Mantra Practise - The 3 Stages.

[CharlieBaudelaire]

I have become interested in mantra meditation and have been studying and practicing this practise intensely since reading one of Thomas Ashley-Farrand's books on the subject. I have recently found out that there are different levels or stages to this practise and wanted some information and advice about all these methods. From what I have read there are 3 levels..could you please explain these different levels.

[Blake]

I have read there are 3 levels [to working with mantras]...could you please explain these different levels.

Hi Charlie - and welcome to the forum!

You can work with a mantra on at least three different levels.

First, there is the level that corresponds to the physical body; to the cells of the body, this aspect is effected by audibly chanting the mantra. This is probably the most common use of mantras - chanting the sounds aloud by yourself or with others. All of the ways that we work with the mantras are important and needed at level to effect certain changes in our being.

As you work with a mantra audibly, notice the sound and how it resonates within your body. Just notice these things and keep chanting. You might notice that sometimes the sound seems to resonate at the base of the spine or at another time in the heart or the throat regions. Just pay attention and focus on the sounds as you chant. Sometimes when you chant a mantra audibly, you may notice that certain sounds will begin to resonate in the sinus cavities in the head behind the bridge of the nose. This is good and is very stimulating to the pituitary gland and third eye center. All of these very physical vibrations from audible chanting helps to stimulate the various centers of the energy body and set the stage for the next phase of mantra work.

Next, you can "chant" the mantra mentally. This will begin to affect your being on the atomic levels. This is an extremely powerful method of working with mantras. Focus on the meaning of the mantra and mentally hear the sound and focus on the mental form of the sound that you are silently chanting. Many of the mantras are meant to be focused in certain of the energy centers, but generically if you don't have a focal point prescribed, you can focus your attention into the third eye region, between the two eyebrows.

It is a good practice whenever you are chanting to maintain an awareness of the meaning of the mantra that you are working with as you chant the various words or sounds. This goes for whether you are chanting it aloud or silently.

The final stage of working with a mantra may take some time of practice before you are able to focus your mantra practice in this way. This is working with the mantra in the pre-thought level of awareness. You take the mantra as you have been chanting it mentally and then, focused into the meaning of the mantra, you sit with this focused into the silent stillness with that meaning, but without thought. This takes you into the truly subatomic aspect of creation and your Being. At this level, which is practically outside of time, the mantra can have effect instantly. In more technical terms, this would be taking the mantra into samadhi.

I hope that this was helpful for you Charlie. If you have any other questions, I will be glad to help if I can.

Best wishes,

Blake

[Steve]

"The final stage of working with a mantra may take some time of practice before you are able to focus your mantra practice in this way. This is working with the mantra in the pre-thought level of awareness. You take the mantra as you have been chanting it mentally and then, focused into the meaning of the mantra, you sit with this focused into the silent stillness with that meaning, but without thought. This takes you into the truly subatomic aspect of creation and your Being. At this level, which is practically outside of time, the mantra can have effect instantly. In more technical terms, this would be taking the mantra into samadhi."

Hi Blake and Charlie,

Just a quick note: My practice was with sound only, the mantra really had no extrinsic meaning. I actually really like the koan type method of focus on meaning without ideation. Should have tried that 30 years ago. Taking the mantra into samadhi is the 'transcendental' part of TM. When you work with sound (versus meaning) you just 'look' for the mantra and start percieving it at finer and finer levels until you reach the field of creation/being. An comparison would be to the bright disk researchers lower into a lake to measure visibility or the reverse of how water boils in a pot -moving to finer levels of perception until the object disappears and only being remains.

Peace

[CharlieBaudelaire]

Thanks very much Blake and Steve but I was wondering if both of you could explain the third level to me in a little more detail...I am so fascinated and interested in this but have difficulty finding sources of information concerning this level.

Divine blessings

[Steve]

Hi Charlie,

I have to laugh a bit first. My comment has to do with methodology, and it's humorous because the method Blake describes (which is very, very good) is more akin to Renzai Zen while the method I describe is more Yoga -and usually the reverse is case with us. The method Blake describes is more dynamic and mine is very passive in nature.

OK, A little explanation. IMO there are 3 classic mediation objects -sound, breath and visualization. Mantra meditation deals with sound as the object. Now if we were talking you would say "Hello Steve". This is the spoken gross level. Before you said "Hello Steve" there was the thought "Say hello to Steve". Now where did this thought come from? Did the thought just arrive in your awareness full blown? I want to use the analogy of water boiling in a pot now. If you watch water boiling you will see that first tiny bubbles appear from the bottom of the pot and are released. The bubbles grow steadily larger as they move from the bottom of the pot to the suface of the water where the bubble is broken. Thought is like the bubbles. Our normal perception is to become aware of the thoughts right before they break the surface. Mantra meditation's goal is to get to the bottom of the pan to the source of thought (the field of creative intelligence which is pure Being). When our awareness is in that silent field -with few or no thoughts -this is classical samadhi. You have been there before many times in your life. These are the experiences you remember with great fondness. These were the times when you were 'in the zone' in sports or saw something so fascinating that you 'forgot yourself'. There are other instances as well, but all these occured spontaneously and mediation is a deliberate activity.

Hope this helps a bit. Do you have a practice?

Great Peace,
Steve

[Blake]

Thanks very much Blake and Steve but I was wondering if both of you could explain the third level to me in a little more detail...I am so fascinated and interested in this but have difficulty finding sources of information concerning this level.

The reason for the lack of information on that 3rd level is that, while we can easily speak about the first two levels, the third level deals with a state of superconsciousness or samadhi, and this is something that you have to experience for yourself.

But of course, I can't let it go at that, and so I will do my best to describe how you can have this experience for yourself!

Samadhi is the beginning of the experience of your true Self. Usually there is too much bustle and motion for us to have this awareness. However, through relaxation we can keep the body relaxed and still - until it becomes absolutely motionless - the breath at one point will become so slow that it seems to have stopped. The emotions will become calm, peaceful, and placid. Imagine a enormous lake or sea with an absolute mirror surface, not a ripple of waves. The thoughts will settle down and eventually drop away and during the period between one breath and another when the breath itself seems to have stopped, you may experience a flash of samadhi for yourself - a second can seem like an hour - 3 hours like 3 minutes. In other words, time will in effect cease while you are in that awareness. There will be nothing but pure awareness, what some have called "I AMness".

The steps that I have described have been followed by meditators down through the ages to find this state of awareness. It is the doorway to the awareness of your true Being. If you want to you can find it.