The Science of Mantra

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Mantra shastra is a very deep and great science which, if understood correctly, can give one victory over the lower nature. It is a very ancient science and in previous ages people knew it well. Now, however, people’s faith in mantra shastra has diminished and the actual knowledge has become hidden to the point that anything is said in the name of mantra. It is therefore necessary to clarify this science for the sake of spiritual aspirants.

Origins of mantra

Mankind’s most ancient scriptures are the tantra shastras, and after the tantras, the Vedas took birth. Mantra shastra has come from the tantras. It was not written like ordinary books are written. The ancient sages had actual realization of mantra. When, in meditation, the rishis were able to rise to a very high level and transcend material consciousness, they heard cosmic sounds. These were called mantra. If you simply make up some syllables in your mind and repeat them, it is not mantra. When the rishis and munis, whose souls were purified, established their consciousness beyond the mind at a very high level through meditation, the sound perceived by them in that state was called mantra.

The rishis had the experience of mantra at three different levels, or planes of consciousness. When the consciousness passes from the gross body into the subtle body, the sound perceived at that time falls under one group. The mantras heard in the subtle body form another group, and when the consciousness enters from the subtle or second body into the third body, mantras realized at that time form a third group.

Different levels of consciousness

We need to understand what is meant by first body, second body and third body. When I say ‘body’, I do not mean only the body form, but body consciousness – that body through which the consciousness is functioning. When the body consciousness is realized through the medium of the five gross senses, it is called gross body consciousness or the first body where the mind, intellect and memory are working.

What is the second body? When you practise meditation, your awareness travels deep inside, and in that inner realm you begin to see beautiful visions and dreams. The second body, therefore, is not something tangible. It is the subtle or astral body, sukshma sharira, psychic consciousness, or the subconscious body. That is the second plane of consciousness.

What is the third body? When meditation becomes deeper and deeper, the state of void or shoonya arises. There is no awareness of the external or the internal. It is the experience of the dark night of the soul, like midnight, formless, sightless, where there is no awareness of ‘I’. That is called the third body, the causal body, karana sharira, or the unconscious body. In the Vedas it has been called hiranyagarbha, the golden womb. There are many names given to it by psychologists also.

There is also a fourth level of consciousness which is transcendental. In the third and fourth levels of consciousness, awareness of the external world is absent. There is no awareness of one’s old name or form, but there is the experience of the eternal self, akhanda swaroopa. This is the fourth level of consciousness called samadhi or turiya.

All these different levels of consciousness have been indicated in the Gayatri mantra: Om bhur, Om bhuvah, Om swahah, Om mahah, Om janah, Om tapah, Om satyam, Om tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dheemahi dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. ‘Om bhur’ is the first body, bhur loka or the material plane; ‘Om bhuvah’ is the second body, the intermediate or astral plane; ‘Om swahah’ is the third body, the heavenly or divine plane. The mantras that follow indicate the fourth body – mahah loka, janah loka, tapah loka and satya loka. These are not material worlds, they are planes of consciousness.

Revealed sounds

As the rishis sat in meditation and reached higher levels, they received the sounds known as mantra. Mantras, therefore, are not a creation of the human mind. They were perceived from higher sources. In Islam it is said that the Koran was revealed by God, which means that whoever received the Koran had attained a very high yogic state. In the same way, Christians speak of the Bible as a revealed scripture. Sanatana dharma, the eternal vedic religion, too is understood as having been revealed. The Vedas were not written by man. This, however, does not mean that the pen that wrote them was held in God’s hand; it only means that they were revealed to rishis in the transcendental state. The same is said about the Ramacharitamanas.

Bija mantras

Of all the types of mantra explained so far, the first and the highest is Om. Om is the seed or bija mantra of all mantras. The rishis realized this cosmic Om in the very highest planes of consciousness, in the state of self-realization, atma sakshatkar. All the mantras in existence have come from Om. It is composed of three sounds – A, U and M. Om is found in all societies and all religions, in one form or another. Om is the foremost of mantras.

First comes Om and after it the mantras of Gayatri. The twenty-four syllables of Gayatri along with Om should be considered the original Gayatri mantra. The vedic rishis who received this mantra were established at a very high level of consciousness.

Thereafter, there are mantras pertaining to the third body or the unconscious body, also known as bija mantras. We call them bija or potential mantras, because they contain dormant, potential energy of different forces. Each power or force in the world has its own bija mantra, such as ‘Aim’ for Saraswati, ‘Shreem’ for Lakshmi, ‘Kleem’, ‘Kreem’, ‘Hreem’, and so on. All the short, seemingly meaningless mantras you might have heard are bija mantras.

The bija mantras are like little bombs, like time bombs that explode just at the right moment. Just as you plant a seed in the earth and from that a giant tree grows up to give thousands of fruits, the bija mantras contain similar power. With the practice of anushthana, prolonged mantra repetition for a fixed period of time and a specific number of malas, and regular sadhana, the power of the mantra is awakened. When that power is awakened, the consciousness takes the form of the mantra. That’s when the real work of the mantra begins.

Power of mantra

There is much criticism of Hinduism, the objection being that it has a pantheon of gods and goddesses. But you must remember that shakti, energy, is not only of one type. It has innumerable forms. Although the primal shakti, the root shakti, is one, its manifestations are endless. That is why we worship Devi in so many different forms.

The same principle is also found in science. When electricity is flowing from one central circuit, the amplifier, tape-recorder and all other appliances work. The same energy gives heat from the heater and coolness from the fan. The heat and the cold are varied manifestations of one energy. The truth is that shakti is not just of one kind. Intellect is one shakti, memory is another shakti, speech, prana and knowledge are all shaktis without which we cannot exist. That is why there are different bija mantras for awakening these different powers.

Take vidya shakti, the power of knowledge. It is perceived in the form of Saraswati. I am not talking of the goddess Saraswati whose idol is worshipped in the temple, but of the energy which is in the form of vidya or Saraswati. What is the way to awaken this energy? Of all the methods given, the best is to take the bija mantra of that shakti and awaken its sleeping potential.

There are many other types of shaktis pertaining to the body, to disease, even to snake poison. In many diseases, if japa anushthana or prolonged repetition of Mahamrityunjaya mantra: Om tryambakam yajaamahe sugandhim pushtivardhanam; urvaarukamiva bandhanaan mrityormuksheeya maamritaat, is performed, the power of the mantra is awakened internally, giving the desired result. By the practice of mantra japa, the aspirant’s conscious will is awakened and through willpower everything is accomplished.

There are two forces or powers in the mantra. One is the power of consciousness, Shiva or purusha. The other is the force of nature, matter or prakriti. Through sadhana, these two forces are awakened, and when awakened, they continue to help you throughout your life. Now, you must try to bring the science of mantra into your life.
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