The right use of mantra requires that we concentrate and focus our minds with determination and intent. This requires sustained motivation and effort today in our era of short attention spans. Mantra is a tool for yogic concentration in which we learn to gather all our distracted thoughts, emotions and sensations into a single purpose. Otherwise, the lack of focus in the mind makes us subject to confusion and causes us to fall under external influences, letting others program our minds, set our goals, and cause us to act according to their needs and desires. The distracted and fragmented nature of our undisciplined thoughts causes wrong judgment, misperception, and creates unnecessary karma. To be able to think mantrically allows us to gain mastery over our lives, our thoughts and emotions, and to act with clarity, consistency and focus. Mantra is the most important and wholesome activity of the mind. Yet it helps us control, direct and energize the body, prana and senses as well. Mantra is one of the key words of Vedic counseling that should never be forgotten.
Mantra promotes “dharmic thinking”, thinking in harmony with universal law, through which enduring wisdom can be brought into the mind as a creative resource. Mantra is the dharma of the mind, its true purpose and most effectively directed action. When our minds reflect mantric patterns they are brought in harmony with the deeper vibrations of the greater consciousness universe, which magnifies their power geometrically.
Mantra is the language of cosmic intelligence, the Mahat Tattva of the Samkhya system of philosophy which stores all the laws of the universe. Mantra resonates with the vibrations of universal consciousness and the rhythms of nature, not simply ordinary language invented for a particular society, community or discipline. That is why mantra is short, concise, aphoristic and poetic. Mantra brings into our minds the ideal patterns, archetypes and interconnections of life as a whole. It helps us move beyond the human mind to consciousness without divisions, borders or frontiers.
The principles of Vedic counseling form prime mantras or energized thought patterns for right living, such as non-violence, receptivity, peace and universality. The mantric mind rooted in cosmic sound is the mind of the guru and counselor. The mantric mind is our inner guide to life’s challenges and our inner doorway to higher awareness. Mantra is the voice of the inner guru that provides spontaneous insight and inspiration.
Mantra is the language of Yoga that sets in motion the inner powers of Yoga, through which we can move into a deep state of meditation. The yogic application of the mind with focus, attention and awareness is mantra. Mantra integrates the mind back into the unitary state that leads us to pure consciousness. Mantra is the ship that carries us across the cosmic ocean of Samsara to the other shore of enlightenment.
Sri Gurubhyo Namah
Vamadeva Shastri