Yeah and we can see the effect marshy's own mantras had on him, you
know, the ones for the sanyasis that "have the
effect of increasing the sense of detachment & renunciation, and also
have the power of destroying the objects of worldly affections"
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 10/25/13, Bhairitu <noozg...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Misuse of 'Om' As a Mantra for
Householders - by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, October 25, 2013, 3:59 PM
How are the
drum circles doing? Don't
tell the Indian billionaires they shouldn't be
using Om. Perhaps
that one woman was just going through a bad planetary
period. You
and Willy ought to start up a meditation school.
On 10/24/2013 02:30 PM, Michael Dean Goodman wrote:
The Misuse of
'Om' As a
Mantra for
Householders
Excerpt from a talk by His Holiness
Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi in 1955
Published in the book Beacon Light of the
Himalayas
If the mind is proceeding through
sound, the
field of anoraniyan is the
field which transcends the field of
subtlest
sound, which is the field of
"no sound"
("ni-shabdam"); and Upanishads call
it "paramam
padam".
"Nishabdam paramam
padam". This paramam padam
is sat-chit
ananda, in its essential nature.
The man
experiencing it rises to eter-
nal life - a life of eternal bliss
and absolute
consciousness.
For training the mind through sound
we can take
any word. Even the
word "mic" [microphone] can
be taken. By
reducing the sound of the
word "mic" to its subtler
and still subtler
stages and allowing the mind
to go on experiencing all the stages
one by one,
the mind can be
trained to be so sharp as to enter
into the
subtlest stage of the sound
'mic', transcending which it
will automatically
get into the realm of sat-
chit-ananda and experience it. Thus
we find
that any sound can serve
our purpose of training the mind to
become
sharp. But we do not
select the sound at random. We do
not select
any sound like 'mic',
'flower', 'table',
'pen', 'wall', etc., because
such ordinary sounds can do
nothing more than merely sharpening
the mind;
whereas there are
some special sounds which have the
additional
efficacy of producing
vibrations whose effects are found to
be congenial
to our way of life.
This is the scientific reason why we do
not select
any word at random.
For our practice, we select only the
suitable
mantras of personal gods
[fundamental laws of
nature]. Such
mantras fetch to us
the grace of
personal gods and make us happier in
every walk of
life.
While making a reference to the
mantras, in this
manner, I feel like
touching a very vital aspect of
sadhana, which
things are blurred in the
present atmosphere of too much talk
of vedanta.
Obviously enough there are two ways
of life, the
way of life of a san-
yasi [recluse] and the way of life of
a
householder. One is quite op-
posed to the other. A sanyasi
renounces every
thing of the world,
whereas a householder needs and
accumulates
everything. Shastras
[vedic scriptures] declare both the
ways of life
to be the paths of eman-
cipation. Both are said to be the
moksha-marga
[path of liberation] -
nivarthi marga and privathi marga.
The one
realizes through renun-
ciation and detachment, while the
other goes
through all attachments
and accumulation of all that is
needed for
physical life.
We have two different sets of mantras
to suit
the two ways of life.
Mantras for the sanyasis have the
effect of
increasing the sense of
detachment
& renunciation, and also have the power
of
destroying
the objects of worldly affections, if
there should
survive any such
objects for him. Quite contrary to this are
the mantras suitable for
the householder, which have the
efficacy of
harmonizing and enrich-
ing the material aspect of life also.
The mantras of the sanyasi have a
destructive
effect in the material
field of life, whereas the mantras
suited to the
householder envisage
constructive values also.
'Om' is the mantra for the
sanyasi. The sanyasi
repeats 'om', 'om',
om'.
It is given to him at the time of
'sanyas-diksha', at the time when
he
has completely renounced attachment
to the
world. Renunciation and
detachment increase with the
repetition of 'om';
'om' is chanted aloud
by a sanyasi to put on end to his
desires.
Desire are destroyed by
loudly chanting the mantra
'om'. And if there
is any desire deeply
rooted in the mind of the sanyasi,
the chanting
of 'om' will result
in
destruction of the object of such
desire in
order to make the sanyasi
wholly desireless. The sanyasi
attains peace
through the renunciation
and destruction of desires, whereas
the peace
comes to the house-
holder when his needs are satisfied,
when his
desires are fulfilled.
The mantras for the householders have
the effect
of fulfilling the de-
sires.
If, unfortunately, the householder
begins to
repeat the pranava mantra
'om', 'om',
'om', he experiences destructive
effects in his material
life.
The effect starts with monetary loss
& then
goes on to destroy objects
of affection, one by one. Such a
man, when he
finds loss of money
and separation from the dear ones, he
is reduced
to utter peaceless-
ness and frustration. Where is the
chance of
spiritual development or
experience of peace and happiness for
such a
dejected soul?
