Shakti Yoga is the path of energy. In this stream of Sound Yoga, the expansive resonance of the word — shabda — is brought home to the human body in the form of shakti mantras. These sounds are Tantric, or rooted in the body, whereas Vedic mantras are oriented toward the cosmos. We could say that, in the Tantric tradition, mantras incarnate as flesh and blood, emphasizing the immanence of the Divine presence rather than the transcendence evoked by the poetry of Vedic mantras.
“Tantra” means “fabric,” and refers to the warp-and-woof intermeshing of life and consciousness. The roots of Tantrism lie in closely guarded esoteric insights from the pre-Vedic tradition of goddess worship, which coexisted with, intermingled with, and influenced the Vedic period. It then experienced a resurgence around 500 A.D. with the development of many key Tantric texts.
In the Tantric view, the feminine energy of Shakti is considered to be the agent of all Divine action. With beautiful philosophical balance, every male deity in the Hindu tradition has a corresponding shakti — a female counterpart. In Hinduism, the feminine shakti is perceived as the active principle, which is a reversal of the Western view. Shakti, for the Hindu, is a dynamic energy without which nothing can be accomplished. Shiva, the pervasive male principle, is thus complemented by Shakti, the pervasive female principle. Similarly, Brahma the Creator is complemented by Saraswati, the goddess of art and knowledge, and Vishnu the preserver is balanced with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and abundance. All goddesses are forms of the one shakti. The absolute sound, Shabda Brahman, is complemented by the absolute energy, Para Shakti. It should be noted, however, that at the level of Brahman, or supreme reality, gender is subsumed and transcended. Here reality is viewed through the single eye — the eye of wisdom between the eyebrows — while all other views of reality are through the eyes of duality. Tantrics see the play of opposites in all aspects of creation as contributing to dualistic modes of perception, which must be unified, embodied, and transformed through the process of Tantric Yoga.
IN TANTRIC MYSTICISM, the throbbing at the heart of all creation is called spanda. This primal humming of the Divine presence is a tremendous bidirectional vortex of power, intelligence, and energy, spinning constantly and effortlessly while generating the multitude of sound vibrations that become the universe. Information continually flows outward to every aspect of creation and is simultaneously received from every facet of being through an eternal process that composes the music of life. This sounds a lot like Candace Pert’s “molecules of emotion,” as mentioned in chapter one, but in this case it’s occurring on a macroscopic level.
Shakti is the raw energy that gushes out of spanda, coursing excitedly through all vibrations and endowing them with life and vitality. She is the blood of the universe, rushing in and out of its deep center, purifying and renewing all that has become contaminated. Shakti is like the human heart, receiving impure blood through the veins and sending purified blood to every part of the body through the arteries. Two of Shakti’s infinite faces demonstrate that this inescapable energy is fierce as well as loving, capable of creation as well as destruction: Kali is a dark being who receives the impure wastes generated by the creative process, while Durga is a being of light who confers grace and blessing upon all.
Out of context, Kali and Durga are feared for their fierce symbolism and terrifying forms — Kali with her necklace of skulls, and Durga riding her powerful tiger. But only our ego fears them, with its desire to fragment reality and “cut the fabric of life” to its own tastes and desires. When the ego is surrendered, we become free to love and to accept change. We become part of a great cosmic design. If we hold fast to our conditioned reflexes and live purely from our head, we may one day find ourselves decapitated, our skull strung on Kali’s necklace. We cannot fight wholeness for long. One day, life will turn and we will be forced to surrender our center of reference.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Kali, Durga’s tiger represents animal instinct under the benign influence of the wise goddess who rides it. Riding the tiger also has a sexual connotation of benign energy channeled toward its own source in the sexual act. Once we surrender to the source, we discover that our center — whether previously located in the mind or in the genitals — is present everywhere. Christian mystic and scientist Nicholas of Cusa once described the Divine as a circle, with its center everywhere and its circumference nowhere. This is what we discover through the Tantric process.
AS WE ADVANCE through stages of spiritual evolution, we discover various centers and forms of energy through our sexuality, our individuality, our capacity to relate lovingly, our creativity, and our power to think and examine. Sometimes people get stuck at one stage, as when someone becomes obsessed by sexuality or when one lives completely in the rational mind, cynical about everything and disconnected from emotion. Shakti Yoga shows us how we can bring together these various forms of energy and orchestrate these differentiated planes of existence into harmonious balance and wholeness. In other words, we must eventually learn to live from our deepest center — not from our head, gut, genitals, or sentiments, but from the very bottom of our soul. It is undeniably the heart that offers us the greatest amount of fulfillment, and life is always pushing us to realize this essential truth.
