Now let there be a short discourse on “Oṋḿkára and Iśt́a Mantra”.

You know, knowingly or unknowingly, each and every created being wants to be loved by the Supreme; and loves the Supreme. And from the very dawn of human creation – I won’t say human civilization; human creation – all the longings of human beings have been knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, goaded towards that Supreme.

What is oṋḿkára? In the vedas [all books of spiritual knowledge] it has been said regarding oṋḿkára,

Sarve vedá yat padamámananti
Tapáḿsi sarváńi ca yat vadanti;
Yaddicchanto Brahmacaryaḿ caranti
Tatte padaḿ saḿgraheńa vraviimyoṋmityetat.

–Kát́haka Shruti

[The supreme spiritual state which all the scriptures have sought, and for which spiritual aspirants have undergone hardship and vowed perpetual Cosmic ideation, can be described in brief by the word oṋm.]

Sarve vedá yat padamámananti. Sarve vedá – “All the vedas”. You know, in old Sanskrit the root verb vid means “to know”. So veda means “knowledge”, the faculty of knowing. So in the process of all faculties, or on the functional side, the actional side, of all faculties, the goal was then the Supreme Puruśa; and even now the goal is the Supreme Puruśa; and in future, in all that is to come, the goal will be the Supreme Puruśa. Sarve vedá yat padamámananti – “All the vedas are in search of”.

Tapáḿsi sarváńi ca yad vadanti. Tapah means to undergo trouble, difficulty, just to give relief to others; and in the spiritual arena, tapah means to undergo trouble only to satisfy one’s dearest Supreme Being: that is tapah. So tapáḿsi sarváńi ca yat vadanti – “aspirants, spiritual aspirants, are undergoing tapah just to give pleasure to the Supreme.”

And, yaddicchanto Brahmacaryaḿ caranti – “the Brahmacárii adheres to the code of Brahmacarya just to get Him, just to keep in contact with Him.”

Do you know what the meaning of Brahmacárii is? Human life is for spiritual sádhaná only. There is not, there cannot be, any other motive; there cannot be any other intention; there cannot be any other desideratum. But your physical body is within the scope of this physical world, and to maintain this physical body you require food, dress, a house, and so many things. So a certain portion of your thoughts will certainly be occupied by those physical entities, by those physical objects. So what are you to do? You are to ascribe Brahma-hood, you are to ascribe Náráyańa-hood, to all physical objects, all physical entities, when you come in contact with those entities, physically or mentally. When you do this – when you ascribe Náráyańa-hood to each and every physical object, when you ascribe Brahma-hood to each and every physical object – then you are following the code of Brahmacarya.

Yaddicchanto Brahmacaryaḿ caranti
Tatte padaḿ saḿgraheńa vraviimyoṋmityetat.

Yama [the god of death, the speaker in this scripture] said, “Just to get oneself elevated to that supreme rank, just to get oneself to that status, I utter the word oṋm.”

Now you know, in this universe of ours, nothing is fixed, nothing is stationary, everything moves. Everything moves within the scope of the three fundamental relative factors – spatial, temporal and personal. The entire universe in its collective body also moves, because there is movement in the thought process, the thought projection, of the Supreme. Wherever there is movement, there is vibration, and there is expression of energy. And you know, energies are inter-transmutable. Light energy may be converted into sound energy; and the vital energy of human beings may be converted into spiritual energy, into electrical energy, into light energy, or into sound energy. When you speak, you convert your vital energy into sound energy.

Now, this conversion goes on from anádi [the beginningless] to ananta [the endless]. And within this vast scope, the span between anádi and ananta is this universe of ours, is the phenomenal world, the creation of a single Noumenal Entity. Now, because of this movement, sound energy is produced. By dint of one’s sádhaná one gets one’s ears suitably trained to catch that sound. Everyone can catch that sound with his or her physical ears, after those ears are properly trained by sádhaná. And that sound is known as oṋḿkára. It is the collective sound of all sounds of the universe, of all physical and psychic sounds within and without. It is oṋḿkára, and because all waves, all vibrational expressions, emanate from the singular Nave, by the process of negative approach you move towards that Nave.

I should say, if the movement from the Supreme Nave towards crude entities is treated as a positive movement, then your approach should be treated as a negative movement – because your movement is physico-psychic in the first phase; then pure psychic in the second phase; then psycho-spiritual in the third phase; and in the final phase, purely spiritual. We call these four phases in Sanskrit káma, artha, dharma and mokśa. These phases are known as the caturvarga – “four phases”, “four classifications”.

So the starting point of oṋḿkára is in close contact with the Macropsychic Entity. And it has its micropsychic counterpart also. And that’s why oṋḿkára is also known as prańava: prá prefixed to the root verb nu, plus the suffix al. Prańava means “the entity that guides you unto the supreme status, unto the supreme rank”.

