 We are a group of Aurovillian, a name called Spiritual Multiversity Group, Luca France, myself. We are organizing this event as a part of Sri Aurobindo's 158th birthday anniversary. As per the Charter of Auroville, Auroville is a site of material and spiritual researchers for a living embodiment of an actual human unity. And so keeping this line of Auroville Charter in our mind and heart, we are aiming to invite spiritual teachers and scholars from different spiritual paths to give a talk and workshops which could be helpful in our spiritual journey. And in the Indian yogic system as well, we have Mantra, Yantra and Tantra have been mentioned as a tool by which Nara can become a Narayana. Nara means human being and Narayana means divine. And so today we have a guest, Sri Shampalanand Mishraji, who will talk about Mantra Yoga and Sri Aurobindo. I would request Luca to please welcome him with the flower. Shampalanand Mishraji is a professor at Rastram School of Public Leadership at Rishi Hood University. He is a Sanskrit scholar from Odisha. Through the Vande Matram Library Trust, he plans to generate verified authentic English translations of almost all important scriptures available in Sanskrit. This pioneering project would also lay the foundation stone of original Sanskrit works that would enhance the appreciation and cultivation of the Vedic knowledge. Shampalanandji regularly conducts workshops, training programs, orientation courses and talks for students and teachers on Sanskrit, Mantra, Yoga and Bhagavad Gita. He writes articles in English, Sanskrit and Odiya. He composes verses and songs and he has edited and authored many books. Shampalanandji was awarded the Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Award for Sanskrit in 2012 by Pratibha Patil, the then President of India. And Shampalanandji is also specialized in Sanskrit Grammar. So now without taking now much time, I would request Shampalanandji to start with the Mantra Yoga and Sri Aurobindo. Thank you, Shampalanandji. Namaskar. So the topic today is Mantra Yoga and Sri Aurobindo. So in any practice of Yoga, spirituality or in our spiritual journey, Mantra plays a very important role as a tool, as an instrument, as a means for the attainment of a state which helps in attaining many other higher realms or achieving in life the real purpose, the higher goals of life. Let's concentrate on the word Mantra itself. In Sanskrit, every word is conscious of its own history, its self-explanatory. It explains why it stands for a particular idea, particular object. So the word Mantra itself can explain why it stands for whatever is the meaning of the Mantra. Every word in Sanskrit is derived from a root sound and that root sound is also connected with many fundamental experiences. So in a sense, like when we come to Sri Aurobindo to learn about the mantric nature of Sanskrit language or the Mantra as a language or the language of the Mantra, so we will find that Mantra or Sanskrit as a Mantric language is not just helping in elevating the human consciousness, but it also helps the Sadhaka, means the seeker, to find out or to arrive at the fundamental experiences of the humanity, which is an important exercise to find out what are the fundamental experiences. And most of the meanings of the words derived from the root sounds are based on those fundamental experiences. That by itself is a completely different topic. We will focus on what is the word, the etymology of the word Mantra. The word Mantra comes from the root sound Man. Every root sound has several meanings, not one meaning, layers of meanings. Man means every activity that mind does or any activity connected with mind is the root sense of the root sound Man. Man means to concentrate, Man means to think, Man means to consider. So that's where you have the word Matta. The word Matta comes from Man, means an opinion or someone who thinks about something. What one thinks about something is Matta. And Man also means the mind from which you get the word Manas, because it does all these kinds of activities. Now there is the other component which can be explained differently. Tra is a suffix in Sanskrit, which is added in the sense of a tool. Like the eyes are called Netra. Netra means it comes from the root sound Ni, means to lead. So eyes are means by which we are led. You have Patra means vessels. Pa means to drink. So Patra, you have Vastra. The clothes are called Vastra. Vast means to cover. So the means by which we cover ourselves is Vastra. So Mantra means a means, a tool, an instrument by which one is capable of contemplation. The mind can be concentrated, brought into a state of focus. One-pointed concentration is possible by Mantra. So because the mind can be brought through Mantra into a state of focus, so what Mantra does is makes the mind free from all its chaos. So that's why traditionally it is said, Mananath Trayate Iti Mantra. It means like it protects, it saves, it makes the one who contemplates free from all vagaries, all chaos. The nature of mind in the ordinary state of consciousness is chaotic. Mind is affected by many doshas, many faults. It's never concentrated, it's in a chaotic state. It doesn't see clearly things because it always has a distorted version of everything. It is covered by many components. There is a veil in front of the mind. There are many thick layers, you