INSTRUCTIONS🔗

DURATION: 21 minutes

Step 1: Duration: 10 minutes

Sit upright with your eyes closed. Concentrate on your navel center, manipuraka chakra. Now from your navel center, intone the mantra ‘Om’. Intone the mantra as loudly as possible, as deeply as possible, as lengthily as possible. Forget everything else and simply become the sound. Become Om. It is very easy to become the sound, because sound vibrates throughout your whole body. The more you intone it, the more you will experience the pure resonance of the mantra.

Step 2: Duration: 11 minutes

Now, slowly shift your awareness to the silence in between the repetitions of the mantra. After each intonation of Om, there is a gap, a silence. Let your awareness fall into this gap. Continue to chant, but let your awareness be upon the silence between the chants. This silence existed before you started chanting; it was there underneath your chanting, and when the chant ends, the silence alone remains. Each time you chant the Omkara, experience this space of silence between the intonations. Enjoy this silence. Dissolve your mind in this silence.

OMKARA: FROM MANIFEST TO UNMANIFEST

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

The play of sound is the play of the mind. We can use it to remain in our periphery, or to reach our core. Complete soundlessness is no mind. When this happens, we have touched the core. When we touch the core, we have transcended the mind. Then inner and outer harmonies happen irrespective of our thought, word and deed. We then remain centered in the core and the outside functions seamlessly.

In the last two techniques, we used omkara to connect with the saguna and nirguna aspects of reality. We focused on the sound and the silence separately. Here, we go a step further and use the very sound to enter into silence! When the sound dissolves into the silence, we realize that sound and silence are not separate as we think. Without the silence, the sound would have no meaning, and vice-versa. Both form and formlessness, sound and silence are simply the play of the one Reality that is beyond both!

When you work with this technique, you experience the continuous contact of sound and silence in yourself. You experience yourself as the play of the manifest and the unmanifest, of energy and consciousness!

INSTRUCTIONS

DURATION: 21 minutes

Step 1: Duration: 7 minutes Sit upright with your eyes closed. Concentrate on your navel center, manipuraka chakra Now from your navel, start creating the deep vibration of Omkara or 'Om'. Intone the mantra as loudly as possible, as deeply as possible, as lengthily as possible. Enter totally into the resonance of the mantra.

Step 2: Duration: 7 minutes When you feel yourself filled with the resonance of the mantra, stop saying it out loud. Continue to chant the mantra inside. The sound mantra should fill you inside, it should resonate inside you again and again.

Step 3: Duration: 7 minutes Slowly, turn down the volume of your inner chanting. Let the sound of the chanting become subtler and subtler inside you. Let it become a silent vibration inside you, rather than a sound. Continue to experience this vibration.

Step 4: Duration: 7 minutes Wait for the moment when the sound has become so subtle that it will simply dissolve into silence. You can no more hear the sound, even inside. All you experience now is a vibrating silence. Carry this vibrant silence inside you.

HAMSA MANTRA: EXHALE AND RELAX

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

The mantra hamsah is spontaneously repeated by every one of us in every breath. The incoming breath produces the sound ha and the outgoing breath produces the sound sah in us. Since this mantra is repeated naturally with every breath, it is also known as the pranic mantra, the mantra of the life-force itself. Because hamsah mantra is recited naturally, without any conscious effort on our part, it is known as ajapa japa (the unchanted chant). In this mantra, sah represents Shakti or energy, while ha represents Shiva or intelligence (consciousness).

The m sound between the ha and the sah represents jeeva or the individual, who is the contact point of energy and intelligence, the fulcrum on whom this whole play of power and consciousness turns. The conscious repetition of hamsah mantra is only a way to fall in tune with the spontaneous hamsah mantra that is always going on within us.

DURATION: 21 minutes

Sit in a relaxed manner. Close your eyes and watch your breath for a minute. Let your breathing be slow and relaxed.

Now, when you inhale, repeat ‘ham’ silently. Repeat the word ‘sah’ silently as you exhale. Put your awareness more on your outgoing breath. While inhaling, you will be constantly trying to hold on to something.

Exhaling is letting go.

Focus on exhaling without bothering about inhaling. Continue this silent intonation of ‘ham...sah...., ham...sah’. Consciously place more awareness and energy on the exhalation. Help yourself exhale deeper. Let the inhalation happen automatically through the body. Place your energy, attention and effort only on exhaling.

EXHALATION IS DEATH!

When you place your awareness on exhalation, whatever can die in you will leave your system, your inner space. It will leave your system, and you will realize that something that can die can never be part of you. If you are identifying yourself with something that can die, that identification will be automatically disconnected. When you realize this, naturally you will feel connected to that which can never die. That which never dies is your very being. You will realize you are that which can never die, you are the unchanging Consciousness. This is a very powerful technique that can give you tremendous freedom from fear. Whenever you are attacked by fear, just sit back and chant this mantra.

The silent intonation of this hamsah mantra will awaken you to the Truth that your being never dies. You will suddenly see that the fear of losing your wealth, your limbs or your health, of losing your near and dear ones, or the fear of unknown - all these fears will disappear. You will be liberated from fear.

