My Lord Loves a Pure Heart – Excerpt 19

When I read these words by Baba Muktananda, I remembered the experience I had in repeating the mantra this week. During my morning walks I would stop in the middle of my favorite park and focus on my heart, repeating the mantra. I could feel the energy in my heart and had an overwhelming sense of expansion. 
 

I understand that one reason that “the repetition of the mantra has been called the highest path” is that I can repeat the mantra at any time, in any circumstance, with only the support of the mind, which is always accessible.
 
As I repeat So’ham—mainly during meditation in harmony with my breath—I affirm that I am That, I am the Truth, I am my inner Self. As I repeat Om Namah Shivaya in the flow of my daily activities, I worship Shiva; I come to recognize the Lord everywhere in every situation. As I repeat Shivo’ham, I work on my identification with Shiva, whose nature is bliss and Consciousness.
 
When I am absorbed in the repetition of the mantra, my senses light up and I see beauty around me. I know that this beauty is the reflection of my everlasting inner beauty—the beauty of the Self.
 

Mantra repetition is a magical practice. I first experienced the power of the mantra during my first Retreat for Young Adults in Gurudev Siddha Peeth in 2014, and I can never forget that experience.
 
One of the teachers told us to keep repeating the mantra when you have unwanted, negative thoughts that keep coming. I started doing that and on the same day I was so astonished by doing that, because the result was that I didn’t have a single negative thought in my mind. After years of negative thinking, a day of pure positive vibes felt like a big load off my chest. I could feel the divinity within. Ever since then I have continued the magical practice of mantra repetition.
 

Yesterday evening I was attracted to do mantra japa to quiet my turbulent mind. After a few repetitions I experienced an empty mind, along with a deep calmness reaching into my being at every level. The fluctuating emotions that I had been living with simply vanished, and I found myself in silence and in deep connection to an inner, velvety space inside.
 
This morning, thanks to Baba’s teaching as reported by Gurumayi in this excerpt, I was able to give a name to, and better define, this experience: it is the experience of the Self. I am so grateful to Gurumayi for helping us to bathe in Baba’s legacy.

I love the mantra with all my heart. The mantra is truly my dear friend, always loyal and available to me. As I was reading this excerpt, I naturally began repeating the mantra inside with each inhalation and exhalation.
 

During meditation, I like to remain focused on mantra repetition with each inhalation and exhalation. And when the mantra Om Namah Shivaya rides each inhalation and exhalation throughout the meditation, feelings of easefulness and contentment pervade my whole being.
 
Recently, as I was repeating the mantra in meditation, I touched the space of inner silence where the mantra dissolved. After a while, I noticed the mantra spontaneously reverberating in my heart in time with each heartbeat. As it became deeper, the mantra began to arise from a space between each inhalation and exhalation. I was in wonder, as I wasn’t repeating the mantra mentally; instead, the mantra had assumed a form of pulsation and each syllable of the mantra was emerging from that space. In that moment, I realized that I was neither a doer nor a mantra repeater but only the knower and the seer, witnessing the play of mantra.
 
Certainly, the mantra given by the Siddhas has the power to immerse the mind in the space of pure Consciousness.
 

Reading this excerpt has made me wonder, “When was it that I first clung to the mantra Om Namah Shivaya with all my soul? When did it start to repeat itself along with my breath, in a natural way?”

I have had so many interactions with the mantra over my decades of sadhana. I repeat it consciously for periods long enough that it actually begins to repeat itself on my breath. I find myself listening to it and looking for where it comes from. I hear it in the air, outside; I hear it inside me, somewhere in my body—even when I’m not repeating it consciously.

I once learned to consider the mantra as if it were my name, so that when I repeat Om Namah Shivaya, I now feel I am repeating my own name. I continually immerse myself in the state of deep stillness, peace, and protection to which the mantra takes me.
 

Chanting the mantra of the Siddha Yoga lineage in various ragas or silently repeating it has worked magic on my mind, body, senses, and emotions. When these are all in harmony, my journey toward the Self is enhanced. That is when I have found myself immersed in peace, love, and contentment.
 

I have always found the practice of mantra japa to be challenging. Recently, however, I took up the practice of walking meditation: slow walking synchronized with my breath. It’s been amazing to slow down to a speed where I can actually take one breath with each footstep.  
 
This morning I added mantra repetition to my walking meditation. I noticed I was able to stay focused on the mantra for much longer than usual. My mind did not wander because I was going slow enough to perceive and practice japa with ease.