THE CONCEPT OF MANTRAS - I

vAgarthAviva saMpRktau vAgartha pratipattaye |

jagadaH pitarau vande pArvatIparameshvarau ||

Thus begins kAlidAsa his raghuvamshamahAkAvya !  Here the great poet addresses the divine couple, the divyadaMpati as ‘jagadaH pitarau’ – as the parents of this universe.  He describes their state as being inseparable.  And as inseparable as the word and its meaning.  By drawing a comparison to the word and its meaning, kAlidAsa puts in a nutshell, the concept of creation.

In the vedic / tAntrik tradition of bhArat, the universe is said to have originated from nAda or pure sound. To understand mantras, it is necessary that we understand how this nAda is the cause of all creations and the place of origin of nAda in the human microcosm.

What is brahman? “bRhatvAt bRhmaNatvAt brahmetyabhidhIyate” meaning “due to its extensiveness and ability to expand it is known as brahma”. However, there is no expansion without contraction. It therefore follows that there is contraction also inherent. Therefore this vibration due to expansion and contraction leads to nAda which is brahman. In the human body nAda resides in the “anAhata cakra” in the hRdaya. This cakra is so called because the nAda originates without the coming together of two objects. It is common knowledge that striking one object against another produces noise. But in the anAhata cakra the nAda is produced without the striking of objects. Since no striking of objects is involved, the nAda so produced is eternal. Hence this eternal nAda is a shakti amsha. This pure, subtle sound or nAda without any form is known in tantric (shrIvidyA) parlance as “parA” and the nAda with form or rUpa is known as “pashyantI”. Further transformation (pariNAma) of this nAda is known as “MadhyamA” which further developes into “vaikharI” or audible sound. This transformation of the nAda brahman from parA vAk to vaikharI in four stages represents the transformation of sound in its purest form (parA) which is not audible and that which can be realized only by meditation by the practitioner (sAdhaka), to that which is audible and can be heard by every one (vaikharI).

This nAda brahma or parAshakti is described in the LalitA sahasranAma in the following verse:

ParA pratyakcitI rUpA pashyantI paradevatA |
madhyamA vaikharI rUpA bakta mAnasa hamsikA ||

Now, having discussed about the origin of nAda or pure subtle sound and its pariNAma or transformation from 'parA vAk' state or pure inaudible subtle nAda to 'vaikharI' or audible sound, the next logical question that arises is "Why Sanskrit for the mantras ?"

The nAda brahman which is all pervasive and which is the root cause for all creation, occurs as primal impulse in the human being in the mulAdhAra cakra as parA nAda. This parA nAda is considered as the origin of the 51 letters or varNa-s of sanskrit from 'a'kAra to 'ksha' kAra and therefore considered to originate from the parabrahman.

These 51 letters of sanskrit are therefore known as "akshara" or indestructible or imperishable as they are verily the expressions of the divine impulse. Each letter or varNa in itself is considered as the nAda brahman and hence they are known as mAtRkA akShara-s. mAtRkA here means originator, the mother. All mantras emerge from these mAtRkA akShara-s.

 
This is the reason why sanskrit is considered to be the mother of all languages.

The uniqueness of these mAtRkA akShara-s and therefore sanskrit is that these letters are completely phonetic; the name of each letter is the sound that it represents and has a distinct form. And therefore it follows that the sound represented by a combination of these letters or their units has a definite name and its visual form can be realised by repeatedly chanting the mantra.

Here, it would be prudent to know the definition of "mantra"                                    

mananAt tattva roopasya devasyAmitatejasaH
trAyate sarvabhayat tasmAnmantra itIritaH 

By meditating on the abundantly luminous true form of the mantra devatA, it protects from all fears. Therefore it is called as mantra. 

The word mantra is derived from the roots "man" to meditate and "trAi" to protect. Personification of the mantra devatA and experiencing the devatA chaitanya there is the aim of reciting the mantra. 

It should be understood that a particular mantra was conceived by a particular RShi who is called as mantra draShTA, i.e. who has visualised the deity or devatA corresponding to the mantra and who has realised that the chanting of certain combination of certain syllables will enable the devotee to visualise the devatA.

The chanting of mantras is also accordingly categorized as mAnasika, upAmshu & vAchika. mAnasika means chanting within oneself in the mind. upAmshu is the chanting where only the lips move but not audible. vAchika is the way of chanting which is audible to everyone. For obvious reasons, with due regard to this categorization, mAnasika form of chanting is the best, upAmshu is middling and vAchika not recommended.

Now coming to the scientific aspect of chanting, we know high frequency sound can even shatter an object, say a glass bowl. This much I think has been scientifically proved. It is not therefore difficult to associate and attribute frequency to the above three forms of chanting namely mAnasa, upAmshu and vAchika. These represent different frequencies.

Mantras are combination of syllables called as mAtrkAkShara-s which are fifty one in number. The RShi or Seer (mantra draShTA) of the mantra who has visualized the svarUpa (Visual form) of the devatA which is a form of energy with a particular frequency, has also visualized the combination of the syllables forming the mantra which corresponds to the frequency of that devatA. By chanting the mantra, it is possible to acquire unison with the mantra devatA i.e. it is possible to realize the devatA. Conversely, the mantras are spiritual formulas for acquiring the chaitanya (energy) of the devatA.

Since everything is experience based, any description or explantion will have its own limitations in conveying the exact purport. It is like understanding “If you touch fire, it will burn” which is purely theoretical knowledge! Touching fire and experiencing the heat alone is experiential knowledge.

We will see about the different types of mantras i.e their genders their use etc in the next part.