can say. So the pure divine mind which can see clearly, think clearly is something which can be achieved through Mantra. When we come to Sri Aurobindo, so how he explains the word Mantra is something which no one has explained, especially what he says in his book, The Future Poetry, what he speaks about the Mantra in The Secret of the Veda, in The Hymns to the Mystic Fire. So when it comes to poetry, Mantric poetry, so he says that there are three intensities, the intensity of rhythm, the intensity of the thought content, the intensity of the soul's power, the soul's vision. So when these three intensities they meet, so that poetry becomes mantric poetry. Who can do that? Who can produce that kind of poetry? The one who has raised himself or herself from ordinary to a higher level of consciousness. So the one who was living in a higher level is living or is capable of, by the power of tapas, by the power of one's own sincere effort or by the power of a self-discipline. So one who has raised himself to a higher level of consciousness has developed the inner power of vision, so then he can see things clearly, directly, see the truth directly, has developed the inner power of audition, can hear the voice of the truth directly, so that person is called Rishi. Or in the feminine form it is Rishika. So he had both Rishis and Rishikas who live in a higher plane of consciousness, have the power to see the truth directly, have the power to hear the voice of the truth directly. So Pratyaksha Drashta, that means a direct seer, a Pratyaksha Sharuta or a direct hearer of the truths. So they see the truth, a certain aspect of the truth when they contemplate in a meditative, in a contemplative state, a truth it appears in the consciousness of the Rishi. So it starts reverberating and when it descends and starts reverberating in the consciousness, so it takes a shape, it takes a form, gets arranged by itself in the form of sounds and the Rishi has the power to see the pattern and that arrangement is very harmonious and harmoniously rhythmic and that pattern is called the mantra. So what he sees is the mantra, that's why the Rishi says, Yadrag eva dadrase tadrag brahimi or tadrag brutel. So the way I see I present. So there is no distortion in mantra. Why mantras are powerful? Because they are the sound symbol of or their representation of a solid realization of the truths where there is no distortion, there is no loss of content. So in mantra one finds, like when a realization takes place, when a deeper truth is seen, the way it is seen, the way it is heard is never distorted in the mantra and it is expressed through minimum use of words, through minimum expenditure of energy and without loss of content. So mantra contains within itself the essence of the truth realized. So by coming in contact with the mantra, one can have the same realization, what it contains. One can have the same realization, one can become one with that realization. That's the power of mantra. In the tradition, the Rishis were of various types. The prominent ones were those who could see the truths and through whom the mantras descend. The second type of Rishis were who learn that from the Rishis and reproduce it or teach it to others. So the mantras were used for raising the consciousness, for coming in contact with that experience, the higher truths, higher realms of consciousness. And because mantras are pure, the mantras are very potent rhythmic sounds, they have the power to transform. They have the power to transform, transform what? Transform the entire nature, transform the consciousness in the sense it will uplift the seeker from ordinary to the higher. And especially it brings the mind into a state of silence because silence is the ultimate source of speech. Silence is the ultimate source of speech. So from silence it comes and one can understand things better in a state of silence. That's what a pure music does, that it brings the entire consciousness into a state of silence. That's what a perfect piece of dance does. It brings the entire being into a state of silence. That's what a sculpture, an architecture, a beautiful painting. So anything in its purest form, without any distortion, is mantra. You listen to the whisper of the nature, you listen to the chirping of the bird, you listen to the pure sounds of the waves, the ripples of the flowing water. It's all mantra because it brings the entire consciousness into a state of silence. And ultimately that silence speaks. So in the Indic tradition, the gurus usually do not speak, do not speak much. Gurus tu maunam vyakhyanam. Sishyas tu chinna sanjaya. The guru doesn't speak anything, sits quietly. And the sishyas, the disciples, they get rid of all their doubts because there is a silent communication. The transmission of the spiritual force, the spiritual wisdom, it takes place through silence. So what we speak, the gross most speech, so there is much distortion at that level. So that is why so much of confusion, miscommunication that we do not understand, we start misinterpreting others, misinterpreting ourselves. You know the Chinese whisper game. You start with something and then the last person will have something very, very different. So that's how the distortion happens, the mind keeps distorting the things. So now in the tradition, Indic tradition, you have this practice of mantra, the mantra