Mantra: The Sound Of Your Name as a Mantra

By Swami Chaitanya Keerti, Osho World Foundation

The Sound Of Your Name

In the famous Tantra Book, Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, there's one sutra,

 "Enter the sound of your name and through this sound, all sounds",

that talks about the science of mantra .

Osho explains:

In the old days we gave everyone a name of God - everyone. Someone was Ram, someone was Narayan, someone was Krishna or someone was Vishnu . And all over the world that was the practice, to give a name which is really a name of God.

It was for good reasons. One reason was that if your name could be used as a mantra it would serve you a double purpose. It would be your name - and you would hear it so much, so many times, and all your life it had penetrated deep. It is the name of God. So go on repeating it inside, and suddenly you will become aware that "this name is different from me." By and by this name will have a sanctity of its own. You will remember that " Narayan " or "Ram," this is God's name. Your name has turned into a mantra. Use it! This is very good!

You can try many things with your name. If you want to be awakened at five o'clock in the morning, no alarm is so exact as your own name. Just repeat thrice inside, "Ram, you have to be awake by five o'clock sharp." Repeat it three times, and then just fall asleep. You will be awakened at five o'clock because "Ram," your name, is very deep in the unconscious. Call your name and tell yourself that "at five o'clock in the morning, let me be awakened." Someone will awaken you. And if you continue this practice, one day you will suddenly realise that at five o'clock someone calls you and says, "Ram, be awake." That is your unconscious calling you. This technique says, enter the sound of your name and, through this sound, all sounds. Your name becomes just a door for all names. But enter the sound. First, when you repeat " Ram, Ram, Ram. .." It is just a word. But it means something when you go on repeating " Ram, Ram, Ram. .."

You must have heard the story of Valmiki. He was given this mantra "Ram," but he was an ignorant man - uneducated, simple, innocent, childlike. He started repeating "Ram, Ram, Ram..." But he was repeating so much that he forgot completely and reversed the whole thing. Instead he was chanting " Mara, Mara ..." He was chanting "Ram, Ram, Ram..." so fast that it became " Mara, Mara, Mara. .." And he achieved the goal through " Mara, Mara, Mara..."

If you go on repeating the name fast inside, soon it will not be a word: it will become a sound, just meaningless. And then there is no difference between Ram and Mara - no difference! Whether you call Ram or Mara, it makes no sense, they are not words. It is just the sound, just the sound that matters.

Enter the sound of your name. Forget the meaning of it, just enter the sound. Meaning is with the mind, sound is with the body. Meaning is in the head, sound spreads all over the body. So forget the meaning. Just repeat it as a meaningless sound, and through this sound you will enter all sounds. This sound will become the door to all sounds. And "all sounds" means all that exists.

Compiled by Swami Chaitanya Keerti Osho World Foundation

Please see www.oshoworld.com for other meditation techniques.