Part 11: Meditation Is for You
Dhyana shloka (Invocatory verse):
Naanaachhidra ghatodarasthita mahaadeepaprabhaa bhaasvaram gyaanam yasya tu chakshuraadikarana dvaaraa bahih spandate jaanaamiiti tameva bhaantam anubhaatyetat samastam jagat. tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinamurtaye
Just as the light of a lamp kept in a pot studded with holes escapes through the holes, it is the inner light of Consciousness that gleams through the eyes and other senses. This entire universe shines (exists) only when the light of Consciousness ('I know') perceives it. My salutations to Dakshinamurti, the embodiment of the auspicious Guru (who symbolizes this truth).
deham praanamapindriyaanyapi chalaan buddhim cha shuunyam viduh stribaalaandhajadopamaastvahamiti bhraantaa bhrisham vaadinah maayaashaktivilaasa kalpita mahaavyaamoha samhaarine tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinamurtaye
Some philosophers consider the changing body, life-force, senses, intellect and non-existence (shunya) as the real `I' (Atman). Their comprehension is worse than that of women, children, the blind and the dimwitted.
He who destroys this great delusion caused by the power of maya (and makes us aware of the Truth)- to that Dakshinamurti, who is embodied in the auspicious Guru, I offer my salutations.
Dhyana shloka (Invocatory verse):
Raahugrasta divaakarendusadrisho maayaasamaachchhaadanaat sanmaatrah karanopasamharanato yo'bhutsushhuptah pumaan praagasvaapsamiti prabodhasamaye yah pratyabhijnaayate tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinaamurtaye
The brilliance of sun exists even when intercepted by the planet Rahu during the solar eclipse. Similarly, the power of cognition only remains suspended during deep sleep, when the senses are withdrawn into the Self. The Self exists as pure being even though enshrouded in Maya. A person on awakening becomes aware that he was asleep earlier (and the dream was unreal). Similarly, a person who awakens to the consciousness of the Self recognizes his previous state of ignorance as unreal. He by whose grace alone one awakens to the consciousness of the Self - to that Dakshinamurti, who is embodied in the auspicious Guru, I offer my salutations.
baalyaadishhvapi jaagradaadishu tathaa sarvaasvavasthaasvapi vyaavrittaasvanuvartamaanamahamitityantah sphurantam sadaa svaatmaanam prakatikaroti bhajataam yo mudrayaa bhadrayaa tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinaamurtaye
He, whose existence is changeless through the various states of body (like old, young, etc.) as well as mind (like waking, dreaming etc); who reveals the unchanging Atman by the auspicious gnana-mudra (the hand gesture that symbolizes the one Absolute) - to that Dakshinamurti, who is embodied in the auspicious Guru, I offer my salutations.
Dhyana shloka (Invocatory verse):
vishvam pashyati kaaryakaaranatayaa svasvaamisambandhatah shishyaachaaryatayaa tathaiva pitrputraadyaatmanaa bhedatah svapne jaagrati vaa ya esha purusho maayaaparibhraamitah tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinaamurtaye
Those who see the world in terms of cause and effect, perceive in the undivided atman such dualities as I-mine, teacher-taught, father-son, etc. But the One remains undeluded (though seeing these distinctions caused by Maya) even in the states of waking or dream - to that Dakshinamurti, who is embodied in the auspicious Guru, I offer my salutations.
bhurambhaasya'nalo'nilo'mbaram aharnaatho himaanshuh pumaan ityaabhaati charaacharaatmakam idam yasyaiva murtyashtakam naanyatkijnchana vidyate vimrishataam yasmaatparasmaadvibhoh tasmai shri gurumurtaye nama idam shri dakshinaamurtaye
It is the one Consciousness whose unmanifest eightfold form shines as the moving and unmoving universe (including the five elements, the sun, the moon and man). By His grace alone, all these manifestation also disappear, and nothing remains to be perceived but the one Divine.
To that Dakshinamurti, who is embodied in the auspicious Guru, I offer my salutations.
Live the Master
Get personal with God!
Seeing the Divine everywhere
Turn into a stone!
Remember, I am
INSTRUCTIONS
Become invisible
INSTRUCTIONS (continuation)
TECHNIQUES TO AWAKEN BHAKTI
Dhyana shloka (Invocatory verse):
sarvaatmatvamiti sphutikritamidam yasmaadamushhmin stave tenaasya shravanaat tadarthamananaad dhyaanaachcha sankirtanaat sarvaatmatva mahaavibhuti sahitam syaad ishvaratvam svatah siddhyet tatpunarashtadhaa parinatam chaishvaryam avyaahahritam
The verse points out to the all pervasiveness of the indwelling Spirit, Atman. By the recital, contemplation and meditation of this hymn, the disciple attains the state of oneness with Atman and realizes his unity with the universe, thus becoming the very essence of theeightfold manifestation.
