Volume 4 Issue 8

August, 2003

Contemplation

The oldest known drawing of Sri Yantra dates back to 3000 bce.

The negative energies which surround us can stand in the way of achieving success, harmony and peace.

Despite all our work, intelligence and good intentions we can find our lives in stagnation and out of control.

The sacred geometry of Sri Yantra clears negative energies.  Contemplation on this sacred geometry, its perfection brings such precision to our own lives.

GAYATRI MANTRA

My Dad was in the hospital dying.  We all knew it.  I, for one, had chosen to ignore that knowledge and, to instead, focus all my energy on one of his physicians who kept saying that if he could get his strength up and SOON he could live longer.  He had a cast of physicians.  My favorite was the geriatric physician who had the best handle on the situation.  He was also my mother’s physician.  He had recently “respectfully” asked my Dad about his (my Dad’s) wishes regarding resuscitation.  After describing the possibilities from which  Dad could choose, he asked, “Mr. Burdette, when the angels come, would you like us to try and shoo them away?” 

One day while waiting for this beautiful man to come and tell us the results of some lab procedures my sister and I became giddy.  My family has always used humor as a tool for stress management, the blacker the situation, the blacker the humor.  This day we chose the topic of Dad dying.  I can’t remember any of the things we said that day, but my sister and I thought we were pretty funny.  It took awhile to realize that my Dad wasn’t laughing so much.  Coping techniques are not universal.  Many of our methods of dealing with stress only work in a very narrow range.

One thing that is always successful and leads to personal growth, however, is to focus inward.  The pull of circumstances can throw us off center and lead us further from our own personal insight and wisdom.  During these times meditation is the   tool of choice to keep us centered and on the right path for ourselves as well as for those effected by our actions. 

Each of us have our own preferred mode of learning or receiving information.  For many, seeing information is the best way of retention.  Others would rather hear, while others learn kinesthetically.  Still others may learn preferentially with a combination of audio, visual or kinesthetic.  There are meditation techniques for all of us.

A mantra is a sacred sound that empowers the mind.  The mantra AUM contains the root of all sound.

Tajjapah tadarthabhavanam

The mantra AUM is to be repeated constantly, with feeling, realizing its full significance.

Patanjali’s Sutras 1.28

A is pronounced “ah” as in father.  This vowel resonates in the center of the mouth.  In the Sanskrit symbol the A is represented by the portion of the symbol that looks like a 3.

U is pronounced as “who.”  The vibration for this sound is transferred to the back of the mouth.  The tail that hangs off the right side of the “3” symbolizes this sound.

M is a humming with the lips gently closed.  This sound resonates forward in the mouth and buzzes throughout the head (really).  The dot above the tail signifies this sound.

Tasya vacakah pranavah

[God] is represented by the sacred syllable AUM, called pranava.

Patanjali’s Sutras 1.27

The mantra AUM actually contains 4 elements.    The first three are audible sounds:  A, U, and M.  The fourth sound is unheard, the silence which begins and ends the audible.  It is the silence that surrounds audible sound.

Pranava literally means “humming.”  This humming is heard at the end of the mantra AUM, the instant when the last humming vibrations of the “M” fade away.  At this instant, between audible sound and silence our hearing is at its most expansive.  We are able to hear the most subtle of sounds, the audible sound which most resembles the “unstruck” sound, as asked in the Zen koan, “What’s the sound of one hand clapping?”  The “unstruck” sound is the sound that is not made by two things striking together.  All sounds within our range of hearing is created by things striking each other or vibrating together which creates pulsing waves of air molecules which strike our eardrums and are perceived by the brain as sound.  The “unstruck” sound is the sound of one’s own nervous system.  Meditators are taught to inwardly transform this sound into inner light.

Isvara pranidhanat va

The citta may be restrained by profound meditation upon God and total surrender to Him.

Patanjali’s Sutra 1.23

The symbol\ is not a symbol for the universe.  It is the universe.  This is the most sacred symbol in Hindu dharma.  It is the sound of the infinite.  It is the sound of the Sun, the sound of Light.  It is the sound of assent (affirmation) and ascent (upwards movement that uplifts the soul).

Repeating AUM of itself is not sufficient to yoke the components of our being.  We must be aware of the significance of the word.  We must embrace this significance.  The Mundaka Upanisad describes  AUM as mantra:

Brahman, or God, within the heart is the target; the syllable AUM is the bow; and the self or ego is the arrow.  With an undistracted mind one should hit the mark and be completely absorbed by getting the self into Brahman.  One should contemplate that one is completely within the God in one’s heart.

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Seeds for Meditation

For meditation sit in a comfortable position.  If you are new to meditation set a timer for 5 minutes.  If your meditation is thoughtful and compelling you to continue when the timer goes off, ignore the timer and continue until the seed of your meditation no longer calls to you. 

Breathing:  Observe the relaxation that is brought to the body and mind at the time of steady soft exhalation and during the passive stage between exhale and inhale.  Maintain this state of silence during the slow, deep inhale, pause.  Observe the relaxation as you exhale slowly, pause.  

Japa:  Repeat a mantra concentrating on the significance of each syllable as well as the context of the entire mantra.  Mantras can be repeated audibly or without sound. 

Yantra:  Yantra is an instrument, a geometric design that represents a deity for worship and meditation.  Contemplate yantra and its meaning.  Begin contemplation with your focus on the central bindu (point) and gradually proceed outward to take in the smallest triangle in which it is enclosed, the next 2 triangles, and so on.   The outward contemplation from bindu to the whole object is a contemplation of the evolution of the universe from the first primordial matter represented by the bindu to increasingly complex organisms represented by the increasingly complex shapes of the yantra.  The outer boundaries are the boundary of the universe from which one of the 4 doors allows escape. 

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