Mantra Siddhi? What is it? - IV

Now where does this leave the Spiritual seekers?

Mantra Siddhi has no relevance to Spiritual seekers.

There are many Mantras which give only spiritual powers. The Taraka Mantram is that which enables its invokers to cross over the ocean of samsara and attain liberation. Then almost all the other Mantras have also ability to take the Sadhaka towards his/her spiritual goal.

The Spirtual seeker has no necessity for Prayogam or application. The Mantra automatically takes you to a higher level. When you chant the name of Krishna or Rama or Devi you are not thinking of Siddhis or powers. You are seeking GOD.

Does it mean that spiritual seekers will not get Siddhi?

NO. The spiritual seeker also gets Siddhis.

The Ashtama Siddhi and its achievement are quite different. Of course there are Siddhis other than Ashtma Siddhi. Things like the body glowing, getting younger, hair growing on bald head and so on. Many of these powers are bestowed without even asking for it. I have heard of a person who had attained a power which ensured that all the flowers he offered the Deity fell on the Deity in the form of a garland. May be years of practice. The other common Siddhis are the power of healing and clairvoyance.

Is getting Siddhis an obstacle to Spirtual Progress?

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is always a likelihood of a Sadhaka getting Siddhi or Power forgetting his/her spiritual goals. 

That is how we see many Sadhus and Holy men who have stopped pursuing their spiritual goals after attaining Siddhi/Siddhis. We also see Holy men who have Siddhis and who continue in their Spirtual paths without bothering about the Siddhis. 

Another feature of Mantra siddhi is that it does have a tendency to make one proud. Pride in achivement. This bloats the EGO. We have all seen many Sadhus and Holymen who are full of SELF IMPORTANCE. This is a big impediment to Spirtual Progress.

Then the Power of Healing and Clairvoyance can lead to the seeker forgetting his/her ultimate goals. They become Heelers and Clairvoyants. Because these powers lead to an increase in popularity (Fame) and also could lead to prosperity, the ultimate goal is forgotten.

None of these fault of the Siddhi but of the Seeker.

It is better for Spiritual Seekers to keep off Mantra Siddhi. Lead us not into temptations, My Lord.

Total and absolute surrender is the only way of achieving the lotus feet of GOD. 


शरणागत दीनार्त परित्र्याण परायणे।
सर्वस्यार्तिहरे देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते। 

तां ढुर्गां दुर्गमां देवीं दुराचारविघातिनीम् ।
नमामि भवभीतोऽहं संसारार्णवतारिणीम् ।

Jai MAA !!!

Mantra for Beginners -- II

Someone in the forum had asked about Devi Mahatmyam. The following was my response. This was again posted in 2001.


You had said about Devi Mahatmya and other hymns. Devi Mahatmya is considered to be the supreme text of many Saktha Sampradhayas. To even read Devi Mahatmyam you need Adhikara or right, which can be given only by a Tantrik guru. Again there are rituals and laid down procedures for even reading Devi Mahatmyam. This is emphasized in all texts. For the full details of the rituals of reading Devi Mahatmyam you can see the book Sri Chandi by Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi. The text by the Gita Press also gives the rituals and contains a warning not to read it without Adhikara. To get over these restrictions Sri Sri Chandi was translated into Bengali long time back. The Sthudhis can be said without any restriction.

Similarly very strict rules have been laid down for reading Soundharya Lahari.

But these rules have been given a go by in the case of Soundharya Lahari in South India. This has started happening in the case of Devi Mahatmyam also.

This has started happening in the case of mantras also. Mantras have ceased to be the exclusive privilege of the few. In India you can get any mantra from a book or magazine. People have also started reciting even esoteric mantras.

I reproduce a part of my message in another club

" Fortunately in the last few years the irrational fear of Mantras has begun to disappear among common people due to the efforts of many saints, scholars and popular magazines. There are magazines in Tamil "Bhakthi" and "Anmeekam" and also in Hindi, which have started giving one Mantra every month, sometimes with the Yantra also. I was  surprised to see that a magazine came out with MAA DHOOMAVATHI Mantra a couple of months back stating that it is very good for general prosperity. Then I realized that I am having a wrong conception of MAA DHOOMAVATHI because of her image. She is MAA and will reward
devotion."