yoga. There are two different ways of this practice. One is a mantra sastra sadhana, one is a mantra yoga sadhana. In the mantra sastra, what happens? Where one has to get initiated into the mantra, initiated by the guru, and follow letter by letter what the sastra says. Sastra means the text without asking any question, without any doubt, without any confusion. It's a total dedication to the sastra. If the sastra says get up, you get up. It says sit, you sit without asking any question. If the sastra says go and then stand in the sun, you have to go and stand in the sun. No question. But that is meant only for some special seekers who have that intense seeking to grow through the sastra under the guidance of a guru. But at the same time, you have the mantra yoga sadhana, which is a simpler form of practicing the mantra as a yoga. The whole purpose is to grow from within, to bring expansion into the consciousness, because that's another important function of mantra, is that it makes us free from the narrow state of consciousness and makes us expanded. So one starts living in the expanded consciousness. So in the mantra yoga, one has to be clear about the purpose, that why one is doing the mantra, for what purpose? The mantra should never be used for any kind of selfish interest, vested interest. The sole purpose of practicing the mantra is inner journey, virtual journey by which one travels from the ordinary state to the higher state of consciousness, expanding oneself. So expansion of consciousness is the very aim of the yoga, the evolution of consciousness. So that being the purpose that has to be kept in the mind with all sincerity, with all devotion, with intensity and purity and aspiration, if one does the mantra yoga sadhana, so the mantras help immensely in achieving that goal, that highest aim, which is the expansion of consciousness. Now when we are talking about the mantra yoga sadhana, we discussed a little bit about what is a mantra, what is the power of a mantra, how it transforms the consciousness, what is the content of the mantra, the content is absolutely the truth itself, a higher realization, and by coming in contact with the mantra, contemplating on it, meditating upon it or reciting it, so one enters into the very consciousness of the mantra. So every word, every mantra has its own chaitanya, chaitanya means the consciousness. So by practicing the mantra, one unites one's own consciousness with the consciousness of the mantra, the force behind the mantra, the truth behind the mantra. So that is why it is called the yoga, the union, the union of one's own consciousness with the chaitanya of the mantra. By constant repetition, so one can also contemplate on it, but that comes a little later. At the initial phase, when the sadhaka, when the seeker is not absolutely ready, so he has to start with a gross form. You cannot take off just, you know, concentrate on it, meditate upon it. That doesn't become possible for many in the beginning stage. So this is where the loud repetition of the mantra is prescribed by the tradition, that you can just recite it loudly. Here the uchcharana. So it's called the mantra uchcharana. Uchcharana is usually translated as articulation, but it has a deeper meaning. Uchcharana in Sanskrit, utt means up. Anywhere you find the word utt, it means up, like udaya. Surya udaya, the sun rise. Chharana means move. So when you do the uchcharana of any mantra, so it means rising above with the mantra. The soul rising above with the mantra, with the sound. Uchcharana. It is the rise of the consciousness, that is what is meant by uchcharana. With the articulation, the rise of consciousness. And when the mantra uchcharana is done, this is the bhava that one has to carry. And the first stage is vaikari. Vaikari means the loud recitation of it. Where if the uchcharana is suddha, means pure, then it yields more result. The suddha, the purity in the articulation is an important component in mantra. Practice. So where one has to understand each sound, its make-up, how it is built, how it has to be articulated. Even then, the tradition, the experience of many sadhaks say, even if your uchcharana is not suddha, if the bhava is suddha, bhava is more important, again. Then also one gets the right result. There is a beautiful verse in samskruth which says, dhiro vadati vishnave murkh vadati vishnaaya. So it means like the wise man who knows the language. So he says, vishnave nama. But murkh, the one who is ignorant one, who doesn't know, who has not studied the language, he will say vishnaaya, like you say shivaya nama, suryaaya nama, ramaaya nama. So for him, vishnu also, vishnaaya. But shivaya, ramaaya, suryaaya in samskruth becomes, because the word ends with a. So any word ending with a, like shiva, surya, rama, becomes ramaaya, suryaaya, balakaya. But the sound ending with a, like vishnu, it will not be vishna, it will be vishnave, guru will become gurave, prabhu will become prabhave. Now here it says, dhiro vadati vishnave, the wise man who knows, he says vishnave, murkho vadati vishnaaya, the ignorant one will say vishnaaya, he simply imitates the sound. Then the next line says that ubhayus tu samam phalam, but both of them can get the same result if the bhava is perfect. Why? bhava grahi janardana. It means, like the God doesn't look at the technicality of your sound, how technically