Imagine that you are standing on the bank of a river and you hear the current as it flows. If you follow
the river upstream, you will come to its origin. There, you will find that there is no sound. In the same way, a mantra leads the mind to the silence within. That state is called “soundless sound.” Each mantra will make a different form. You have to go to the source within, from which that sound comes.
Manthras and the mind are closely related. Many Manthras mould the mind in its subtle form. The sound vibrations the Manthras generate mould the subtle aspects of the Mind. Many forms of God are mind forms too. No wonder the originator of a manthra the sage is called Manthra Drishta. The seer of the Manthra. So he is not the hearer of the Manthra but the seer. This explains a lot. Even Prophet Mohammad is said to have seen the visual descent of the Quran.
Sanathana Dharma had known this truth for ages and has utilised it effectively to condition mankind towards perfection. In Hinduism many forms of worship can be substituted by mental worship. Snanam( Ritual Bath), poojanam ( Worship by flowers etc) , Vandhanam ( Bowing) etc can take mental forms. So in Hinduism there is no excuse to skip a worship or prayer even if water or flowers are not physically available. Remembrance is most important.
For instance, take Ganga Snanam during Deepavali. Ganga is verily said to penetrate into all waterbodies on Deepavali , so all believers do take a Ganges dip! Plus, there is a sloka which verily has the power to bring all the holy waters verily into your shower! Beat That!
" Gange ca Yamune devi
Godavari Sarasvathi
Narmadhe Sindhu Kaveri
Jalesmin Sannidhim Kuru"
Just reciting this before Bath verily makes your physical Bath a Divine one. What a way to infuse Desh Bakthi also. Constant remembrance of your countries holy water bodies does increase your love for your mother land.
Even taking the Ganapathi pooja which is verily the shub Arambh ( Auspicious beginning ) of all rituals. Ganapathy , the auspicious divine form is the most easy to draw or Sculpt. Priests do not wait for a moorthy ( Image ) of a Ganesha. He just Rolls a some Turmeric paste in his palm and makes an image of Ganesha, which normally is only a clump or pyramidical in shape and recites the following Manthra:
" Asmin Bhimbe Maha Ganapathim Avahayami"
By this he is infusing energy into the pyramid or invoking Ganesha in it. Such a simple Prana Prathishta!
So let us take a little time to educate our youngsters on these powerful tools of positivity. The current youngsters are enamoured by Power of positive thinking books available in the market. Little do they know that these are available at their doorsteps, only needs little effort to know the treasure they are missing out on.
Krishnamachari Santhanam