Concluding verse:
vatavitapisamipe bhuumibhaage nishhannam sakalamunijanaanaam gyanadaataaramaaraat tribhuvanagurumisham dakshinaamurtidevam jananamarana duhkha chheda daksham namaami
Salutations to the divine Dakshinamurti,
who sits under a banyan tree and bestows knowledge instantly on all the sages (and the devoted disciples); the lord and guru of the three worlds, whose wisdom destroys the sorrows of birth and death.
Dissolve in devotion
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
Devotion (bhakti) is the sweetest and most beautiful ways to connect to the Divine. Unlike any other spiritual practice, here the path and the goal are both equally blissful. Losing yourself in the Divine is a joy in itself. Devotion is its own reward. When you experience deep devotion for someone, that person becomes your doorway to the Divine. When you lose yourself in the other, you are taking a leap out of yourself. You experience the joy of going beyond your boundary and merging into another. This technique is a simple but effective way to awaken the mood of devotion in you.
INSTRUCTIONS
INSTRUCTIONS
Let Go. Let God.
DURATION: Not Applicable
Close your eyes and sit in a relaxed way. Bring to your mind any person who awakens devotion in you. It could be any person who has enriched your life, to whom you turn for spiritual clarity, who means a lot to you.
It could be a family member, a friend, a teacher or guru, or even you chosen deity.
Remember him clearly. Recall how he caused great transformation in you, in your life. Remember how much he added to your being. When you remember the person, the emotions of joy, reverence and devotion spontaneously arises in you.
Allow this feeling to grow. Experience the connection with the person deeply.
Deeply relax into his memory, into his being. Just disappear into his being, into the beautiful, loving intimate memories of him. Relax and merge into his being.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
You always feel that you cannot live your life without planning. Planning is a disease of the mind! You never realize, whenever you plan, you can only succeed to the limit of your planning. You are limited by the known. When you do not plan, you allow life to happen spontaneously. You enter into the space of unlimited possibilities.
DURATION: Duration: 24 hours
Just for one day, decide that you will drop all plans and move with whatever life brings.
Decide that you will not use your intellect to plan and judge and make decisions.
After all, it is just 24 hours!
You are not going to lose everything you have in just 24 hours. If something can leave you if you don't guard it for just 24 hours, let it go. It is not worth keeping.
For one day, consciously decide that you are not going to use your intellect to solve your problems.
It is your intellect that tells you that you don't have the natural intelligence to solve your problems spontaneously.
The moment you find your mind planning ahead, just drop the plan. Allow things to unfold on their own. Act from your being, not from your intellect.
Again and again, have the courage to remain in the space of not-knowing.
You will find that you have enough clarity, enough spontaneous awareness to run your life.
When you drop the thinking, planning, worrying, you will find that a higher intelligence comes into play.
Understand, this higher power is not outside of you. The intelligence which is running this universe is also inside you. It can take care.
Hollow Bamboo
TECHNIQUE AND INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: 21 minutes
This is a beautiful 'emptiness meditation'.
It is a technique to empty out whatever is inside you, so that you can receive the energy of the cosmos into yourself.
Sit still in a calm, silent place. Just become aware of your body. Feel completely at ease with your body. Now, imagine that your body has become a bamboo! Become a hollow bamboo. Be perfectly at rest. Your whole body, your skin, your flesh, your bones, are all part of the bamboo. Inside this space, there is nothing but emptiness, hollowness, silence. Let even your mind be passive. Don't wait for any experience; just be.
Suddenly, you will find energy pouring into you.
These are not esoteric ideas! They are perfectly practical techniques. They may seem odd to you because you haven't explored this dimension earlier. Just try out and see for yourself.
When you make yourself hollow, when you no longer resist, Divine energy starts flowing into you. You become a flute for the music of the Divine. You need not do anything, you simply have to become hollow. This is not easy! You are always used to being someone, something. To become hollow requires great love, great trust. If you are working with a master, become a hollow flute upon which your master can play. It is easier to give yourself up in love, than to a mysterious Divine energy.
At first you will be a hollow bamboo, but then the time will come when the bamboo itself disappears. There will be no more You.
