Om brahma rsaye namah sirasi |
Gayatrichanda se namah mukhe |
Om paramatmadevatayai namah hradi |
Viniyogaya namah sarvange |
Now that you have invoked the primordial vital life force in our body, you are ready to perform nyasa of the hands. Please note that this is not purification of the hands where we use seed syllables from the mantra.
Om tatsaviturbrahmane angusthabhyam namah |
Varenyam vishnave tarjanibhyam namah,
Om bhargo devasya rudraya madhyamabhyam namah |
Om dhimahi Isvaraya anamikabhyam namah |
Om dhiyo yo nah sadasivaya kanisthkabhyam namah |
Itsays Om tatsavitur angushthe brahmane namah –thatthese first words of the mantra have the energy of the Creator. The next words are Varenyam, Vishnave. Varenyam – means fit to be worshipped and fit to be adopted; has the energy of the one who is running the universe, namely, Vishnu. Bhargo Devasya, Rudraye : The energy of the deity Rudra in the words Bhargo Devasya , the destroyer, the destruction. We must destroy our negative thoughts; we hold onto our positive thoughts, our good emotions and always create good feelings, good thoughts and good things in the world.
Om dhimahi ishvaraye anamikabhyam namah : The energy of the all-pervading God, who is beyond forms. Om dhiyo yo nah sadasivaya : The one who bestows grace, anugraha . Om pracodayata, sarvaatmane : The one supreme soul which lives in all entities throughout all the universe, that carries the indivisible energy, the word pracodayata .
One of the reasons this mantra is so potent is because it carries all the energies in its various words.
Now we’ll do what is called Shadanga mantra nyasa . As I said, please don’t be overwhelmed by all this. Once you get used to it, it’ll be a piece of cake. Besides, if you find this too much, you can always opt for the concise method.
Mantras for which you can do a sadhana usually have what is called shadanga , or six limbs. They are: The mantra itself, the beej or seed of that mantra (The energy of a mantra that doesn’t have a seed cannot be used for a long time), Devata , the deity of that mantra; rishi, the original seer of that mantra; chanda , the meter of that mantra. Meter is usually the result of the arrangement of words and letters. In a mantra, it is how it has to be recited. And then you usually have utkeelan . Not all mantras have this. Some mantras have a specific seed syllable or word that you use as a password or passcode to unlock the power of that mantra. This is called utkeelan , because all mantras were keelit . Keelit means to nail something down. As I wrote in my book The Ancient Science of Mantras , when Shiva created all the mantras in the universe, they were locked, as it were, so that people could not misuse them for their own limited desires. And every mantra has what we call shakti , or energy. These are the shadanga , the six limbs or aspects of a mantra.
Om tatsaviturbrahmane Hradayaya Namah |
Om varenyam vishnave sirase svaha
Earlier, when you said sirase , you touched the top of your head. But in this, you just touch your forehead.
Om bhargo devasya rudraya sikhayai vasat |
Om dhimahi isvaraya kavacaya hum |
Om dhiyo yo nah sadasivaya netratrayaya vausat
Netratrayaya means three eyes – the two physical eyes, and the third, inner eye.
Om Pracodayat sarvatmane astraya phat |
Nyasa with exact mantras and mudras can be found in the appendix. If you wish to perform an extended nyasa (like varna nyasa, etc.), that too I’ve provided there.
Step Twenty-One
This step is called purva mantra japa or preliminary mantra chanting and is done before you perform the mudras (the next step). You usually have to do the preliminary mantra chanting about 21 times. That will be more than sufficient. If you can’t chant 21 times, do it 7 times – though I don’t see why you can’t chant 21 times.
While we are going through all this, you may think, why be so elaborate? Or, does this really have any meaning? Or, would mantras really benefit me in any way? I can tell you one thing: when you chant with devotion, it doesn’t matter which mantra you chant – without a doubt, you are going to experience a different dimension of yourself.
Step Twenty-Two
The other means by which we can be at one with the object of our worship is mudras. As I was explaining before, when you can’t hear somebody, you can wave at him and he will still be able to see you. More than that, when we do the mudras of the Devi or any Devata, female deity or male deity, we become that deity. And it has been my unfailing experience that the moment I do the mudras, something happens. You could say it is purely psychological, but my whole consciousness elevates to a different level; I experience a different flow of energy in my body.
In Gayatri sadhana, there are two sets of mudras. One set of 24 mudras is performed before the chanting is done, and 8 mudras are done after the chanting. The 24 preliminary mudras are samukham , samputam , vitatam , vistratam , dvimukham , trimukham , chaturmukham , panchmukham , shanmukham , adhomukham , vyapakanjalim , shakatam , yamapasham , granthim , unmukhonmukham , pralambam , mushtikam , matsya , kurma , varaham , simhakrantam , mahakrantam , mudgaram and pallavam .
I’ve explained these mudras with pictures in the appendix.
Step Twenty-Three
Upcharas are devotional offerings. You can make 16 or 5 offerings. Offerings are usually made of water, a little honey, some rice and other such ingredients, but if you want to keep it pure, and if you don’t have anything for an offering, you can just do an offering mentally. When I was in the woods, there was no way I could offer all these ingredients to Mother Divine. Sourcing them would have been difficult and even if I could have sourced them, the rats would have eaten them anyway, so I did the offerings mentally.
The usual convention is to add “Om” at the beginning followed by the name of the ingredient and then “samarpyami ” in the end. Samarpyami means “I’m offering this to you”. For example, if you are offering incense to the deity, just say, “Om dhoopam smarpyami .” Panchaopchara – five offerings – is normally the least you can do. The conventional five offerings are:
Dhoopam (incense), deepam (lamp), naivaedyam (anything edible like a sweetmeat, a fruit, etc. It can also be a plate full of food), tambulam (betel leaves) and pungiphalam (supari – commonly known as betel nut or areca nut). So while offering these, your mantras will become: