Mantras are fascinating tools in our spiritual evolution. They constitute a language of the spiritual realm — a means of communicating with the Gods. Yet, despite their attraction, mantras also raise concerns, in part because they are difficult to understand and because they developed in one particular religious context. Mantras encompass an enormous quantity of data, and they display a great variety of applications. My objective in this chapter is to anticipate some of the common reservations about mantras and remove any mental or emotional blocks that stand in the way of our using these amazing tools of the spiritual life.
The monumental pantheon of the Gods and Goddesses in Hinduism is a collection of the tradition’s most visible symbols. Many Westerners are familiar with the three main deities of Hinduism: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva, who destroys old forms so that new ones can develop. Others may know of Ganesha, the elephantheaded son of Shiva, who removes obstacles. Saraswati, Brahma’s consort and the goddess of wisdom and learning, may also be familiar. To put mantra in its proper context, people who were raised in monotheistic traditions must come to understand more of Hinduism’s core philosophy. This will aid recognition of the fact that the long-perceived differences between the one God of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism and the many Gods of Hinduism is not as real as we thought.
The first Axial period — the centuries between 800 and 600 B.C., named by writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley — spawned the world’s great religions. Before this time, people worshipped many primitive Gods and Goddesses, such as Baal, a Canaanite fertility deity, or the Satyrs, ancient Greek deities in the form of animals. During the first Axial period, there were several watershed occurrences: the Hebrew tradition claimed access to a supreme being known asYahweh; Lao-tzu developed the Tao in China; Zarathustra revealed Ahura Mazda to the five-thousand-year-old Avesta religion of Iran; and the Buddha broke through to nirvana. During the first Axial period, the great religions were young; in their early development, they needed to be protected from misinterpretation, oppression, and external influences. Consequently, the religions developed clear guidelines about what was acceptable to their Supreme Being and what was not. Strict religious observances and discrimination of what practices were considered to be outside the faith, or dogma, helped define each religion.
The problem, especially with the Semitic traditions, was that it became the One Supreme Being versus the many Gods and Goddesses. The Supreme Being — Yahweh, Allah, or God the Father in Christianity — each claimed to be the one true God; all others were false, or lesser in power. The commandment “You shall not have false Gods before me” in Judaism, or the banning of graven images in Islam, both reflect this exclusivist mentality.
Regretfully, as religions developed they continued to project judgment and anger, even upon the Supreme Being they had discovered, as shown in the Koran, the Psalms, and the Old Testament. As time went on, people came to idolize or become fixated on the Supreme Being. They failed to see the value of our universe’s great diversity, instead developing prejudice and exclusivity in their newfound love. Jesus’ radical teachings attempted to rectify this by showing that the love of one’s neighbor is as important as our love for the Divine.
Fortunately, Hinduism never fell victim to this damaging exclusivism. Like the Celtic tradition, it maintained an awareness of “pan-en-theism,” meaning “everything in God. ”Although this idea is often misunderstood or misinterpreted, Hindus remain aware that the One is present in the many, and the many in the One. Their great tolerance and acceptance of other faiths stems from this basic understanding that the One can be accessed through any Divine manifestation because they are all emanations from the same Supreme source.
Today we have arrived at the second Axial period, a time when we recognize the perennial philosophy that underlies all religion. Many spiritually minded people acknowledge the existence of only One Supreme Being, albeit known by many names and perceived through many forms. This commingling of the One Supreme Being and the many Gods and Goddesses creates tension, as it did during the first Axial period over two thousand years ago. In the midst of this turmoil, we are all challenged to stay connected to our source in the Divine, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to place ourselves in harmony with the energy and intelligence that surround us.
TODAY, MANY PEOPLE believe that a single tradition cannot hold all the answers to the deep questions pressing upon us. As we evolve, we realize that our spiritual needs vary during different phases in our lives; these needs are often met by solutions from another spiritual tradition or branch of study. Sometimes psychology is more important than spiritual practice; at other times philosophy may provide more insight than psychology; and sometimes common sense rules over all. Our global community has officially entered the Interspiritual Age.
Wayne Teasdale, in his remarkable book The Mystic Heart, brings to our attention this beautiful term “interspirituality.”2 More and more people, he says, are being drawn to the interspiritual way, which is a simultaneous combination of paths. This does not mean that they aren’t committed to any single tradition. On the contrary, they are deeply committed to more than one tradition. Buddhist-Jews, Hindu-Christians, and Buddhist-Christians are common hybrids. Others blend a more involved assortment, combining three or four paths. For the first time in history, we actually feel safe to openly bear witness to our spiritual preferences.
Furthermore, in the United States we have Baptists, Methodists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists, and numerous other denominations within Christianity alone. Matthew Fox once remarked, “The present generation neither knows the difference between these denominations, nor cares about them.” As we forge the structures of interspirituality, we must consider our youth and our children. Many parents, in their rejection of the idiosyncrasies and frustrations of a particular tradition, raise their children without any spiritual form whatsoever. We should feel free to explore and expose our children to all kinds of traditions, showing them the value of many perspectives and the underlying truths behind them all.
It is important that we study the Yoga of Sound and explore the power of mantra in this spirit of interspirituality and acceptance. I believe that the Yoga of Sound cuts across many boundaries. Because of its musical associations, it can transport the soul through a vast scope of possibilities, from aggressive mantra rap to sublime poetic enunciation, from raw tones to sophisticated musical phrases, from breath and dance to mathematics and cosmology. We can feel free to incorporate mantra into our own traditions, no matter what they are.
I am an interspiritual person myself, born of an unclear mixture of Eastern and Western ancestry as well as Hindu and Christian religious heritage. I found my own identity as both a Hindu and a Christian at an ashram in South India. The late Bede Griffiths, who directed the ashram, Shantivaram, was a rare human being. Clothed in the saffron garb of the Hindu mendicant monk, he remained true to his Christian roots until the end of his life. Yet at the ashram, all the monastic offices began with the chanting of traditional Sanskrit mantras. Father Bede understood the power and beauty of mantra, and he felt that it posed no threat or contradiction to his own Christian roots.
Since mantras represent realities much greater than ourselves, assimilating their power adds to our own greatness, if only we are willing to embrace the magnitude and scope of their possibilities. Yet many are afraid of mantras. Some, recognizing their power, are afraid that they may cause some kind of internal damage, neither noticeable nor curable. Others fear that magical associations implied in these sounds will connect them with witchcraft and sorcery. Then there are those who feel that they would betray their faith in Jesus Christ, or some other personal deity, by using mantras. All of these concerns are legitimate. Every new journey brings understandable fears.
AS WE DELVE into Hindu philosophy, we come to understand that the Hindu Gods and Goddesses are forms of energy. We can see many examples of similar energies around us. Money, for instance, is of course unquestionably worshipped in all places. In spiritual terms, it is a form of energy and can even be seen as a God. What is wonderful about Hinduism is that it gives each form of energy a name and a personality — like our friend Jack, who lives down the street, or our cousin Jane, who are also forms of energy we can approach or refer to by name. Perceived in each form of energy is a governing intelligence — an essence we call “soul.” Mantras are sounds that address these essences, awaken us to other presences in the vast field of consciousness, and connect our soul to the energy that emanates from their governing vortexes.
Hindus, like the Celts and Native Americans, perceived personalities in the forms of energy they encountered in nature. Thunder was strong and masculine; water was graceful and feminine; air was mischievous and playful. By attaching symbols to these forms, they better understood their qualities and built relationships with the sources of their energy. Mantras can also be viewed as a form of currency and a means of communication that allow us to exchange energy and intelligence with the unseen world of spiritual presences. Ancient Hindus used mythology, symbols, and sounds to build relationships within the fabric of life. These relationships sustained them emotionally and spiritually.
Yet underlying these symbols for the myriad energies of the universe is, in Hindu philosophy, one great cosmic soul known as Brahman. All other essences and presences are derived from and sustained by this one cosmic entity. As I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, it was during the first Axial period that the world’s religions broke through from the many to the one. In India, the various forms and forces perceived as the many different Gods and Goddesses were now seen as emanations of one Supreme Being: Brahman, derived from the root word brh, meaning “to swell.” I’ve always felt that “swelling” of consciousness is a brilliant metaphor for religious experience — the blossoming and expansion of the soul during spiritual awakening.