This process can take time, but the results are amazing. Even as you lose yourself, you feel yourself to be one with the spirit that pervades all.
Who am I?
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
This is one of the most ancient and most current techniques to turn our awareness inward.
Again and again, this technique unfailingly points out to us the unchanging witness of the changing world.
First expressed in the Upanishads, this technique was most widely employed in our time by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the enlightened master of the last century.
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: Not applicable
This technique is an 'all the time' meditation.
No matter what you are experiencing at the moment, your awareness can be turned inward by the simple query, Who is the one experiencing this? When you are eating, working, moving your body, ask yourself, Who is doing this? Whenever you face a situation, ask, Who is facing this? When experiencing an overwhelming emotion, ask yourself, Who is this person who is feeling happy? Who is getting angry? Who am I who is feeling this fear? When in meditation, enquire, Am I this body sitting in meditation? Am I this mind which is wandering? Am I these emotions that rise and fall every moment? If I am not all these, then who am I?
Understand, this question is not meant to be answered!
Don't try to answer this question intellectually.
When the question arises in you, just see where it leads, without having any ideas about the answer.
Just be blank for a moment.
You will see, the moment you ask this question without trying to answer it, automatically your outward-flowing awareness takes a U-turn and returns to you, to your center.
Your question is answered wordlessly.
When you practice this technique continuously, your awareness becomes deeply rooted inside you.
No matter what you are thinking, feeling, doing, you remain the seer, the witness, the unchanging Consciousness.
LIVING ENLIGHTENMENT
You are weightless!
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
Have you noticed how you feel heavier on some days than on others? Actually, the weight you feel is the weight of your body, not of You. You are weightless!
Because you constantly identify yourself with the body and mind, you think of yourself as possessing weight. Your body is just matter, naturally it will have weight. Your mind also has a certain weight. When you are unhappy, you feel physically heavier, as if something is dragging you down. But when you are happy, you forget the body, you forget the mind.
When your consciousness is alive, you are lighter. You don't just feel lighter, you become lighter.
To experience the true lightness of your Being, you have to go beyond body and mind
In meditation, you break the identification with the body and mind. You break the boundaries of body and mind.
When this happens, you automatically feel your own weightlessness. In this technique, we learn to experience our weightlessness at will.
The meditation technique included in this discourse is an aid for curing vertigo and giddiness. It helps in creating a light and blissful mental setup free from anxiety and depression.
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: 10 minutes a day, for ten days
This is a wonderful technique even for beginning meditators. You don't need any training, understanding or belief for this technique.
First, remove whatever accessories or jewelry you may be wearing on your body.
Either sit or lie down. Be as comfortable as possible.
You can also lean against a wall if you feel comfortable that way. You can stretch your legs in whatever way you want, but you shouldn't need to exert effort to hold your body.
The idea is to feel very comfortable without supporting the weight of your body.
For example, if your head is straight, be very clear, you are exerting effort to keep it straight. It always requires effort to keep your head straight. In the same way, don't keep your spine erect, because that takes effort.
No part of your body should feel effort or tension. Just drop your arms and relax; do not hold tension in any part of the body. The weight of your body should not be felt anywhere. Otherwise you will be constantly feeling that you are heavy. Let your whole body be relaxed.
Now, visualize that you are a weightless being.
Actually you are weightless. You only constantly visualize that you are heavy. When on a bed or chair, feel your self become weightless and enter the space beyond the mind.
Duration: 10 minutes a day, for ten days
Feeling you are heavy is one shaft of thought. We will now break that shaft with the thought shaft that you are light. It is like using one thorn to remove another. Then, we will throw both thoughts out!
Let your whole body be relaxed, totally relaxed.
Just drop the body, let it be as it is. Let the body take its shape. Even when you stretch your leg, let it take its own shape.
Part by part, let your whole body just be. If you feel you are holding any part of your body, relax and stretch. Feel your legs are weightless. Feel your thighs are weightless. Feel your whole body is weightless. Just relax into that weightlessness.
Use your visualization power. Without any personality inside, just let your body be. See your body without any personality. You can function without any individuality or personality. Let your body be without any identify, just as animals function without any personality or identity interfering in their actions. When you practise this technique intensely, you will discover you are weightless!
You will experience your body as being so light that you have to pull yourself down to the earth!
To feel weightless is to become free of body and mind.
To feel weightless is to become pure consciousness, even for a few moments.
This technique is complete relaxation, total rejuvenation.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
You are accustomed to always seeing yourself as the object of others' eyes.