Movement is an essential aspect of Shakti Yoga. We want to move through our centers of reference in the head, the gut, and our sexual organs and allow ourselves to find our way into the very heart of all existence. In Shakti Yoga, the physical body incarnates the energy of the soul; it is a conduit for all the information life has to offer, and it functions as a vehicle for the soul. Christian mystic St. Gregory Palamas once wrote, “The body, too, is capable of divine things when the passionate forces of the soul are not put to death, but transformed and sanctified.”1 This is exactly what we must discover today.
Basic physics teaches us that form is energy and energy is form. This is why the mantras and practices of Shakti Yoga can be used to direct the flow of energy in and through the body. As shown by Hans Jenny’s experiments in cymatics, described in chapter one, various substances — sand, spores, iron filings, water — organize themselves in harmonic patterns when exposed to specific sounds, such as live or recorded music, or human vocalization.2 Solid objects, as we know, are composed of comparatively slow-moving molecules. Their vibratory structure is more compact and thus less permeable. Liquid, on the other hand, is more fluid, but it is still subject to the force of gravity; these molecules are less compacted. Gases are airy, free, expanded, and made up of extremely fastmoving molecules. Having a “sound” physical body means having optimal flow and consistency of energy in our solid, liquid, and gaseous structures. Our blood flow should be free and unobstructed, air should enter our lungs unimpeded, pure body fat must be properly contained, and our muscles should be well toned. Shakti mantras, like musical tones, can aid this process by dissolving constricted energy blocks, improving the flow of energy in all its varying consistencies. These mantras operate on the same principle as the lithotripter, which dissolves kidney stones, or as the opera singer who can shatter a crystal goblet. We can see how sound and music can contribute significantly to improved health.
TANTRA ASSIGNS human sexuality a central place in the spiritual process. The sexual center of the human body is seen as a storehouse of power — a reservoir from which we can channel energy toward other centers in the body. In Shakti Yoga, the channels that conduct the flow of energy are known as nadis. Nadis constitute a system that is somewhat similar to the meridian system of Chinese acupuncture, but based on a subtler plane of existence. The energy conducted through these channels is known as prana. Prana is the vital life force present in all things; it is conducted into living organisms through the medium of air — the same medium through which sound waves travel.
The nadis are a subtle network comprised of seventy-two thousand channels, three of which are the most important. The main channel, called the susumna, is located alongside the spinal cord and runs all the way from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. When energy is directed into this channel, the highest spiritual goals can be realized. But the human body, in Tantric practice, is also divided in two equal halves. On either side of the central susumna are two important subchannels, known as ida and pingala. Ida, associated with the left side of the body, is linked to lunar energy; it is both feminine and cooling by nature. Pingala is associated with masculine energy and solar power; it is by nature hot, and linked to the right side of the body.
Each channel is also associated with a specific hemisphere of the brain and is governed by a specific nostril. Ida, the feminine channel, originates from the left side of the spinal base, culminates in the left nostril, and governs the right hemisphere of the brain. Pingala, which governs the left hemisphere of the brain, originates toward the right of the spinal base and culminates in the right nostril. Activities requiring physical strength and dexterity draw energy from the right, masculine nostril, while those requiring emotional strength draw from the left. To realize spiritual objectives in yoga, both energies must be unified and simultaneously directed up the central susumna through all the chakras — the seven vortexes of power that govern our emotional, mental, and spiritual states.
Long ago, yogis noticed that the right, or solar, nostril dominates during the day, while the left, or lunar, nostril dominates at night. This natural process allows for vigorous activity during the daytime and leisure and sleep at night. One can deliberately alter these patterns for specific explorations in energy and consciousness through Swara Yoga, a branch of yoga that specializes in nostril control. “Swara” means “that which makes its own sweetness.” It is also the word used for musical notes — do, re, mi, and so on. We can discern here a direct correlation among sound, breath, emotional states, and the chakras. In chapter thirteen, you will learn how Western medical doctors listen to the sound and music of the breath to understand the health status of our body.
Ida and pingala intertwine around the chakras to create a helixlike pattern similar to the caduceus, a winged staff entwined by two serpents that symbolizes healing in Western medicine. These serpents are symbols of the Greek and Roman gods Hermes and Mercury. In a bit of cross-cultural symmetry, the serpent symbolizes consciousness in the East. As East continues to meet West on so many levels, we can see the connection between healing and consciousness growing deeper with time.
