Mantras

'In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God,' says the Gospel (St. John). A passage in the oldest of the vedas, Rig veda, says, ' In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the Word, and the Word was truly the Brahman'. Mantra is 'just' a Word or phrases. The act of repeating it is called Japa .

While mere repetition of the Word is insufficient, meditation on its meaning and manifestation is an excellent way to transcend the mind. But the latter follows the former (repetition) naturally. Mantras and Japa have played an important role in Christianity. The prayer on Jesus and the chanting of 'Hail Mary' and

AUM TAT SAT

Introduction to Vedanta

Vedanta philosophy, based on my understanding, has two main concepts. The first is the human's real nature is divine and the second concept is that the aim of human life is to realize this divinity.

Let us try to examine each of the concepts separately. Vedanta asserts that the universe perceived by the senses is not real. This is called Maya. Unfortunately, maya has been confused to be really illusion leading to questions like, 'Wouldn't blood flow out if I slit my wrists?.' Maya just means out that the perception of a person not 'self-realized' is not real because such a person associates himself with his emotions, and his ego. Since we are unable to perceive the world as a superimposition of the One reality (which is unchanged in time and space) and thus that all beings are inter-related, the vedantist says that the world we perceive is an illusion. Thus what the vedantist implies is that the world is not unreal like the existence of an offspring of a barren woman, but the world is unreal like the mistaking of a rope to be a snake.

Having said that, it is difficult to imagine that a lotus, the marsh where it resides, and the rock nearby are all made up of identical units. But, an scientist will agree with this statement, saying that it is indeed true.

Vedanta goes on to assert that beneath this outward changing appearance lies an fundamental reality which is supreme, called Brahman. This is the 'Sat-chit-ananda (being- consciousness- bliss)' and 'the peace of god which passeth all understanding' according to the Bible. The scientist protests this contention, saying that he cannot measure this underlying reality, if any. The vedantist is not surprised, he adds that since Brahman is beyond the senses, not being able to detect an underlying reality does not prove anything. Now, we are at crossroads, we can either agree with the scientist or the Vedantist. But in order to examine the next concept carefully, we have to have to agree with the Vedantist for a moment, and come back and question him later.

The vedantist goes on to say that the purpose of human life is to realize this underlying reality. He refers to the essential nature present in every human being as Atman (which is called God Immanent). A few vedantists differ on whether that this Atman is essentially the same as Brahman. This led to many philosophies including the three main ones, Advaita, Dvaita etc.. as mentioned in the Hinduism section. Advaita philosophy says that everything is Brahman and that only maya prevents us from seeing that. The other philosophies differ from this contention. But we will not worry about that, since all of the Vedantists seem to agree that Atman and Brahman are 'related' and the aim of the human life is realization of this. A good contention is to realize this Atman for ourselves, and investigate how the Atman is related to Brahman.

We are prone to ask why do we want to realize Atman ? To answer why, we have to find an alternate purpose unless one contends that life is of no real purpose. Of course there is no need to seek a new purpose if one is satisfied with his present life. Let us see what the majority do: get a education, get a job, make money, be beautiful, become strong, have children, and preferably, become famous. But, does one become satisfied with any of this ? Of course not, one always wants more since the desire is endless. Therefore desire can be satisified only by the infinite. But a common person does have periods of happiness and periods of sorrow. But is this really happiness or just pleasure ? Everyone would agree that sickness, death etc are suffering. Not getting what we want or getting what we don't want is also suffering. The only question is whether getting what we want and not getting what we don't want is also suffering. Actually, they are also suffering. Most of us when we get what we want don't really enjoy it. It is like eating a small ice-cream cone. One eats it hurriedly so that the ice cream won't melt and make a mess. The pleasure from these objects are so fleeting, yet the mind tries to repeat this experience and assumes it as happiness. When it so happens that we can't get this object, we experience sorrow and unhappiness.

Here is where saints like Sankara, Buddha and Jesus interject and say you can have HAPPINESS all the time if you let go of this cycle of joy and sorrow which you have by holding on to the unreal hoping that they bring you happiness. They even go on to say that desire is the root cause of suffering and unjust action leads to more action, and death brings a sudden end to all this. To pause and think about their statements seems unneccessary since down deep we seem to know that this indeed is the truth and we seem helpless. So, some take a high road and dismiss them as pessimists, and their teaching as escapism from the world.

But some of us have achieved many of the material successes, and still have an 'empty' feeling. Some others realize that all their ambitions have failed, and there seem to be no purpose to life. A few others have lost their loved ones, their valued possessions and wonder their true purpose of life. Among these people, a few of them would like to give the benefit of doubt to these prophets. He is prone to ask these masters, 'I don't entirely believe in this Atman, but let us assume this exists, how do I realize it ? and how am I to enjoy this everlasting bliss you all seem to be enjoying?'.

Pat comes the answer requesting you to quit thinking who you think you are but finding out and realizing who you really are. This sounds stupid, but they continue to say that who you really are is the Atman, and not the ego you associate yourself with. What exactly is this ego ? It is feeling that one is a separate unique individual, and shows whenever we boast our accomplishments, desire, or when we bemoan our failures, and fear the unknown. The Vedantist will say that this is an illusion and you are not separate. The scientist, to our surprise, will agree with the Vedantist that all objects are interrelated on all levels.

A simplistic person may ask whether this means that he should just stop believing he is an individual. But it ain't so easy. First, we have to overcome our possessive attitudes towards our action. This does not mean stop doing action but forgetting the fruits of the action. Thus, we have to stop taking credit for successes or bemoaning our failures, and be freed from these 'false' highs and lows. The vedantist goes on to say that you should work as a service and think of our body/mind as an instrument of the Atman .