That is why, your entire identity is based on the roles that you play in the outer world.
You have become so used to this idea that even you start regarding yourself from the outside! Even in your own eyes, you have become just a social entity.
Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally also, you always measure yourself based on the judgments of society. You have forgotten that you are not an object that someone else can evaluate. You are the subject, the seer of this entire drama.
We are afraid to feel so powerful, so majestic!
In this technique, you will use visualization to go beyond this constant body identification.
For a change, experience yourself as you really are - as pure bodiless awareness, the unchanging witness of this changing world!
Duration: Not applicable
Whenever you are moving in a public place, just imagine that you have become invisible! Continuously visualize that you no longer exist as a person, as a body – you have become a pure awareness that no one can see or contact.
You can see everything, but you cannot be seen. You are free to witness the whole show of the world, but none can witness or evaluate you.
This technique may sound simple, but you cannot imagine its impact!
Your awareness, which was flowing into a hundred things outside yourself, now remains rooted in the inner witness.
With this single visualization, you experience a tremendous sense of power, of freedom.
You realize that you are truly more than everything that you see around you.
The objective world can disturb you, frighten you, only as long as you feel that it is more powerful than yourself.
Once you see the seer, the seen shrinks into insignificance.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
This is a technique to be aware of yourself at every moment, in every action. While using any of the five senses, continuously remember the awareness behind them.
It is you who sees through your eyes, the eyes themselves don't see! The ears don't hear, the eyes don't see, and the nose does not smell, they are just windows. While looking at something don't be lost in it, remember the awareness that is behind it.While listening to music, don't forget yourself in the ear, remember the awareness behind it. Return again and again to the unchanging center in this changing world!
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: Not applicable
All you have to do is remember yourself, remember I am - when you are eating, drinking, walking, talking.
Be aware, I am, and discover within yourself an ever-living current.
Don't imagine it is simple. We cannot maintain our awareness on ourselves for more than a few seconds. Then we forget. You think you are remembering, but your mind has already jumped to a new thought!
Self-remembrance is NOT thinking; it is simply awareness.
If you think, I am, you have missed the point. That is what we usually end up doing – repeating the words, I am, I am.
The words are not the experience. Don't verbalize. Just feel, I am. Don't think about it. When you are walking, stop for a moment and be aware that you are.
Remember who the seer is. When you open your eyes, understand that you are seeing through the eyes. You are not seeing.
When you touch something, just feel the touch. When someone touches you, feel the touch, feel the one who is being touched.
Carry this awareness. Be aware that you are experiencing the sun on your face, the wind in your hair. Be aware of the one who is experiencing. Just feel, I am.
Then suddenly, you will see that your whole energy is centered in the ajna chakra. For a moment, you will be thrown back into yourself!
You get a glimpse of deep silence, of reality. Your consciousness becomes sharper. You will see things more clearly, in more detail like how you see things as fresh after it rains. Retain this awareness at all times.
As you practice this, your awareness becomes more and more centered on yourself. When you are centered within, there can be no attachment, no detachment, no craving, no suffering.
When the seer is realized, the seen can no longer affect you.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
This technique sounds like a punishment, or a curse! But its impact is just the opposite. We feel that not being able to move the body is torture. Not being able to move the mind is unimaginable! When we cannot move our body or mind, it is like death. But if we can enter into this death just once, we experience ourselves as Life itself.
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: One hour minimum
Step 1:
Sit on the floor with your eyes closed.
You are going to become a stone - so get prepared!
Try to roll your body into a firm ball – wrap your hands around your knees, put your face down between your knees; breathe as silently as if you are not breathing.
Step 2:
Now, visualize clearly that you have turned into a stone – a big, shapeless stone.
You have no limbs, no power of movement.
Do not allow even the slightest movements in your body.
All kinds of aches and pains and itches will come up.
Just ignore them!
How can you move, when you are a stone?
Just remain absolutely still.
If you hold on, you will see that in a while the body settles down in silence.
Your body has really turned into stone.
Step 3:
Now, without moving your body, stop the movement of your mind. When your body cannot move, the mind starts jumping! Stop the mind.
INSTRUCTIONS (continued)
Feel very clearly that your mind is dead.
You are just a stone, so you cannot have the power to think. Don't stop your thoughts one by one – just stop all thoughts. You can do it.
Just enter deeply into the blank left by the dying thoughts. Just wipe yourself out of existence.
Experience yourself as dead.
Don't think about it! Enter into it.
