In the first stage of chakra meditation, you integrated an awareness of the chakras with the practice of mulabandha. In the process, whether you realized it or not, you began to awaken and direct prana through the nadis in and around your spine. You may or may not have felt prana moving in your body (either way is entirely okay), but you probably felt at least some of the effects: a degree of inner stillness and a pleasant sense of peacefulness. This is an excellent beginning, but now we can take this deeper by adding the use of mantras into your practice.
Recall that in chapter 1 we defined meditation as the process of making the mind’s activity subtler. Notice that in the first stage of chakra meditation, your breathing became finer and you felt some relaxation and peace; perhaps your mind also became quieter at points. These are all signs that to some extent you transcended to those subtler levels. Yet, to take the mind even deeper, something more is needed. Some medium of experience, some particular thought is needed to provide the mind with a vehicle for transcending through all its subtle layers. If you can give your mind such a vehicle, then it can first experience that thought at a conscious level, then at a subtler level, then a deeper level, until your mind transcends even the faintest level of that thought. The silence that you will then experience will be deeper and richer than the silence you felt during the first stage of chakra meditation.
One such vehicle for transcendence is called a mantra. A mantra is a syllable, word, or group of words with a very pure and harmonious vibratory quality; chanting it or, even better, silently meditating on it uplifts and purifies your consciousness. Mantras reveal that language is more than simply a means to communicate: language is sound, and sound is vibration, and vibration can have a powerful impact on us.
Modern physics reveals that all matter is vibrating energy. Vibration is an essential aspect of all existence; it determines the qualities, form, and structure of everything. Put another way, vibration (the Word) is the structuring intelligence of everything. India’s ancient seers realized this truth through their deep meditations. They saw that vibration structures even the quality of an individual’s personality and consciousness, and that affecting vibration was therefore a key to transformation. They further cognized a number of extremely pure and powerful impulses or vibrations within their consciousness. These particular vibrations are the traditional mantras, and they serve as an ideal medium for meditation, for transformation.
From this discussion you can see that mantras are not just words; really, they are vibrations. A word we speak with our mouths that we may call a mantra, like Om, for instance, is just the outer package that delivers the actual mantra, which is the essence of the word, its vibratory quality. In fact, you truly experience the mantra (the vibration) only when, during meditation, you transcend the word. This reveals the key to mantra meditation: You start at the conscious, thinking level, mentally thinking the mantra. (There is no need to say it aloud, because you want to go to subtler levels, not bring it out to the gross vocalized level.) At this point, you are thinking a word; you are not yet consciously experiencing the true mantra, which is latent within the word. Then, as you continue to think it, the word gradually fades and becomes just a faint idea, feeling, or impulse. In other words, you are transcending to a subtler experience of the mantra. You are getting into the essence of the mantra, which transcends the word and is vibration.
As you gain greater clarity at these quieter levels of the mind, you may experience the mantra as a steady, pure tone, like a bell ringing through every cell of your being. The Dhyana-Bindu Upanishad describes this: “That man is the knower of the Vedas [divine knowledge] who knows that the end of Pranava [Om] should be worshipped (or recited) as uninterrupted as the flow of oil and (resounding) as long as the sound of a bell.”
To continue this analogy presented by the Upanishad, thinking the mantra as a word is like striking a bell; thinking the mantra as a faint idea is like striking the bell more softly; letting go of even the faint idea and experiencing the mantra as a faint feeling, subtle tone, or quality of inner silence is like hearing only the pure tone of the bell as it resonates after being struck. Striking the bell requires some effort; striking it softly requires less; enjoying the tone of the bell requires no effort. In the case of the mantra, however, the vibration does not diminish over time as it does in the case of the bell. The mind savors the feeling (vibration) of the mantra on and on, drinking it in, which elevates the state of one’s mind and body, bringing more energy, peace, joy, creativity, love, and expansion.
Again, the subtler levels of the mantra hold much more transformative power than the gross level of word does. This may be compared to homeopathy, which greatly dilutes substances to activate the vital energy and so the healing potency of the substance. A visible amount of the substance — say, a teaspoon of sulfur — may have little effect, whereas the activated homeopathic dilution, with but a few molecules of sulfur, has much more healing potency. The principle behind this is exactly what we discussed in chapter 1 — the subtle levels of existence are always more powerful than the gross. Likewise, the gross, audible word that is the mantra has only a little power to transform, compared to the “diluted” vibration, the essence of the mantra, which holds far more potency.
