Mantra II
Śabda, or sound, which is of the Brahman, and as such the cause of the Brahmāṇ ḍ a, is the manifestation of the Cit-śakti itself. The Viśva-sāra-Tantra says that the Para-brahman, as Śabda-brahman, whose substance is all mantra, exists in the body of the jīvātmā. It is either unlettered (dhvani) or lettered (varṇ a). The former, which produces the latter, is the subtle aspect of the jīva’s vital śakti. As the Prapañca-sāra states, the brahmāṇ ḍ a is pervaded by śakti, consisting of dhvani also called nāda, prāṇ a, and the like. The manifestation of the gross form (sthūa) of śabda is not possible unless śabda exists in a
subtle (sūkṣ ma) form. Mantras are all aspects of the Brahman and manifestations of Kulakuṇ ḍ alinī. Philosophically, śabda is the guna of ākāśa, or ethereal space. It is not, however, produced by ākāśa, but manifests in it. Śabda is itself the Brahman. In the same way, however, as in outer space, waves of sound are produced by movements of air (vāyu); so in the space within the jīva’s body waves of sound are produced according to the movements of the vital air (prāṇ avāyu) and the process of inhalation and exhalation. Śabda first appears at the mūlādhāra and that which is known to us as such is, in fact, the śakti which gives life to the jīva. She it is who, in the mūlādhāra, is the cause of the sweet indistinct and murmuring dhvani, which sounds like the humming of a black bee.
The extremely subtle aspect of sound which first appears in the Mūlādhāra is called parā; less subtle when it has reached the heart, it is known as paśyanti. When connected with buddhi it becomes more gross, and is called madhyamā. Lastly, in its fully gross form, it issues from the mouth as vaikharī. As Kulakuṇ ḍ alinī, whose substance is all varṇ a and dhvani, is but the manifestation of, and Herself the Paramātmā, so the substance of all mantra is cit, notwithstanding their external manifestation as sound, letters, or words; in fact, the letters of the alphabet, which are known as akṣ ara, are nothing but the yantra of the akṣ ara, or imperishable Brahman. This, however, is only realized by the sādhaka when his śakti, generated by sādhana, is united with the mantraśakti.
It is the sthūla or gross form of Kulakuṇ ḍ alinī, appearing in different aspects as different Devatās, which is the presiding Devatā (adhiṣ ṭ hātri) of all mantra, though it is the subtle or sūkṣ ma form at which all sādhakas aim. When the mantraśakti is awakened by the sādhana the presiding Devatā appears, and when perfect mantra-siddhi is acquired, the Devatā, who is saccidānanda, is revealed. The relations of varṇ a, nāda, bindu, vowel and consonant in a mantra, indicate the appearance of Devatā in different forms. Certain vibhūtis, or aspects, of the Devatā are inherent in certain varnas, but perfect Śakti does not appear in any but a whole mantra. Any word or letter of the mantra cannot be a mantra. Only that mantra in which the playful Devatā has revealed any of Her particular aspects can reveal that aspect, and is therefore called the individual mantra of that one of Her particular aspects. The form of a particular Devatā, therefore, appears out of the particular mantra of which that Devatā, is the adhiṣ ṭ hātrīDevatā.
A mantra is composed of certain letters arranged in definite sequence of sounds of which the letters are the representative signs. To produce the designed effect mantra must be intoned in the proper way, according to svara (rhythm), and varṇ a (sound). Their textual source is to be found in Veda, Purāṇ a, and Tantra. The latter is essentially the mantra-śāstra, and so it is said of the embodied śāstra, that Tantra, which consists of mantra, is the paramātmā, the Vedas are the jīvātmā, Darśana (systems of philosophy) are the senses, Purāṇ as are the body, and Smṛ tis are the limbs. Tantra is thus the śakti of consciousness, consisting of mantra. A mantra is not the same thing as prayer or self-dedication (ātmā-nivedana). Prayer is conveyed in what words the worshipper chooses, and bears its meaning on its face. It is only ignorance of śāstrik principles which supposes that mantra is merely the name for the words in which one expresses what one has to say to the Divinity. If it were, the sādhaka might choose his own language without recourse to the eternal and determined sounds of Śāstra.
A mantra may, or may not, convey on its face its ̣ ̣ ̣ meaning. Bīja (seed) mantra, such as Aim, Klim, Hrim, have no meaning, according to the ordinary use of language. The initiate, however, knows that their meaning is the own form (sva-rūpa) of the particular Devatā, whose mantra they are, and that they are the dhvani which makes all letters sound and which exists in all which we say or hear. Every mantra is, then, a form (rūpa) of the Brahman. Though, therefore, manifesting in the form and sound of the letters of the alphabet, Śāstra says that they go to Hell who think that the Guru is but a stone, and the mantra but letters of the alphabet. From manana, or thinking, arises the real understanding of the monistic truth, that the substance of the Brahman and the brahmāṇ ḍ a are one and the same. Man- of mantra comes from the first syllable of manana, and -tra from trāṇ a, or liberation from the bondage of ̣ the samsara or phenomenal world. By the combination of man- and -tra, that is called mantra which calls forth (āmantraṇ a), the catur-varga (vide post), or four aims of sentient being. Whilst, therefore, mere prayer often ends in nothing but physical sound, mantra is a potent compelling force, a word of power (the fruit of which is mantra-siddhi), and is thus effective to produce caturvarga, advaitic perception, and mukti. Thus it is said that siddhi is the certain result of japa (q.v.).
