Mantra Yoga

Dear Readers I intend to write this article to promote the science offered by Vedas. I do not support the widespread
belief that the various mantras offered by the Vedas should only be recited by certain people belonging to a
particular race, country, religion, community and caste. I do not want to get in the debate nor will I answer any
questions demarking superiority or inferiority based upon the criteria not/mentioned. Of course there are certain
rules that need to be followed that I always stand by. Moreover Vedas profess Sanathan Dharma which believes in
unity of the supreme power. No matter how you worship Him the prayers go to the same one and only one Almighty.
This should satisfy all parties raising their brows. So if you follow any particular religion, you are consistent with
Vedas and it in no way should create any psychological barrier in attaining the physical , mental and emotional well
being through the path of Vedas. There is no religion greater than humanity and no effort greater to help its well
being.

In this article I have tried to strip the science of any religious flavor. It is an attempt to make it accessible to as many
people as possible by making it easy to understand and follow. In doing so I may have committed serious mistakes in
filtering value for all while stripping, omitting and translating the texts. For any such mistake I am the only person to
be blamed. Neither the Vedic Science nor the knowledge is to be blamed. I therefore request reader discretion.

Brief Discussion

Philosophies of Sanatan Dharma talk about unity of God and God being split into various life forms. When we
as humans restrain the might of God into individual discreet selves we are plagued by the various maladies
of the material world. (Please also explore the concepts of Purush and Prakruti). Hence the knowledge of
Mantra Yoga was founded to unite the self with the supreme power for eternal bliss and physical, mental and
emotional well being. Focusing of mind and empowering it via japa to end all plagues and fears by particular
words and sounds is called mantra formed of two words mana (mind) + Tra (coming from the word Tran
meaning protection).

The Vedas talk about the infinite powers of Mantra and that the entire universe was formed out of such
sounds. It will be insane to judge the might of such mantras (sounds) in the current scope of knowledge. I will
encourage the readers to rather explore and experience than debate. Mantrayoga is the process in which
one according to their individual internal nature (Sukshma-Prakruti) and pace should recite sounds in a
particular posture (aasan and mudra) and feeling to free the self corrupted by the material life spreading
ignorance. Precisely Mantra Yoga is the combination of sound + Posture+ Self (according to individual
sulshma Prakruti) and the act known as Mantra Yoga Sadhna; the practitioner as Mantra Yoga Sadhak.

Humans are capable of establishing the divine contact with the Almighty and therefore the path of Yoga has
been elicited. Yoga has several stages to finally reach Samadhi and each stage gives benefits not
paralleled by any other known mode. It is a misconception that Yoga is all about exercises and postures-of
course postures do have an important part in the journey of Yaga for eternal bliss, health - imparting eternal
youth, stopping/reducing the aging process and attaining supra human powers. Do I need to talk more and
specifically about the subconscious and the supra conscious mind?

Yoga has four parvas (stages) 1. Mantra Yoga 2. Hatha Yoga 3. Laya Yoga 4. Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga being the
most miniscule (sukshmatisukshma) in activity. Mind is very active and to pacify and stagnate the mind when
mantras are used then it is called mantra yoga, when certain activities are done then its Hatha Yoga, when
soul is merged with prakruti then Laya yoga and finally when antah karan (Budhdhi-Logic) is used then is
Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga is the best amongst the four and it is recommended that each Parva should not be seen
and practiced in isolation. Yoga in meaning means unity, sum total etc.

Mantra yoga has 16 parts: 1. Bhakti (devotion. Bhakti has been discussed deeply in Bhagwadgita) 2.
Shudhdhi (Purity) 3. Aasan (Seating Posture) 4. Panchang Sewan (by praying to your deity requesting for
protection and success in your effort. This has five parts Gita, sahastranaam, Stav, Kawach and Hridaya) 5.
Aachar 6. Dharana (focussing the mind to an external or internal point of reference) 7. Divyadesh Sewan (the
places/objects etc that are created to meditate. These are 16 in kind.) 8. Prankriya (process in which except
for pranayam pran is taken to different parts of the body) 9. Mudra (various hand gestures eg shankh mudra,
gada mudra etc.) 10. Tarpan 11. Havan 12. Bali 13. Yag 14 Japa 15 Dhyan (meditation) 16 Samadhi.

Considering the fact that complying with all the parts will not be easy for a beginner or inexpert and limiting
our focus only to physical, mental and emotional well being I shall scope the article only to 1. Shuddhi 2.
Aasan 3. Prankriya 4. Japa and 5. Dhyan. The beginners can further reduce to shudhdhi, japa and dhyan
(also for people who are skeptical about the power of the science and those who scope them to bounds of a
particular religion).

Shudhdhi has four sub parts Dikshudhdhi (Direction where the yogi should face) Sthan Shudhdhi (the place
where Yogi practicies) Sharir Shudhdhi ( personal cleanliness by bathing etc) manah shudhdhi (purity of mind
and thought).

Human body is made of five elements and the Bhuta Shudhdhi talks about purifying the body by purifying
the elements. Bhavana shakti (the power of desire) and Mantra Shakti (the power of mystical sounds) help
destroy and purge the toxics and create new bhutas to empower the Sthul Sharir (the physical self) and
the Sukshma Sharir (the inner eternal self). As long as the body (total Body) is impure there will be sin
residing in the mind that will harm the self and those associated.