All books on mantra contain a warning that mantras should not be said without the guidance of a Guru. In fact some of them in English even disclaim any responsibility if anything goes wrong. According to Mantra Sasthra there are millions of mantras. But not all of them are listed in books. Many mantras have been forgotten. Many remain the exclusive property of some families.

There is no standardization even in important mantras. For example there is one mantra with two Beeja mantras. There are many different ways of reciting the same mantra.

1. Mantra alone.
2. Mantra preceded by Om
3.Mantra with Om followed at the end with Swaha
4. Mantra without Om but with Swaha.
5. The two Beeja mantras repeated once.
6. Beeja mantras repeated twice.

And so on.

So you see the same mantra in different permutations and combinations. The exact mantra will depend on the tradition of the Guru.

There is no generalization or classification of mantras as safe or otherwise.

About the pronunciation of the mantras different views prevail. Some insisting on proper pronunciation. But this is a puritanical view. I have known many Tantriks with Siddhis whose pronunciation of Sanskrit leaves a lot to be desired. With no two Indians agreeing about whose pronunciation of Sanskrit is correct, this is a difficult subject.

I give below the words of Buddhist Govinda

"If the efficacy of the mantras depended upon their correct pronunciation, then all the mantras in Tibet would have lost their meaning and power, because they are not pronounced according to the rules of Sanskrit, but according to the phonetic laws of the Tibetan language (for instance not: OM MANI PADME HUM but OM MANI Peme HUM) 

This means that the power and the effect of the Mantra depend on the spiritual attitude, the knowledge and responsiveness of the individual. The sabda or sound of the Mantra is not a physical sound (though it may be accompanied by such a one) but a spiritual one. It cannot be heard by the ears but only by the heart, and it cannot be uttered by the mouth but only by the mind."

Filtered through Brooklynese, uttered as a Bronx cheer, whispered in an East Texas drawl, OM is always OM - or it isn't. "

About the effect of Mantras on Kundalini and how they work a lot of research has been done. But we have not seen any conclusive evidence.

Mantra Sasthra is a vast subject. You keep on learning. The book "Understanding mantras" from Motilal Banarsidass is a good book.

My Gurus told me that "MAA is your Ultimate Guru. You seek her permission to recite any Mantra."

Mantra for Beginners -- I

Originally posted in 2011


Today I was reading a book on advanced techniques in Kundalini Yoga. When my son took that book I warned him that it is not for him now. Then I made a remark that even books on spirituality and religion should be marked for beginners, for Intermediate level and advanced level. This is done in all books on computer programming languages because an advanced level book will not make any sense to beginners and a book for beginners will sound silly for advanced programmers. He replied that it couldn't be done in spirituality and religion, as noone will accept that he is a beginner in religion or spirituality. 


Most of the books on religion and spirituality are written mainly for advanced level people. Namely renunciates and adepts. So adepts, renunciates and spiritually advanced people may find my messages silly.

Now that the statutory warning is given, here I go.

I was going through the messages on Mantra, gurus, Japa, Nama Japa over the last six months. I started wondering how come we all read the same books, but understand differently. Again how come great people like Swami Sivananda and others emphasize the role of the Guru and also say you can choose your mantra without a Guru? Om is a mantra, which every Hindu recites almost daily in one form or the other. My son when he was 3 years old used to call the priest in his Grandfather's house OM mama. (Om uncle) because most of the time he was reciting OM..... We have so many messages about its effect and whether you need a Guru. (I also sent a couple of IMs).

Then suddenly eureka! It struck me. The term Mantra means different things to different people. I will take an example. Mantra Yoga is sometimes seen as part of Nada Yoga. The effect of the Mantra is due to the effect of the sound produced. I do not think there is any difference of opinion about this. If this is so how does Nama japa work? Again the effect of sound. So where is the difference between Nama and Mantra. We talk about the effect of hymns and prayers. Again the effect of sound. There are many Hymns and prayers, which are considered Mantras. The entire Devi Mahatmyam is considered to be a single mantra or a garland of 700 mantras. The four Sthudhis (prayers) are considered to be mantras. In Soundharya Lahari every stanza is considered to be a mantra. In the Vishnu Sahashranama some of the verses used as mantras give certain effects like improving memory, .... etc. We used to recite these verses when we were young for improving our performance in examinations. Rama Nama is considered to be a great mantra. (Phalasthudhi of Vishnu Sahasranama ) Maharshi Valmikhi became a Maharshi by reciting Mara, Mara.

