Richard J. Williams wrote: > > All Indian mantric practices stem from the ancient Buddhists > > of India, and were adopted, with modifications, by the Shiva > > and Vaishanava sects as Hindu tantricism following the Gupta > > Age. > > Bhairitu wrote: > What is the source of this information? > Most histories of India written by historians such as Mircea Eliade and Ananda Coomaraswamy. Hienrich Zimmer discusses this at length also. But most of my information comes from Swami Ageananda who wrote the definitive survey of bija mantra usage. Apparently most bija mantras originated with the medieval alchemists such as Nagarajuna and Matsyendranath, the latter being the systematizer of Hatha Yoga and the founder of the Nath Sect. Almost all of the early tantric yogins were at least quasi-Buddhists, up to and including Shankara himself. Why do you think the Mahesh Yogi calls his system the 'Siddhi' program? All these yogic techniques that Brahmananda Saraswati and Mahesh Yogi are teaching stem from the Buddhist yogins around the time of the so-called 84 Mahasiddhas, precursors to the Gupta tantrics.
> > However, there are no bija mantras in the Rig Veda. According > > to what I've read, every bija mantra has four aspects: a rishi > > or seer, a raga or melody, a bija or seed sound, and a kilaka > > or pillar. > > > But I don't think that means that bij mantras were not when the > Vedas were composed. > The above mantra description is from Swami Shivananda Radha. But I'm referring to bija mantra - seed syllables, not mantras per se, like the Vedic mantras. Any word or Sanskrit letter could be construed as a mantra, but bija mantras are mystic syllables born of realization - not just ordinary letters of the alphabet. The Vedas were composed beginning in 1500 B.C. with the invasion of South Asia by the Aryan speakers who probably came from Iran and the Caucasus area. But in the Rig Veda, the earliet Veda, there's no mention of any bija mantras. Most historians agree that bija mantras were introduced much later during the rise of the tantric sects. Shankara established four seats of learning and placed the Sri Yantra, with the bija mantras inscribed thereon, at each. Then the Shankaracharya went to Karnataka and composed the Soundaryalahari with what, at least eighteen bija mantras contained within. At least three of these bija mantras are TM bija mantras. So, it's at least clear what the origins of TM bija mantras usage comes from. But bija mantra usage only became really popular in India after Chaitanya. Today, bija mantra usage in India is a household word, but it's not Vedic at all. According to Eliade, bija mantra usage was probably a non-Vedic - native shamanistic practice.
