(- Uddipana Vol1 Issue 4 Dec 2001)
“Omkār is the garbha of all. It is the first Pranava Nāda. It is the samrakśaṇa stōtra. It is the Mūla mantra. During pralaya kāla it is the only mantra to remove mrtyu bhaya. You can chant it when people are on their deathbed. Whether you know to chant it or not, you can try. Did Valmiki not chant ‘mara, mara’. This vibration grew and transformed him into a sage. ॐ is the jāgrata śakti of god.
Tell all and chant everywhere with belief. No mask or oxygen cylinder is required for those who chant this mantra. This is the protection against war situations. Just chant ॐ.
Because ॐ creates sthiti. It completes the circuit of energy and creates protective cell for you. Be self-inspired – chant with mugḍa manas. Only this much is required. Then receive the power of the Lord with your entire being – your senses, mind and heart. ”
A Child, when it is holding its mother’s pallū feels safe. Security is felt by nearness of mother. Whether it is crossing a busy road or even in great danger the child feels no fear if it is holding the mother’s pallū. But the moment the pallū slips from its hand it starts crying.
In the same way, we the children of God cry from fear and pain when we see terrorism and devastation, when we suffer loss and tragedy. Why have we lost courage in life – why have we lost faith? It is because we have lost contact with the Lord, who is the mother of the Universe. With our senses, we can’t feel the presence anymore. How to restore that presence? The only way is to chant ॐ – constantly at all times and situations. Faithfully Chant ॐ and do your work, just let go the outcome. If we fail, that is okay, if we gain that is also good. It is the Divine plan.
Death is inside us – predestined. One who comes has to go. Death is pre-programmed in every creature. If birth has taken place, then death is inevitable. Because, death is a renewal of life – it is a chance for rebirth. But there is another death and that is – Fear. Loss of faith is fear.
Why do wars happen? Wars happened throughout the ages – Rākśasās have killed innocent people and even rsīs. This has happened with a purpose of Satya Samśhōdhana. Because of māya, the world falls into confusion and forgets its Divine link. To clear the mist of illusions, and overcome negativity, such situations as wars arise. It is the Lords handiwork – the acid test. Take the example of our own lives. We have to face the Rākśasās of desire and fear. And the outcome is pain. To overcome this pain, we do satsang and chanting etc. All this only to get back in touch with our source of joy – our mother.
Ordinarily Mantra chanting, pūjā etc. give temporary happiness. Once you finish the activity and get back to work – you remain the same old person – yathāprakāra loosing temper, creating stress etc. Therefore, only if we do all actions knowing that God is the witness at all times, we feel neither pain nor fear. This is the true freedom from death.
Another beautiful link is Smarana – Living in constant remembrance, contemplation and inquisitiveness to know about God, surrendering to his wish. This is true bhakti. Only a strong belief that God is the witness of every action and impulse – God is the initiator and everything is His wish and all that is there in the world goes back to him, can bring confidence and courage to face the world. This kind of belief made Bhakta Prahlāda face his father Hiranya Kaśhyapu. The same kind of surrender helped Draupadi to face humiliation.
Within anu, renu, trna, kasta – the Divine power exists. Yet we see negative. How come we record and count only the negative experiences. That is a wrong habit. If we remember and count the good experience, we had while praying or chanting and record only that sparsa of happiness and think that rest of the events, good or bad are just part of a picture – they came to clean the wastage in us, then we get phala prāpti of our prayers.
Yes, good and bad come to us; but in your mind, count only the moments of happiness. Do not count the rest of the experience, then you can be certain that God is with you. Can you teach your mind to count positive experiences and remember them?
Take Draupadi’s example. When the Kauravās pulled her sāri, she struggled a while, asked help from elders and her husbands, but when no one came forward, she lifted both her hands and surrendered fully. Krsṇa appeared and protected her and that protective Sparsa of Lord Krsṇa lasted her a lifetime. It became a Śhaśvata Sparsa. Difficulties come, but with that comes, a blessing. Receive the blessing and discard the thought of the bad event. Like a hamsa, draw the milk only. We breathe mixed air, but the lungs draw only oxygen. So also teach yourself to receive the Gurūs/ Lord’s sparsa and discard the rest of event as husk.
Normally, when we face great difficulty, we do not surrender to God, instead we burn our mental energy with negative thoughts and we create a bad energy around us. That closes the door for wisdom therefore blessing and happiness cannot enter us. Believe that your soul is totally involved in the Divine’s play. You exist in the Divine’s park. Then the soul’s power fights back external negative sparsa like kāma, krōdha, etc. and becomes strong. The teacher (Guru) gives you the light and before the light vanishes, finish your work by swayam prayatna. For your work to become phala pradāyaka, you have to come to a good place or to a guru with sadbhāvana. This will become the foundation for your sadguna (divine personality). Instead people come with doubt or to test the Guru or with criticizing frame of mind to draw the power of Guru etc. and they defeat themselves. Come with pure mind, heart and drsti. Then your pure drsti and bhāvana will touch the Guru or God and rebound on you with force and you receive blessings. But if you come with swārtha, emotions and expectations imbalancing takes place and you achieve nothing. So if you feel you have prayed in so many temples, gone to so many saints but still not found peace – then check your thoughts and feelings. Has doubt crept into you? Do you have carried over balance of fears and doubts?
Be positive, have positive interest with shānta chitta, drḍa sankalpa and kartavya nista do your work in life. Then as you do your work according to your punya bala and karma bala, situation arise – mantana (churning) happens. Your true worth is tested. Life’s trails are required for the amrta to come out, but before that, the ‘visa’ will show itself. Surrender with confidence that God is the witness and He will give us the required strength.
Hari ॐ