The entire Vedic recitation was considered mantra. We have marriage mantras, Upanayana mantras and mantras for all samskaras.

So all hymns, prayers, and Namas are also mantras. The common perception that only exoteric, Tantrik and Vedantic mantras are mantras is wrong.

Where does Mantra Sasthra fit in here? Mantra Sasthra also talks about mantras for getting powers other than spiritual. We are talking now only about mantras for spiritual advancement.

Once we accept that all these are mantras then we begin to understand Swami Sivananda.

It has always been difficult to get good Gurus. If everyone waited to get a Guru before taking the first steps towards spirituality, there will be very few spiritual people in the world. Since it is never too early to begin, we are taught hymns, prayers, Namas. It is not that you cannot achieve the Ultimate with these mantras. Swami Ramdass (sage of Kananghad) had only one mantra "Sri ram jai Ram Om". He spent years searching for a Guru. In the end his father initiated him into this mantra. Saint Chaithanya Maha Prabhu was an embodiment of the Krishna nama. Even In Vedanta philosophical truths like Tatwamasi and Aham Brahma Asmi are used as mantras.

How come we differentiate between Mantras, hymns, prayers, and Namas? Of course hymns and prayers are poetry. May be it is because Mantras other than Vedic mantras have come to be associated with Black Magic in the minds of the general public. In most of the Indian languages mantra means magic. In Tamil Tantra means trick. So may be people avoided using the term Mantra.

Hymns in Soundharya Lahari have their own separate Yantras and rituals which being purely Tantrik are difficult to learn without a proper guru. Vedic recitation is almost impossible without proper training under a Guru. But Rama Nama does not need a guru. So whether you need a Guru or not depends on the Mantra.

I will deal with Japa and meditation in my next post because here again we have a difference between common perception and actual practice.

About Posts in this Blog

Remarks about my mesages.

Bagavan Sri Ramakrishna said that one should never teach until he has been given a Divine message to teach. I am not teaching anything. It so happens, that I have a lot of doubts about a whole lot of things. I have taken to the habit of writing my doubts and then trying to find answers by referring to various books and thinking about them.

If you have friends who are on the spiritual path you can discuss these doubts. What we call Sathsang. But I have not been fortunate to have such friends in town.

Thanks to the Internet I have such friends now. My messages are my thoughts, as religion is my full time work. With friends you have a dialogue. If I expect my friends to agree with whatever I say I would
not have any friends. If my friends do not respond, it becomes a monologue. So Friends the ball is in your court.

Jai MAA !!!

Ishta Devata -- I

Choosing an Ishtadevata is similar to choosing a husband/wife/companion/friend. You ask a person why he or she chose someone as a husband/wife/companion; he or she might give you some answers. But basically you fall in love with someone and then try to justify your selection. We can try to rationalize our decision but cannot do it completely. It is a decision of the heart. It is something called Love. You choose your Ishta Devata out of love. It is a decision of the heart. The intellect does not play a major role in the selection. That is the reason we end up by saying MAA chose me. Don't we end all discussions about the choice of our lover by saying I fell in Love. Period.

But there is a basic difference. Here the love could be Mathru bhava, Pithru bhava, Vathsalya bhava etc, depending upon how you view your Ishta Devata as Mother, father, child, friend, lover etc.

However we can analyze the reasons for choosing a particular deity as Ishta Devata.

1. In most of the cases the Deity whom you have known from childhood is the Ishta Devata. If you have played with Krishna idols in childhood most likely Krishna will be your Ishta Devata. Krishna is I think the most popular God as Ishta Devata as we believe that Krishna is our friend. We look at his pictures as Bala Krishna and feel comfortable with him rather than with Siva who is always a father figure.

2. The family deity is another choice. Again a question of familiarity.

3. It is said that "For a child Mother is GOD." So many people are drawn towards Goddesses.

4. Many people who are devotees of Bagavan Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa also become devotees of  MAA BHAVATHARINI. Since you read so much about her that over a period of time she becomes your Ishtadevata.