you are perfect. He looks straight at the bhava in the heart. However technically one may be perfect, a musician or singer. But if there is no bhava, he cannot, you know, do much. It will not appeal. So in mantra yoga sadhana also, while doing the practice of the vaykhari, though suddhada has to be maintained, yet bhava has to be also pure. And if the bhava and uccharana, both are perfect. So one has intensity in the result also. When one goes on practicing the mantra, the vaykhari, their conscious stage, naturally the sadhak enters into a higher stage called upanshu. Upanshu stage is where the consciousness now doesn't feel like articulating it aloud, but it just, you know, repeats it within. No one else can hear. Although there will be lift movements, the sound is repeated, but it's not audible. Like it is audible in the vaykhari stage. Then by repeating, moving, and doing the upanshu, there comes another stage, natural stage, where it becomes manasa. Manasa means it becomes mental. So where there is no repetition, it just happens. And the sadhak can see it happening. He's not making any effort of doing that. Now the mantra becomes a part of the whole consciousness. Now that union of the consciousness of the sadhak has happened, union with the chaitanya of the mantra. So he becomes the mantra. You know, like I give this example of Hazarat Inayat Khan, who was a great musician. So when he moved from India to UK, he was a Sufi mystic. So at a certain point of time in his life, he stopped music. But when he was asked, why did he stop music, he said, because I became music. There's no need of doing music separately. I am the music. So this becoming is the highest stage. Now the union means it's becoming. One becomes one with that. That is the ultimate gain. Brahmibhuta. Like the mother says, to know is good, to live is better, but to be, that is the best. So to become that. So in mantra yoga, now we say that mantra yoga, it's not specific only to the practice of mantra. Like a musician who is practicing his music and he becomes one with music. For him music is mantra. So for an artist, whatever tool he has, when he manifests that perfection and becomes one with that, so that's mantra for him. A sculptor, an architect, a singer, a dancer, a music, a nature lover, becomes one with the nature. So the mantra manifests in different ways. It's not just the mantras that we see in the text, they are mantras. So mantra has a bigger scope. Anything in its purest form is the mantra. So that is the deeper understanding of mantra and when we say that we must practice mantra yoga, so it is not just to get confined only to certain mantras, like Om Namah Shivaya or Vishnave Namah or Gurave Namah or Om. But silence is also mantra to practice silence, to bring silence into the being, because ultimately what is explained here, the highest form of speech is the paravag, it's called the paravag, and at that state, that is how the paravag is described. The highest form of speech is a nishabdha, that's soundless brahman, where there is no movement, it is motionless, it is soundless, it is indivisible. And in order to understand anything in its purest form, so one has to move from the gross most to the subtle most, but for the sake of reaching to that level, the mantras, the music or any outer form, any outer means is a great help. So we resort to that for our practice. And in mantra yoga, in the mantra yoga sadhana, so what is given the highest significance is to contemplate on the essence of all sounds, the highest of all the mantras, the sound o, which is ekakshara brahma. It's a single sound, single unit of sound, which itself is the brahman, which itself is the source of all sounds, which is the source of everything, source of this creation, because the entire creation comes from that ekakshara brahma o. To contemplate on o, to meditate upon it, to repeat it, to become one with it, to allow oneself to open one's own consciousness to the force of om, so then it starts exercising its own force on the human consciousness or the consciousness of the sadhaka, of the seeker, so then the transformation takes place. So the highest mantra, therefore in all traditions, whether you turn to the Vedic Vedantic or the tantric tradition, every tradition has om as the highest sound for practice, for contemplating on it. And there are certain mantras, which has become very popular, you can say. Not because many singers have made it popular, but the very consciousness of the mantra, the chaitanya of a mantra is raised because of the intense practice by the sadhaks. So for example, you have the Gayatri mantra, the Mahamratinjaya mantra. There are many even om. So for so many thousands of years, people have been repeating and doing the sadhana of this. So by which the very consciousness of very force behind the mantra is raised, is brought to the surface level. So with a little bit of opening, one almost feels that that force. So in Mantra Yoga Sadhana, one can even start with some of these mantras which are available to us. Then another thing is people ask this question when we do any mantra practice, is it necessary to know the meaning or the meaning will come automatically. We just contemplate or we just repeat the mantra. So if one knows the meaning, it's always better. So then one can evoke the right force behind the mantra. But if one doesn't know