Mantra

MANTRA

How it works and when

Mantra is a Sanskrit word.

It is a combination of Man and Tra.

‘Man’ is Mind and “Tra’ means to overcome, control or discipline.

So the Mantra, by definition, is by which one can control the mind.

‘Sumiran’ – repeating certain Mantra or a phrase, according to almost all Holy Scriptures is the best way to tame the mind.

We know that mind cannot do two things at one time. We can train the body or our senses to do certain things with auto-memory by practicing over and over. We do not have to pay much attention to perform many routine actions such as cooking, cleaning, driving or jogging etc. Our mind could be thinking of hundred other things while doing these things that we are so used to. Once we have perfected it, certain professional work like weaving, sewing, farming or operating small harmless machines etc. can also be done without much guidance from the mind. We can listen to music, talk to friends on phone or think about other things and our body can keep working almost like a machine.

But the mental work, like serious mathematical calculations, accounting - solving a serious problem or a difficult puzzle, performing a difficult musical composition in an orchestra, require undivided concentration on the task at hand. One small distraction or one unrelated thought for friction of a second can become the cause of a big mistake. Mind cannot be at two places.

This is how the Mantra works. If we concentrate on certain Mantra, the mind cannot wander around. If it does, then it means the mind is not ‘on the Mantra’ or the ‘Sumiran’.  It can only be at one place.

We can train our tongue to keep repeating the ‘Mantra’ while mind is wandering somewhere else, but that will defy the whole purpose of the Mantra or ‘Sumiran’, which is to control the mind, not to train the senses.

This is exactly what H.H. Baba ji said by giving the analogy of the ‘mobile and a land-line phone’ - that mobile phone is excellent, but if there is no signal, we need to use the land line. 

Similarly, try to focus on the name of Nirankar, Almighty God, while doing the routine work. But practically, doing Sumiran 24/7 is extremely hard, especially while doing some serious mental work. So we should find some time during the day to do some ‘concentrated Sumiran’ – by focusing only on “Nirankar”.

                                                                                  ‘Rajan Sachdeva’