The Mysteries of Mantra
Transformation by Conscious Sound

The mysteries of mantra and its capacity for mental, physical and spiritual healing are little known in the Western world. Although we are all familiar with the faerytale magician’s words of power (those secret syllables which when uttered usually unlock hidden doorways into the earth, revealing a cave of treasure) we are generally unaware of the esoteric significance of such stories. They are in fact folkloric references to the sacred subtle sounds used by mantric adepts, which open the ‘cave of the heart’ (to Universal Love) and reveal the treasure of the Spirit.
Mantra is a profound and practical method of self-awakening, opening and self-transcendence. It is a form of yoga which speaks to the deep organic roots of man’s being by the use of vocalised and mental sound-currents of both audible and inaudible frequencies. These subtle vibrations awaken dormant centres of the brain (most of which are as yet unused in the average being) attuning the psychological, physiological and spiritual faculties to the primordial and sustaining vibration of creation. When we come into harmony with the vibratory rate of sub-atomic pulsation in consciousness (as in deep meditation) we hold the key to universal knowledge and self-healing.
Among a great many western practitioners of yoga, one finds that the major focus of interest rarely goes beyond that of the physical aspect. While every effort is made to perfect the basic developmental postures of Hatha Yoga, scant attention is paid to the higher forms of practice. Hatha Yoga is the necessary springboard which allows one to dive into deeper consciousness-evolving practices. Most practitioners however, seem content with simply bouncing on the board and never jumping off.

The Mantric Alphabet is included on the recording 'The Sound of Silence'

Yet all the great yogic texts firstly enumerate the most important asanas (or postures) and then the pranayamas (breath-expansion and control exercises), pratyahara (withdrawal of consciousness from the external world) followed by the Raja (Kingly) Yoga exercises of a psychological nature. The teachings then lead on to the higher experiences of Laya Yoga (the Yoga of Transformation) through the practice of Mantra (sacred mystic syllable repetition) and Nada (the Yoga of Subtle Sound.)
In order to bring the body, mind and soul into harmonious balance, all these other higher forms of self-development need to be cultivated at the same time. This is generally the case in a truly integral yoga practice after an initial period of Hatha Yoga discipline only. If this is not done, it is equivalent to building a house and forgetting to put in the plumbing and the electrical circuits at the same time. It can of course be done later, but it’s a lot less efficient.
The postures of Hatha Yoga are extremely beneficial in preparing the subtle nervous system for higher voltages of energy. These subtle circuits might be termed the ‘para-physical wiring-system’ of the subtle body which sheathes the physical body with an ‘energy-field’ in a similar way as a magnetic field occurs around a magnet. The conduits of the psychic nervous system are known as nadis or ‘channels’ and have been mapped as meticulously as their counterparts in the physical nervous system, by thousands of generations of clairvoyant yogis. And like the meridians of Chinese acupuncture (though not always concurrent with them) the nadis are conductors of subtle energy throughout the body.

This energy is diffused and distributed into the physical nervous system via six major vortices situated along the length of the spinal column and a seventh at the crown of the head. The vortices are known as chakras (‘wheels’) in Sanskrit and are the ‘Seven Seals’ (of the human ‘Book of Knowledge’) in Christian terminology. Chakras are actually meta-physical transformers through which higher frequency psychic energy activates the physical body. Music and chant activate these channels, but it is an extremely rare occurrence for physical exercise alone to switch on the current. The word mantra itself means ‘that which protects consciousness’. The first syllable man comes from the Sanskrit term manas—‘thought, consciousness’, and the suffix tra—‘that which protects.’ Thus the use of mantra is that which protects us from the constant mental flow of thoughts, fears, apprehensions and negativities and all the useless flotsam of over-thinking. In short, it protects us from our own minds and and frees us from the pollution of our thoughts. With constant practice, mantra repetition activates the psychic energies in the nadi system and vitalises the pineal gland, which awakens intuitive faculties (and often ecstatic joy) in the practitioner.
Since the Vedic period of India (at the dawn of recorded history) mantra repetition has been a scientifically replicable practice, which when persevered in, unfailingly led meditators to communion with the Absolute. The subtle harmonic vibrations of chanted mantras, both mental and vocal, act as a cleansing and purifying agent on consciousness. The yoga-rishis (seers) discovered that certain sounds brought them joy and ecstasy, some illumined the consciousness, some brought tremendous psychic powers, profound tranquillity or boundless energy, freedom from fear, or mental and physical healing.

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