore the content of the chant must
be understood in order that the sadhak may keep full focus on the purpose and
the presiding deity.
Vedic
mantras are written in both prose style and poetic metre. The former are found
in the Yajur-veda and the latter are found in the Rig-veda. (Those found in
Saama-veda are more lyrical again and are the basis of praise in the form of
hymns; the Atharva-veda is much more about ritual.)
Of
all the mantras, the most powerful and the most significant is the
single-syllabled " ॐ /OM" - the symbol itself has a name, which is प्रणव /pranava (of the breath).
There
are innumerable writings on the significance of this one mantra alone! From
Vedic times until now, the word OM has been taken as an aid to meditation -
globally. It is accepted wholly as being
Brahman, of being a means to reach Brahman, the logos (teaching and knowledge
through use of words) and the interface between the meditator and Brahman.
Through analysis of OM arose the स्फोट-वाद /sphota-vaada (philosophy of The Word). The
universe we see is manifest form. Behind it stands the eternal and
inexpressible - the sphota, manifest as logos. The eternal sphota, that through
which all received names, is the creative power. It is the Brahman shaped via
Maya which produced the sphota, the inexpressible word.