the meaning also, one can go on practicing the sound, the mantra, with all sincerity, with all devotion. Then what happens is the mantras being very highly rhythmic, potent sound, they start affecting the entire nervous system. They prepare the mind or the realization of what lies behind the mantra. This question was also asked to Sri Aurobindo. Like whether one should repeat the mantra knowing the meaning or is it necessary to know the meaning or it's not necessary to know the meaning. So Sri Aurobindo has said that it's a science by itself. So when one starts repeating these mantras, it starts activating the nervous system. It starts energizing the cells. It prepares the mind for its realization. So a state comes, a time comes when the force behind the mantra, the meaning of the mantra, gets revealed by itself. That's where one can even contemplate on certain sounds, certain words. Repeat it. And the force behind the meaning of that word, the meaning of that sound, whatever lies behind the sound, it comes automatically to the sadhak. It gets revealed to the sadhak. So it's a process by which one can know the meanings. And that's what Sri Aurobindo himself did. And he himself is an example of like how the language itself, Sri Aurobindo never made any effort for learning Sanskrit, learning Tamil, learning any Indian languages. It just came to him. So he concentrates, he contemplates, he follows that yogic process of meditating upon the words and it starts revealing. In the last few months, he had mastered you over the language. He could enter into the spirit of the mantras of the Vedas. There are so many people, so many scholars who have been spending their entire life studying the language. Still they cannot bring out the spirit of the mantra. But by following this yogic process of contemplating, opening one's own consciousness to the mantra, so the word itself, the mantra itself is revealing itself. That's what the Vedas says, tanum vibrunute swam. It means like the speech itself opens its own body before the Sadhaka. It reveals its own meaning to the seeker, to the rishi. So that's the state of realization. And that itself is the power of a mantra that it can lead the Sadhaka to a state where the meaning, the force behind the word, behind the mantra gets revealed to the Sadhaka. He doesn't have to refer to any dictionary, any commentary or read or has to depend on any outer source for knowing the meaning. So at the initial phase, therefore, like we can read, we can understand the meaning from someone, but ultimately the highest understanding comes when the word itself reveals its own meaning to the Sadhaka. So this is what happens when a Sadhaka moves ahead with the mantra Yoga Sadhana. So this is a little bit of understanding about the mantra Yoga. So if there are any questions, we will address to that. Yeah, that we will do, definitely. Yes. I'll take one, two, three. Yes, my personal experience is I do it like a Shabda Sadhana. This I have been doing for last 15 years and say where I pick up a key word of the Veda or Upanishad or in the Sanatana Dharma. So instead of referring to any dictionary or anything, I take it as a Sadhana. I contemplate on it. It's an object of meditation for me. So I repeat it like a mantra. Then a time comes it opens up so many meanings of it, the inner meanings. And those inner meanings are never found anywhere. So then I start preparing my own note then apply my own linguistic and the grammatical knowledge. Because sometimes when you present it, people ask question how grammatically how do you justify it. So it's not a question of justifying for myself, but for others I have to justify how grammatically it is correct. That's what Vedalankarji, Jagannath Karaji did when many people started asking questions about Shri Aurobindo's interpretation. That's what Kapali Shastri did because they were well versed in Sanskrit grammar. So whatever meanings Shri Aurobindo brought too, so that's why many traditional scholars, they don't agree with Shri Aurobindo and they can never agree because they speak it from purely grammatical point of view. But the Shri Aurobindo brings it from a very higher consciousness. So this is what happens so many words like if you go to my blog page, so I have shared notes about the first word that I had taken for my Sadhana was Shraddha. So till then it was just the meaning as a mere faith or intense faith or pure faith. But Shraddha is now no faith to me. It has very deeper meaning. Then when I read the book, The Mother, and how it helps understanding Shri Aurobindo many people say Shri Aurobindo is very very difficult to understand. But this Shraddha, this understanding of the Sanskrit words it helps me understanding Shri Aurobindo. When I contemplated on Shraddha and the meaning that the meaning which came to me based on that I could understand the first chapter of The Mother of Shri Aurobindo. So clearly. So Shraddha is its state to give you the explanation which came to me. Shraddha is clinging to whatever is true to one's inner aspiration. So when you go to Shri Aurobindo's room and come down there is this Mother's writing clinging to truths. That is Shraddha. So it cannot translate it as faith, as a single word clinging to truth. When Shri Aurobindo says in The Mother that when one part of your being is opening of itself to the truth, to the divine, the