THE CHAKRAS are hubs that allow energy to pass through them and become transmuted into experiences. Along the spine are five human chakras, or vortexes; entry and exit vortexes at either end of the spine bring the total to seven. Among the five human vortexes, the genitals are the storehouse for primal energy; the power to organize and govern lies in the abdomen; the capacity to love is located in the heart; the throat holds the passage of creativity and imagination; and in the center of the forehead is the seat of wisdom and inner perception.
At the base of the spine, close to the anal opening, is the “root support” or muladhara chakra, through which we interface with raw, undifferentiated energy. Through this threshold, primal shakti energy enters the body. This unbridled power then makes itself present in the body, first and foremost as our sex drive — which my mentor Bede Griffiths often described as the fundamental love instinct in human nature.
The crown of the head, or “crown chakra,” is the exit point for energy. After being transmuted through all our chakras, our basic life force can here be transformed into blissful Divine energy. This is the goal of Shakti Yoga, or Tantra Yoga.
The word “chakra” means “wheel” or “discus,” indicating the dynamic, spinning motion of these centers. Today, the analogy of a spinning CD or DVD metaphorically describes how these centers hold tremendous amounts of information. Physiologically, medical experts have identified complex crossovers of nerves and glandular secretions that can be directly associated with each of the chakras and the energies they govern. All of our experiences are stored in the chakras: sexual experiences are held in the sexual chakra; romantic and filial experiences in the heart; creative experiences in the throat center. Experiences are constantly awakened and relived when energy is activated in the chakras, giving rise to the distinct states of consciousness related to various types of energy — sexual, emotional, mental — that we experience in everyday life. Chakras, in other words, play the music of our soul.
WHEN ENERGY FLOW is unimpeded in our body, it travels effortlessly through the chakras and carries with it all our experiences, which find ultimate fulfillment when merged with the Divine Presence. But the natural journey of our energy from the base of the spine to the top of the head is often blocked. Unresolved experiences restrict the passage of energy through a particular chakra. Resolved experiences pose no obstruction; they actually configure the chakra to allow energy to pass through it.
Creative, artistic people are often open and vulnerable, but they can also be blocked in the abdomen and intimidated by organizational demands. Intellectuals can be brilliant thinkers but incapable of getting in touch with their emotions. Sexually obsessive individuals may have poor control over their emotions, and excessively loving people can be overwhelming if their love is not balanced with perspective. This is all because it is possible for us to operate from a dominant chakra, while being constricted in others. Complete blockage will result in disease, or even death. But constriction, irregular flow, or misdirection of energy is not uncommon in the chakras we are unwilling to open and heal.
As we live and act in the world — especially a busy one — we build up resistance in an effort to defend ourselves. But resistance prevents flow, and the lack of flow creates discomfort — which, if not attended to, eventually leads to disease. The trauma of being physically attacked, for instance, or even a hurtful conversation may become stored as blockage in our body and our chakras. As a consequence, we might create the habit of tightening our belly or unconsciously constricting our heart space. These are like scratches on a record. Shakti Yoga shows us how to get the needle out of the repetitive groove and let new music play.
Psychology is a powerful tool because it helps us dissolve the blockage in our chakras. Some psychologists, including Jungian analyst Ashok Bedi, M.D., are using Shakti Yoga techniques in their psychotherapy practices to assist in releasing blocked energy. In his book Path to the Soul, Dr. Bedi uses the seven-chakra system of Shakti Yoga to describe how the soul sends out emergency signals from the depths of the psyche.3 And some medical doctors, notably Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., are using the age-old practices of Shakti Yoga in their treatments of physical ailments with tremendous success. Such practices are no doubt rare, but the stage is being set for an integrative medicine that employs yogic practices and insights in the healing process because the body and the soul are indivisible in the realm of spirit.
THE MANTRAS of Shakti Yoga gently and methodically work on our obstructions by releasing healing energy in the chakras, which then open up to the flow. This is why chakras are often depicted in esoteric Hindu art as flowers with opening petals. When primal energy is allowed to pass through all the chakras without obstruction, its merging with the Divine Presence creates an intense light that causes each chakra to turn upward and receive its warmth. This is exactly what happens in an awakened or enlightened soul — a jivan mukta — who has learned to channel, release, and merge personal energy with the Divine Absolute.
Classical and religious art — particularly Christian art — often depicts saintly people with halos around their heads. This representation is more than metaphorical. It is, in fact, an accurate insight into the merging of our individual consciousness with the Divine Presence. Achieving a powerful, unobstructed flow of energy from the base of the spine to the top of the head and out through the crown indicates a profound union between body, soul, and spirit. This is samadhi, and sages from every culture have borne witness to the joy of this ecstatic union.