You are now a lifeless stone.
Suddenly you will see, even when body and mind are no more, there is something in you which says, 'I'!
There is a continuous experience of 'I' which refuses to die.
There is a pure awareness in you, that is not different from you. That awareness itself is you.
You can never be conscious of your own non-existence, because your consciousness itself is that 'I'!
When all that can die has died, only that remains which can never die.
If you can have even a single glimpse of this truth, it can just explode you!
Even though you will continue to live with body and mind, you will never again lose yourself in the body and mind.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
The eternal complaint of any aspiring meditator is that the mind refuses to dwell on the object of meditation. Your body is sitting in meditation, but your mind has wandered off to your office, to your friend, to the past, to the future. How to tie down the mind to the contemplation of Truth? This technique turns the whole problem on its head. If you cannot make the mind turn to the Truth, why not perceive the Truth wherever the mind turns? Indeed, since everything in the world is of the nature of Truth, is it ever possible for the mind to meditate on anything else?
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: 21 Minutes
Step 1:
Sit upright with your eyes closed.
Choose any object that attracts you as a subject for contemplation. It could be an external object, or an internal one – a thought or an emotion.
Do not judge the object as worthy of meditation or not. Just choose whatever pleases you. Now, meditate on that object with the full conviction that it is nothing but the Divine consciousness. Don't even consider it as a physical object! Whatever other qualities it may have, let them fall away. All you can see is that it is pure consciousness.
You will be shocked!
When you meditate on something as pure consciousness, it can no longer stand apart as something isolated, something different from the universal stream of consciousness. When it loses its individuality, it stands revealed as it really is – the universal consciousness itself in that particular aspect!
Step2:
Carry this understanding wherever you go.
Whatever you encounter, in the outer world or in the inner world, see it as one more form of consciousness. Continuously see only this one Truth everywhere.
When everything is uniformly perceived as Truth or consciousness, there is no more scope for individual preferences. All desires, all fears, all differences arising out of individual perception are leveled out by this one mighty understanding.
No other sadhana is needed!
This single realization can simply still your mind, and bring a deep and lasting peace to you.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
If you are feeling connected to the Master, there is already a direct bridge in the form of the Master between you and the Divine. All that is needed is to just keep the connection alive and blissfully enjoy the path to the Ultimate bliss. It is the easiest and most juicy way of relating with the Divine because you are just focused on what you are feeling most in tune with. It is the fastest and most effective means because you are just being consciously integrated in your devotion. When there is an intense longing for the Master in your heart, the very power of that longing has the immense capacity to enable a quantum leap in your understanding and trust.
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
The mind takes the form of that on which it contemplates continuously.
The most effortless way to experience the space of enlightenment is to meditate on a being who lives and moves in that space.
Bhakti is nothing but holding on to that which never changes – the formless consciousness.
But it is not easy for us to directly feel connected with the formless Existential energy.
The master is the form that reminds us again and again of the formless.
This is an extremely effective technique for changing your very bio-memory. As you keep practicing it, your body and mind will simply pick up the language of enlightenment.
INSTRUCTIONS
Duration: Not applicable
Whatever situation you are faced with, ask yourself, How will my master behave in such circumstances? Then do the same.
If your mind brings up the question, Who knows how he will behave?, or It is alright for the master. Can I do it? – just ask, how does the master respond to this doubt? He will simply silence the mind, that's all. So you also do just that. Don't bother about any difficulty you might face. What is the worst that can happen to you? Death? Then ask yourself, How will the master handle this? Even if death happens, the master will simply leave the body gracefully. He will be untouched.
When there is a beautiful way in front of your eyes to handle even death, what other problem can stand before you?
Just this one connection can solve all your problems and run your life.
Understand, this is not just faking.
Maybe in the beginning it will seem like that, but when you continuously follow the expressions of enlightened behavior, you will fall into the experience from which it arises. Just live the master, you will live like a master!
The Power of Prayer: Guru Mantra
Prayer is a powerful form of meditation!
A sincere prayer has great benefits. When you are connected to the Master, the prayer establishes a direct bridge between you and the all-powerful, compassionate Existence in the form of the Master. Prayer can directly remove all the physical and mental impurities you carry inside you. It can simply dissolve all the sins you have been carrying. It is an integrated, focused direction of your energy towards the Ultimate energy.
