Mantra Yoga Sadhana

Mantra Yoga is an exact science. “Mananat trayate iti mantrah”—by the Manana (constant thinking or recollection) of which one is released from the round of births and deaths, is Mantra. Every Mantra has a Rishi who gave it to the world; a Mantra, a Devata, the Bija or seed which gives it a special power, the Sakti and the Kilakam or the pillar.

A Mantra is Divinity. Mantra and its presiding Devata are one. The Mantra itself is Devata. Mantra is divine power, Daivi Sakti, manifesting in a sound body. Constant repetition of a Mantra with faith, devotion and purity augments the Sakti or power of the aspirant, purifies and awakens the Mantra Chaitanya latent in the Mantra and bestows on the Sadhaka Mantra Siddhi, illumination, freedom, peace, eternal bliss, immortality. By constant repetition of the Mantra the Sadhaka imbibes the virtues and power of the Deity that presides over the Mantra. Repetition of Surya Mantra bestows health, long life, vigour, vitality, Tejas or brilliance.

It removes all diseases of the body and the diseases of the eye. No enemy can do any harm. Repetition of Aditya-hridayam in the early morning, is highly beneficial. Lord Rama conquered Ravana through the repetition of Aditya-hridayam imparted by Agastya Rishi. Mantras are in the form of praise and appeal to the deities, craving for help and mercy. Some Mantras control and command the evil spirits. Rhythmical vibrations of sound give rise to forms. Recitation of Mantras gives rise to the formation of the particular figure of the deity.

Repetition of Sarasvati Mantra OM Sarasvatyai Namah will bestow on you wisdom and good intelligence. You will get inspiration and compose poems. Repetition of ‘Om Sri Mahalakshmyai Namah’ will confer wealth and remove poverty. Ganesha Mantra will remove any obstacle in any undertaking. Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra will remove accidents, incurable diseases and bestow long life and immortality. It is a Moksha Mantra too. Repetition of Subramanya Matra ‘Om Saravanabhavaya Namah’ will give you success in any undertaking and make you glorious. It will drive off the evil influences and evil spirits. Repetition of Sri Hanuman Mantra, ‘Om Hanumanthaya Namah’ will bestow victory and strength. Repetition of Panchakshara and Shodasakshara (Sri Vidya) will give you whatever you want.

You must learn this Vidya from a Guru alone. Repetition of Gayatri or Pranava, ‘Om Namah Sivaya’, ‘Om Namo Narayanaya’, ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’, one and a quarter lakh of times with Bhava, faith and devotion will confer on you Mantra Siddhi. ‘Om’, ‘Soham’, ‘Sivoham’, ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ are Moksha Mantras. They will help you to attain Self-realisation. ‘Om Sri Ramaya Namah’, ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’ are Saguna which will enable you to attain Saguna realisation first and then Nirguna realisation in the end. Mantra for curing scorpion stings and cobra bites should be repeated on eclipse days for getting Mantra Siddhi quickly. You should stand in water and repeat Mantras. This is more powerful and effective. These can be recited on ordinary days also for attaining Mantra Siddhi. Mantra Siddhi for curing scorpion sting, cobra bites, etc., can be attained within 40 days. Repeat the Mantra with faith and devotion regularly. Have a sitting in the early morning after taking bath. Observe Brahmacharya and live on milk and fruits for 40 days or take restricted diet. Chronic diseases can be cured by Mantras. Chanting of Mantras generate potent spiritual waves or divine vibrations.

They penetrate the physical and astral bodies of the patients and remove the root causes of sufferings. They fill the cells with pure Sattva or divine energy. They destroy the microbes and vivify the cells and tissues. They are best, most potent antiseptics and germicides. They are more potent than ultra-violet rays or Rountgen rays. Mantra Siddhi should not be misused for the destruction of others. Those who misuse Mantra power for destroying others are themselves destroyed in the end. Those who utilise Mantra power in curing snake bites, scorpion stings and chronic diseases should not accept any kind of presents or money. They must be absolutely unselfish. They should not accept even fruits or clothes.

