On May 7, 2009, at 8:07 PM, BillyG. wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante <no_re...@...>
wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge <no_reply@> wrote:
The Hindu
connection is purely "cultural" however: "The culture goes back
thousands of years, and it's nonsense to say that mantras are
names of
gods - 100 percent absolute nonsense
-Imagine learning meditation in America and the name Jesus Christ
is invoked in a ceremony ahead of time. Would the same thing be
said about it being purely cultural?
Bobby's logic is not only weak, but he also insults Hindus at the
same time.
********
Nonsense. Hindus can think what they like about anything, including
the >>mantras used in TM, but the proper use of mantras during the
practice of >>TM has nothing to do with meaning -- if it does, then
one is not practicing >>TM. TM operates beyond the level of
meaning, which is what enables one >>to transcend. Remaining on the
thinking level, the level of meaning, would >>disallow transcendence.
I believe the mantra bija (seed) sounds are found on the petals of
the chakras, each chakra has a deity associated with it, which is
indistinguishable from the sounds emanating from it (the Deity),
hence the sound and the Devata are the one and the same.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." John 1:1
Assuming this is true, one could make the parallel that the mantras
are the names (or vibrations) of these Gods or Devatas. The issue
as to the *use* of these vibrations or names is secondary to the
issue as to whether or not the mantras and the 'names' are one and
the same.
What Bob is missing is that the sound has an implicit meaning which,
hopefully, collapses to a point and imprints itself on the
subconscious mind. That the conscious mind may have no explicit
meaning associated with the sound-sequence is actually irrelevant. The
important thing is that the sound sequence unfolds a meaning from
beyond the explicit realm of conscious thinking. It unfolds meaning at
deeper levels of the mind--parts of the mind that are actually non-
verbal. If mantras had no deeper meaning at finer levels of awareness,
more often non-awareness, they'd essentially be "worthless". What Bob
is deliberately ignoring is that the collapse of mental sounds gives
rise to different, non-mental sounds. These sounds need not be
attributed to "chakra petals" but instead it might be helpful to
understand their origin, which is a process of seed (proto-mantra)
emerging and giving birth to tree (the realm of manifested meaning and
intelligence associated with that "seed"). It is the Law of Seed and
Tree in actual (non-conventional) experience, bija-vraksha-nyaya.
Meditation on mantra is actually the exact opposite of this law, it's
the process of revelation or "seeing" of mantra, turned inwards. To
ignore such deep meaning is to ignore the seer and revelation.
However in his case, it's institutionally imposed ignorance,
institutionalized ignoring which he has consciously accepted as "true".