Now I think you understand that prańava is to be heard, and not to be pronounced. Your tongue can’t pronounce it properly. It is a never-ending sound. That is why it is also known as Shabda Brahma. And regarding one’s Iśt́a mantra – first, what’s the meaning of iśt́a? Iśt́a means “loving”, “favourite”, “dear”, “attractive”, “goal”, “terminus”, “desideratum”. There are so many imports of that single term iśt́a. And mantra? There is no proper English word for the Sanskrit word mantra. We use the word “incantation” for mantra, but it is not a proper word for the Sanskrit term. In Sanskrit, the spirit of the term mantra is Mananát tárayet yastu sa mantrah parikiirtitah [“A mantra is that collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, leads to liberation”].

Manana means “inner suggestion”, “repetition within”. And tárayet yastu – “after this manana, when that entity liberates you from all metaphysical, all psychic and suprapsychic, and also from all spiritual, bondages”, then it is known as mantra. Mananát tárayet yastu sa mantrah parikiirtitah.

For a spiritual aspirant, for a sádhaka, his or her Iśt́a mantra is prańava, because it goads the person towards the Supreme Entity; it guides the person towards the Supreme Entity; it helps the person in coming in contact with, or rather becoming one with, or ensconcing oneself in, that Entity. So for a sádhaka, oṋḿkára is not prańava; his or her Iśt́a mantra is prańava. And that’s why so much importance is attached to one’s own Iśt́a mantra. And one must also remember that for each and every sádhaka the most important of all words is his or her Iśt́a mantra. For a particular sádhaka, the only meaningful word, and the most precious word, is that person’s own personal Iśt́a mantra. For the sádhaka, the Iśt́a mantras of others have no value. For you the most meaningful, most valuable, mantra is your personal Iśt́a mantra; and others’ personal Iśt́a mantras have no value for you. They are meaningless words. Do you follow?

You know the old story of Hanuman, a great devotee. In mythology it has been stated that once upon a time Hanuman was asked by certain other devotees, “Hanuman, you know that there is no difference between Ráma and Náráyańa. They are the same thing, no difference.”

Ráma means Rámante yoginah yasmin – “the most precious, the dearest, object of yogis”. Who is the dearest object of yogis? Parama Puruśa. So [Ráma] means Parama Puruśa. And what’s the meaning of Náráyańa? Nára means Prakrti; nára means bhakti; and nára means “water”.

In Sanskrit, the word nára has three meanings. One meaning of nára is niira, that is, “water” – niiram, jalam, pániiyam, toyam, udakam, [kambalam].

And another meaning of náram is bhakti, devotion. You know there was a great muni [seer] named Nárada. Da means “donor”. His duty was to move throughout India and Tibet and Southeast Asia singing the kiirtana of the Lord – that is, distributing nára, distributing bhakti, amongst the general public; and that’s why he was popularly known as “Nárada” – “Náradeneoyálá” [“Distributor of Devotion”].

Regarding nára’s first meaning, you know, even in railway stations there are certain persons who serve passengers water; they are also nárada. [laughter] Pániipáŕe, pániipáŕe.⁽¹⁾ And the second meaning of nárada is “[one] distributing devotion”.

And the third meaning of Nára is Paramá Prakrti – Mahámáyá, Mahálakśmii – the Creator of this universe, the Creating Faculty, the Binding Faculty, the Attributional Faculty. That is Nára; and ayana means “shelter”. For ink, the ink-pot is the shelter. Similarly for Nára, in the sense of Prakrti, Náráyańa is the shelter, Parama Puruśa is the shelter.

So there is no philosophical difference between Náráyána and Ráma. The meaning of Ráma is Parama Puruśa; the meaning of Náráyańa is also Parama Puruśa. “Oh, Hanuman, when you are a devotee, you are an elevated soul, then why do you use the word Ráma only and not Náráyańa?” But you know, his Iśt́a mantra was Ráma. The reply given by Hanuman is very important. You should remember it. He said,

Shriináthe Jánakiináthe cábheda Paramátmani;
Tathápi mama sarvasvah Rámah kamalalocanah.

“Oh, my brothers, you see, I know that philosophically, fundamentally, or spiritually, there exists no difference between Shriinátha and Jánakiinátha.”

(Shriinátha means Náráyańa. Shrii means Lakśmii – Shrii means Paramá Prakrti – and nátha means “lord”: “Lord of Prakrti”, that is, Parama Puruśa, that is, Náráyańa. Shriinátha means Shriinivása, Náráyańa – the same meaning. Shriinátha, Shriinivása, Shriipati – all the same meaning.)

So, “I know there is no difference between Shriinátha, that is, Náráyańa, and Jánakiinátha.” Jánakiinátha means Rama, the husband of Janaki. “I know there is no difference, but, my dear gentlemen, for me the word Ráma is the only word that has some meaning, and for me the word Shriinátha, or Náráyańa, has no meaning. I do not recognize that word.”

You sádhakas, you boys, you girls, should remember that the most valuable, the most important, word in this universe for you is your personal Iśt́a mantra; and for you, all other words bear no significance, no meaning, no importance.

Footnotes

(1) Water servers. –Eds.