They will lose the power if they utilise the power for selfish purposes. If they are absolutely unselfish, if they serve humanity with Sarvatma Bhava, their power will increase through the grace of the Lord. He who has attained Mantra Siddhi can cure cobra bite or scorpion sting or any chronic disease by a mere touch on the affected part. When a man is bitten by a cobra a telegram is sent to the Mantra Siddha. The Mantra Siddha recites the Mantra and the man who is bitten by a cobra is cured. What a grand marvel! Does this not prove the tremendous power of Mantra? Get the Mantra initiation from your Guru or pray to your Ishta Devata and start doing Japa of the particular Mantra, if you find it difficult to get a Guru.

May you all become Mantra Yogis with Mantra Siddhi! May you all become real benefactors of the world by becoming divine healers through Mantra cure! May Mantra-Cure, divine healing centres be started all over the world!

From - Yoga in Daily Life

Joy Meditation

(Buddhist value: The children learn to spread joy around them) Imagine a feeling of joy. You feel an opening in the top of your head. You feel joy floating in through the opening in the top of your head. It fills up your head and neck. It fills your shoulders and arms. The joy floats down into your chest and your heart. Your heart is so full of joy. The joy gently floats on into your stomach and on into your back. It floats into your legs and feet. Every part of your body is full of joy. You are so full of joy, it begins to spread out beyond your body. It spreads out to everyone in our classroom. It reaches beyond the classroom farther and farther until it spreads over the whole of Singapore. It spreads out to the whole earth, and continues to spread out even further into the universe — beyond the planets, beyond the stars, farther and farther. The whole universe is filled with your joy.

From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Lotus Meditation - Part 2

You 11 stand beautifully above the muddy water, not dirtied by the mud from which you grow. You are white, fragrant and beautiful. Everyone who saw you marvelled at your beauty! Your determination to grow out of the muddy pond reminds them of the Buddha and his journey towards Enlightenment. The Buddha, like a lotus, is determined to grow out of the muddy surroundings, that is the defilements and sufferings of life. He has done all that is to be done and he is showing us that we can all do it too. We may have defilements but we all have the potential of growing out of our defilements and achieving wisdom, like the Buddha. You are a beautiful white lotus flower, and your role is to remind people to rise above their defilements and sufferings, just as you are arising above the muddy water and not dirtied by the mud from which you grow.
From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Lotus Meditation - Part 1

(Buddhist value: Like a lotus flower that grows out of the mud and blossoms above the muddy water surface, we can rise above our defilements and sufferings of life) Imagine that you are a lotus seed buried beneath a muddy lotus pond. There is mud all around you, and you can feel them clearly. Above you, above this muddy pool of dirt, mud and filth, are sunshine and air. You are not disheartened as you begin your journey towards the surface. With a determined heart, you begin to wiggle in the earth. You grow roots deep, deep into the mud. Your little stem grows up slowly. Suddenly, “pop” you are out of the mud! Your stem grows higher and higher, taller and taller. You rise up slowly, fighting against the muddy water. All of a sudden, you are out of the muddy pond! You reach up towards the warm sun, shining down on you. Your lotus bud begins to grow on top of your stem. It expands and grows larger and larger, finally bursting into full bloom. A white lotus flower.
From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

When you go out of the monastery the mind - Part 2

In sitting meditation don’t worry about if the objects are very clear or not. Watch the mind follow the awareness. Of course, it is better if the objects are clear, but that will follow later.e kilesa when they know that you are meditating, they stay away from you. ey say: Okay, meditate now! But when you don’t, they come and attack you when you least expect it! So watch out always, watch the mind carefully.If you can watch the mind, watch it in real life situations where it is more natural.If the mind is not strong enough then return to your ordinary practice. See how different the mind feels when you are in your room, in the Dhamma hall or the dinning hall.Samadhi is good for developing wisdom (panna). It is not good only for sitting practice; you must have it at all times if you can, and investigate things.Viriya is a mental thing, not posture. When you are dying your body has no control, it’s the mind that stays mindful.Sitting and lying meditation is good exercise for viriya because you have to apply more viriya without the support and aid of posture, but you must not keep falling asleep!When you are not doing sitting meditation, and you don’t have the support of the posture but instead you are sitting on a chair or lying down, the mind relaxes and you need to try mentally harder to keep your mindfulness.If your viriya is really strong, no matter how your posture is, it doesn’t matter. You can be upside down!Keep kilesa noted regularly, don’t let it accumulate. Keep relaxed, check for tension now and then, check your emotions.Are they involved? Are you in control? Don’t panic if you are not, just relax and get in touch.e Buddha is not the statues and images in the pagodas that people go and visit all day long. e Buddha is inside you.Just observe whatever the mind can be aware of at the moment, see how it goes to objects how it feels, be aware of it. When it gets stronger it will be aware of many objects.Save your energy to last you until the end of the day. Never think like: ‘In the morning it is best, let’s put all the effort then.’ Just practise. Save your energy to go through the whole day, until the end of it.e mind needs to slow down, become stable.
from - Contemplation of the Mind