5. Many people are attracted to MAA KAALI because there is no caste distinction in most of her temples. MAA KAALI/ MAA Durga is the favourite Goddess of all revolutionaries because of their association with overcoming the forces of evil.

Recently I was talking to a converted Hindu from Europe. She said that she saw a photograph of a Hindu goddess in a shop and immediately felt that this is her deity.

You always hear of the classical theory of the three gunas. Satwik, Rajasaik, Tamasik. People and gods are again classified according to the gunas. The theory says you choose the gods according to the gunas to which you belong. This theory looks good, but in practice it becomes irrelevant. MAA KAALI is the popular Goddess in Bengal. She is very popular among the so-called lower castes in South India. Do we conclude that all Bengalis and South Indians who worship MAA KAALI are Tamasik or Rajasaik in nature? Was Bagavan Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Tamasik or Rajasaik in nature?

We worship our Ishtadevata as the Ultimate power. This has no gunas. Nirguna. That is why MAA KAALI is called trigunathmikai. So we can safely discard this theory of Gunas ascribed to Gods/Goddesses.

So you choose your Ishtadevata as one whom you fall in love with. When it happens it will happen. Then you can rationalize your decision. As I said earlier the Ishta Devata could mean mother, father, child, friend etc. depending upon your feeling. Psychologists have written so many books trying to explain why we fall in love with someone or why we choose our friends. But I do not think there is a perfect answer. Again the concept of Ishta Devata is basically Tantrik. The Smarthas (I was born one) do not believe in this. But most people have a favourite god. Only that most of the Hindus do not use the term Ishta Devata. Your favourite God becomes your Ishta Devata.

I remember one of friends in a Yahoo group saying that even in spirituality, everything has to be logical. I do not think we can rationalize decisions of the heart. The decisions are not always logical.

It is not necessary to have an Ishtadevata for spiritual or religious Sadhana. But if you look into your heart you will find your Ishta devata. Other than Ishta Devata, you have Kula Devata, Grama Devata etc.

Sankar

Religion and Spirituality

This was posted by me in 2001. I am still searching for an answer.


Sometime back a friend of mine asked me a question that set methinking. He asked me about a person who we all knew to be a person who bore malice towards one and all and more harm he did to people around him the happier he felt. His wife deserted him being unable to stand his cruelty.


He was thoroughly disliked by everyone. But this man used to visit the Temple everyday, perform Poojas, even used to deliver lectures to the public on Bhagavath Geeta. He was also quite successful in his career.


We see nowadays a lot of people who have become famous and rich by selling religion and more often Vedanta to top executives in posh hotels. I had attended a couple of programmes on Stress Management, which included sessions on Vedanta and Meditation.


On the face of it this looks very bad to a serious Devotee and a Spiritual aspirant. But the question is it so?


To find an answer we have to see what is religion and what is spirituality.


Religion is a set of beliefs and practices. To put it better it is a set of practices based on a set of beliefs.


People tend to be religious for a variety of reasons.


To get something done with divine help. To attain Moksha or Heaven. To attain happiness. To get spiritual elevation.


The meaning of Spiritual is given in the Oxford Dictionary as "of the spirit or soul, of religion, not of material things." The most important thing here is the meaning not of material things. This meaning that spiritual is not of material things is universally accepted.


Now if we say that only people who give up material things are spiritual, we will be totally wrong. It is not the acquisition of material things, which is wrong, but attachment to them. 


But do we stop here? If all spiritual people give up their worldly attachments and go off into the forest or Ashram how does it benefit humanity? I believe that having been born a man we have an obligation to do something for the betterment of humanity. That is why we talk about doing good deeds. I would consider a person to be spiritual only when he not only gives up his worldly attachments and but also does something to spread happiness in the world and also does not do any harm to his fellow living things. Bagavan Sri Ramakrishna was born intothis world for two purposes. One to prove by personal example that the real Hindu religion is the acceptance of all religions and two to guide his Disciples who will change the entire face of the world with their messages.


But the question here is between either being spiritual or religious. As I said people tend to be religious for four reasons. But if we are religious for getting material benefit, to attain Moksha, to achieve Happiness for ourselves, Nirvana and realise parabrahman (I do not know what this means. It is beyond my comprehension) then we are
religious and not spiritual.


