How do you pronounce these seed syllables? Is it ‘hring’, or is it ‘hrim’? For that, I would give you a simple rule of thumb – the elaborate method is a little complicated, and this is not the forum for that. But quite simply, how do you say the word ‘maa’ (the Hindi or Sanskrit word for mother)? When you say the word ‘maa’, there is a nasal sound at the end. You don’t say ‘maam’, you don’t say ‘maang’ – you say ‘maa’. Similarly, the word is ‘hrim’ (‘m’ being the same soft nasal sound as in the word ‘maa’) and not ‘hring’.
If I have to pronounce an ‘m’ sound at the end, I will not write an ‘m’. I will simply have what we call an anuswar , a dot. The anuswar denotes a purely nasal sound, so you would say ‘hrim’ – there is no ‘g’ – but a nasal sound where there is a lurking ‘g’ sound, as in Om Hrim Astraya Phat. I can’t think of another way to explain this in written English.
Step Four
Step four is performing the purification ritual. You would have a little vessel of water – you just dip your finger in it.
Remember, the index finger represents ignorance. In the invocation of mantras, as in all spiritual, religious karma, we keep this finger away. To perform purification, either take a flower in your hand, holding it with your thumb and three fingers (except the index finger) or simply join the ring finger with the thumb if you are not using a flower. Now take a little pot of water. You dip ring finger joined with your thumb, or if you have a flower, you can dip your flower in the water and chant the mantra:
Om apavitrah pavitro va
sarvavastham gato api va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
Sa bahaya abhyantaram sucih
As you are doing that, sprinkle some water in all the ten directions. You don’t count, one, two, three, four, five, six, etc. – just do so symbolically.
This mantra expresses that even though I have taken a bath and put on fresh clothes, there are still impurities I carry on my body, in my heart and my mind, which are to be removed by meditating on the divine energy. The meaning of this mantra is given below:
Om apavitrah pavitro va
Sarvavastham gato api va
It does not matter how impure you are; in whatever state you may be.
Yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahaya abhyantaram sucih
The one who meditates on the divine energy – the Lord is called pundarikaksha here, with beautiful lotus eyes – the one who meditates on such form of the Lord is purified inside out.
This mantra does not give you an excuse to not bathe, but it will purify you, so do it with that sentiment.
Step Five
Having purified the surroundings, we now do the next level of purification by doing achamana . Achamana is to drink three small sips of water from your water pot. It is done three times to signify purification of your body, mind and consciousness. When we chant the Gayatri mantra, we say bhurbhuvah svah . Bhur means this plane of existence; bhuvah , the plane of consciousness, and svah the plane of the soul. The three states of consciousness are the dreaming, waking and sleeping states. This is why we say bhur bhuvah svah three times.
Although many ancient and medieval texts go into great detail on how achamana should be performed, and how people belonging to different castes are supposed to do it, in the science of mantras, those rules don’t apply. Because the moment you are initiated, you don’t belong to a particular caste, or anything: You belong to that lineage.
Here I’ll digress for a moment to tell you about the role of initiation, or why initiation is considered almost sacred on the path of mantra yoga. At the same time, I don’t want to overstate the importance of initiation either: I don’t want to give you the idea that getting initiated is the end of your sadhana or that without it you can’t succeed. This is not the case.
Having said that, initiation does bestow a certain power on your chanting. Imagine you run a government department – let’s say you are a minister and you hold a certain portfolio. Somebody comes to you seeking help saying, “I have to speak to a manager in your department.” You might tell him, “No problem, here is my recommendation letter – take it, and give it to the relevant manager.” The manager will see your signature and say, “I know the minister has sent him, and okay, I’ll do what he asks.” Being initiated is something like this.
When you connect to a lineage, all the siddhas , the adepts before you have made certain recommendations, and there is a collective karma that you get to tap into. While Steve Jobs invented iPod and iPad, not everybody in Apple has to do the same. He generated a mountain of cash, and now they have access to that, because of his efforts, strategy and vision – his execution. Likewise, you get to benefit from what the seers before you have said and done in your lineage.
There is a story I once read in a book written by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, 1 a disciple of Swami Rama. He wanted to chant a particular verse from a text called Soundarya Lahari , which is from the Sri Vidya tradition. In that text, for every verse you can do a purushcharana; you can invoke and accumulate energy.
Pandit Rajmani chanted a particular mantra without telling his guru, and his chanting had no effect. One day, Swami Rama came back from a tour and asked him to bring him his copy of Soundarya Lahari . Of all the mantras, he pointed to that particular mantra, and said, “Chant this one.” Pandit Rajmani thought, I have already done this and it has had no effect . He had tried chanting earlier, 11,000 times, 62,000 times and 1,25,000 times. Hiding his feelings and thoughts, he asked Swami Rama how much he should chant every day, to which Swami replied by saying that only ten times.
“Just one-zero, not ten thousand?” Pandit Rajmani exclaimed.
“Okay, if that doesn’t seem enough,” Swami Rama said, “you can chant it 1000 times a day.”
Still in a state of disbelief, he asked, “Really? Just 1000 times” “Well then, you can do 2000 times.”
Pandit Rajmani realized that each time he questioned him, Swami Rama was simply increasing the number, so he stopped and did as he was told, and got the result that was promised in the text.
Forty days later, he went to Swami Rama, elated, and said, “Look, the results came through. I had the experience I was seeking. This is just remarkable!” But Swami Rama seemed upset with him. Pandit Rajmani couldn’t understand why his guru would be unhappy, because he had just finished his sadhana.
Finally, Swami Rama clarified, “You see, before you joined our lineage, my guru, with the power of his tapas , his penance, had simplified this sadhana. It would only require somebody 10 chants each day. But now, anybody after you will need to do 2000 every day to achieve the same result. Due to your ego you questioned the number of rounds for chanting the mantra, and changed it unnecessarily.”
When you connect with a lineage, it becomes your signature. If the siddhas have said, “This will happen when you chant this mantra,” sooner or later, it will happen.