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The Essence of Mantra

A spiritual discourse on the nature and power of mantra.

"Mantra is a power, truth, energy, and clarity within our heart." "Man means our mind... Tra has two meanings... it is when one is comforted... [or] it means poison. What was that? Desire."

The lecturer addresses a gathering, prompted by a student named Shivani, to explore the essence of mantra. He defines mantra as the energy and thirst of the mind, illustrating the pervasive nature of desire with stories, including that of a desireless saint named Nirmohi. He explains that mantra practice aims to purify this thirst, leading to contentment and divine connection. The talk covers the sacredness of receiving a mantra from a master, the importance of positive thought as yoga, and the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. He concludes by chanting the Guru Mantra and the Gayatri Mantra, emphasizing protection and surrender.

Filming location: Salzburg, Austria

Today, we will speak on the topic that has just been given to me. According to this theme, we will begin. First: hymns, mantras—a beautiful energy, clarity, and bliss. That is what we need. This lady said something to us and told me that I should speak on this topic. She is a long-standing student, a yoga practitioner, and also a yoga teacher. She received a beautiful name long ago: Shivani. Shiva has many meanings. There is nothing other than Shiva. And Shivani means devotion to God Shiva. So, we will bring this energy, and first with mantra. Mantra—many of us already know, some perhaps know, but I do not know whether they know or not. Many know the name 'mantra', and many do not know what kind of thing a mantra is. Mantra is a power, truth, energy, and clarity within our heart. Further still, mantra. My master, my Gurujī, always said, "Mantra, sword and sword." What does that mantra mean? If someone has asked, we will, of course, speak more the whole weekend about what the mantra is. And we will not understand anything yet. But it goes into our depths, into our soul, Ādātma, Mantra. Guruji, my master, Holi Guruji, always said, "Mantra, Mantra." Man means our mind, Man. And man, to understand, it is very, very broad indeed. Now, when we come to the man, our soul arrives. But man is not so simple to make that clearer. But man, tra—tra has two meanings. A dream is when one is comforted, as if someone is comforting them. Comforting. One is our mind. And our mind is thirsty. And he has so much that he has nothing at all. And that means that he is comforting. Thirsty, yes. Well, this thirst of people—everyone is thirsty. Manna, Manna is the mind, and the thirsty one is the mind. But just as there are many kinds of thirst, many, many are thirsty for money. "I want more and more and... more, I want to have riches." It has no end. A poor person who has nothing at all, and someone gives him 5 euros. He is so happy. Comes home and tells his wife and children, arranges something, buys, and so on. But before sleeping, when he thinks that 5 was too little, hopefully someone will give me more tomorrow. And so on and so forth. "I will work, but I do not want to be paid at all." So, there is no person who does not want something that I do not want to have. There is a Sādhu, I know him very, very well. And I believe the Umāburi or someone will know. And this one Yogi, he is said to have nothing to gain from anyone at all. "No, I want nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing." And for him, cow’s milk comes, that is all. So, everyone, now comes so much cow’s milk that they don’t even know what to do with it. So all the people come, and there is no water, no milk for them. But he wants to have nothing, to have nothing. This I know for certain: if someone has clothes and is to give something, perhaps, if he has one, he does not want to give it; he passes it on to someone else, who is alive. And he waited, and he waited for a few years, wanting to see me, wanting me to come. And so many people, his disciples, come and go, but he has a small hut and above the hut a tent, because it rains or something like that. He has no rest; he sits, he cleans the entire āśrama. Everyone can come, go, come. And when you leave, you should come to the fence with me. He has no desire. And Guruji said, he is a yogi or a saint or something like that. He has absolutely no desire. Nothing is simple. And I often passed by my Ashram trinkets and such. So, the people from this village stopped me in front of my car and said, "Please, please, Svāmījī, come. And this Maharājī says, once Maitreya, Darśan, the sadhu wants my Darśan." I said, "My darśan is not what I want; I want him to have his darśan." And I went in, and he was so, so, he touched my feet. I said, "No, please not." And he took me and brings the little one into his hut, something like that. And he brings yogurt, one and a half kilos, and that much sugar. And they say, "You must completely drown, just as they have." I said, "It cannot be, only sugar." And when I wanted to give him something, he said, "No, no,... no. Please don’t touch money; I don’t touch money at all. If you want, give this to the people or this. Swāmījī, no, no, no." His name is Nirmohi, Nirmohi. Nirmohi