WHY ‘MANTRAS’?

Did you know, that you can’t sit alone, by yourself, without any outside support or context? Now, outside support or context doesn’t mean, you want to be in the company of some person only. No. Outside support means you, somehow, want to be in the company of ‘something’ and that ‘something’ could be anything, say, a book, newspaper, TV, or your mobile phone, the handiest one, nowadays. Outside support means, you want to be busy with some kind of doing. Without doing, you just can’t ‘be’. Do you know why? Because, when you try to be alone, by yourself, then your mind doesn’t let you ‘be’. It goes all over and, in the process, are generated, variety of thoughts, which, in turn, create suffering for you. You become miserable with these thoughts. 

Because, you don’t know how to handle these thoughts and you, thus, fear your mind and hence, you don’t want to be alone, by yourself. You avoid sitting idle or sitting without doing anything. Hence, some kind of doing, just for the hack of it, whether needed or not, so that you, somehow, can bypass your mind. Now, those who decided to walk the path of spirituality they, also faced the same problem, that the mind became a big nuisance for them. Mind will not let them focus on their practices. Because, the moment, you sit in for your sadhana, the mind goes all over, running in all directions and in the process, generating all kinds, at times, irrelevant and unrelated thoughts. This mind will not stay, at one place, and thus, will not let a sadhak progress further. The wandering mind, therefore, became a big hurdle, a big stumbling block, for a sadhak. 

Hence, came the mantras. Now mantra in, itself, is not important. Mantra, per se, does not add any value to your sadhana. It’s not that mantra or the words of a mantra create or does any miracle that, you attain to your nature. No, because a mantra, too, is nothing but a thought only but its value lies in the fact that, this one thought, in the form of a mantra, wards off, all other or variety of thoughts. So, the idea behind mantra is, that you just hold on to this and be with this one thought, so that all other thoughts can be kept, at bay. Else, you will notice that, if you just leave your mind free, then it will go, all around. You must have seen that, just one thought, leads to multiple thoughts and in the process, your imagination, just goes wild. Your mind, when free, just runs amuck. 

Hence, the idea behind mantra is, to just hold on to one thought which will replace all other thoughts and as a result of which, you will become one-pointed or single-minded. Because a scattered mind is a weak mind and with a scattered mind, you can’t make any headway, in your sadhana. This is where mantra comes and helps you become one-pointed. 

Now, as I said, mantra itself or words which you chant, per se, are not important. In fact, a mantra could be anything. Even, your own name, too, can be a used as mantra and you can chant your own name. Words of a mantra or which is given to you is important, in the sense, that those words which you are supposed to chant must emotionally appeal to you. Because, words which appeal to you, will help you, to be with the chant and thus, help in becoming one or single thought. For example, you are a Jain and if you are asked to chant Shambho, as a mantra, now, may be, that you will find it emotionally difficult to be with this mantra, given your background. But, if you are asked to chant Namo Arihantanam, then you will emotionally accept this and hence, it will easily become a single thought, for you, to replace all other thoughts. 

Thus, a mantra per say is not important but is important, in keeping all other thoughts, in check, and thus make you single-minded or ekagrachitta. A gathered or collected mind can then easily take you into meditation, because in meditation you have to drop this support or company of mantra also and you just need to ‘be’ or exist, without any outside support or company of anything. Meditation is pure awareness, just ‘being’, i.e. just to ‘be’ or to be in the company of your ‘being’. Meditation, finally, leads you into samadhi, in which even the subject, too, disappears and what remains is just the reality or consciousness only.