By mantra the sought-for (sādhya) Devatā is attained and compelled. By siddhi in mantra is opened the vision of the three worlds. Though the purpose of worship (pūjā), reading (pāṭ ha), hymn (stava), sacrifice (homa), dhyāna, dhāraṇ ā, and samādhi (vide post), and that of the dīkṣ ā-mantra are the same, yet the latter is far more powerful, and this for the reason that, in the first, the sādhaka’s sādhana-śakti works, in conjunction with mantra-śakti which has the revelation and force of fire, and than which nothing is more powerful. The special mantra which is received at initiation (dīkṣ a) is the bīja or seed mantra, sown in the field of the sād- ̣ haka’s heart, and the Tāntrik samdhyā, nyāsa, pūjā and the like are the stem and branches upon which hymns of praise (stuti) and prayer and homage (vandana) are the leaves and flower, and the kavaca, consisting of mantra, the fruit. Mantras are solar (saura) and lunar (saumya), and are masculine, feminine, or neuter. The solar are masculine and lunar feminine. The masculine and neuter forms are called mantra. The feminine mantra is known as vidyā. The neuter mantra, such as the Paurānikmantra, ending with namah, are said to lack the force and vitality of the others. The masculine and feminine ̣ mantras end differently. Thus, Hūm, phaṭ , are masculine terminations, and tham, svāhā, are feminine ones. The Nitya-Tantra gives various names to mantra, according to the number of their syllables, a one-syllabled mantra being called piṇ ḍ a, a three-syllabled one kartarī, a mantra with four to nine syllables bīja, with ten to twenty syllables mantra, and mantra, with more than twenty syllables malā. Commonly, however, the term bīja is applied to monosyllabic mantra. The Tāntrik mantras called bīja (seed) are so named because they are the seed of the fruit, which is siddhi, and because
they are the very quintessence of mantra. They are ̣ ̣ short, unetymological vocables, such as Hrīm, Śrīm, ̣ ̣ Krīm, Aim, Phaṭ , etc., which will be found throughout the text. Each Devatā has His bīja. The primary mantra of a Devata is known as the root mantra (mūla-mantra). It is also said that the word mūla denotes the subtle body of the Devata called Kāma-kalā. The utterance of a mantra without knowledge of its meaning or of the mantra method is a mere movement of the lips and nothing more. The mantra sleeps. There are various processes preliminary to, and involved in, its right utterance, which processes again consist of mantra, such as, for purification of the mouth (mukha-śodhana), purification of the tongue (jihva-śodhana) and of the mantra (aśauca-bhaṇ ga), kulluka, nirvāṇ a, setu, nidhra-bhaṇ ga, awakening of mantra, mantra-caitanya, or giving of life or vitality to the mantra. Mantrārthabhāvana, forming of mental image of the Divinity.1 There are also ̣ ten samskāras of the mantra.2 Dīpanī is seven japas of ̣ ̣ the bīja, preceded and followed by om. Where hrīm is ̣ employed instead of Om it is prāṇ a-yoga. Yoni-mudrā is meditation on the Guru in the head and on the Iṣ ṭ adevatā in the heart, and then on the Yoni-rūpā Bhagavati from the head to the mūlādhāra, and from the mūlādhāra to the head, making japa of the yoni bīja ̣ (em) ten times.3 The mantra itself is Devatā. The worshipper awakens and vitalizes it by cit-śakti, putting away all thought of the letter, piercing the six Cakras, and contemplating the spotless One.4 The śakti of the mantra is the vācaka-śakti, or the means by which the vācya-śakti or object of the mantra is attained. The mantra lives by the energy of the former. The saguṇ āśakti is awakened by sādhana and worshipped, and she it is who opens the portals whereby the vācya-śakti is reached. Thus the Mother in Her saguṇ ā form is the presiding deity (adhiṣ ṭ hātrī-Devatā) of the Gāyatrīmantra. As the nirguṇ a (formless) One, She is its vācyaśakti. Both are in reality one and the same; but the jīva, by the laws of his nature and its three guṇ as, must first meditate on the gross (sthūla) form5 before he can realize the subtle (sūkṣ ma) form, which is his liberator.
with Hūm, and again in Sahasrāra. The mūla is the principal mantra, such as the pañcadaśi.
1 Lit., thinking of meaning of mantra or thinking of the mātṛ kā in the mantra which constitute the Devatā from foot to head. 2 See Tantrasāra, p. 90. 3 See Purohita-darpaṇ am. 4 Kubijikā-Tantra (chap. v). 5 These forms are not merely the creatures of the imagination of the worshipper, as some “modernist” Hindus suppose, but, according to orthodox notions, the forms in which the Deity, in fact, appears to the worshipper.
The mantra of a Devata is the Devata. The rhythmical vibrations of its sounds not merely regulate the unsteady vibrations of the sheaths of the worshipper, thus transforming him, but from it arises the form of the Devatā which it is.1 Mantra-siddhi is the ability to make a mantra efficacious and to gather its fruit2 in which case the mantra is called mantrasiddha. Mantras are classified as siddha, sādhya, susiddha, and ari, according as they are friends, servers, supporters, or destroyers—a matter which is determined for each sādhaka by means of cakra calculations.