means one who has no desire for anyone at all. Given away everything and also everything else. No matter who it is. His wife, his children, or this or that. And he was a king. Nirmohirāja. There is a great book about this Nirmohirāja. And Moha, Moha means attachment, attachment. And so attachment, we have so much attachment. To mother, to father, brother, sisters, friends, uncle, then friend, girlfriend, husband, wife, money, children, school, this, this, more and more and more, that is. Mantra. The meaning of mantra is that it is our mind. Our mind should be content. Then you continue on your divine path. We all pray for a few minutes, perhaps some of you practice mantra two or three times a day. But other things, for which we no longer have time, for others it is more and more and more. That is that. The mind is called the spirit, a desire means it is so thirsty, always thirsty. Always thirsty. More and more and more. And that is what a mantra means. Now comes the mantra, the Guru Mantra, many mantras for the home, for this, for that, many, many. Many mantras. But we must realize that. Otherwise, nothing works. And so with the mantra. Now the mind always has a craving, again and again. How can we all take one step further? We are not even there yet. We are always there. Always there. It doesn’t matter. We go to God and say, "What have you done? How much have you practiced mantra?" But what does it mean to practice mantra? That is something entirely new again. Many go to church or temple or somewhere else. But they have no contentment. We are not content. So, you have already spoken with Shivani. But their mantra is even more. Let us continue speaking with it. Mantra. Mantra. The mind is thirsty. This is mantra. And when you have no more desires, absolutely none, then your mind is content. And when someone takes away from us, it becomes angry, both inwardly and outwardly. "They took it away from me." And what did they take away? That is much, much. Nothing through money or this or that. Much has been taken away from me. And when someone has such a thirst, and this thirst is called, one could say, Desire. And this mantra, this desire is so strong that the father or the mother leave the children alone and go away. We are now a man and a woman and have three children. And suddenly, one of them wants to be separate. Why have we left ourselves in the very small children? But why? This thirst is so strong. He will neglect his children, but will give elsewhere to satisfy his own thirst or desire to fulfill. That is also a mantra. And this mantra has now become divided into two parts. Children cry for the father or the mother who has left them alone. What the children cry is a mantra. And this mantra, the children do not know that it is a mantra. But this small, unusual child wonders why my parents gave me this birthday, why they left me. But this mantra will be in the next world or somewhere, as a course. Course by whom? By children. That is also a kind of thirst. Similarly, the man is very sad, has children with his wife, and has left the man alone and gone away. Or the man has left, and the mother remains alone with the children. This is a mantra. How will we properly bring this mantra back, or when can we return to our divine feelings and divine paths and unite with God? Perhaps we come to the door of God, but He will say, "Where are the children, go back and bring them." And how? That means several lives, several, several lives, several lives. So, mantra, the thirst, the thirst in the mind. There, many negative thoughts or negative, I forget the word again, churning, yes, very churning. They would like to do everything. The mantra, how will we be able to make amends again. The best is forgiveness towards your children. This is an example. But these pains, now the children are happy that the parents have returned. But with the tough children, they are always afraid. Fear and fear. And fear is against our mantra. Another mantra is when someone comes to a master or guru. In every religion, there is mantra. In every religion, there are good, beautiful mantras. And so, this mantra has a power. Power, positive or negative. And negative is that—we are going to speak about something quite negative. And positively, that we will be grateful. The mantra is now again in two parts. To make it perfectly clear to our consciousness, we must renounce everything. Give up everything. And what does it mean to give up everything? Negativity, anger, hatred, etc. We all have to let that go. Positive, surrender. And what is devotion? It is not only that a disciple has devotion to the Guru, to the master, or to God. We have devotion to everyone, everyone, and everyone. Tell me, sometimes or a few times it does not become better or more pleasant. But in one or two years, we ourselves will see how clear, completely clear and very humble, kind, peaceful, and in oneness with others. Mantra. And so, when we receive a mantra from a master, that is also very, very important. Indeed. When someone receives a mantra from their master or mistress, their Guru, what does that mean now? When do you receive a mantra? That means the mother has given a child. Is that clear? Or not? So, now the Master has given this mantra to his own disciples. Now, the student is called, let’s say, a mother or father of the master and student. Now to give away the mantra means you have given away your child as a mantra, and that is a sin. For children, it is a child. This is it. One must be very careful and thoughtful and say, yes, now I want to have such a mantra. And that requires lifelong practice. And what comes after that? You pass on this mantra. You have it with you, but you continue to pass it on. We have planted a tree and a beautiful seed, and now a tree has grown large, and now there are beautiful fruits. Several fruits, the same taste, the same form, everything that these fruits have. And so is our mantra, once we have given ourselves to our Master and have come this far. And our mantra, our mind, and our desire. And so, you can also transmit mantra widely; if you are that pure, then the Master says, yes, you have many seeds, go on and go further. And so, then it is yours, you have taken a fruit from the cherries, and now this cherry tree is yours. Yes, it is. And so, it is like this, it is not necessary that everyone takes the mantle from one master. Maybe someone takes a different path. Another comes along, why not? Only cherries, cherries alone are not good. A little chatter is also good. So, but it is fruit. And this fruit is good. There will be friction again and so on. And that is the nature of the mantra. Your master or mistress has given you a mantra. And now you must not give anything away or speak negatively, and you try to take on something new instead. Taking something new means you have sought another man or you have sought a woman. This mantra is present throughout our entire body, mind, and consciousness; everything is connected with us through one and two mantras. And how we should protect the mantra. And that is, we have different mantras again. For example, there is a mantra, sorry, the protection. Protection. A mantra, how to protect my mantra, your mantra, his mantra, your mantra, okay? For everyone. Is there a mantra? And this one mantra is, Om Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara, Guru Sākṣāt Para Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Dhyānamūlaṁ Guror Mūrtiḥ, Pūjāmūlaṁ Guroḥ Padam, Mantramūlaṁ Guroḥ Vākyaṁ, Mokṣamūlaṁ Guroḥ Kripa. Thus, the guru makes us conscious and provides protection. That no one can take away, no one can destroy. If you have this mantra, then you are perfect and you have everything. So there are so many mantras. Also books, complete, it is mantra for Śakti, mantra for all the Divine Mothers, Divine Fathers, many, many mantras, mantra. There are mantras for when one should go to sleep. And I believe that Christians, who also say something before going to sleep, say a mantra or something, right? Yes, exactly. That is mantra. Also for eating. Essence, but first the mantra. And that we all sit together, and only then do we pray to God for His grace, or something like that, and so on. This is the mantra that is today’s topic. This is not just one mantra or two mantras. This is the Gāyatrī Mantra. Oṁ Bhūr Bhuvaḥ Svaḥ Tat Savitur Vareṇyaṁ Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi Dhiyo Yo Naḥ Pracodayāt. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. This means it is a protection, a safeguard for our body, mind, our families, friends, everything. Protection, protection. I surrender all to Thee. This mantra is a very, very great mantra, indeed. And also there is a mantra, protection. And this mantra is protection. There will be no illness. Now, Accident, what kind of Accident? It does not have to be a car, a moped, a train, an airplane, or any machine. Driven from the animal, from the water. There is much, much. Protection. And this is a beautiful mantra from the Vedas, very clear. And which is that Mantra? This is that Mantra. Oṁ Mantra. All Mantra. Now, today I will give only a small, small glimpse of the good things I have in my practice. Today this and that and that, this and that is this, and that is that, and that is also. Today he has fire within, that is it, that is it. I have everything today. But then, what that means, I will explain in full detail later when we talk about mantra. Our mantra is also what we speak, sacred scriptures. We must. We must. Why? It is okay, in your religion, in my religion, in all religions, it is only one religion. Speak your language, whatever you can speak. It can be 4.5 to 5 minutes, at noon, even at work. Or we come home. This mantra means, bring back into our brain this energy, freedom, bliss, and that is what religion is, if we take nothing but religion, but practice this mantra or think positively, come and think positively. It was terrible and dreadful, but forgive, forgive. Such a person will always remain a good thought in his mind until the end of life. And others will, and that is why many people have problems. They do not know what they are doing. And that we can continue to live happily, live in relaxation. We cannot claim the whole world as mine. This and that. But we have, that is another word, but it doesn’t come from Hindi into English. Whoever is always happy is the happiest person in the world. Come, practice, be relaxed. Or when you leave your work to go home, by car or by train or on foot. Think of what I have done today. I have done so much good for everyone. And I believe, perhaps I was not made so well in haste. God forgive me, tomorrow I will do everything even better. This positive thought is the best yoga. Yoga. The best Yoga. When we have a feeling, without harshness, sadness, this, this. In our body is the mantra. There are very beautiful mantras. And how is it? For example, it is very hot. And we have, what is it called? Klīṁ, Mā. Klīṁ and Mā. Klīṁ is the love of the Mother. And Mā means Mother. Klīṁ Mā. Now we have Mā. Mā means Mā. Mātā. Mother. The weather. But the mother has gone out shopping and such, and the children are restless. So, we take something else. Suddenly, the power goes out. Thank God, in Vienna we always have electricity. In Salzburg, it was not like that. No? Really? I say, the good things are only in Vienna as well. Really? Then I have to... And so now, in this room, suddenly, you don’t look like it, and we are sweating, hot, hot, hot. What are we doing? We feel hot and so on. And suddenly a good wind comes from the window, a pleasant one. And so these pleasant sensations in our ten indriyas. Ten Indriyas. Indriyas means our sensory organs. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue, throat, skin, etc. And so, when the wind comes, we say thank you. So it is when we have positive thoughts in our consciousness and we think like this, the negative is gone and a good wind comes, very pleasant. And that is the mantra. Mantra. So, Holi Guruji said, there are only two words. Man and Tra. Man means mind, and Tra means poison. What was that? Desire. Desire is good, desire is not good. But if you have a good feeling, then you should carry it with you for life. Then we move on to yoga. So Yoga, you think, we do exercises, āsanas up and down. I can do that too. I might demonstrate tomorrow. But that is not Yoga. Rather, breathing exercises, yes, that is also very good. But that is not Yoga either. But without breath, we can no longer live. And so we sleep. Why? Sleep is a great mantra, a very beautiful, great mantra. And so, this is Nidrā. Nidrā, sleep. And God has arranged it so well that if you do not want to fall asleep or do not want to go to sleep, then God gives Himself to His messengers, goes to the eyes. And I say, what can I do? So, just close it. The eyes closed and we are asleep. And sleeping is Mantra 3. And these are the Jagratā, Svapna, and Nidrā. These are the stages 3. Jagratā, Svapna, Nidrā, and Svapna. Awaken, Jagratā. We are awake, fully awake. Sleeping is sleeping. And dreaming. We are in the dream. So, when someone thinks a lot, a great deal constantly in the mind or practices, and then there. Then, when you grow a little older, you will break so many things in your sleep. Only three minutes do I have eyes today, now, at sunset. And there we placed a chair, because they had done something, as we wanted to perform a prayer. And someone sat next to it and said, "What did she say? I should bring together this and that." In the tears, everything comes immediately, it is good, it is good. Everything else remains inside. So, in deep sleep, if someone speaks again, it means they are restless through all the Indriyas or also experiencing bliss. But that is on two sides. Then Jagratā, awaken, we are awake. Suṣupta, we sleep. Then comes the Svapna, the dream. And in the dream, everyone must speak. Some only see deeply, but some are Masters. And the Master speaks to us in dreams, instructing the disciples. Comfort in sleep, in jagrat, sleep in dream. In the dream, the lesson, also the master, student or mother, children or children, father or the father, mostly the man, gives a lesson to his wife. And so, they say, is a woman who slowly gets up from the bed, takes everything, and goes to sleep in the third room. And he is still speaking there. Mantra. What? Mantra. This is the subject of the Mantra, my dears. So, tomorrow we will continue practicing. Truly, in this mantra-subject there is something very great, very great. And thanks to our Shivani. And I do not know what it will bring us further tomorrow. We will not let them sleep. So, all the best. And do you have a question about the mantra? Do you have a question, please? When a dream comes from sleep. And then, who is it that sleeps? Is that called Lijīva? That was beneath the ocean. Above there is so much in the waves. Below, below it is called Muktamāṇi. This is a very big, very big topic. Muktā. And do you know what Muktā is? It is a very beautiful stone. Something very precious. Muktā. And thus Muktā is in unity and wealth. That is when the whole world is asleep, then the Nagarāja comes. Nagarāja means the cobra. And the Nagarāja is very old now. And he cannot find food everywhere. So he comes out and sits in one place, and from his head comes a money. And this money, the cobra lies there, and everywhere the light comes. Beautiful light. And many, many insects, mosquitoes, come in such great numbers, and the cobra can eat. One is heard immediately; he swallows and walks away. Our Muktā, a jewel in the ocean, perhaps tomorrow I will awaken it and please, show us your jewel, okay? Thank you.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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