Brahman, although grammatically neuter in gender, is both beyond and inclusive of gender, and simultaneously conceived of as Nirguna and Saguna. Nirguna Brahman, which means “reality without attributes,” is the transpersonal aspect of the Divine. It transcends attributes altogether, far beyond the normal range of our spiritual perception and the capabilities of mental conception. But when Divinity manifests in the world as creation, it moves through time and takes on form, becoming Saguna, or “with attributes.” These accessible attributes of Divine essence are individually venerated through Saguna mantras, which are vibratory representations of Divine energy manifesting in all of creation.
NIRGUNA MANTRAS are mystical statements that connect us directly with the transpersonal and transconceptual Divine absolute. Such a state of consciousness is difficult — even impossible — for many to imagine or conceptualize. But because mantras are exact and specific instruments of spiritual power, it is possible to use them technically, with or without religious belief. One may simply employ their amazing properties through linguistic precision, in the same way that Hatha Yoga can be practiced expertly without any regard for a supreme intelligence. A good example of a Nirguna mantra is the sacred Gayatri, listed in appendix one.
Saguna mantras, or mantras embodying attributes, are the form of mantra that often make the non-Hindu uncomfortable because they are addressed to Shiva or Kali or Vishnu or Ram — all multi-armed Hindu Gods and Goddesses with Hindu faces, surrounded by an assortment of exotic symbols. Saguna mantras, such as the mantra Om Shivaaya Namaha, refer to individual qualities of the Supreme Being, which are then personalized as Gods or Goddesses with specific functions and qualities. These Saguna mantras allow human beings to access the Divine through understandable attributes. They sometimes awaken resistance, particularly in Christians who may feel that a “false god” is being invoked. More fundamentally, Christians may fear that their God of the Heavens will punish them for flirting with another deity, much as he did in the Old Testament with those who worshipped Baal.
Understanding how Hinduism, in the forms of Nirguna and Saguna, actually parallels the ideas of mystical Christianity can help us overcome these fears. Christian theologian Meister Eckhart explains the difference between Nirguna and Saguna through the terms “God” and “the Godhead.” The Godhead, for Eckhart, is like Nirguna Brahman; it is the very essence of reality, at the heart of all existence. We cannot properly speak of it in human language because it is beyond time, beyond space, beyond becoming, beyond death, beyond change, and beyond gender. God, on the other hand, is the Divine intervening in the human situation, perceived through human attributes we can talk about: love, mercy, justice, and compassion. Knowing the many individual aspects of the Divine apart from the One can therefore feel incomplete and be confusing, as is evident in Eckhart’s famous prayer, “I ask God to rid me of God.” Here, he asks to be free of human projections so that he can “know God, as God is.” This is the ultimate move from Saguna Brahman to Nirguna Brahman, and such movement is the natural order of all chants. Paradoxically, with mantras we use words to go beyond words to get to the essence of word itself.
Each vision of Brahman holds its own danger. To stay fixated on the transcendent One, while negating the many aspects and diversity of the Divine, can make for an impersonal spiritual approach that doesn’t recognize human frailty and suffering, or in other cases creates a sense of superiority and religious discrimination against others. The other extreme is to become overly engrossed with specific attributes of the Divine in a way that prevents us from penetrating to the depth of Divine essence. The former endangers excessive transcendence, the latter excessive immanence. Our challenge today is to bring together the One and the many in a celebration of the All, a goal that mantra can help us achieve.
Since Hinduism teaches that there is only one Supreme Being with many attributes, it can be conversely stated that any single attribute can lead us back to the One. With this in mind, Hindus regard the sound structure of that attribute (the Saguna mantra) as a sort of hologram — a part that contains the whole, a slice of reality that can lead us back to the One.* Thus, every Saguna mantra is fundamentally an energetic form of some aspect of the Divine. While in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the one Almighty God is worshipped by many attributes such as kindness, love, and mercy, Hinduism reverently uses sonic formulae to embody and release these same attributes in our own body and soul. Saguna mantras, therefore, provide us with a means of absorbing Divine attributes into ourselves so that we can increase our own divinity and aspire to our highest good.
WHILE IT IS FULLY PERMISSIBLE to initially choose to maintain mental images when chanting deity mantras, the image in mantra practice must eventually dissolve so that the reality of the mantra’s force can come into focus. For instance, some practitioners find it helpful to use an image of Shiva while chanting a Shiva mantra, or an image of Jesus when chanting a Jesus mantra. The ideal method of mantra practice is to allow the patterns of energy that are awakened during mantra recitation to naturally take form in our consciousness. In this manner, the mantra may awaken images from the unconscious or generate kaleidoscopic patterns of energy reflective of the deep transformation in effect during the recitation. Yet our deepest mystical experiences always require that we travel beyond the realm of name and form to that place of deep stillness and silence within us; here, sound and movement manifest as the most subtle vibrations.