Scientific Evidence
Can the power of prayer be proven scientifically? If you pray for someone, can that person be benefited? Research has been done especially over the last decade to answer some of these questions. Some of the findings are listed below:
In a 1998 study, some selected practicing healers from a number of traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hindu shamans etc were supplied with the first names, blood counts and photographs of 20 patients with advanced AIDS. Every day for an hour per day, the healers concentrated their thoughts on the pictures of these patients, for ten weeks. There was another group of 20 other AIDS patients who were left without being thought about in this way. An important thing to be noted in this is that the patients had no idea that they were being prayed for.
It was found that the patients who received this distance healing had fewer and less severe new illnesses, fewer doctor visits, fewer hospitalizations and in general were more positive than those who were not prayed for.
Similar experiments on mice also showed that the distance healing shrank tumors.
Experiments show that heart attack patients who don't even know that they have been prayed for recover much faster and better.
A similar study in Paris had a group of 60 terminally ill patients in a hospital prayed for while the patients were themselves unaware of this. Another group of 60 terminally ill patients were also monitored who did not receive anything other than the medication that the other group of 60 patients were also receiving. It was found that the group that received the prayers lived an average of four months longer than those who did not.
Scientific Evidence
Not only that, five of the patients who were prayed for even recovered completely. On the other hand, in the other group of 60 patients who did not receive prayers, none of them got well. The power that prayer has on one's own self has also been found to be remarkable as found by various top universities in the US where this has been studied. Some of the benefits found include:
- Lower death rate from heart disease and cancer
- Higher chances of survival after surgery for heart patients
- Double the stroke rate in elderly
- Lesser hospitalization time
Some studies done include:
● A study in San Francisco in the 80's was done on about 400 patients showed that the group receiving healing prayer not only had fewer deaths, they also had lesser need for CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and mechanical ventilators as well as antibiotics.
● An interesting study was done in France to study the effect of thought on the growth of microorganisms. In the experiment, a group of people was asked to influence the growth of some destructive fungi just by their intention. The ambient conditions were tightly regulated and there were two groups of fungi, one that received attention and the other that did not. It was found that the growth in over 75% of the fungi which received the intention to not grow actually showed retardation in growth.
LIVING ENLIGHTENMENT Awakening to your higher intelligence
How to pray?
You can connect to the Existential energy in any way, as long as you feel sincere and integrated in your devotion.
A very easy, powerful and effective way is through the chanting of mantras or sacred syllables which have a deep meaning linguistically as well as vibrationally.
Choose the mantra with which you feel most in tune.
If you have a favorite deity, you can choose that name or mantra of that deity.
If you have a guru, connecting to the Existential energy becomes effortless, as the guru is the living, moving form of the formless energy. He is your direct connection to the Divine.
Whatever the mantra you choose, remember that it is only the means for you to connect. The Divine power is always available. You only have to choose the path that is easiest for you!
Guru Mantra
The Guru Mantra is 'Om Hreem Nithyanandaya namaha'.
Om is the primordial sound and is the representation of the male energy, Shiva energy.
Hreem is the bija mantra (seed sound) which has no linguistic meaning but has a powerful vibration which awakens the feminine energy inside us.
Thus the mantra awakens the completeness and fulfillment inside us, a holistic completion of the male and female energies which exist inside every one of us.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is invoking the name of the Master – the expression of the ultimate Truth of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. It is the poorna moola mantra (the complete mantra) because it is the straight path to both Shakti - success in this world, and to Shiva – success in the cosmic world which is enlightenment.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM also means eternal bliss. You give a clear intention to your being and the universe about your ultimate desire – eternal bliss or enlightenment.
Namaha means 'I don't exist'. It is the laying down of both 'I' and 'mine' at the feet of the Divine. This is the beautiful technique of surrender. You surrender your ego to the Master, your self to the Self.
The mantra can replace your inner chatter which as of now is mostly unnecessary thoughts which cause confusion and drain your energy. When your very inner chatter gets purified, it will result in a great clarity of thought, an amazing surge of energy in you and an intense enthusiasm and excitement for life.
Akshara Laksham (One Lakh Chants)
Akshara Laksham is the chanting of the Guru Mantra 'Om Hreem Nithyanandaya Namaha' nine lakh times. The Guru Mantra has nine letters (navakshari). So, each syllable is chanted one lakh times.
Actually, thoughts arise from the navel region, the manipuraka chakra. So, when you chant the Guru Mantra, the manipuraka chakra or the source of thoughts and words gets completely cleansed. This automatically leads to the removal of all worries, negative thoughts and emotions. There is a profound increase in clarity of thinking and peace of mind by the chanting of the energized mantra.
Om Hre