Love and Happiness: Dance of Intellect: Mantra Yoga

By Swami Sukhabodhananda

To think wisely, the mind needs to undergo a purification process. Mantras help us to purify the mind and make full use of the intellect.

Once, an oyster tried to distract a pearl diver. With great effort, it placed a loose pearl on a leaf on the ocean bed. The pearl diver, however, did not see the pearl - he caught the oyster. We don't know where to look and we become a victim of our limited knowledge.

An impure mind makes us miss the obvious. So it is important to purify the mind. Mantra yoga can hasten this process. We feel the external world is real but what is more real is the world of our thoughts and emotions. The impressions of the external world fall into our mind and if the mind is impure then these impressions get polluted and with this pollution we see the external as an extension of the internal.

Mind patterns are likened to different animals. A cat pattern makes you as loveless as a cat, indifferent. The dog pattern. If you love the dog, it wags its tail and jumps for joy. Otherwise, it starts barking. People suffer because of this pattern. The third pattern is the snake pattern. It starts hissing at anyone who comes close. People having this pattern feel threatened and start hissing at anyone who comes close. In the fox pattern, one is cunning and manipulative. External impressions falling in a mind having this pattern makes us see the external world differently. One has to learn to purify the mind. One has to do balidaan - sacrifice these inner animals in us at the altar of understanding.

When the mantras are chanted with understanding and devotion they change the very quality of the mind. Our mind is a victim of mechanical behaviour. Hence we think and feel, all mechanically.

A monk was given a beautiful horse on his birthday as a gift. His guru told him: "This horse has been living with me - it is a religious horse and it knows only religious jargon. If you want the horse to gallop you have to say ‘Oh God' - only then it will start running," said the guru. "What should I say to stop the horse from running?" asked the student. "You have to say Hallelujah," replied the guru.

The student sat on the horse and said "Oh God" and the horse started galloping. It was a great experience. He was on the mountain edge and the horse was not slowing down and he tried to stop but failed. Fortunately he remembered to say Hallelujah and the horse stopped right on the edge of the mountain. He looked down and saw a drop of at least 10,000 feet and realised that he could not have survived a fall. Turning his face up towards the sky and exclaimed: "Oh God, thank you" - and the horse galloped.

The mechanical mind has to be transformed to enable the opening of the magnetic mind. The mantras with their vibrations can do this. With the help of a guru one has to understand these mantras and devotional chanting can bring about a great awakening.

Chanting the mantras takes the mind to the alpha state. The alpha waves make one more calm; they help in balancing the left and the right side of the brain. A calm mind is more objective than a restless one. Intuition opens up in an alpha state. Corporates are taking about intuitive management. To enhance intuition your mind needs to be calm and mantra yoga helps us in making this happen. Mantra yoga is a process that teaches you how to create Heaven on Earth.

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See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul

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