Jesus showed his followers that he had to die in order that a new world be born. After his death on the cross, he appeared to his disciples in a spiritual body that defied the laws of this physical world. In the same way, the external mantra, through repeated use, transforms our consciousness into the body of the mantra, a spiritual field that defies the laws of this physical world. All our expectations and images ultimately dissolve in this radical transformation.
I will provide some guidelines here that can help you get accustomed to using Hindu deity mantras. These methods work equally well for those who are already comfortable with such mantras, as it will help them access deeper experiences through a more meaningful understanding of these sounds.
First, as we’ve discussed, remind yourself repeatedly to separate the mantra from the visual form of the deity it evokes, which is merely an anthropomorphic representation of a cosmic force. For instance, you may have seen an image of Shiva with a trident in his hand and a snake around his neck; this image may appear in your mind as you chant a Shiva mantra. If this happens, it is important to realize that this is not the actual presence of the vibrational field of intelligence and energy that is represented by the Shiva mantra; rather, it is only one possible variation of the field.
Next, try to discern the archetypal attribute of the Divine that a particular mantra represents. Identifying this broader meaning can help us feel comfortable and confident about using the mantra. Shiva, for instance, means “the beneficent one.” So when we use the mantra Shiva, we are addressing an approachable aspect of a terrifying mystery that is ultimately beneficent. Shiva is also the Divine dancer whose motions are the energies of the universe. To use the mantra Shiva is to worship the great dance of creation.
Third, endeavor to understand the particular function of the mantra you want to use. For instance, a Shiva mantra can be used to remove fear, particularly the fear of change. In the Hindu Trinity, Shiva is associated with destruction, which is a negative term for the constant restructuring of energy, without which the universe could not organize itself into new forms. With this in mind, we can use Shiva mantras to instill a sense of confidence within us, especially when we are faced with radical changes.
Fourth, learn to interpret the symbols associated with a deity in a meaningful way. We can learn their archetypal value from within their cultural contexts. For instance, in the Hindu yogic tradition, the snake around Shiva’s neck represents spiritual consciousness; the goal of the yogi is to awaken spiritual consciousness, hence the image of the serpent with a raised head. Understanding the symbols associated with a particular mantra can therefore become an energetic stimulant in our practice.
Once you have accepted the energetic power of the symbol, you can mentally use it as a spiritual container for the mantra. This is particularly helpful if you are a visually oriented person. If you are more kinesthetic — oriented toward your physical body and its movement — you might use the symbol in the form of an amulet or pendant to wear on your body. External symbols and objects associated with mantra practice act as sponges that soak up the vibrations of the recitation. Such empowered objects can then be offered to others so that they can be affected by the vibrations of the mantra. This is the Tantric way.
Hindus like to use images that they can bathe, touch, and anoint while reciting mantras. Many Hindus worship the noniconic form of Shiva — the lingam — which symbolizes a pillar of light and can represent a formless aspect of the Divine. (The common phallic association of the lingam is often offensive to Hindus, who do not all perceive it that way.) To again find interspiritual comparisons, we can see the close parallel between Shiva and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. You may recall the pillar of light that followed the Israelites through the desert, a sign of the Divine protection that accompanied them.
Having said all this, and recognizing the importance of religious context, we must also remember that neither a tactile nor a visual representation is required to awaken the power and technology of mantras. The sound form in itself carries all the resources necessary to generate the desired result, as we will explore in coming chapters. It is our own body, mind, and consciousness that should be affected and transformed by the power of the mantra. However, using mantras can stir up these powerful images and symbols from the unconscious, so it is helpful to understand them rather than fear them. These cultural images can motivate us to discover the power of mantras at an archetypal level of our being, for it is there that the healing power of the mantra is at its peak.
* There are two schools of Vedic grammarians. For the Sphotavada school, the entire mantra is necessary to awaken inner illumination (sphota) because of the interdependence of meaning between words necessary to complete a sentence. The other school, Varnavada, leans toward the Tantric view and stresses that individual letters (varnas, which also means caste and form) are capable of awakening the intended illumination.