Somewhere deep within us, we know that our energy does indeed have a destination, and that its innate intelligence can guide it toward that goal if only we can learn to stay out of its way. There is, therefore, a devotional aspect of Shakti Yoga that asks for the grace of the mother, as Para Shakti (Supreme Energy) or Kundalini Maatha (Mother Kundalini), to dissolve our ego, rendering it transparent so that energy may pass through all the chakras effortlessly. The actual methodology of this devotion is addressed in the next chapter, “Bhava Yoga.”
YANTRAS ARE GEOMETRIC cosmological diagrams that are created from special materials and embedded with mantras to produce specific conditions and transformations. The preparation of yantras involves strict rules of fasting and ritual actions that must be performed according to Tantric mantra-shastra. Each feminine deity in the Tantric tradition has her own cosmological diagram, which is carefully constructed using metals that conduct the energies associated with that particular goddess. For example, the Divine force of Shakti is electromagnetic, so copper, with its power to optimally conduct electricity, is a common choice for Shakti yantras. The Sanskrit letters of mantras are written or embossed into the completed yantra, which can then be hung either inside or outside the home or office to affect a person’s life and relationships. If you are visually oriented and wish to learn to construct yantras that can be beneficial to your mantra practice, see Harish Johari’s book Tools for Tantra .4
The Shree Yantra, associated with
the goddess Lakshmi
THE TANTRIC BELIEF is that mantras, because of their potent power of encoding catalytic energy, can effect transformation by themselves; yet ritual is vital to Tantrism, as it provides the practitioner with a meaningful way to respect, embody, and develop a relationship with pure energy. Tantric rituals therefore often involve mystical gestures and actions that are performed along with mantras. An example is the Sandhya Upaasana ritual at the end of appendix one. As I mentioned, the Vedic tradition was strongly influenced by the Tantric tradition and incorporated many of its practices and methods. However, Vedic practitioners sought to keep the wildness of Tantricism under institutional control. Many Tantric rituals involve similar purification processes, performed by touching body parts while reciting mantras or even the Sanskrit alphabet. This identifies every part of the body with the rest of the universe, transforming the worshipper’s body into the cosmos. A variation of this process is called Anga-nyaasa, a series of reverential mantras offered to parts of the body to consecrate them as being implicitly identical to those of the Supreme Deity. A typical version is the following, from the Maha Nirvana Tantra, one of the classic scriptures of Tantrism. Try touching the parts of your body named in parentheses as you pronounce these mantras.
Hraam Namaha (to the heart)
Hreem Svaaha (to the head)
Hruum Vausat (to the crown-lock)
Hraim Hoom (to the upper arms)
Hraum Vausat (to the three eyes: two out-seeing, and the third unified)
Hraah Phat (to the two palms)5
The power of these mantras to transform consciousness is palpable only when you have built a strong practice of Sound Yoga. Pronouncing these mantras out of context can only hint at their power, or may even seem meaningless to the uninitiated.
AS YOU WILL FIND in appendix one, many Shabda Yoga mantras, with the exception of the Gayatri, are repeated only three times. Some Shabda Yoga mantras, such as the vyaahritis, constitute a series that is recited just once each in sequence. Shakti Yoga mantras, on the other hand, emphasize repetition and are usually simpler in form and construction. Most often, the same sound is repeated many times to facilitate and intensify the healing energy in a specific area. Also, Shakti mantras generally do not use musical intervals; they are simply pronounced without any attempt to beautify them, uttered in raw simplicity using the natural voice, channeling energy without affectation. The only dynamic variable in the Shakti mantra recitation is the intensity of the utterance, which matches the natural intensity of the exhaled breath. UnlikeVedic mantras, Tantric mantras are most powerful when chanted internally or whispered softly on the breath.
Shakti mantras are also known as “bija mantras,” meaning “seed syllables,” since these primal sounds encase energy much like a capsule produced by a pharmaceutical company contains healing chemicals or herbs. While the Rishis and grammarians of the Vedic tradition emphasized dhvani, the audible word, and sphota, the illumination awakened by the referred experience of the word, the Munis of the Tantric tradition maintained an external silence by vowing not to speak. Instead, they directed their sonic experience deep into the physiology of the human body, focusing intently on internal repetition (maanasa). Like cosmic pharmacists, they took the energy that manifests in the thunder and lightning and plants and bees and ocean currents, and found a way to represent it in mantra capsules.
In order to ensure that the disposition of the ego does not diminish their efficacy, bija mantras associated with deities are often encased in a devotional container of sacred sounds. For example, the mantra Om Hoom Namaha encases the core syllable hoom, which is a bija associated with Shiva. In this mantra, the sacred syllable Om and the reverent invocation Namaha soften the raw power of the mantra hoom by placing it within the context of personal devotion. Namaha means “I prostrate myself to you,” “I offer you my respect,” or “I surrender.” Several of these deity bijas are listed in appendix two, and an example of the encased form is also provided on the accompanying audio tracks.
I like to think that the prefix and suffix of a mantra (Om and Namaha) hold the primal energy of that mantra in a sort of psychic gelatin capsule. The heat of our body and the passion of our spiritual practice dissolve the gelatin to release the healing power of the mantra in our soul. Think of how often we imbibe medication without offering our respect to the healing energy contained in it; we take for granted that the medicine will do its work. Tantrism teaches us to pay close attention to energy in all its forms and to respect the healing power of all substances, because energy is a vibration, it is a sound.
As mentioned, in Shakti Yoga practice the devotional sounds encasing a bija mantra also serve to soften the intensity of the mantra. I call it the “buffered” version of these powerful and therapeutic sounds. Without the devotional encasement, these mantras act at full strength.
THE SEED SYLLABLES, or bijas, used to facilitate the flow of energy in the three lower chakras are lam, vam, and ram; the three upper chakras are awakened by the sounds yam, ham, and om. (Please see appendix two for the pronunciation of these mantras.) The thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head has no sound; it is Shabda Brahman, the Sonic Absolute itself, and its mantra is the vibration of silence. The chakra bijas are to be used by themselves (without Om and Namaha), and are most effective with the hands positioned in mudras (chin or gnana mudra), as I will explain in the following section.
MUDRAS, pronounced “moo-druhz,” are specific mystical gestures of the hands that accompany the mantras. The thumb represents the Divine, while the index finger represents the human soul. In many yogic mudras, the thumb and index finger are joined, denoting the act of yogic union — the yoking of the individual to the cosmic. The other three fingers represent the gunas, or aspects of nature. The middle finger represents sattwa guna, or purity — the light principle. The ring finger represents rajo-guna, which is passion or the fire principle. The little finger represents tamo-guna, which is inertia or the darkness principle. These three fingers are held in harmonic balance so that the flux of the universe is equalized. For other associations, see page 256 in appendix two.
The two most common yogic mudras are chin mudra and gnana mudra. In both, the thumbs are in contact with the index fingers, while the remaining three fingers are held harmoniously in balance. Chin mudra is used for receptivity. The hands are placed on the thighs, with the palms held facing up, to channel energy from the base of the spine toward the crown of the head. Gnana mudra is used to ground our energy. The hands are placed on the knees, with the palms facing down so that the fingers facilitate the flow of energy downward from the crown of the head to the base of the spine.
In beginning Yoga of Sound practice, I recommend accompanying your mantras with only these two mudras. If you feel flighty or mentally distracted, use gnana mudra to help ground your energy in your body and in the earth. If you feel bogged down, drained of energy, or heavy in the stomach, use chin mudra to raise your energy and transform it into a subtler form. Several other mudras are described in appendix two.
ONE IMPORTANT Shakti Yoga practice is the deep, full-cycleanother mantra would be breath, otherwise known as the “complete yogic breath” (the particulars of which are detailed in chapter thirteen). The out-breath clears an unobstructed path along which energy can pass through the chakras, while the in-breath causes energy to be awakened at the base of the spine and conducted to the top of the head, breathing life and vitality into each chakra. This “refined” energy can then be drawn back into all the chakras.
The procedures of Shakti Yoga are very much like the process of refining oil. At the root chakra level, we are drilling deep into our system, causing primal energy to gush out and enter the sexual center. The Tantric yogi seeks to refine this primal energy through each of the chakras by producing various grades of activity in the vibration of the energy until it becomes the finest and purest form of Divine energy. This can be used to fuel the most sublime spiritual intentions and activities. Our first instinct is to release this energy on the sexual plane, which is why many Tantric practitioners require sexual experiences in the early stages of their practice; it helps them work off energy that cannot be contained. Over time, Tantrics learn to contain this energy and direct it upward, step by step, through each chakra until the energy can be emitted through the crown of the head. This achievement of merging all our experiences in Shabda Brahman brings with it the highest experience of samadhi, an unequaled ecstasy.
