Aum. Om Karam Bindusam Yuktam Nithyam Dhyayanti Yoginah Kamadham Mokshadam Chaiva Om Karaya Namo Namaha Brahmanandam Paramasugatam Kevalam Jnanamurtim Dvandvatitam Gaganasadrsam Tattvam Asyadilaksham Ekam Nityam Vimalamachalam Sarvadhi Sakshibhutam Bhavatitam Trigunarahitam Sadgurum Tam Namah

[01:26]

Friends, before I begin my introductory talk, I would like you all to join me in a chant. The words are Hari Om. I will lead the line. and please follow after me. This chant is universal in its nature. In my talk I will explain the purpose of the chant and why they are repeated.

[02:49]

But before I even try to talk about the purpose and its benefit, it would be nice if I give you a little taste of it yourself. So by doing this chant, You will probably understand me later on when I just say what it is for, instead of saying it and then giving the taste. And the evening program is arranged in such a way that I should introduce this subject of the mantra And then each of the other monasteries here would say a few words about such practice in their faith and then give a sample and I will lead you into the chant and then say something about the subject.

[04:11]

When you repeat, just feel free. Do not arrest the sound. It actually comes from the very navel pit. When you say Hari, Ha, that Ha really gives a nice kick and awakens your sound within. And then the Ri brings it up almost to your head. And then Om will go penetrate through the Brahmarandra, we call it, the divine hole here. The skull was not closed when we were born. If you feel that in a baby, you could see that. There is an eyes opening, only the tender skin is covered. So we came with the opening, but then we became closed up. We had to re-open it. And to re-open, we have to use a drill. And the best drill and the sound drill is the sound. So that is the basis of the philosophy of mantra.

[05:21]

So feel free to repeat the chant. Hari Om Hari Om Hari Hari Hari Om Har [...] Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare Hari Hari Om

[06:31]

A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem. A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem. Shanti. Shanti. Thank you. Almost all the scriptures, directly or indirectly, have said that the first manifestation

[08:18]

at the unmanifested God is or was the sound. In the beginning there was the word, says the Holy Bible, and almost the very same utterance you see in the Hindu scriptures. Personally, I understand that many of these utterances are well understood nowadays through the present technology.

[09:22]

The modern technology has helped us a lot in understanding the ancient technology, spiritual scientist's work. As we are talking of sound, even the scientists have come to that conclusion more or less. They have divided and subdivided the matter To go into the minutest part, to say that the atoms made the whole universe. Everything that you see and you do not see is nothing but mass of atoms. Then later on they went further to break the atoms and said even the atoms are made of electrons and neutrons and protons. And when they went a little more further, they are almost saying that there seems to be some kind of vibration, you can say the consciousness or sound, something which makes the electron, proton and neutron.

[10:48]

That is the essence of the entire universe. And the religions agree with that. The unmanifested God, when he decided to manifest, he first hummed. The Hindu scriptures call it OM. which is very similar to Amen and Ameen. But even that Aum is only an expression, is a spoken sound, a spoken word. The scriptures call that Aum as the Ajapa, the unspoken. You cannot speak it. It has another name, pranava.

[11:55]

The literal meaning of pranava, which is normally denoted to OM, is just the hum. Anything that hums is pranava. And you see that hum in everything, including within you. You don't need to say this OM, We don't need to consciously hum it. Just sit quietly. Calm the mind. And maybe try to listen within. And to listen within, if you want, you can close the ears so that the outside noise may not come in. Then you will be able to hear the hum within. You don't need to repeat it. So it is there and in dead body you don't see this Hum.

[13:02]

In Sanskrit Hum means I. In Hindi Hum, I. In Sanskrit it's a Hum. So the real Self or the I is that Hum, the Word of God within. Certainly we could see that Hum in everything even in atoms. So we can say God manifested himself or created the whole universe, if you want to put it that way, out of that word or out of that hum or out of that sound. So the whole world is made of sound and certainly it should be sound.

[14:11]

God cannot make an unsound world. not have made an unsound world. He made a sound world with sound. But our sounding actions makes it unsound. That is why probably the word of silence. Everything is sound if we just leave it as it is. And to communicate with God, we have to follow the same approach. Unmanifested God cannot be communicated and it is of no use. He is no use if he has not manifested himself.

[15:20]

It's just static, like a dynamo. If the dynamo doesn't function, it is static. It's no use to us. But the minute it starts functioning, it gives us the power. Unless the dynamo gets into motion, we don't get current. We don't get any use out of it. But it is not something different from the static dynamo. It is the same. Dynamo without any movement, without any manifestation is the absolute, unmanifested. It is of no use to anybody and to himself. Probably he got bored of it. So he started expressing himself.

