Hi All:
Someone recently asked in email about returning to a “repetition of the mantra,” versus just returning to “the mantra” during deep meditation. The latter is the more common instruction. The question was, “Why not advise practitioners to return to ‘repetition’ of the mantra?” Here is the response:
Yes, it is repetition of the mantra. But the kind of repetition we use in deep meditation is a faint idea, an impulse, and in its finer states is not repetition at all in the conventional sense. It is just a very subtle vibration deep in the mind, and then … transcendence…
Of course “repetition” is mentioned in the original instructions for deep meditation, and it is rarely mentioned after that. You’d be amazed how many questions I have received over the years on what “repetition” of the mantra is. The word itself immediately brings up questions about structure, timing, rhythm, etc, whereas, in fact, there is no set rhythm, as you recognize.
The whole point of deep meditation is moving beyond mental structure, and that is why the word “repetition” is rarely used, because to most it implies structure. All the practitioner needs to know is that meditation begins with repeating the mantra, and after that, it will go to less definition according to the unique factors in the person and the particular session. It is like that in easing back to the mantra as well – it can be at any level of clarity or faintness in the mind. It is easy to find it once we let go of the need for structure, a place to be, or a rhythm to keep.
Analyzing the process can be inspiring and motivate more intention in practice. Any inspiration to practice is good, but increased intention during practice can be counterproductive. During practice, the last thing we want to be doing is looking for a “still point” between repetitions, a fixed rhythm, or whatever else the mind wants to do. That will make the process plural in the mind (the place where plural exists), instead of singular, which is going beyond the mind. So we just easily favor the mantra whenever we find we are off into anything else, including thinking about how we are going to manage the mantra.
Note: Even in samyama, which is about releasing intentions in stillness, we are not looking for a still point. We just let go in whatever stillness we have. External rhythm is minimal. The rhythm comes from within stillness as divine flow.
Yes, mantra is dynamic. It is for gently keeping the mind active without a set pattern or direction. Then the mind naturally goes wakefully into stillness, radiating, which is certainly not static. It is a natural ability of the mind we are utilizing.
There is no extra strategy we can devise to make the process of deep meditation work better. It works when the mind is gently focused on an object that provides a mental activity without a direction, 99% free of structural overlay (in time it becomes 99.99% free of structural overlay). That is what the mantra is. The word “repetition” introduces a structural imperative, one that has an unlimited number of interpretations, bringing up all sorts of questions. So we just say, “Easily favor the mantra,” which covers all possibilities. It is whatever it is for the practitioner at a point in time. It will be something else later – even less defined as we gradually find ourselves becoming the singularity of abiding inner silence, both inside and outside of deep meditation.
In time we each find the refinement in our own way. Ultimately it is the same way for all of us – letting go of all analysis and mental strategies and just doing the simple process.
It is actually less focus on mental precision that makes deep meditation such an effective tool for transcending the mind.
Your question is not trivial at all. These are beautiful revelations you are having. Most of us have to understand in our own way before we can fully let go and know. Or maybe we come to know (transcend), and then develop the best intellectual understanding we can of our knowing, so we can explain it to ourselves and others. Either way is fine. Usually it is both happening at once as we pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps, week by week, month by month, year by year…
And a follow-up on how meditation sessions may begin for long time practitioners:
For long time meditators, simply closing the eyes can automatically begin the mantra at a very refined level, where the practitioner already is in abiding inner silence. At that level, the mantra is not even intentional, though it can be made so if desired, like we would do when adding a mantra enhancement, etc. That is why I said emphasizing repetition can be counterproductive, certainly at refined levels of awareness, where the introduction of any structure will bring us back out into the mind. The concept/structure of repeating is lost in the refinement of the process of going beyond mind, though it can be made intentional if necessary. That’s why repetition is not emphasized in the many follow-up discussions on deep meditation, where the practitioner could be anywhere along the scale of transcendence. We don’t want to keep pulling them back out. Once the silent seed is planted, we’d prefer not to keep digging it up.
So, as time goes on, you will not have to deliberately repeat the mantra very much, and eventually not even once when you sit. Just close the eyes and it starts automatically deep inside, and gone to pure bliss consciousness. Until then, if coming to the mantra is a conscious repetition, that is perfectly fine. Just know that the whole process will refine over time, and we can let it. It is all about letting it happen in each session. That is how the procedure of deep meditation gradually cultivates permanent abiding inner silence.
The guru is in you