IN THE WEST, many workshops on Tantric practice promote awakening the primal Kundalini energy in the root chakra and channeling it into sexual activity and self-gratification. In the same way, Kundalini can be awakened in the root chakra and channeled into the abdominal area to dominate and control other people. Often, the first three chakras — root, sexual, and abdominal — are ruled by the ego, which makes our world a dangerous place.
The challenge of Shakti Yoga is to channel the energy, not just to these three lower chakras of physical and psychological power, but all the way into the three higher chakras of spiritual awakening. When energy is contained and progressively channeled upward, it can be allowed to penetrate the heart, the throat, and the forehead, transforming primal energy into love, creativity, and spiritual knowledge. Ultimate fulfillment occurs when our transformed energy merges with the Divine Presence at the crown of the head. This union is samadhi, a bliss that supercedes the range of human experience. When all seven chakras are activated and balanced, a deep flowering occurs.
Even if we don’t consciously try to move energy into our chakras, the process occurs naturally all the time. Usually only small amounts of energy, or shakti, are being released into the body from the base of the spine. Yoga practice — especially Tantric Yoga or Kundalini Yoga, and also Hatha Yoga — seeks to intensify the flow of energy and prepare the nervous system to efficiently handle the increased intensity without causing a “brown-out” in our nervous system or short-circuiting our spiritual channels. The chakras exist to naturally condition the flow of primal energy in our body so that we can enjoy a variety of experiences — sexual, mental, creative, and so on. All these experiences are energetic in their essence, but most normal human experiences do not require that the flow of energy in the chakras be intensified. Only the advanced spiritual practitioner or Tantric yogi pushes the envelope to explore new horizons in the landscape of consciousness.
Yogis perceived that actions (karma) — especially repeated actions — create grooves (samskaras) in our chakras. If all we can think about is sex, that’s where the energy goes. The result of this involuntary mechanism is that we keep investing our own shakti into a single chakra, or in looped patterns within several various chakras. Repeated patterns are the habits that we feed and reinforce, either consciously or unconsciously. Often, we are aware that certain mental, emotional, or behavioral patterns are unhealthy, but we are unable to effect the changes we desire; in the worst cases, we may even be completely unaware that change is needed in order for us to feel healthier.
The chanting of mantras is an effective way to clean our chakras, erase outmoded energy grooves, and encourage energy to flow in ways that offer a deeper perspective on life and a greater sense of purpose and meaning. In general, vowel sounds facilitate the flow of energy in and through the chakras, while consonants affect specific areas. When used repeatedly, consonants can strike the same region over and over again to disintegrate any obstruction to optimal energy flow.
Tantric experts agree with the advice of most financial experts: diversify your portfolio. This means regularly ensuring that energy doesn’t accumulate in a single chakra for excessive periods of time because it can easily lead to burnout, disease, or the loss of valuable relationships. Once again, the use of vowel sounds and specific Shakti Yoga mantras can help distribute energy in the chakras and keep them operating efficiently. This will result in having more energy and more creative potential, with less stress and fewer negative emotions.
ALLOWING SHAKTI to flow up into the abdomen can give us great control of our emotions and excellent organizational capacity. Empowering this chakra helps remove fear and doubt. Many of us, rewarded by success in work, have obviously learned to do this effectively. When energy is directed farther upward, it enters the heart — something we often try to prevent, at least during business hours! Energy entering the heart becomes softer, like hard water being transformed in a water softener. When we become soft, we become vulnerable — and that’s not good for business.
When shakti enters the heart, the ego melts and becomes transparent. We connect with our emotions and we begin to feel more deeply. Despite a capitalist system that rewards aggressive, analytical behavior, many of us work hard to be fully human in our work lives. It takes concerted effort to keep the energy flowing. We may fear compromising our career goals or becoming “too soft” if we’re not aggressive. With all the pressure pointing us in that direction, we have to watch out for ego-acquisition modes that take over the chakras and make us less tolerant and compassionate.
By combining yogic streams in our community of mantras, we can achieve the necessary balance. When Shabda Yoga is employed in combination with Shakti Yoga, we become capable of making the soul vulnerable as well as strong, transparent as well as resilient. While seemingly paradoxical, this is not only possible but perhaps the only way to be fully human and still pursue our professional activities. Shabda Yoga offers us strength, protection, and a fortified emotional infrastructure that allows Shakti to enter the heart and pass on into the throat, where tremendous creative energy can be encountered. Today, we all have to wear many hats. In order to maintain inexhaustible creativity and a deep and fulfilling spiritual life, and simultaneously do well in our careers, we must learn to combine the streams of Sound Yoga into an effective daily practice. We will explore this in detail in part five of this book.