[16:24]

When he expressed, he created everything. So to know him who expresses himself as the sound and the products of sound, because present day the technology proves that sounds can be photographed. Sounds can do everything. Sounds can make or break. Sound can put a baby to sleep. Sound can make a snake dance. Sound can make a man wild. If you want to sit and meditate, you can't play rock and roll. So it is the sound that plays an important part in our life. From the very childhood, our mother puts us to sleep with Lullaby. And probably when we once for all say goodbye, then also there seems to be some sound.

[17:33]

So that is why even in religious practice, sound plays a very important part to calm your restless mind, to collect and compose your restless mind. and to listen that hum within and to develop it in a way to tune yourself for that attunement. God vibrates in a particular wavelength. You may call it his blessings or love or light, anything. He is the universal transmitting station and we are all small receiving sets. To receive that divine transmission, you should tune your heart radio.

[18:44]

As technology proves it, You cannot receive anything that is transmitted unless your radio is tuned to the same wavelength. So, to receive the Lord's message, His blessings, His light, His love, everything, we are helped with ways and means to tune our heart radio to that wavelength. And that is actually what is said, as I understand, I say, that blessed are the pure, they shall see God. What is that purity? A calm and composed and peaceful, tranquil, undisturbed mind.

[19:52]

is what you call a pure mind. Not that by doing some good actions you are pure, doing some bad actions you are impure. That is superficially, in relative term, pure and impure. But the real purity is to keep the mind still. That is what Yoga is here. Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha. Total tranquility of mind is Yoga. Total purity of mind is only the way to see him. So the sound helps us. That is the reason why we have prayers, musical chanting. But more than this, The very important part of the sound is the mantra, which is the topic of this evening.

[20:58]

Let us remember that mantras are a little different from chanting of the holy names and prayers. Mantra may not even have a meaning, but they have a purpose. Very many mantras do not have meanings. When you are driving in an automobile, you toot the horn. It makes a sound. If somebody asks you, what is the meaning of it? You don't have a meaning, but you have a purpose. Mantras do have purpose. They may or may not have meaning. They are all different tunes, function in different wavelengths to attract the similar wavelengths, similar messages.

[22:00]

That's why there are mantras for very many purposes. To understand God, to get the knowledge of God, you have a mantra. To get the love of God, you have a mantra. To get the strength of God, you have a mantra. If you go into the philosophy of mantra, for everything you have mantra. Fortunately or unfortunately you have mantras for other purposes also. Not only to get the love, but to disturb the love. To heal you have mantra. To produce disease you have mantra. To bring two people together you have mantra. To separate them you have mantra. Many people use the other kind of mantra which we call the black side. But they are all different vibrations in the same atmosphere.

[23:03]

So in mantra, in the spiritual practice, we use many different mantras. But the sum total of all the mantras could be said as Om. That is the beginning. And then the subdivisions are the other mantra. That's why every mantra begins with Om. And then the other aspects. To give an example, Om Shreem Nama. Nama is normally added by salutations. Shreem It has a purpose to receive all the wealth of Lord. Spiritual, material, everything. Same way, Om Saum, Om Hreem.

[24:06]

The Hindus call it the Bija Aksharas or the seed letters. And then there are mantras combined with holy names also Om Namah Shivaya Om Namo Narayanaya Om Ganapataye Namah These are also used as mantras So the constant repetition of the mantra puts that vibration, builds up that vibration in your mind. That is what we call a japa, the repetition of a mantra. One can just pick up a mantra from a scripture, but the best way, the traditional way is to receive the mantra with its vibration from a person who has been repeating that mantra for quite a long time,

[25:13]

because he would have developed that mantra vibration in him and then when he gives that mantra to other person by different methods even by seeing or by touching or by some kind of feeling or even by giving something consecrated by touching and giving he passes a little bit of that vibration That holy vibration which he has developed in him to the student who receives, that gives a kind of momentum. Our minds are like milk, liquid, loose. If you just pour the milk into a lake, it will get dissolved immediately and you won't be able to take it back. It's lost. But if you boil the milk, cool it down to a particular temperature and then put a little culture.

[26:24]

Many of the housewives know how to make yogurt. Put a little culture. It can be even a big drum of milk. You don't need to put a bucket of culture. A little is enough. Culture is always little. A word, that's all. Not a lecture. A great saint by name Thaimanavar, a South Indian saint once said, Hey, if a seeker goes around on a pilgrimage, visiting all the holy shrines, all the holy waters, at a particular time when he is ready, he will just come across a teacher, who will just give him a word, vartai, solai. He won't give him a lecture. That's probably our business.

[27:26]

But he will just give a word. As our father put it beautifully, I was reminded all of the great saints, the lives of the saints we read and we came across in the Hindu mythology, Hindu faith. I was itching to come and say, At least in saints' lives, we see common oneness. All the saints, whatever he be, whatever faith he propagated, advocated, followed, they lived the same level. There was no difference at all. How they received a student, how they initiated them, how they took care of them, how little they spoke, it was fascinating. When it is a western saint or a eastern saint or a middle saint, they all seem to be the same. As milk. When we get into water, we get lost.

[28:31]

So boil the milk, cool it down and then put a little culture. Somebody wrote me a letter, Satchitananda International Yogurt Institution. When the night pauses, in the morning you will see the whole thing harden. And that is what you call curd or yogurt. Still, if you put the curd in water, it will get mixed up. still can go near water. What should you do? Put a nice churning rod, put a rope around, do this churning. That's the olden way of churning. When you churn and churn, it develops a heat, a warmth within and out of that warmth, the butter starts separating and it floats.

[29:43]

Collect the butter, Make it into a nice ball, just throw it into water. It will float. It can be in the water, but water will not be in it. See, the butter can be in water, but the water will not get into butter. If an individual could make himself a butter like that, he can just be in the water of samsara. the world. He can just be anywhere. He will not get lost. Until then, in the name of Karma Yoga, in the name of service, when you just go and get plunged in it, very easily we get carried away. And I don't know who will take us back. That is why contemplate you monks. Contemplative life is very very important.

[30:47]

How many years of seclusion every saint went in, we heard beautiful stories of their lives. It is necessary. We are all like milk. First we must have the urge to get ourselves solid. We are too loose, watery. We have to make ourselves solid. but not as hard as rock, solid like butter. The urge must be there. The interest must be there. That's why the knife, the scissors are returned three times. The urge must come. God can help if we want to be helped. When the urge comes, that is what you call you boil. You begin to boil. I say, what is this? I can't get into the world. Everywhere misery.

[31:49]

I get carried away. I just don't want to be. But I can't be anywhere else. I renounced my house. I came to a monastery thinking that it's a safe place. But this seems to be another big house. Everywhere it's like that. Many people run away from three people, four people in the family, run into an ashram. There will be 40 people, all half loose, full loose. Don't think that the minute you get into a yoga ashram or a monastery or an institute, it's as heaven. No. It's also a part of the world. Wherever you go, your shadow will follow. So, knowing that, you say, what is it? I have to get out. But where can I? Wherever I go, I go to the same place.

[32:51]

So that boiling thing, I don't know what to do. How can I be in the world and at the same time unaffected? Lord, help me, help me. Is there anybody who can help me? One of the scriptures says the quality of a student, who is a good student to whom a teacher should initiate He is like a man who caught fire in the head and running for water. Sri Ramakrishna, modern saint, a hundred years before once said, when somebody went and asked him, how can I see God quickly, instantaneously? I want to get instantaneous Samadhi. When you can make coffee and tea instantaneous, why not Samadhi? Instant Samadhi. Some of our Great men tried that also. KK cube, repeat Om Ram Ram Ram, put it in the mouth.

[33:52]

The cube, you know the sugar cubes. Instant Samadhi. There is no way. But the real shortcut is to get that urge. So Ramakrishna said, I can give you that samadhi if you have that urge. So Ramakrishna took him to the Ganges, asked him to have a bath before he initiates into this truth. So he dipped into the Ganges and he just kept him down. He didn't allow him to come up. He was really struggling to get out, to get a little air. He kept him tight. After a few minutes when he really saw that he had enough, he just took the hand off. Why did you do this? I'll answer you later on. What were you thinking of that? Well, you were under the water.

[34:57]

Did you think of your sweet wife, beloved children, bank balance, business, supermarket? My God! Where is the time for me to think of all that? I just want a little air to breathe in. If you have at least that much of urge to see God, you can see him right away. That's what he said. How many of us are having that? So when that urge comes, the disciple is ready and the teacher is there. Scriptures say that. When the disciple is ready, the teacher comes. He can come in a human form or even in a small rock or an ant, a snake, a broomstick. Once the broomstick taught me a beautiful lesson. It just said, the man said he cleaned the hall

[36:02]

But unfortunately it is me, but I don't want to claim the reward. See, that's what the broomstick does. The greatest karma yogi. It does everything. It cleans the hall by uglying itself. By dirtying itself it cleans. And it doesn't even want the reward for it. It goes to a corner. And the man who handled the broomstick says, I cleaned the hall. The broomstick just laughs there inside quietly and says, let him take the credit. So when you are ready, the teacher comes. And then he won't say too much, he will just give a mantra. or just some approach, you just do anything. He may say yes. At that time, you don't even question him, what is the meaning of this mantra, how long I should repeat, one month or two months, can you guarantee it? He just gives you something, you take it.

[37:07]

And then don't go and say, hey, I took an initiation from Mahesh, from Swamiji, from this, from that person. And they have a list of initiations also sometimes nowadays. I took there, I took here, I took there. Like the list of psychiatrists in the pocket. No need. Go quietly. Don't even be boasting of it. Go quietly. Work with that. Like the milk that got the yogurt, the culture. You will feel it. You will feel that you are really becoming solid. You are becoming steady. And that is what is called sthita prajna. Man of steady mind. Read the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita. It will tell you who is a man of steady mind. A man of steady mind rises above these dualities. To him, an enemy, a friend, both are alike.

[38:13]

Praise, censure, both are equal. Profit, loss, equal. He treats all these dualities equal. He raises above. He becomes the needle of the balance, even though the sides swing, that never swings. That is a man of steady wisdom. That is what you call a pure mind. When you are that pure, where do you search for God then? It is right here then. Blessed are the pure. They shall see immediately. They don't need to go in search of him. He is there, right there, within you. Kingdom of God is within you. But you don't see it because you don't have a mirror.

[39:15]

As Suzuki Roshi said, you are looking at the other side of the mirror. I don't see anything. To know yourself as the image of God, you should have a mirror. An undisturbed, uncolored, steady mirror and that is your mind. Make the mind that calm and clean and pure. You see your true nature. The God within you and you realize, I'm right. Ah, I see. I have been searching here and there. Here He is. And it seems to be my own reflection. So that means I am this. The anal hug. Tattvam asi. The what that. Mantra can help. Any holy name can be mantra. Literally the meaning of mantra is anything that could make your mind steady is mantra.

[40:17]

Venkatesanji can give that sutra. Manad, trayate, iti mantra. I am not a scholar. That means anything that makes the mind steady is a mantra. You don't need to even run here and there, search for a small mantra or big mantra. So stick to that. We need that stick-tivity-ness. Stick-tity-ness. Instead of just going like sheep, here and there, biting a leaf here, biting a leaf there. When you go, find a nice grass field, like the place around, start grass eating. Eat enough, lie down, chew, bring it back, learn it from a cow. And then you will realize. I think I have said more than enough.

[41:20]

Thank you for listening to me. Thank you very much, Swamiji. some of our other participants to sit here in the front row because we expected that they might be able to add from their own tradition some thoughts about mantra and hopefully some examples. It would be interesting to hear some points about the mantra from your particular point of view and to add some examples and if possible even something in which all of us could participate. appears a liar to Khan. In the tradition of the Sufis to which I belong,

[42:26]

We do make the use of mantrams, they're called vazifas. Of course, no doubt, the vazifa has the effect of steadying the mind, because if you are repeating a mantram or vazifa a large number of times, it is impossible at the same time to use at least the rational part of your mind. and consequently it does absorb part of the activity of the mind so that the higher strata of the mind may be used for the experience of higher realms of reality. The mantra also has the effect of producing transformation in the different centers and we do try to direct the sounds of the mantra, the vocals, in the respective centers, like for example the sound A in heart center and the U in the throat center and the E in the third eye.

[43:35]

The mantra can be used in order to attune oneself to a certain pitch. It looks as though one was trying to produce the right sound, but in fact, in order to be able to produce the right sound, one has to attune one's soul. And consequently, it's something like what the Indian musicians do when they're tuning their instruments. In fact, they're tuning themselves. And the instrument is simply a feedback system that enables them to tune themselves. So in a certain sense, the mantra can be used as a method of tuning oneself to a certain pitch by using that wonderful instrument that is the human body. as a harp, I might say, and tuning the different chords of this harp to a certain pitch. There's more to say to it than this, of course. We're dealing with a form of energy which is very significant, not only to convey words or meaning, but also if one knows how to produce the right pitch,

[44:48]

one brings about a response in the universe. Everything in the universe has its own capacity to vibrate according to a certain rate of vibration, just like if you have in the same room, if you have a harp and a piano, for example, and they're both attuned to the same pitch, and you play one, play the harp, you'll find that the corresponding instrument, the corresponding chords in the piano will start resounding. And so the science of mantra consists in knowing how to, by the power of invocation, knowing how to call upon these tremendous cosmic forces by, as I say, by virtue of the power of resonance, in addition to attuning oneself, as I said a moment ago. In addition to that, of course, the various sounds have the effect of opening up the centre, and if one were able to look at the centre, one would realise that it may open up just like a lotus.

[45:50]

In India we use the example of a lotus, of a flower that opens up under the rays of the sun, for example. I would like to demonstrate, if you like, some of the mantras that we use amongst the Sufis. So I shall start by giving you a demonstration of a very simple mantra that is used with the sound A, that is predominant, the R, which I said is resounded in the heart center. The word is phasal, F-A-Z-L. And it means blessing. I should have mentioned to you, of course, that every mantra represents one name of God or one aspect of one quality or attribute of the divine consciousness or the divine nature. And by repeating these mantras, one does enter into a kind of consonance with that particular quality, and one begins to express it in one's being.

[46:59]

Now, the word fasil, I might also add, of course, that the mantrams, and this is true, I think, as much of the mantrams used by the Hindus as those of the Sufis and probably of many other traditions, really belong to an original language. which was not a conventional language, as our modern languages are, but in which the sounds correspond to something very real. So the word fuzzle expresses, it's just like a gong, it's just like getting in tune with a situation in which one receives a blessing. I shall repeat it a few times and then maybe you'd like to join in. AH ZIN ZIN [...]

[48:10]

All right. Now, if you repeat a mantra a large number of times, you begin to be very conscious of the quality of the sound of your voice, and as the quality of the sound of your voice does reflect something of the nature of your, let's say, your inner nature, anything that you dislike about yourself, you will find in the sound. You'll find that the sound acts as a feedback system, as I say, and you'll discover things in the sound which you don't like in yourself. And consequently, by correcting the sound, you correct yourself. Or in order to correct the sound, you have to correct yourself. The sound fuzzle, for example, should be very, very pure and very open. It's a sound that corresponds to the opening of the heart that becomes receptive and warm, let's say, and communicative and truthful.

[49:29]

The second sound that we use is the u, the u, of course, in the which corresponds to the opening of the third of the throat centre, the Vishuddha Chakra, according to yoga. And this is produced by trying to place the sound in the lips, right forward, as forward as possible, blowing through the lips, and not making the guttural sound as one usually does. And so I'll try to demonstrate it again. I'll first of all use the ya with the a in heart and then the u in the throat. See, the quality of the U is quite a different thing to the Ya. It's a very powerful and scented sound. Whereas the U brings you in tune with something much more subtle.

[50:37]

In fact, it is said to be the sound that brings you in tune with the heavenly spheres. It is obviously the sound that you might hear listening to a shell, if you pick up a shell and put it to your ear. Yes. Some of you are producing the sound in your throat. That gives it a wrong kind of resonance. It doesn't have the right working. The sound must be produced as forward as possible. It's something like blowing, like humming. Blowing through your mouth. The lips are closed. Yes, that's much better. Now, try to listen to the harmonics produced by your own voice.

[51:44]

If you hear the overtone, it should be, the next overtone should be... Now some of you are producing the sound in your throat again. It's almost a supersonic sound. It's almost better to overdo it the other way, let's say by blowing, than producing it as a singing sound. It's not a singing sound. Yes, that's better. It's a sound that you must practice and you'll eventually find that at a certain moment, after repeating it a certain amount of times, all of a sudden you just hit on the right sound. I'll give you a demonstration of a mantra with this sound. I would rather if you don't try to repeat it because it is a little bit difficult.

[52:48]

And you can hear clearly the contrast between the A in the heart and the O in the throat. I have a third sound which is very important. It is the sound of the third eye. It is, as a matter of fact, an I, or rather an E, of course, produced in the pineal gland, probably, which is the real scent of the third eye. It's a very sharp sound, and this is it, approximately. You hear it? It's a very sharp sound and it corresponds of course to the nature of the third eye which is like a very one-pointed beam of light.

[54:18]

Would you like to try and repeat, um, Alim, A-L-I-M, and first of all one says Ya, Ya, Alim, A-L-I-M. Ya, Alim, Alim. Now just try to listen to the harmonics in the whole one hundred beats. Let's try and do it again, a little, and then as soon as we've stopped, try and listen to the echo. So try and practice this practice at home and some of you probably were able to perceive the sound of silence, as we call it.

[55:54]

This is the most effective part of the repetition of the mantra, the moment that you sit back and simply listen to the effect that has been produced. It is just like calling into action certain cosmic forces, and as a matter of fact, one may find that one is really surrounded by a zone of vibrations wherever one goes, just like one has an aura, so one has a zone of vibrations around one, if one repeats mantrams a lot. Now, very briefly, we have a form of mantram which is which is done together with motion of the head. It is the basic formula which is used in Islam. It says, La ilaha illa lahu, which means, there is no god but God. And this is simply done by making a semi-circular motion, or rather three quarters of a circle of the head, or rather let us say the third eye,

[56:58]

moves from the left shoulder through the solar plexus right shoulder to the top in three quarters of a circle, as one says la, and in saying la, one eradicates the picture of the outside world, maya. and then the head comes down as one says illa and during that time the third eye hits the solar plexus and creates as one destroys the image of the self creating a kind of a unleashing of forces in the solar plexus which then rise in the heart center with the proclamation Allah, which is the great proclamation or the proclamation of the great name of God, followed by that very holy moment when one receives the answer, who, which one could only translate possibly by the words, I am that I am. In this practice one has a very, it's a very complete practice in the sense that there's a mantra, there's the use of sounds, together with a motion of the head.

[58:09]

together with a thought theme which is very basic, namely destroy the image of the outside world, destroy the image of yourself, and then affirm in an act of glorification your allegiance to the one and only God, and then listen in a state of receptivity to the answer, I am that I am. I'm just... At this point, many of us can see the tremendous complexities and the dangers that will say, well, that's not for me, that's for someone who has all the time of his life to spend on this sort of thing. Now, we have among us Alan Watts, whose books many of you know, I'm sure, and one of his great gifts is to present things that are as intricate and really as difficult and complex

[59:11]

as the things about which we have just now heard in a very simple way so that one gets encouraged to try it. And so I think maybe we'll ask Alan Watts to take the word next. People who are sensible and rational all the time are as dangerous as a steel bridge that has no give in it. And therefore it's absolutely essential that in at least one day in seven everybody should be crazy if you are absolutely sane every day you will be dangerously mad and that was why the Lord God ordered that the one day in every seven should be a holy day when we lay off labor and do something that is completely irrational called religion Alas, this has been forgotten, and the Sabbath for Hebrews and Sunday, which is the first day of the week for Christians, has become a day for laying on rationality and telling people how to behave, instead of making it a holiday.

[60:21]

And this spirit has gone out of church and will only be returned by what we call mantram. And the Roman Catholic Church has most unfortunately had the mass translated into the vernacular so that everybody understands it. And religion is not meant to be understood in that way because God is he who passes all understanding like his own peace. And so in order to be converted and enter the kingdom of heaven you must become again as a child. Now all children, before they learn to talk, recite mantrams. The first mantra a child recites is da, [...] da. And that is the fundamental word, and fathers flatter themselves that it's saying dada. The child is not. The child is saying the fundamental word that comes in Sanskrit, tat tvam asi. Tat is that, and it means the witch, then which there is no witcher, and nobody can explain it when we call it God.

[61:21]

God is an oath. It's like the story of the wise men coming to visit the child Jesus, and just as they arrived at the manger, one of them stood on a rake, and it flew up and hit him in the nose. And he said, Jesus Christ! And Mary turned to Joseph and said, Hey Joseph, wouldn't that be a better name for our baby than Irving? God is an exclamation of wonder at the mystery of the universe, so we say, My God! That's one of the most proper uses of it. So after a child does da, it does other experiments like bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb I hope you don't understand, say yes once, that, you know, but sensible. Supposing you repeat it a while. Yes, yes, [...] yes.

[62:23]

You say, that's a funny sound. Why do we use that funny sound for an affirmative? There's a thing allied to mantra called mudra, which is a gesture. Now, if you ask me a question and I go, you all know that I don't know the answer because I shrug my shoulders. But supposing I say and go, So you'll think I'm crazy, and I am. So now what we do is we take our religious formulae, and we think at first these are very solemn. And you know, hospodi pomiliu, which is Russian for Lord have mercy. and they sing... and before they're out of their minds because it's a religious dance and the meaning, the profound meaning of all this is that the universe secretly conceived by God is nonsense not Bosch nonsense, not claptrap, balderdash, but beyond sense, the higher nonsense which you get in such masters as Lewis Carroll.

[63:37]

Now a passage from Sir Arthur Eddington's Nature of the Physical World. He said, we've sort of forgotten, haven't we, to ask what the electron is. But we've stopped asking that question. Something unknown is doing what we don't know what. That is what our theory amounts to. We've heard something like it before. "'Twas brillig, and the slivy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe." Nobody asks, do they, what is the meaning of the most sublime classical music? If you ask Bach, or Mozart, or a great Hindu musician like Ravi Shankar, what does your music mean? Will you explain it to us? They'll be tongue-tied. Because they say if you want to know what it means you must just go on listening. And so one of the profound things that we do in traditional religion is we get together to hum and sing and go out of our minds in order to come to our senses.

[64:45]

And that's the meaning of mantra. Thank you very much Alan. Father Thomas Berry from Fordham. I'd like to also be a help if a person brought out the fact that the Christian use of the Ave Maria is probably the greatest of the mantrams. It is a mantram. We do not think of things in precisely these terms. We do not have a... an evolved theory of mantrams, such as exists in some other traditions. We have, however, continually used them.

[65:46]

It's like that theme at the Shrine of Lourdes, where they go around in procession, Ave, Ave, Ave Maria, so that the whole of the Ave Maria originally did not have that second part. which we probably pray, I think is the greater part of the prayer, pray for us sinners. And the first, the Ave Maria, was the Hail Mary. Originally, it was just the first part. It was the angelic salutation. And that angelic salutation, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. There is then the rosary. is nothing, it's a mantra. And people say, why do you say it over and over and over again, continually and so forth? Well, that is functions in the same way. It's something that that produces the same effect. However, it is, again, it's not brought up, at least in modern times, we do not chant it.

[66:52]

It probably would be a good thing if we did use that on a chant basis. And again, Alan Watts has just mentioned that we have become terribly rash and all about the recent changes in the liturgy, and that is one of the terribly destructive forces at work at the present time, so much so, and just to confirm what he said, I had one of my students at became a teacher, and last year is one of the most avant-garde and the wildest of the hippie group, a very brilliant institution. And he was there teaching religion, the Eastern religions, when she had gotten some training at a place where I am. And then he left there. I saw him this summer in California. where he was teaching, somewhere else, and he said that while he was there at this place, the students, these were students that were deep into the yogic meditation, which is very widespread at the present time, and very deep in many of the new spiritualities that exist at the present time, and we went to

[68:11]

He said that they asked him to take them to a Catholic service. And he said, there's a church over here and we can go over there for a Catholic Mass. And they used the English now. Oh, they said, we don't want an English Mass. We want a Latin Mass. We want all the mystery. We want all the ancient chants and so forth. So that it's quite remarkable at the present time that the most avant-garde type of consciousness, particularly among the young, is turning back toward some very, very elementary things. Just one further remark about the idea of the mantram that Swami Sachidananda mentioned. It's a very important thing. People go here, go there, and strangely enough, the whole effort at knowing God, the whole effort at praying God, frustrates our knowing and frustrates our praying for one basic reason. Because the most important single attribute of the divine, the ontological attribute of the divine, is simplicity.

[69:23]

It's on that, that everything else is built in what you would call the ontology of God. And so that, the more you evolve explanations of God, the further you are from God. And that's the secret of the mantram. It reduces everything to a very simple expression. to a singer like this word OM that the Hindu has. They have reduced it to just a simple sound so that a person would think and dwell upon that just as this sound is in all sound, is a modification of this basic sound, so in some manner the divine is present in all things, as creator, sustainer and beatifier and so forth. But you just focus your mind on one single expression. It's why divine names The greatest prayers and the greatest mantrams are the same.

[70:25]

And of all the great prayers that are recited, they are simple invocations of the Divine Name. Over and over again. That's why in Russia there is the use of the name Jesus. The holy name Jesus is a mantram. Saint Bernard began to perceive that in his time. And so, but what is important is that everybody, and that was one of the suggestions of the Swami that may not have struck you very clearly, suggesting to each person that you select for yourself a mantra. Now, in traditional spirituality, your mantra would be given to you by your guide, your guru. Most people in these times do not have a guru to guide them in this way, to give them and tell them, focus on this. Don't try to get to God by many ways, many words.

[71:28]

There is this one word, just think, the name Jesus. Think about it. Repeat it over and over and over again, or the word of Mary. or the Ave Maria, repeat that over and over and over again. And it becomes, until it becomes the very substance of your being and so forth. And so there are, I think, possibly some of the others here can speak more of this, some of the other traditions, but just to give expression to what some of you would be most familiar with. There is this, there are these mantrams, particularly those that the Catholics are accustomed to. There is the Kyrie Elias and so forth, the Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy and so forth. Now these are not developed specifically in mantric according to some theory. But these are actually what fulfill in our lives, or in the lives of many of those who are here who are Christians, the basic ideas back of the mantram, although there is this further element of entering into the mystery of the sound itself, getting beyond the word, getting beyond that

[72:44]

and in through the sound then going on into the mysteries that are expressed in that something that is beyond sound, beyond comprehension and so forth. Sister Jose Hobday. One thought and a few sentences. I'd like to just make reference to one thought that is true to the Native American Indian tradition, the use of the word and silence in reference to building the self. And it relates to what Swami Satchitananda made reference to there, the sound as a steadying, and also the very title of our symposium, which is Word Out of Silence.

[74:00]

The Native American understanding of coming together is word into silence. more basically. And this is fundamentally where the drumbeat comes in. That one begins with the drumbeat, one can progress to the spoken sound, one always moves to word silence, and then to interior wholeness. And if you'll close your eyes, I'd like to just pick up a drumbeat and then let the beat become part of you. Now, if your body wants to go with it, let your body go, but for sure get your bloodstream going, you know, get your heartbeat going with it. And then I'll begin to add a word. And if you can, just a sound, just a simple like that, pick it up. and then we'll fade out of that, and then just get the drumbeat, and then we'll fade out of that.