When you go out of the monastery the mind - Part 1

When you go out of the monastery the mind has a lot more stimulation
from a lot of different places and people. So you have to be more mindful then.When you can practise outside as well as you practice inside the monastery then you know that your practice is good.Even in the midst of crowded noisy places you can stay calm, in touch with your mind.e watching of the mind becomes a strong habit.Note your feelings too. Are you feeling isolated, lonely, is that wisdom, is that kilesa?When you are out always watch kilesa arising. Stay close to yourself.When people talk to you speak slowly and mindfully so that they slow down too. It takes a greater effort, so try relentlessly. Keep to yourself as much as you can especially when it’s difficult.When you go back to your country, it’s like, ‘my friends, my room, my clothes, my familiar hangouts, my possessions, my family.’ So you forget the whole thing.But that is when you must understand the nature of the mind. Out there in the real world your concentration is useless. Mindfulness is what will show you how things are.Keep the mind interested inwardly not on the road. When you go out the mind starts partying: ‘I’m going to break free now!’ It tells you: ‘Okay, just a little of a much needed break’! And out it goes for the whole trip!You might find it ‘being cold.’ Just keep up your viriya (effort), keep trying again and again.You are not meditating in order to calm down the mind but to observe it. To look and see why is the mind like this now and how was it different before. So that wisdom arises from this watching. You get to know what’s happening in the mind.
from - Contemplation of the Mind

PRATYAHARA - Part 2

BD shows the Control of the Mind, improving slowly at first, afterwards more quickly. It starts from at or near zero, and should reach absolute control at D. EF shows the Power of Observation of the contents of the mind, improving quickly at first, afterwards more slowly, up to perfection at F. It starts well above zero in the case of most educated men. The height of the perpendiculars HI indicates the dissatisfaction of the student with his power of control. Increasing at first, it ultimately diminishes to zero.} course the unhappy youth spends a disgusted week in thinking of little else. It is positively amazing with what persistence a thought, even a whole train of thoughts, returns again and again to the charge. It becomes a positive nightmare. It is intensely annoying, too, to find that one does not become conscious that one has got on to the forbidden subject until one has gone right through with it. However, one continues day after day investigating thoughts and trying to check them; and sooner or later one proceeds to the next stage, Dharana, the attempt to restrain the mind to a single object. Before we go on to this, however, we must consider what is meant by success in Pratyahara. This is a very extensive subject, and different authors take widely divergent views. One writer means an analysis so acute that every thought is resolved into a number of elements (see "The Psychology of Hashish," Section V, in Equinox II). Others take the view that success in the practice is something like the experience which Sir Humphrey Davy had as a result of taking nitrous oxide, in which he exclaimed: "The universe is composed exclusively of ideas." Others say that it gives Hamlet's feeling: "There's nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so," interpreted as literally as was done by Mrs. Eddy. However, the main point is to acquire some sort of inhibitory power over the thoughts. Fortunately there is an unfailing method of acquiring this power. It is given in Liber III. If Sections 1 and 2 are practised (if necessary with the assistance of another person to aid your vigilance) you will soon be able to master the final section. In some people this inhibitory power may flower suddenly in very much the same way as occurred with Asana. Quite without any relaxation of vigilance, the mind will suddenly be stilled. There will be a marvellous feeling of peace and rest, quite different from the lethargic feeling which is produced by over-eating. It is difficult to say whether so definite a result would come to all,
or even to most people. The matter is one of no very great importance. If you have acquired the power of checking the rise of thought you may proceed to the next stage.

from - THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS