The Power of Mantra Meditation

It has been a while since I have time to write an article. Early this morning I had a powerful message during my meditation to write about exactly what the title calls for. Having a message during a meditation is nothing but having a purgation of thoughts that need to be surfaced. Once again, I acknowledged my monkey mind and took a note of what I needed to do.

Since my last meditation retreat at Sivananda Ashram in Grass Valley last winter I have been faithfully following an instruction from Swami Sita. I was to sit for fifteen minutes morning and evening and repeat the given mantra. At the time I thought that it was a technique to occupy my mind for a higher purpose. Instead of preoccupying my mind with some mundane daily activities and get bored or agitated by them I could be thinking about God and connecting with the divine. I understood this intellectually but I had no idea how it would manifest.

Another technique from Swami Sita is to sit with an inner focus on the third eye (the spot on the forehead right above the center of the eyebrows). Another option is to focus at the center of the chest which is the heart center. Swami Sita told us to pick one that naturally come to us. The third eye spot is for someone who is more mentally and intellectually engaged. The heart center is for someone who is more devotional and more emotionally engaged. I found myself over and over again fixing my inner gaze dead on that third eye spot. With the mantra and the inner focal point I was equipped with the traditional vedic meditation technique. I was a fit person to commune with God as my inflated ego would have it.

So, what has another year brought after all this meditation or more accurately "sit." I cannot say that I have ever meditated as I never once felt that long, uninterrupted state of absorption with the divine. For a short period of time I would feel immense peace. It normally followed by my thought of "ah, I do not want to get out of this peace". Then it was all over. I had to try to get back into that peace again.

I used to cringe at anything devotional. I had a big dose of it growing up in Thailand attending many hours in temples wondering how older folks could be so...well,devotional. Throughout my school years up to highschool I was herded into a line with my fellow schoolmates military style every morning. After singing the national anthem we chanted a Buddhist mantra not unlike the mantras I am chanting now in the yoga classes I teach. At that time I was bored to death with the process. Yet, somehow me and my Buddha developed a strong bond that last to this day. I now credit much of our successful relationship to the mantras I used to loath. But when Swami Sita told us to pick a spot and it was so easy for me to focus on my third eye I thought to myself that I could never be a devotional type. Little did I know the power of the mantra meditation.

It occurred to me this morning that more than anything else the effect of the mantra is softening. Over time the mantra softens me, my shell, my ego and in the process it gently broke my heart opened. It allows me to bow down and accept the beauty and love of devotional practice even as I am fixed on that third eye. It has become a part of my daily routine now to light up an incense first thing in the morning. I offer the fire ritual to gods and goddess, Buddha and gurus, ancestors, animals and nature. Most importantly I offer it to the divine deep in my heart so, that I can truly connect with those I love.

It has been a year now since the last retreat and I am yearning to get back to that sacred land. The mantra carries me to that place right here right now. I think of Swami Sita, her guru and her guru's guru and I feel a strong yearning in my heart. That sort of emotional yearning was reserved in my previous life for some unfortunate love affairs. Yet this yearning is much different as it brings unconditional love and sweet peace. After all, Swami Sita having done a quick reading of my Jyotish astrological chart said to me with a soft expression "you do have some devotion." Om Namo Narayanaya.