--- In tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Sudarshan K Madabushi"
<mksudarshan2002@xxxx> wrote:
--- In tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "MK krishnaswamy"
<krishnaswamy@xxxx> wrote:
> Our ancients therefore suggested that a Mantra must be chosen for
us by a realized person and must be received with faith and respect.
This rule applies to all Mantras, even if they are literally known to
us - we get the words, not its hidden power. It is in this sense that
the mantras were considered as secret.
*************
Dear members,
It's true. Our long Vedic tradition tells us that sometimes what may
appear to ordinary ears as unintelligible syllables, phrases or
expressions carries extraordinary potency when imparted by a realized
Master to his deserving disciple. The Vedic 'rshi-s' understood the
power of Sound to a degree that we simply don't.
We must ponder over what really is "mantra".
"Mantra" represents the triumph that the Spirit scores over Matter
through the medium of Sound.
Sound, as even modern physics tells us, impacts us both at the
physical and non-physical levels. I have watched a trained soprano
singer raise her voice to such a shrill pitch that the ensuing
vibration made a wine-glass on a nearby table shatter. Glass-panes of
houses near a busy airport very often experience the same phenomenon.
The power of Sound is often felt at the non-physical level too. The
commonest experience of such power is Music. The sound of music has
power to transform our deepest moods even -- fron black depression to
ineffable exultance. No one can exactly say why a ThyAgaraja 'kriti'
or a Kabirdas "dOhE" or a Beethoven symphony lifts one's spirit up,
but it undeniably does. Such is the power of Sound... the power to
bring about remarkable changes in our behaviour, in the way we feel
and think our way through this world!
In south-western Namibia (Africa), there is a desert where herds of
elephants roam about all the year round in search of water. They
travel miles into the wilderness. Often a bull-elephant, in its quest
for some subterranean water-spring, will stray away from its family
and be virtually lost to them. Yet, when the bull does come across a
water-source, its family will be notified instantly wherever they
are, no matter how many scores of miles away. How? The bull-elephant
has a way of communicating with its family through emitting a series
of sounds/syllables which travel across the barren wilderness at
radio-frequencies no human ear can ever pick up.
Deep in the cold waters of the northern Pacific Ocean, giant blue-
whales use the same medium of Sound to let their mates know where
precisely they are out in the vast seas. During the mating season,
the female-whale will emit extremely low-frequency mating-calls which
travel through the water-body of the ocean. The male-whales a few
thousands miles away will pick up the signal. The whales will then
swim towards each other to a spot that is their natural mating
grounds in the sea.
In each of the above cases, we see how Spirit triumphs over Matter
through the medium of Sound. In the case of the soprano singer, we
get a glimpse of the raw destructive power that may be found in
Sound. In the case of soothing Music, we see the ability of Sound-
power to alter and modify human mood or behaviour. In the case of the
Namibian elephant-herd and the blue-whale of the Pacific Ocean, we
see how Sound can conquer limitations of Time and Space.
************
When a true 'guru' gives his disciple a "mantra" -- through the
solemn rite of "mantrOpadEsa" -- he gives him the opportunity to be
able to invoke that awesome power there is in Sound ("vEda-shabda").
It is the power with which the 'sIshya' can destroy all obstacles
that Matter may place in the way of his soaring Spirit. It is the
power with which the disciple can bring about changes in being and in
behaviour. It is the power with which he can hope to triumph over the
constraints of physical Matter, Space and Time.
Rgds,
dAsan,
Sudarshan
--- End forwarded message ---
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