Saturday, July 05, 2008
Enchantments like Aum, Arham, Namo Arihantanam etc are powerful esoteric formulas, a recital of which procures various kinds of gains for us. By themselves they are like a boat, which alone is incapable to take you to the opposite shore of the river. Besides the boat, you need a boatman, his technical skill and oars to carry you across the river. Mere mechanical recitation of the mantra will be totally ineffective. Without an expert boatman the boat, while crossing the river, is likely to capsize. Most of us simply recite mantras mechanically without fulfilling the concomitant conditions, which are necessary for the affectivity of the mantra with the result that our recitation proves abortive. In such a condition we are likely to lose faith in the power of our enchantments.
The first condition is that the practitioner's mind should be joined to the sacred formula. The practitioner has to identify himself with the mantra; he has to be mantra-minded so to say. The mind of a man plays a very important role in almost all the activities of life. Even if you eat food without having a mind in it, it will not produce the desired effect. Ordinarily the mind wanders while you are taking a meal. We often eat food having half a mind in it. This applies to most of the activities of life. The sacred formulas have got to be recited, like the telling of beads, with single-minded devotion.
To do things with half a mind in them will not enable the practitioner to achieve any kind of success in sadhana. The whole mind has to be applied to the object of meditation. The recitation of mantras should not be taken to be a merely mechanical process. It is essentially a spiritual effort and exertion. A distracted mind is an obstacle in sadhana. The practitioner should not leave any part of his mind unengaged. The mind should be wholly concentrated on the objective.
This needs vigorous training of the mind. It should be trained in such a way that it may be commanded to concentrate on any object you like. There should be the least possibility of it being distracted. A wavering mind is the most ineffectual instrument. It is the divided mind, which wavers and creates all kinds of problems. Every one of us has several minds, so to say. What is needed in sadhana is to develop a single undivided mind.
will impress others with his modesty, tolerance and behaviour.