Sometimes, even after this explanation, people may feel compelled to mentally repeat the mantras clearly, so before starting the meditation, let’s try an experiment to help you better understand the importance of thinking the mantra gently. Sit with your eyes closed and notice your thoughts for about half a minute; then open your eyes. Go ahead, try it. . . .
Your thoughts are very abstract, aren’t they? They are not a clear pronunciation of words, but faint wisps, hardly recognizable as words at all — and this is how we experience language at the conscious thinking level, which is the grossest level of thought. Meditation is supposed to take us to much more abstract levels of thought. So, if we try to think the mantra as a clear pronunciation, we are actually going in the wrong direction. We are going to a level of thought that is even grosser than the ordinary conscious level of thinking. This means that for the meditation to work, we must let go of the clear pronunciation of the mantra. We must allow it to become a faint idea or just a feeling or tone.
So if ever you find yourself hammering away at the mantra clearly, just stop. Sit for a minute without making any attempt to meditate. Just be. When you feel at ease, then gently begin the mantra again, and don’t mind a bit if it fades or you feel you are losing the mantra. Let the mental pronunciation of the mantra go and enjoy the faint feeling that follows. That subtle feeling, which may be quite indistinct, is the vibration of the mantra. It is the mantra’s essence.
One last point on this: The tendency to think the mantra clearly usually comes from anxiety about correctly pronouncing the mantra. But remember how faint your ordinary thoughts were when you witnessed them a minute ago? They were faint wisps; but if you were to speak your thoughts, they would emerge from your mouth as clearly pronounced words. This means that even though our thoughts are indistinct mental currents, the correct pronunciation of the words is still present in our thoughts; we just don’t experience that pronunciation clearly at the mental level. Likewise, once you know the correct pronunciation of a mantra, though it may seem indistinct when you think it, the correct pronunciation is intact. You need not think the mantra clearly or worry that the pronunciation is wrong. You don’t need to worry about anything. It is only natural that as the mantra goes to finer and finer levels, your experience of it will change: it will fade or become just a faint impulse, feeling, or tone. This is the experience of the subtle levels of the mantra.
Now, what mantras will we use for our meditation? During Effortless Mind meditation we use a number of mantras for specific purposes. During the chakra meditation, we use what are called seed syllables, one-syllable mantras that are the vibration of the particular element (earth, water, fire, air, or space) associated with each chakra. The element and its mantra relate to the vibratory quality of the chakra. The following table shows the mantra and element associated with each chakra. As for pronunciation of the mantras: the a is short, pronounced like the u in the word but, so the first five mantras all rhyme with hum.
| CHAKRA | ELEMENT | MANTRA AND PRONUNCIATION |
| Root (muladhara) | Earth | Lam (Lum) |
| Sacral (svadhishthana) | Water | Vam (Vum) |
| Navel (manipura) | Fire | Ram (Rum) |
| Heart (anahata) | Air | Yam (Yum) |
| Throat (vishuddha) | Space | Ham (Hum) |
| Third-eye (ajna) | Mind | Om (Om) |
| Crown (sahasrara) | Pure consciousness, transcending the universe (beyond all elements) | Transcendent silence |
Before you begin this meditation, let me offer another word on the benefits of adding mantras to the chakra meditation. It is one thing to experience silence at the chakras, as in the first stage of chakra meditation, but bringing in vibration has a number of additional advantages:
• Again, using a mantra provides a means for you to transcend to subtler, more powerful layers of consciousness. Without a mantra, you might sit in relative silence at a fairly superficial level of mind. This is not nearly as powerful as the silence you access by transcending to subtle layers of the mind via the mantra.
• Applying the high vibration of the mantras to the area of the chakra accelerates the purification and opening of the chakra. You are essentially using a high, natural vibration to clear and open your chakras, which to some extent are clogged by impurities that have accumulated from past experience. (We’ll talk more about such impurities in chapter 9.)
• Because each mantra is the vibration of a particular element related to a particular chakra, applying the vibration of an element at its seat in the body strengthens and balances that element throughout the body, improving health.
• Adding the dimension of sound involves and activates another area of your brain — that area related to the sense of hearing. Engaging more of the brain creates a more holistic awareness, making your meditation more powerful.
