Mantram
“In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself.”
“Mantram is the bow…”
– Bhagavad Gita, 6:20; Mundaka Upanishad, 2:2:4
Mantram or mantra is a form of meditation practiced within a variety of traditions, but most associated with Vedic religion, and specifically with Vedanta – one of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism. The Vedantin texts repeatedly encourage devotees to “seek the Self” through the practice of meditation, and often associate meditation with the attainment of a stilled mind. The use of a mantram is specifically mentioned in several of the principal Upanishads and, as a result, has become a dominant form of meditation in Vedanta and Hinduism more widely.
Vedantin Understandings of Mantram
“Seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation” (Bhagavad Gita 6:10) is perhaps the best way to sum up the attitude of the meditative strands of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. It is this attitude, and not necessarily a particular form, that can be said to be core to what the Vedantin texts teach about meditation. When the principal Upanishads do speak of something approaching methodology, they tend to focus on the use of a mantram.
Because the goal of all spiritual practice in the Vedantin tradition is Self-Realization, there is a theistic element to mantram meditation as it is traditionally practiced. One modern Vedantin teacher defines mantram as a form of sacred utterance, like the repetition of a name of God, used to still the mind and become aware of the divine Reality to which it refers. Stemming from its prominence in the Upanishads, the most common mantram is aum, which can be thought of as “the sound which represents Brahman,” although many varieties of mantrams – various names of God, short phrases, some with meaning, some without explicit meaning – have been and are used today. In some strands of modern Vedanta, the importance of the handing down of a mantram from guru to disciple is emphasized, while in others, practitioners are encouraged to choose a personal mantram which is meaningful to them. Mantrams can be chanted aloud, although verbal mantram practice is usually seen as a precursor to silent practice. In a typical mantram practice, the word or phrase is repeated as a means of stilling the mind, the mantram “falling away” as the mind reaches stillness.
Two popular Vedantin interpretations of what takes place in the still mind achieved through meditative practice are Union with Brahman and Turiya.
Union With Brahman
Union with Brahman, which can be considered synonymous with “Self-Realization,” is the most common way the Vedantin texts speak about the final experience of meditative practice. Union with Brahman can be thought of primarily as the experience of Pure Consciousness/Being in the depths of meditation, but also extends to the experience of Union with Brahman as the Ground of Being in all things. This is expressed in the Chandogya Upanishad as the famous formula Tat Tvam Asi – Thou Art That. At the same time one realizes the nature of the Ground of their own being, they also realize the same Ground is shared by all things.
In the Vedantin texts, Union with Brahman / Self-Realization also has the connotation of a heart made pure. The aspirant who has attained the unitive state in fullness no longer craves anything for self, but lives as a channel of the Good.
Turiya
Another way that the still mind achieved through meditation is sometimes described is as Turiya – “the Fourth.” This interpretation stems from the Mandukya Upanishad which explores four states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep, and “the Fourth” – what might be described as waking up in dreamless sleep. Turiya can be thought of as the experience of pure, undifferentiated consciousness.
Transcendental Meditation
One modern manifestation of mantram practice is represented by the Transcendental Meditation movement in the United States. Associated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation can be thought of as a translation of Vedantin understandings of mantram into a slightly more secular paradigm. In Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes the technique as follows:
"The process of bringing the attention to the level of transcendental Being is known as the system of Transcendental Meditation. In the practice of Transcendental Meditation, a proper thought is selected and the technique of experiencing that thought in its infant states of development enables the conscious mind to arrive systematically at the source of thought, the field of Being. Thus, the way to experience transcendental Being lies in selecting a proper thought and experiencing its subtle states until its subtlest state is experienced and transcended."
Those from the TM movement typically use secular terminology when describing the method, although descriptions of “Transcendental Being” clearly resemble Vedantin conceptions of Brahman.
The Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads
The following are quotations from The Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, from which mantram and other forms of Vedantin contemplative practice are drawn.
Seek the Self in Inner Solitude
"Those who aspire to the state of yoga should seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation. With body and mind controlled they should constantly practice one-pointedness, free from expectations and attachment to material possessions.
Select a clean spot, neither too high nor too low, and seat yourself firmly on a cloth, a deerskin, and kusha grass. Then, once seated, strive to still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation, and your heart will be purified. Hold your body, head, and neck firmly in a straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering. With all fears dissolved in the peace of the Self and all desires dedicated to Brahman, controlling the mind and fixing it on me, sit in meditation with me as your only goal. With senses and mind constantly controlled through meditation, united with the Self within, an aspirant attains nirvana, the state of abiding joy and peace in me.
Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they attain the state of union.
When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self, an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfillment. Having attained that abiding joy beyond the senses, revealed in the stilled mind, he never swerves from eternal truth. He desires nothing else, and cannot be shaken by the heaviest burden of sorrow.
The practice of meditation frees one from all affliction. This is the path of yoga. Follow it with determination and sustained enthusiasm. Renouncing wholeheartedly all selfish desires and expectations, use your will to control the senses. Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.
Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satisfaction without, lead it within; train it to rest in the Self. Abiding joy comes to those who still the mind. Freeing themselves from the taint of self-will, with their consciousness unified, they become one with Brahman.”
– The Bhagavad Gita, 6:10-27
Selfless Service
“Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit. At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. ‘Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires’; this is the promise of the Creator.”
“Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law O Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life. But those who realize the Self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness in the external world. They have nothing to gain or lose by any action; neither people nor things can affect their security.”
– The Bhagavad Gita, 3:9-10,15-18
Brahman The Fulfillment of Desire
“As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow…
...where there is unity, one without a second, that is the world of Brahman. This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.”
Draw the Bowstring of Meditation
“The mantram is the bow,
The aspirant is the arrow,
And the Lord is the target.
Now draw the bowstring of meditation,
And hitting the target be one with him.”
Mantram as Firestick
“Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs against another, though the fire remains hidden in the firestick. So does the Lord remain hidden in the body until he is revealed through the mystic mantram. Let your body be the lower firestick; let the mantram be the upper. Rub them against each other in meditation and realize the Lord.
Like oil in sesame seeds, like butter in cream, like water in springs, like fire in firesticks, so dwells the Lord of Love, the Self, in the very depths of consciousness. Realize him through truth and meditation. The Self is hidden in the hearts of all, as butter lies hidden in cream. Realize the Self in the depths of meditation, the Lord of Love, supreme reality, who is the goal of all knowledge.”
“Be seated with spinal column erect and turn your mind and senses deep within. With the mantram echoing in your heart, cross over the dread sea of birth and death…
...As a dusty mirror shines bright when cleansed, so shine those who realize the Self, attain life’s goal, and pass beyond all sorrow. In the supreme climax of samadhi they realize the presence of the Lord.”
Aum
“The mantram aum stands for the supreme state of turiya, without parts, beyond birth and death, symbol of everlasting joy. Those who know aum as the Self become the Self; truly they become the Self.”
Tat Tvam Asi, “You are That”
“In the beginning was only Being,
One without a second.
Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything in it.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”
“As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu, you are that.”
“‘Please, Father, tell me more about this Self.’
‘Yes, dear one, I will,’ Uddalaka said.
‘Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree.’
‘Here it is, sir.’
‘Break it. What do you see?’
‘These seeds, Father, all exceedingly small.’
‘Break one. What do you see?’
‘Nothing at all.’
‘That hidden essence you do not see, dear one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.’”
For local TM groups and teaching, visit TM.org. Larger Vedantin communities in the United States are represented by the Vedanta Society of New York and the Vedanta Society of Southern California.