THE BIJA MANTRAS may feel strange at first. Tantrism is rooted in the shamanic traditions of Hinduism and does, indeed, overlap with the magical, but there is no reason to fear them. Rather, we can revel in their exotic pleasures and feel them touch previously unexperienced parts of ourselves.
You may use bija mantras in their pure form for maximum potency, or you may place them between Om and Namaha for a time-release effect. For example, you might want to use Om Hoom Namaha or Om Aim Namaha, a Saraswati bija. You may also combine the power of two mantras, for example Om Hoom Aim Namaha. Or you can repeat the same bija within a mantric phrase to emphasize a specific quality, for example, Om Hoom Hoom Aim Shreem Namaha. Shreem and Shring are bijas of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. See appendix two for more bija mantras and their energetic significance.
Shakti Yoga is about flow, so the use of movement is as important as the use of sound. Dancing the vowels, an exercise detailed in chapter fifteen, can be used with bija mantras to help open blocked energy in the chakras at any time of day.
THE WORD JAPA MEANS “repetitive prayer.” As mentioned earlier, in the Tantric approach a mantra is repeated many times until the energy contained within the sound is released into the soul. The same process is used in the Jesus prayer, in which repeating the name of Jesus awakens in our heart a love for Jesus, drawing us into his presence. This is the teaching of the Christian Hesychast movement, a sort of Christian Tantrism that uses the pulse of the heart and the awareness of breath to stay centered in the body while repeating the name of Jesus. Monks of the Greek Orthodox Church on Mount Athos — the Mount Kailash of Christianity — developed this method of prayer.
In the Tantric tradition, the most powerful mantric repetition is in the depths of the heart. While the external sound is most important in Shabda Yoga recitation, Shakti Yoga emphasizes the internal sound. Internal recitation of mantras, as you will recall from the exercise at the end of chapter seven, is known as maanasa, “a sounding in the mind.” In between loud vocalization and mental repetition, there is soft utterance or whispering, upaamsu.
BECAUSE THE PHYSICAL body is central to the experience of Tantrism, rosary beads are considered particularly helpful in the recitation of Shakti Yoga mantras. The beads also help with counting the number of recitations, another key element of Tantric practice, known as purascharana. Hindu yogic rosaries, called maalas, or japa maalas, usually have 108 beads, a number obtained by multiplying the number of planets in our solar system by the number of astrological signs in the zodiac. The number 108 originally represented the distances from the earth to the sun and the moon; both of these distances are approximately 108 times the respective diameters of the sun and moon.* You will recall from chapter two that, in Hatha Yoga, the syllable “ha” refers to the sun and “tha” to the moon, suggesting two opposite yet complementary energies that manifest in the body and the world. In Tantric Yoga, the sun and moon are associated with the ida and pingala nadis, which are the male and female channels on either side of the body. The use of maala beads balances our energies and allows the individual soul to be joined with the cosmos in yogic union. Our sonic meditation thus becomes a cosmological process that affects the entire universe.
One extra bead in the maala, known as sumeru, is never used because it represents Divine Presence itself. It is similar to the protection of the name of God in the Hebrew tradition or the avoidance of using an image of God in Islam. It shows the utmost reverence for the symbol directly identified with most high. We keep moving toward the sumeru as we recite our mantra; having arrived at our goal, we turn around and work our way toward it again from the other direction. The sumeru bead helps maintain a conscious awareness of ultimate Divine presence throughout the recitation. The process is the experience.
The materials from which a maala is made also have significance. Maalas made from rudraksha seeds are associated with Shiva’s energy and are most often used by yogis, monks, and ascetics. Rudraksha maalas are excellent for developing detachment from worldly preoccupations and focusing on the eternal. The tulasi seed is associated with Vishnu, the preserver of the universe, and is used by householders and devotees of Krishna. Tulasi beads are used to preserve happiness in our relationships, both human and with the Divine. They are also used to generate peace and contentment within the family. Shakti worshippers use maalas made from turmeric, which is associated with fertility. Turmeric maalas are excellent for healing or for acquiring yogic powers. These maalas are biodegradable, and can therefore be buried in the ground or dissolved in a river after the desired result is achieved. Crystal is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and is therefore used to create affluence. Sandalwood, rosewood, and other types of maalas are also available. Generally, it is best to avoid synthetic materials.
