Sivaratri Mahima 6 - Mantra

[Guest guest]

most powerful prayers ever conceived by the human mind. It is filled with a

threefold meaning. According to the culture of this country, everything is

threefold,-objective, subjective and universal. Everything in the world, from

the smallest to the biggest, has an objective character, a subjective character

and an universal character. Objectively you are something, subjectively you are

another thing and universally you are a third thing. It all depends upon from

what point of view you interpret a particular thing, person or object. When you

objectively interpret a thing, it looks one thing; when you subjectively analyse

it, it is another thing; and from the universal point of view, it is something

third altogether. Likewise, this Mantra, the Satarudriya of the Yajurveda, a

hymn to Lord Siva, has an objective meaning, a subjective meaning and a divine,

supreme, supramental, universal meaning. Objectively, it is a prayer for the

control of the forces of nature. Subjectively, it is a prayer for

self-control and the rousing of the spiritual consciousness. Universally, it is

a surge of the soul towards God-realisation. It has an Adhiyajnika,

Adhibhautika, Adhidaivika and Adhyatmika meaning, as we usually put it. It has

a tremendous meaning. The Vedas, the Mantras of the Vedas, are filled with such

threefold or fourfold meaning. Hence it is difficult to understand the full

meaning of any Mantra of the Veda. "Ananta Vai Vedah"-Infinite is the meaning

of the Vedas. The meaning of the Veda is infinite. It has no end at all. It is

mathematics, it is chemistry, it is physics, it is Ayurveda, it is psychology,

it is metaphysics, it is philosophy, it is

spirituality, it is meditation, it is love, it is ecstasy. You will find

everything in every Mantra of the Veda. All depends upon how you look upon it,

how you feel it. A person can be a father, he may be. a brother, he may be a

son, he may be a friend, but all the while he is one and the same person.

Attitudes are different on account of various relationships connected. So the

Rudra Adhyaya is before us, a majestic prayer for world-peace,

international-peace, subjective peace, universal peace and God-Consciousness.

It is difficult to chant this Veda Mantra called the Satarudriya, because it

requires a training, as in music, for example. Everybody cannot sing. It

requires a tremendous training for years together. Likewise, the chanting of

the Mantras of the Veda requires training for years together, not for a few

days only. Just as one who does not know how to sing, will make a jarring noise

and you will like to get up and go away rather than listen to it, so also when

you chant the Mantra wrongly, Gods will get up and go away. They do not bear it

any more. So, it requires training. But once it is properly learnt, it becomes a

protection for you from catastrophies of every kind,-physical, psychological and

what not. So, those who know may chant it, recite it and take part in the

recitation of it everyday in the temple, at least during the worship on

Mahasivaratri.

mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> Those who cannot do this because it is

difficult, can chant the Mantra 'Om Namah Sivaya', the Panchakshara Mantra of

Lord Siva with Om preceding it. It is a Kavacha; a kind of armour that you put

on. This armour will protect you from danger of every kind. It will protect you

and also all those whom you want to be protected. It will protect your family,

will protect your country, will protect the whole world. It can cease wars and

tensions of every kind, provided you offer the prayers wholeheartedly from the

bottom of your heart. Collective prayer is very effective. If a hundred

persons join together and pray, it will have a greater effect than one person

praying. Of course, if that single person is very powerful, even one person's

prayer is alright. But, where personalities have their own weaknesses and

foibles, it is better that people have congregational prayer. When all the

minds are put together they form a great energy. It surges forth into God. So

during this period preceding Sivaratri prayer is to be, offered to Lord Siva,

as the Master of Yogin, as the incarnation of all virtues and powers, as a

facet of the Almighty Lord. The glory of Lord Siva is sung in the Siva Purana,

in the Yajur Veda Rudra Adhyaya as I mentioned, and in the Mahabharata. You

will be wonderstruck at the force with which Vyasa and other Sages sing the

glories of God, of Vishnu, of Narayana, of Siva, of Devi in the various Puranas

and Epics, because these masterpieces have been written by those who had the

vision of God. Only one who has the vision of God can express in soul-ful

force. Otherwise, it will be an empty sound without much significance and

thought. So, chant the Mantra 'Om Namah Sivaya' as many times as possible

everyday, mentally or even verbally as is convenient, with self- control, which

means to say without any thought of sense-object. If you chant the Mantra

together with the thought of sense- objects, then there is divided devotion. It

is like dividing the course of a river in two different directions so that the

force of the waters gets lessened. Suppose you have five sense- objects and

towards all of them your senses are running, and you are thinking of God also

at the same time. Then, you know, energy is divided, concentration becomes weak

and meditation is not successful. No meditation will become successful, if the

senses are active; because, the senses are the opposite of the effort at

meditation. While meditation is the collective force of the mind concentrating

itself on God-consciousness, the senses, when they are

active, do the opposite of meditation and you become a tremendous extrovert. You

are connected to the objects of sense, rather than the universal concept which

is God. God is unity, whereas sense objects are multiplicity. They are the

opposite of what you are aiming at in your spiritual life. With moderate

behaviour in every manner in your spiritual life, you will attain to success.

As the Bhagavad Gita beautifully puts it, 'moderate in your eating, moderate in

your activity, moderate in your speech, moderate in your sleep'-form the golden

mean, the via-media, the golden path. God is the harmony of all powers in the

universe. Harmony means the middle course, neither this extreme nor that

extreme. You cannot say whether it is or it is not. We don't know what it is.

As

FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Buddha said: " 'Nothing is', is one extreme;

'everything is', is another extreme. God is in the middle. Truth is in the

middle." So, the middle path is the best path, which is the path of austerity

with understanding. This is the characteristic of the middle path. When there

is understanding without austerity, it is useless. When there is austerity

without understanding, that is also useless. There must be austerity

with understanding and understanding with austerity, knowledge with self-control

and self-control with knowledge, that is wisdom. Knowledge with self-control is

called wisdom, whereas knowledge without self-control is mere dry

intellectuality. That is of no use. And austerity without understanding is a

kind of foolishness. It will have no proper result. So, Lord Siva is not merely

an austere Being but also a repository of Knowledge. All worshippers of

knowledge also worship Lord Siva, as He is the God of all students, scholars

and seekers of wisdom and knowledge. Thus, Maha-Sivaratri is a very blessed

God-sent opportunity for us. So on this day, pray to Lord Siva with all your

heart, with all your soul, fully trusting on the might of God, wanting nothing

from the objects of sense and delighted within that the Kingdom of Heaven is at

hand. God is bound to come. The powers of the cosmos are

everywhere and they can be invoked at any time by us, provided we are strong

enough in our will and in the method of invocation. We are blessed because we

live in the Kingdom of God. We are blessed because we are seekers of Truth. We

are blessed because we are disciples of a great Master. We are blessed, thrice

blessed, four-times, five- times blessed because we are seeking God who also

seeks everything in this creation. God seeks the world and the world seeks God.

This is the mystery of creation, the subtlety of the spiritual path and the

glory of the meditative life. Jnana and Vairagya combined is Lord Siva who is

worshipped on Mahasivaratri day.

Verdana"> -----------Sri Swami Krishnananda Sivaya Namah

Win a BlackBerry device from O2 with . Enter now.