other part has a reserve then know that the truth will not come to you. So there has to be harmonious coming together of each and every part of the being to collaborate with the central aspiration. That is Shraddha. So this is how it has helped me and I continue with my Shabda Sadhana. Before you were mentioning that the root man means everything that has to do with mind and actually it's very interesting that the Shurobindo himself used to say that the root man is being so man itself. So regarding that regarding the mantra practice you said there are three stages but also three ways of doing the mantra I've read that one is loud repetition one is sort of moving lips and one is mental repetition and that can be done at certain stages like for beginners can it be done like the mantra the japa mantra can it be done like in a mental way and is it more effective or is it more I find it more difficult like to keep the concentration if it remains not spoken loud because the sound itself kind of aligns myself so by repetition in the mind I find it more difficult to keep the concentration throughout the session so can you say something about that. See it all depends upon like it varies from person to person see for myself also many people ask me what kind of meditation technique you use for yourself because I have never meditated so far I can't meditate that's not my way of doing that but I like I carry that word in me I see it so it's a very different way I feel the silence behind many things I see the nature I am in the nature I look at the flowers, I look at the leaves I look at the sky, I look at the stars moons on I hear the chirping of the birds I like to sit in front of the ocean in the silence instead of having a particular time and meditating with my eyes closed or sitting in a particular position so that's my way of doing it so one has to find out for oneself what helps there's no single way of doing the practice now what happens like if you start what I mentioned from upanshu sorry from vahikari to upanshu manasa manasa is not just repeating in the mind so the mantra itself there comes a stage where the mantra itself gets repeated you know starts reverberating in the entire consciousness it's not just the mind and another thing another important aspect of the mantra is that one though one does a particular you know mantra yet the real mantra is happening in the human body constantly that's what the tantric say ajapa japa that one doesn't do the japa but it's happening inside because this entire body is a sabda sharira is a sound body all the sounds the fundamental sounds one finds in the varnamala in the alphabet of samsklu they are constantly generated and getting repeated in the body so to do the mantra yoga is to grow aware of the japa the mantra which is there in one's own consciousness so that's another way of growing more and more aware about oneself seeing all the movements within oneself but a simple mental repetition may not help may not help so sometimes people feel a burden headache and unable to meditate upon it because they force the mind to do it what Sri Aurobindo says even Swami Vivekananda also said that there are four ways of doing this the first stage is observe observe what happens in the mind so this is the preparation that one has to have for taking up anything deeper observe watch over control and master these are the four stages so observe just like a witness take quite take some deep breaths just observe what is happening without participating like a witness see things are going, coming, happening whatever is happening just detach yourself and then see like a witness then at the next stage you are watching over it like what kind of things are the right things what are not right then to control is not to allow anything which is wrong which affect, which will affect so you start controlling then when you have mastery so that is the highest stage that you become the master so it is up to you whether to allow or not allow so you can lead yourself to a thoughtless state because you are not allowing any thought good or bad that is the Nirvikalpa state so you do not allow anything because you are master you can make yourself thoughtless or you can allow certain thoughts which are necessary but everything starts with this observation that you start growing more and more aware of this so the same way the tantric practitioner they say that grow aware of the sounds which are generated within the body itself become aware of the different chakrasthanas, different marmasthanas different sandhisthanas so different locations in the body where the sounds are prominently heard or seen so if anything is creating a pressure and you are not happy with it ultimately whatever practice we do it should create that joy and comfort and happiness if that is not happening so we have to find out the ways what helps so some people do ask whether should I sit in a particular position or not because no particular position is going to give the realization you can sit for the entire life in the position in which Buddha sat you will never get nirvana by sitting in that position so when Shri Garbindo had all his major realizations while walking he never followed a particular way of sitting or doing that so one has to find for oneself what is conducive to your own swabhava and swadharma and follow that earlier there were gurus