Mantras have been classified as Male, female and Asexual. It is advised that a practitioner should have a
guru to mentor him/ her in the journey. It is very important for a sadhak to follow Nitya Karma - a disciplined
life from morning to night till you go to bed.

The Process

Sadhak after Shudhdhi should come to the dedicated place for meditation preferably in the north eastern
part of the house or wherever s/he is meditating. S/He should use a clean comfortable aasani (mat) for
meditation on the floor facing the East direction. Sadhak should Sprinkle water around self in a circle and
recite the mantra rum. After this close eyes and imagine a wall of fire created around as Sadhak recites the
mantra rum; rum is the beej mantra for fire element and think about the Almighty in a form of his choice
consistent with his religion requesting and praying to Him in his mind to help meditate and not let any
obstruction cross this circle of fire and prevent him from meditating and achieving the goal..

After this the sadhak should proceed to Bhuta shudhdhi in his mind and think about the kundalini. Kundlani is
a light form of thousands of electrical volts in the form of a coiled serpent inside a lotus flower kind of
structure in the Muladhar Chakra. Imagine that the serpent has woken up, and is slowly moving up as it
uncoils and moves up through Swadhistan chakra and Manipur chakra through the Sushumna marga (path)
to Anahat Chakra in the heart region where it swallows the Jeev (inner self) and further moves up through
the Vishudhdhi Chakra in the throat to Aagya Chakra in the forehead between the eyebrows to finally the
Sahasrar Chakra where the Almighty resides. With the recitation of the mantra Hansah the sadhak should
merge the kundlini with the jeevatma inside with the paramatma (Almighty).

Next the sadhak should imagine the body into 5 parts:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Prithvi Mandal : From foot to thigh. Imagine a square of yellow color and submerge it in water
Jala Mandal: from thigh to naval. Imagine white colored half moon and submerge it in fire
Agni Mandal: from naval to chest. Imagine red color triangle and disappear it in air
Vayu Mandal: from heart to eyebrows: imagine a black color circle with six dots and vanish it in
space
Akash Mandal: from eyebrows to brahmarandhra (the top most part of the head). Think of the
Tatwas and vanish them as : earth in water, water in fire, fire in air, air in space, space in the
Ego and Ego into Almighty.

Next the Sadhak should imagine the Papapurush the evil residing in him. It is of the size of the thumb and
lives in the left armpit. He has no glow, lacks charm and is full of dullness. He has a red beard and red eyes.
His teeth are made of anger. He has Khadg (a kind of weapon) made of illogic and armour of lust and rides
a horse of lies. He speaks like a donkey. He is stupid, evil and plagued with all kind of maladies and is about
to die.

Sadhak should imagine an area at the naval that has six dots where vayu beej resides. Its sole job is to dry
up anything. Sadhak should take 16 purak (inhale) and with each purak recite the mantra Om Yum. With
the Vayu that rises from the mandal with each such recitation the sadhak should imagine the papapurush
being dried up.

Then the sadhak should think of the Agni Beej-Rum. Sadhak should imagine blood colored agni mandal at
the heart. With 64 or 50 Kumbhak (inhale and stop before exhaling) and reciting the mantra Om Rum in
between inhale and exhale. With each Kumbhak the sadhak should turn the dried papapurush into ashes.
Further with the Vayu beej Yum via rechak (exhale) 32 times the sadhak should blow out the ashes of the
papapurush.

Next the sadhak should think of the Varun Beej Vum residing in the head in the form of two half moon
forms and nourish the self. Sadhak should then think of the Prithvi Beej Lum. It forms the Adhar (Basis)
Mandal. It is square in shape, hard and yellow in color. Sadhak should feel the body turning strong and hard.
Lastly the Sadhak should think of the Akash Beej Hum in the Akash (space) Mandal. It is pure, pacifying
and imparting eternal bliss. With this the body becomes protected. Next the sadhak should restore the
Tatwas surrendered to the Almighty to the body in their respective places (the serpentile snake retreating
and coiling back into the lotus at the muladhar). Thus the Sukshma sharir and the Sthul Sharir become pure
and complete.

The process should be terminated with lastly the recitation of the Mantra Om So Ahem and with each
recitation the Almighty should be established in the heart and the sadhak should feel that the Almighty will
take care of all in His regime and feel pure, devine, fresh, soft and consistent to follow the path of Almighty.

I realize the above literature covers a lot of concepts and terminology covered very succinctly and each
leading to an article in itself. I have purposely tried to keep it succinct to maintain Sadhaks interest than to
bombard him with too much information that he gets confused and de motivated. In future I shall cover them
in detail. For now I believe this will give a good start to the readers to practice, experience and atleast find
the right information from the right people.

I have also indirectly hinted that if Yoga is not practiced the way Vedas have mentioned it cannot give
complete results. Yoga is a journey of self from logic to body to mind to soul and back again to logic. (is that
forming a coil or is it uncoiling? Is it forming a Vortex?....experience...Explore.....Enjoy) The journey is not
easyits not impossible too..... Few people have been able to complete and currently I am incapable to tell
you what the end is like but for sure based upon the experience of the few knowledgeable in the history and
as mentioned in the Sacred texts the end is only the beginning....