But if we do something for the good of others, not harm other living things, spread the knowledge around then we become spiritual. Fortunately the world has been blessed with a lot of such good Samaritans. I do not know how many of you have heard of Dr. Dooly an American Doctor who was born into a rich family and who one fine morning decided to throw it all away and go to Laos, live in miserable conditions and serve the poor people. Dr.
Dooly was spiritual not religious. Now a Sannyasin may give up his worldly attachments and go into the forest and attain Moksha. But he is not spiritual since he has not served humanity.


The only saying of Swami Vivekananda, which I always remember is "Service to Humanity is service to God".


Am I saying that being religious is wrong? No. All of us cannot be like Dr. Dooly. Practice of all religions especially Hinduism makes a person progress towards spirituality. Having been a Hippie (The flower people of the sixties) and having moved very closely with many of them (from materially advanced nations), I know what materialism
can do to your soul? But does it mean rejection of material comforts? Definitely not. As long as we think materialism is not the end of all of our life, there is always hope for us. The very fact that we come to the internet and discuss spirituality means that there is a yearning in us for doing something.


Talking about giving up material things, even Sannyasins find it difficult to give up two things. One is fame and the other hearing others praising us. That is why find great Gurus vying with each other for Fame. Then they get trapped in the praise of their Disciples and get caught in the Maya and forget the purpose of their life.


I was talking about a religious person earlier. He became successful because of his Bhakthi. He conducted courses in Bhagavad-Gita because it brought him fame. But even then he might become spiritual because of the benefit the others got because of his lectures in Bhagavad-Gita, if he stops harming others. The Swamiji who gives discourses in posh hotels to the rich and famous thinks that he is doing a great service by trying to turn them spiritual. May be he is right.


The entire purpose of writing this posting is to make you think. We may be Bhakthas, Saadhaks, Saadhikas, Tantrics, Mantrics, and Siddhas. But until and unless we do good to others and stop causing harm to other living things we cannot consider ourselves to be spiritual.

Can I have more than one Guru? -- II

Now about the advantages of having more than one Guru and whether it is absolutely necessary to have more than one guru.

It is not absolutely necessary to have more than one Guru.

You may be among the fortunate few who have found the right Guru and is happy in practicing the path shown by him. That means you are satisfied with your path and are not seeking any more. The progress in the path would be swift and smooth for such people.

But this does not happen to most of us. We are not satisfied by the path shown by one Guru. We seek further. It does not mean that you are showing disrespect to your Guru. Far from it. It is only that the you have the urge to seek and explore further.


We have all read stories of Saints and Sadhus who were directed by their Guru to go to another Guru for further studies. Let us see why it is many times necessary to have more than one Guru.

1. All Gurus teach the path by which they have achieved salvation. They specialize in one particular path. But it is possible that the path may not be in conformity with your leanings. One may also like to learn about other paths. The book "Choosing a path" by Swami Rama gives a bird's eye view of all the paths. But every path has many sampradhayas. So you have to seek a Guru whose sampradhaya suits your vasanas. As Sri Ramakrishna said "There are as many ways as there are men."

2. The Guru is supposed to identify the attitude/inclination/vasana of the disciple and direct him accordingly. Swami Sivananda directed Swami Chinmayananda to go to Tapovan Maharaj. But this requires intensive inter action between the Guru and the disciple. This rarely happens now. Most of us are followers or devotees of a particular Guru. We can not call ourselves disciples in the real sense of the term. If your Guru is able to identify your attitude and direct you to the path with which you are satisfied, then you are one of the few fortunate ones.

I will quote some examples.

1. You may have a liking for a particular God/Goddess whom you consider your Ishta Devata. But the Guru you are with may be specialised in the upasana of another Deity. There are some organizations which give Deeksha in a particular Mantra because it is their standard procedure. But people who have Ishta Devata who is different from that of the Mantra face problems.

2. The path shown by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi is one of pure Advaita. Atma Vicharam. But it is not suitable for every one. People who are basically Bhakthas who are initiated into Advaita mantra have problems.

In fact if we examine our beliefs most of us would find that we have adapted ideas from different sources. Gurus, books, newspapers, TV and Internet forums.

Jai MAA !!!