The path of peacelessness and misery
in the
world cannot lead to
eternal happiness. If the man is
proceeding
towards eternal happi-
ness, every day he should feel the
increase of
peace and happiness,
and this alone will assure him that
he is
proceeding towards abiding
peace and eternal happiness. If you
walk
towards the light you
should be able to feel the increase
of light at
every step.
If you are spending some time in
devotion to
God, you should feel
peace and happiness in life. If you
are not
feeling peace and happi-
ness you should be wise enough to
doubt the
correctness of your
devotion, you should be wise enough
to think
that your method of de-
votion is wrong, that the mantras
that you are
repeating do not suit you.
The mantras that suit the sanyasis
can never
suit the householders.
Hundreds of God-loving &
God-fearing
families have been ruined due
to the destructive effects of sanyasa
mantra
'om'. 'Om' destroys
de-
sires and also destroys the objects
of desires
and therefore it produces
calmness of mind and renunciation and
detachment
from material life
only to sanyasis when they repeat
'om'; to them
it brings the experience
of peace of mind and from this
experience they
generally recommend
the chanting of 'om' to their
followers.
But when a householder repeats
'om', he
experiences that as long as
he is repeating 'om' he feels
peace of mind, but
when he comes out to
indulge in business or household
work, he finds
that the air is against
his desire and schemes. The
silencing effect on
the mind and destruc-
tive effects in material life, both
are
experienced side by side.
Some people say that we should ignore
material
life in regard to the
devotional practices and mantras.
But this is a
fool's ideology. Can
you
possibly ignore the considerations of
material
life, when the mantras do
affect it?
Select a path which will make you
happier in
your material life also. Do
not live in a fool's paradise.
Do not think
that your sufferings end
miseries
of today will work as reservations in
the
galleries of heaven for
tomorrow.
Be peaceful and happy in the present
and try to
make this state perma-
nent. This
is the path of deliverance in life,
jivan-mukti
[liberation while
living], the most exalted state in human existence,
the state
of abiding
peace and eternal bliss.
And this you are entitled to have
through
correct and suitable sadhana
[spiritual practice]. And because
the mantras
play an important role in
the field of sadhana, you must be
very very
careful in the selection of
the
mantra. The theory of mantras is
the theory of
sound. It is most scien-
tific and natural.
Ladies should never repeat any mantra
beginning
with 'om'. The pro-
nunciation of 'om' is like
fire to the ladies.
This is the practical
experience
of many devoted ladies who repeated
'om namah
Shivaya' ['om' is
the
name of Shiva] or 'om namo
Narayanaya' ['om' is
the name of Narayana -
a form of Vishnu] or 'om namo
bhagavate
Vasudevaya' ['om' is the
name
of Lord Vasudeva - a form of Krishna]
or any
such mantra beginning with
'om'.
It cannot be God's wish that you
should suffer
in your devotion to him.
Do not cling to the unhelpful
mantras. The
moment you find you have
got into the wrong train, it is wise
to get down
from it as soon as
possible.
It is foolish to stick on to the
wrong train and
go wherever it takes you.
I hold that the devotees of the
almighty God
should not suffer at all.
That is the fundamental condition of
the path to
eternal bliss. I hold that
bliss or happiness should increase at
every step
till we get into the realm
of eternal happiness. I hold that
the devotees
of the God should enjoy
peace and happiness at every stage,
because He
is the fountainhead of
all peace and happiness. It cannot
be that our
march toward the light
should at any stage increase the
darkness before
us. The march
toward the anant anandam must give
the
experience of increase of
anandam [bliss] at every step and in
every walk
of life.
The devotee of the Almighty cannot
suffer. If
he is found to suffer, he
cannot be said to be a devotee of
God. It pains
me when I find people
suffering in the name of God and
devotion. I
offer an open invitation to
such aspirants and seekers of God.
I invite
them to come out of their
miserable devotion, and step into the
peaceful,
blissful chambers of
sadhana, blessed and illumined by the
divine
radiance of Shri Guru
Deva. I invite them to put an end
to their
sufferings &
peacelessness
and crown their day-to-day life with
success,
peace, and joy. Do not
waste time and life. Life is to
enjoy. So come
on to the field of all joy.
The gates of all glories of life are
open for
you. "Make hay when
the
sun shines." Avail the
opportunity in hand and
enjoy life to the fullest.
Jai Guru Dev
Michael
Dr.
Michael Dean
Goodman
•
Ph.D. counselor
• Relationship coach ("The
Relationship Doctor")
•
Spiritual teacher (raja yoga,
meditation, tantra, Self-inquiry
satsangs,
ayur veda, kirtan performer) • International workshop leader •
Speaker
•
Author • Performing musician •
Photographer
•
Director: The
Relationship Institute
•
Director: PARA -
The Center for Realization
•
Co-Director:
PremYoga Center
•
Director: Drums
for Life (music therapy)
West
Palm Beach
& Boca Raton, FL - and - Fairfield,
IA
561-350-3930 • tan...@cheerful.com •
Facebook