who used to give a bija mantra that you have to perfect until you get the ultimate result but now we don't have gurus who experiments with different bija mantras they say it can work like every medicine is good but the reactions may not be good so how do we experiment without a guide without a guide without a guru this is where the challenge is more because to find the sadguru the real guru is a challenge by itself that is why Shri Garbindo says that find the guru within yourself so the guru is there within the Shastra is there within the ultimate Shastra the ultimate guru is within ourselves so by growing more and more conscious of ourselves ok initially there will be difficulties there will be challenges but ultimately this is the assurance which is given that we will find the guru within we will be able to listen to that subtle most voice which comes from within and as Shri Garbindo says that that subtle voice it keeps prompting it keeps I know influencing but though we hear it we don't heed to it we avoid it but most of us with a little bit of awareness if we have we do hear that inner voice guiding us telling us what to do what not to do but most of the times because of our engagement with the external we don't heed to it so this is where the challenge that to be aware of that inner voice and then follow the dictate of it however bitter it may be because most of the times we are scared of following the inner dictation with the fear that oh it's not going to give me any kind of pleasure or joy that usually people seek so we are more engaged with the we are happy with the sensual pleasures where the senses are happy I see something happy I taste something happy but the inner taste is tasteless so there is a risk in that we have to detach and then start hearing our inner voice and to find out this is the challenge greatest challenge that is why the sadhana the discipline has to be followed strictly to be with us and then to discover that guru that sastra that ultimate wisdom within ourselves we thank you very much for this beautiful overall view of the mantra as a sense and so now in reference to the srirabhindo yoga to your knowledge because srirabhindo as we know he has went through the old culture and the old spirituality of India being educated abroad and come back he went through the old range and old realization tantric, Vedic and so now the mantra according to you in this yoga because there have been several mantras we wrote them in matrimandri also on the board everywhere which one according to you was that one indicated for his own sadhana and how to use it for srirabhindo, madra, sadhana for the realization of the realization of this madra srirabhindo and the other so in this context how according to you srirabhindo has because we have so many mantras it was meant also the bija mantra that is related to the tantric and so and so and srirabhindo was more than tantric tantric means the bija means the shivaism of the kashmir means the Srivijaya of the south India but srirabhindo as you always use particular freedom of the construction of the mantra as far as being cool understand asking information basically my question is which is according to you historically there srirabhindo is the madra mantra and how to use it in srirabhindo madra sardhana okay so srirabhindo has given us the mantra om anand mayi chaitanya mayi sattya mayi parame if you want to take up as a practice so that is one of the mantras that he has given he also has given a gayatri mantra to us om tatsavitur varam rupam yannashatya nadipayit that is another mantra and the mother herself has given like she used to do om namo bhagavate that is the mantra for the cellular transformation she used and she also has mentioned about om she says om is the signature of the lord everything comes by the sanction of the lord the supreme and that sanction that presence is there in everything and being so she says just chant om all will go well in a simple way so these are the mantras which at personal level I use following the way of srirabhindo and the mother om anand mayi chaitanya mayi satya mayi parame because the ultimate goal of any yoga is to be united with the higher half we are in the lower half in the physical, vital and mental that is the lower half called aparattha the lower half which is limited and the higher half is sat, chit and ananda the ultimate aim of any yoga is to manifest satchidananda within ourselves unite the aparattha with parartha and for this om anand mayi chaitanya mayi and satya mayi parame the absolute which of the nature of satchit and ananda so that needs to be invoked so then the satchidananda manifests in the aparattha or the qualities of satchidananda it starts manifesting within ourselves so that's the intent of anand mayi chaitanya mayi satya mayi parame and it's again it becomes more powerful because it's not descriptive it's invocative in nature so hey anand mayi hey chaitanya mayi hey satya mayi hey parame it's all vocative so that's what we receive from Sri Aurobindo how come one of come out from the fear and how mantra can help the fear comes from the second entity in a relative state of existence the fear comes so that is where the ultimate way of getting rid of any fear is to establish oneness and unity within oneself so as long as we live in binaries in dualities we cannot get rid of fear so that is why the