[75:02]

And this is essentially built on the Native Indian principle of the bhokoka, that everything must come full circle. And that you start by trying, you know, you start with an effort and you end with effortlessness, the truth that you want to be. So could we, would you just sit back and close your eyes, and this is a poor substitute, but use your imaginations, people. Go native. Okay? Now close your eyes. No cheating. I, [...] I... Now let one word come to life in you that is for you a life-giving word.

[76:45]

A word that you would love to walk and speak and be for the others and for yourself. Let that word simply begin to take form in your silence and hold it very still within you. Now, very gently to come full circle with your body, lower your head on your breast, smile into yourself, and let the word go to God. All right. Thank you, Sister.

[77:53]

There was Sister José Hopde, who spoke out of her own Native American background. Father Francis Martin from Madonna House in Canada. I think we're seeing here a very fine example of the great fruit of reflection. For instance, even in linguistics, a, i, u are the basic sounds. In ancient Semitic languages, we didn't have o or e. And they stood for all the declensions. And they're formed by a perfectly untrammeled sound, a, which you close your mouth one way to make, u, close the other way to make, i. And it was used back then too to mediate the same type of reality that Pierre was mentioning before. But now that we're being alerted to some of the potentials in things that we did, for instance the Alleluia,

[79:02]

and St. Augustine's whole treatise on De Musica, and the role of music in forming the body for the practice of virtue, which basically was Greek and inherited by the Latins. For instance, why in the early Church the Latin fifth mode was forbidden, as was the Greek third mode, which is basically the same mode. until the heretics started to use it. And since it's such a sensual thing, it's the one we, it's... And since it's so jukeboxy... It's a fine thing to get people to learn so. We kept our purity for about 50 years and wouldn't let it in, and everybody sang heresy, at least we thought there was heresy. So we had to let it in, and that's how we finally got all the modes in. But the basic principle was that sensuous music distracts the spirit from God. And that's why it wasn't allowed in.

[80:06]

And our basic problem today is precisely one of finding that kind of music. that liberates the depth of the human spirit instead of titillating the ends of the senses, which is basically not sacred music. And we all know the experience, the cloying experience of singing one of those type of songs more than once or twice, as compared to singing some ancient melodies all the time. So the only point I wanted to make is precisely that through the kindness of our brothers who have reflected much on these traditions, we can be alerted to things which, in a much less sophisticated way, which is typical of the music. The further east you go, the more diachronic the music becomes. We tend to see things nearly always in white notes with a few black notes here and there. More sophisticated cultures see a lot more black notes and reflect on them to our advantage if we can listen.

[81:08]

If a mantra is something that steadies the mind, the traditional mantra in East and West in Christian monasticism is the Jesus Prayer. But it was rarely thought of as sung, which I think indicates one of our deficiencies. The Alleluia is a Hebrew word which also indicates the roots of our whole tradition and why we put more accent on word in our chanting because we look upon God as speaking and therefore there's more word. The other type of mantra in the Christian tradition is precisely the recitation of the Psalms. which the monks all knew by heart. You couldn't get in the monastery of St. Procomius unless you knew the New Testament and the Psalter by heart. Not memorized, by the way, by heart. And so that these were things that came out of your own being. One slight example, perhaps you'll recognize this slight piece and then I'll sit down.

[82:09]

Yah, hallelujah, Yah, Yahweh, Yah, it's the name of God. And Augustine's commentary on this is, when we get to this we forget ourselves and we let the power of the music carry us. You notice I have a book. It's because it's been seven years since I sang chant, and the music wouldn't carry me anymore. I have to make sure I know what it still says, which I'm a good example of the Western predicament. I can make up a good eighth mode for you, but it wouldn't be the one that our father sang. ah ah Thank you, Fr.

[83:16]

Francis. Now that Fr. Francis has whetted our appetite for an Alleluia, I think we should not let this opportunity pass without singing one together. May I challenge one of the cantors from the monastery to get us a start? Alleluia! Alleluia. Father Callistus, where? In the tradition of the Orthodox East, the Jesus Prayer should become increasingly inward.

[84:29]

As was said just now, we should move from words to silence. So the Jesus Prayer begins as a prayer that is said with the lips. We do not usually say it together and aloud, and we do not usually chant it. If we do these things together, this is very much as a beginning. But the purpose is from there that you should learn to say it by yourself, and to say the words voicelessly. The prayer must pass from the lips to the mind, and from the mind to the heart. And as the prayer grows inward, it must be related to our whole being. And to help us to do this, the rhythm of the prayer should be related to the rhythm of our breathing, or to the beating of our heart, so that the prayer

[85:40]

in time ceases to be something that we say or do and it becomes something that we are, a part of ourselves. Because this, above all, is what the world needs. Not people who say prayers from time to time, but people who are prayers. On the second cassette of this program, you will find the remaining speakers and the concluding chants.

[86:24]

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