Words possess tremendous power (Sakti). By words you can encourage and cheer up others. By words you can give greatest happiness to others. By words you can ruin or displease others. By words the Master imparts his knowledge to the disciples. By words the mother trains the children. By words the orator keeps the audience spell-bound. Word is Brahman or God in manifestation, Be careful in the selection of your words. Understand and realize the power of words and become wise."
(Swami Sivananda)
Mantra is a holy Sanskrit word of tremendous spiritual power, The Sakti energy, divine force) permeates a Mantra because it was originated, cultivated, and sacredly repeated by great Saints and Sages, whose vibrations are vital and living through and in the Mantra, Japa is repetition of Mantra and in general - of the Name of God.
First let us understand that the word Mantra means "a sacred word." Now, why should a sacred word, preferably be uttered in the ancient language which is not used in daily life? Because the ancient language was in the very beginning of Creation. You remember how the fantastic Gospel of St. John's starts: "In the beginning-there was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." And the word was OM. Those who have the ears - let them hear! The most ancient, therefore, the most potent of all languages is Sanskrit, Then comes Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Latin. Even in Russian prayers the modern Russian is replaced by the ancient Slavic - the language of the first Saints of this country. You see, - words are powerful vibrations and certain words emanate majestic aura of Saintliness and Truth. Those are the only words which are suitable for Mantra or Japa Yoga.
Now let the Sat Guru tell you: "Mantra Yoga is an exact science. A Mantra is divinity encased within a sound structure. It is Divine Power or Daivi Sakti manifesting in a sound body.
. . "The Sacred Mantra or the Divine Name is the vital Symbol of the Supreme Divinity directly revealed in the innermost depths of Divine Communion to the Sages of Self-Realization in the hoary Vedic and Upanishadic times. These symbols are in the nature of unfailing keys to gain access into the transcendental realms of absolute experience.
Sounds are vibrations. They give rise to definite forms. Each sound produces a form in the invisible world and combination of sounds create complicated shapes.
"The repetition of the Mantra (is known as Japa) - has a mysterious power of bringing about the manifestation of Divinity. just as the splitting of an atom manifests the tremendous forces latent in it."
(Swami Sivananda)
I have stressed emphatically that the Name is a Sacred Force. Even if you repeat it automatically. it establishes a purifying rhythm and a protecting "shell". Yet there should be an inner background for it. By this I mean an intelligent. earnest understanding of the Cosmic Truth as well as an intuitive perception of the Cosmic Vibration. For that is what the "Name" is - a sacred. mysterious vibration of Gods.
Christian Scriptures refer to the God's Power (Sakti) as a WORD. At times as the 'Holy Ghost' which means a sacred, holy, subtle as the 'ghost' vibration which is the Author of everything that lives. The 'Amen' of Jews and Christians is also a 'Name' - it is the sacred Om or Aum of the yogi. 'Vibratory Energy' is acknowledged even by material science which discovered a fraction of the Truth which so fully is perceived by all saints of all ages. Thus, what the yogi knows as the 'NAME' is very, very sacred and should never be used in a parrot-like manner. Christ warned about it, forbidding to take the Name of the Lord in vain.
To perceive this awe-inspiring Name (vibratory sound) - is to live a Cosmic Life. To say Rama and to ecstatically feel THAT which words fail to express - is to be in the vibration of God. Chanting of the Name and listening to your own voice is useless. If you chant and become minus body, minus human voice, in short - minus egoity - you are invoking the Name.
You stop thinking while chanting or mentally chanting the Name and experience Bliss Divine - you are in the Name!
The factual Cosmic motion is so subtle, so grand, so intelligent, that it is unperceivable by human ears or human mind and un-utterable by human tongue. One can perceive this Divine Force only through the highest Intuition or super-conscious awareness.
The gradual development of this superconscious awareness comes through faithful REMEMBRANCE. Whatever gives you re-newal of consciousness, whatever purifies you - that you ought to remember daily and nightly. And, on the background of this, you ought to repeat the Name prayerfully, dedicating it to the best you know. First, you think and repeat intellectually but gradually you perceive intuitively. The latter is the result of general great purification. The fascinating fact is that the Name purifies and accelerates liberation, but... the "but" of it is in how earnest and faithful you are to the great Principle - to this Cosmic Sakti which is the Life-Fountain of all sounds. vibrations - Life. )
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