Gita says have that equanimity state of equanimity ekattu manupasyata tako moha kah soka ekattu manupasyata so once that unity of consciousness is achieved there is no moha, no soka no fear so ekattu to be in that state of oneness and sameness ekattu and samattu is the highest thing to be achieved so fear means any duality or binary means dvandva means fear has to be there so the mantra by gathering our consciousness and then bringing it into a state of oneness bringing it into a state of you know concentration bringing into a state of silence it establishes that unity it establishes that oneness and sameness that is how the mantra helps getting rid of the fear how does mantra helps for team building let us say what you refer I mean so how does mantra help in team building that's where the highest message that we get from the Rig Veda itself when we contemplate on the last hymn of Rig Veda so it is through the mantra we invoke the power of you know collaboration so it creates that samanam mantra may our mantra be same samanah rdayaniva may our hearts be same may we speak the same words samaniva akuti may our sankalpa may our aspiration be same so this is where we unite together so when a group of aspiring souls they come together to ascertain truths that is the true sath sangha sangha means coming together to ascertain the truth sath and this happens in the state of prayer so if collectively so that's why the collective prayer has more power in bringing unity in achieving anything that we want to achieve at a collective level next is one last question has shirobindo explained by chance it's a curiosity like the shirobindo's mantra om anandamai chaitanyamai satyamai inverts the order of satyamai chaitanyamai anandamai so satchitananda if we follow the order starting with satchamai chaitanyamai anandamai so is there any explanation of that when you go from the lower strata so first comes ananda then chit and then sath so when you concentrate on the koshas is the anamaya, pranamaya manomaya, vijnanamaya anandamaya so that ananda why ananda is in the beginning there is also like another explanation because that is the ultimate gain ultimately so satchit and ananda in whichever order you put it doesn't matter because ananda is not devoid of satchit and chit chit is not devoid of ananda and sath sath is not devoid of chit and ananda unity prevails there so the ordering doesn't matter but if you want that ordering when you go from the lower strata ananda, chit and sath and then he adds the word parame the absolute who is of the nature I have two questions you had mentioned about the sounds in the body the first question is this is explained in the hindu shastras now what I would like to know is this knowledge of the sounds in the body which is very important for mother's work of transformation because it's the materialization of sounds is this a knowledge that is connected only with the Sanskrit language in other words if you don't know Sanskrit and you don't know the shastras is this experience of the sounds in the body something that is not necessarily connected only with Sanskrit yeah true because mantra actually has no language yeah that is true that's why music is mantra nature is mantra silence is mantra when kabirdas tulsidas narsimhetta they are giving us their words each word eats message of theirs is mantra so it follows a different language this brings the second question there are mantras in the spiritual tradition of India that have a specific meaning like om namo bhagavate srinaraya naya or to the mother or to different gods different forces these are specific or even anandamay chetanamay satamay these have a meaning but then there are mantras that do not have any specific meaning there are either letters or the combination of letters like bijas what is the difference between the two you see nothing is devoid of meaning meaning means it carries a force within itself that force itself is the meaning okay and when you say like mantra has no language when you deal with a mantra when you are repeating with a mantra it doesn't create the sense of that you are using a particular language it takes you beyond the language when you read Savitri of Sri Aurobindo which is in English but he has raised the language to the level of mantra there one doesn't feel that oh I am reading English mantra or I am reading this language mantra it takes you beyond the sense of language but doesn't that have to do with the different levels of manifestation of the sound it has to slowly it prepares the consciousness to come to that level it doesn't happen suddenly so that is why the sadhana is necessary okay good alright so maybe like we can do the chanting of om as I said like whenever I do it I follow mother's instruction that om is the signature of the Lord that means everything and being in this creation has that sanction so the presence of om in everything and being connecting like getting connected with everything and being that is the bhava one has to carry and shanti is this particular word shanti is so powerful it immediately calms down the entire consciousness calms down the entire inner and outer space so when we say shanti a little longer don't say shanti the force of a visarga it has tremendous impact when you articulate it so I will do it once then you can follow me shanti shanti shanti we can do it all together om shanti