Do not use the same maala for all your mantras. You can use your maala for your core mantra, or to achieve a specific goal using a specific mantra. If you change your core mantra, it is recommended that you use another maala, as the vibrations of another mantra would be different. This is not necessarily related to the type of maala; they could both be crystal, for instance. But a maala must be consecrated and dedicated for a particular mantra; the two must be exclusively partnered to infuse the maala with the power of the mantra.
After one hundred twenty-five thousand recitations of a mantra, the maala is considered independently empowered with shakti. The mantra, too, has reached its full potency for the practitioner at this time. In some cases, certain karmic factors may awaken the power of the mantra with a minimum of utterances. A person may have chanted this mantra many times in previous lives or simply have developed an open channel to its energy and vibrations. In such instances, the practitioner may simply breathe upon the maala to empower it with the shakti of the mantra. Once the maala has been charged with power, the beads used to recite it may be worn around the neck or placed on an afflicted area of a loved one for healing power and protection. A cotton string tied around the hand or foot may also be used in place of beads for this healing intention.
An important rule in maala recitation is that the index finger and little finger should not touch the beads. The beads are rolled between the middle finger and the thumb; the ring finger, not actively used, may contact the beads. This is a key teaching of mantra shastra. Other rules include facing east or north, considered the most desirable directions for recitation; proper diet; and the use of proper materials for the meditation seat. We shall discuss these practices further in chapter eleven.
IN CHAPTER SEVEN, we discussed Vak, which is personified as a goddess representing the speech of stones, water, animals, birds, insects, and humans. Vak is a principle shared by both Vedic and Tantric traditions. Meditation on Vak requires a deep listening to the birds, to the river, to the wind, to the thunder. To absorb the principle of Vak into our being is to embody the sacredness and vitality that pervade all of life. As we listen, we allow the power and essence of nature to be absorbed into our soul. This must be done without reflecting on the process. Vak is not to be understood; it is to be absorbed. A stone, a flower, a tree — even a house, a room, or a computer — is alive with energy and presence. These sounds can feed energy into our soul if we open our hearts to their presence. Meditation on Vak teaches us to move out of our selfpreoccupied worlds and engage in the vibratory presence of things; the world is alive and throbbing with energy and intelligence.
YOU WILL REMEMBER that, in Shabda Yoga, sacred speech is perceived as unfolding in four phases, a process that recedes back into itself just like the universe. Emerging from the source, Shabda Brahman — the Sonic Absolute — has a thought (pasyanti). Through a magical process we call “nature” (represented by the term madhyama, or “middle process in speech”) the thought translates into a flower or an elephant. We attune ourselves to this middle process in speech by the whispered breath in mantra practice; the manifest elephant or flower corresponds to the audible word, vaikari. To put it plainly, the Divine thought becomes a physical form by means of the Divine breath.
In Tantric mantra repetition, we use this understanding to reverse the process, using our own breath to move from an awareness of the physical plane to the Divine essence and energy. Thus, the outermost form of pronouncing the mantra (vacaka) moves into whispering the mantra on our breath (upaamsu), which then leads to sounding the mantra internally in our mind (maanasa). The deepest presence of sound, word, and mantra is actually a listening with all of our being, tusnim, the direct attunement to Shabda Brahman at the level of Para Vak or Supreme Word. This happens when we are no longer saying the mantra, but the mantra is saying itself in us.
When we follow the vibration of the mantra all the way to its depth in Para Vak, we “follow the goddess home” — even if we don’t sense her encouragement along the way. In other words, we must have faith that Divine grace is always with us as we use the mantra to navigate the dark alleyways of the mind. Obviously, this is not a principle we should employ for the wrong reasons, such as pursuing a process toward selfgratification, but for spiritual realization and the transformation of consciousness — the genuine objectives of Shakti Yoga.
We therefore use the external sound to get the dense aspects of our being — cells, bones, tissues, and vital organs — to reverberate with the resonance of the mantra. Gradually we progress inward, through distinctly subtler levels, until we arrive at Para Vak or Shabda Brahman, the source of all sound and the ground of all being. As we try to penetrate all these levels of speech and sound, we must navigate through the resistance of our analytical mind. We may experience moments when we don’t feel connected to the sacred. Often the analytical mind accompanies our efforts all the way to the source level, and it is only in that deep space that it eventually relinquishes all its tricks and habitual patterns. Singleminded determination is therefore required to follow the path of the mantra all the way home.
* The moon is 2,159 miles in diameter; multiply that by 108 and you get 233,000 miles, which is close to the distance between the earth and the moon (239,000 miles). The sun’s diameter is 870,000 miles; multiply that by 108 and you get 93,960,000, which approximates the distance between the sun and the earth (93,000,000 miles).