The second stage of chakra meditation differs from the first only in the addition of a mantra at each chakra. Here are the steps. Read them all the way through, and do your best to memorize the mantra for each chakra. Then close your eyes and practice. Leave the book open to the preceding table in case you need to take a peek to check a mantra. Initially this might detract somewhat from the meditation, but soon you won’t need to peek.
1. Sit comfortably and set your intention: “May the merit and benefits of this meditation be multiplied infinitely to bring peace and happiness to all beings.” Close your eyes and feel this intention for a few moments, allowing yourself to feel gratitude for the sacred gift of meditation you are about to enjoy.
2. Breathe naturally through the nose. Close your eyes and gently bring your attention to the area of the root chakra, at the perineum. Now, for three or four breaths, practice mulabandha with your breath, firmly contracting the perineum as you inhale and relaxing it as you exhale. With each exhalation, feel an expansion at the root chakra, and very gently think “Lam” (pronounced Lum). Feel the mantra in the area of the chakra as a faint idea or feeling, not as a clear mental pronunciation; the fainter the mantra, the better.
3. Cease mulabandha and continue to gently, easily think “Lam” a few more times at the root chakra. Let the mantra gradually fade into a faint feeling, steady tone, or silence (any of these is fine). This fading of the mantra will probably happen within a few mental repetitions. If the mantra doesn’t fade away on its own after five or six gentle mental repetitions, just consciously let it go and enjoy the feeling or silence that follows. That feeling or silence will be permeated with the resonance of the mantra created by the repetitions. You may also experience a sense of unboundedness. Just be, savoring the feeling or silence or unboundedness at the chakra for ten to twenty seconds.
4. Then, for three or four breaths, perform mulabandha as you inhale, and draw your awareness into the base of the spine at your tailbone (the site of your sacral chakra). As you exhale, feel a sense of expansion at your tailbone and very gently think “Vam” (pronounced Vum). Feel the mantra in the sacral chakra.
5. Cease mulabandha and continue to gently, easily think “Vam” a few more times at the sacral chakra. Let the mantra gradually dissolve into a faint feeling, a steady tone, or silence. If the mantra doesn’t fade away on its own after five or six gentle mental repetitions, just consciously let it go and enjoy the feeling or silence that follows. Again, you may also experience a sense of unboundedness. Just be, and enjoy the feeling or silence or unboundedness at the sacral chakra for ten to twenty seconds before moving to the next chakra.
6. Now repeat this same procedure for each chakra in turn. At the navel chakra, use the mantra Ram (pronounced Rum).
7. At the heart chakra, use Yam (pronounced Yum).
8. At the throat chakra, use Ham (pronounced Hum).
9. At the third-eye chakra, use Om (pronounced Om).
10. At the crown center, allow your awareness to be first absorbed in transcendent silence at the crown of the head, and then feel there an orb of clear light, like the sun or a transcendent full moon. Let your awareness be absorbed in the light. Sit in that absorbed state for a minute or more. (If you don’t experience any light, allow your awareness to be absorbed in whatever inner silence and unboundedness you feel at your crown.) Then gently be aware of and feel the subtle light and blissful energy that is now permeating your body.
11. If you have time and you wish to continue meditating, you can bring your attention back to the root chakra at the perineum and go through the chakras again. If you do so, try it without mulabandha this time. Why without mulabandha now? Because it’s already done its job. Though mulabandha is a powerful practice, once it has plunged you deep into meditation, you may go even deeper by setting it aside and following your bliss. Let the mantra fade to just a faint feeling or tone at each chakra. Savor that feeling.
12. End the meditation by lying down in the corpse pose for three to five minutes to come out slowly.
13. Finally, before you get up, close your meditation with an expression of gratitude and set an intention for the day to be an instrument in the hands of the Divine: “Thank you for this life, my wife [or husband], my family, this beautiful earth, my job [and so on — name whatever you feel grateful for]. May I be an instrument of healing and peace in your hands.”
Congratulations. You have completed chakra mantra meditation. Continue to practice chakra mantra meditation until you are completely comfortable with it. When you move through the meditation almost automatically, without having to think about what to do next or having to try to recall the mantras, you’re ready to move on to the next stage, which will incorporate light to further deepen your experience.