This technique can also be practiced at times when you are not facing fear, while you are sitting, talking, walking, eating, even while you are sleeping. Understand, when you constantly intone this mantra, it will gradually become ajapa japa or a spontaneous vibration in you. When the hamsah mantra becomes ajapa in you, you become a Paramahamsa! You remain spontaneously in the space of enlightened consciousness.

The following are the mantras most commonly used in meditation. They can be either listened to or chanted. Initiation is not necessary for meditating upon these mantras. Although some of the mantras are very small (not more than three or four words), they are potent techniques for achieving both material and spiritual well-being. When contemplated with clarity and sincerity, they can take you beyond words to the ultimate experience of bliss, devotion, peace and enlightenment.

Mantra for knowledge: Prayer to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge

Saraswati namastubhyam, varade Kaamarupini Vidyarambham karishyami, Siddhir bhavatu me sadaa My humble prostrations unto Thee, O Goddess Saraswati, fulfiller of all my wishes! I begin my learning, may I achieve perfection in it always.

Mantra for auspicious beginnings: Prayer to Lord Ganesha, removal of impediments

om tatpurushaya vidmahe vakratundaya dhimahi tanno dantih prachodayat We devote our thought to that supreme person. We meditate upon Him who has a curved trunk. May the tusked One guide us on the right path.

Mantra for experiencing the Divine in everything: Prayer before meals

Mantra for gratitude: Prayer to Mother Earth

Samudra vasane devi, paravata stanamandale

Mantra for surrender: Concluding prayer after worship

Mantra to invoke Lord Shiva : Om Namah Shivaya (Om, salutations to Lord Shiva) Mantra to invoke Lord Vishnu : Om Namo Narayanaya (Om, salutations to Lord Narayana) Mantra to invoke Lord Krishna : Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya (Om, salutations to the Lord who is the son of Vasudeva) Mantra to invoke Lord Rama : Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram (Om, victory to Sri Ram) Mantra for Lord Dakshinamurti, the first-ever Guru:

Who manifests in three different forms as God, Guru and Self Whose body is all- pervading like the sky To that Lord Dakshinamurti, I bow down.

Mantra invoking the Divine consciousness, the Light of lights: Prayer during aarati (the ritual waving of lights)

Na tatra suryo bhaati, na chandra taarakam Nema vidyuto bhaanti kuto'yam agnihi Tameva bhaantam anubhaati sarvam Tasya bhaasa sarvam idam vibhaati

The Gayatri mantra is considered one of the most universal of all Hindu mantras, invoking the universal Brahman as the principle of knowledge and the illumination of the primordial Sun.

Gayatri refers to a special three-line Vedic meter used in mantras for invoking and focusing consciousness on the Reality. When meditating on the Gayatri mantra, the seeker first directs his attention to the radiance of the sun outside, and then turns the attention inwards to the light of Consciousness within.

Om. We meditate on the radiance of that Supreme Divine Being, the Creator of the planes of earth, heaven and those in between. May that Divine Being direct our intelligence. (Om.)

Om, That is Whole, and this too is Whole. From the Whole came the Whole. If you remove the Whole from the Whole, that which remains is still the Whole. Om, peace, peace, peace.

MAHA MRITYUNJAYA MANTRA

Om, trayambakam yajaamahe sugandhim pushtivardhanam Urvaarukamiva bandhanaat mrityor muksheeya ma amritaat.

Om! We worship Lord Shiva, the three-eyed one, who is full of fragrance and who nourishes all beings;

May He liberate me from death, bestow salvation and (lead me) towards Eternity (make me immortal) just as the ripe cucumber is severed (from the creeper) of its bondage.

May both of us be protected together. May both of us be nourished together. May both of us work together with great vigor. May both of our studies be enlightening May no obstacle arise between us. Om, peace, peace, peace.

omkaaram bindu samyuktam nityam dhyaayanti yoginah kaamadam mokshadam chaiva omkaaraaya namo namaha

The sages constantly meditate upon the sound of Om and its 'Bindu' (dot) We offer our obeisance to the Divine sound of Om repeatedly, Which has the power to fulfill our desires and release us from bondage.

Guru dhyaana mantra (Meditation on the Guru) Nithyanandam parama sukhadam kevalam gnana moortim Dvandva Teeth gagana sadrisham tatvamasyaadi lakshyam Ekam nithyam vimalam achalam sarvadhee saakshi bhootam Bhaavaateetam triguna rahitam sadGurum tam namaami

(The one) Who embodies eternal bliss and ultimate happiness Who is the manifestation of pure knowledge Who is beyond duality, all pervading like the sky Who indicates ‘You are That’ Absolute, eternal, beyond purity and impurity, unmoving the witnessing consciousness in all elements Beyond comprehension, beyond the three (human) qualities To that supreme Guru, I offer my ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

Mantras for the Universal Good

Sarveshaam svaastir bhavatu, sarveshaam shaantir bhavatu, Sarveshaam poornam bhavatu, sarveshaam mangalam bhavatu Om shanti, shanti shantihi

May health abound forever, may peace abound forever May fulfilment abound forever, may auspiciousness abound forever Om, Peace Peace Peace!

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu niraamayah, Sarve bhadraani pashyantu, ma kaschit duhkha bhaagbhavet Om shanti, shanti shantihi

May all be contented, may all be free of disease May all experience what is auspicious, may no suffering come to anyone Om, Peace Peace Peace!