Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

36. Realising the Mantra

(Darshan given in September 1999)

A visitor: What is realising the mantra?

Swamiji: Actually, 'realising the mantra' means realising the divinity presiding over the mantra. Suppose there is a mantra, Om Namo Narayanaya: Prostrations to the great God Narayana. It is not enough if you merely recite the mantra. The thought of Narayana must be present in the mind. When I talk to you, I will ask you what is your name, and you will tell me your name. I will remember who you are. The name itself is sufficiently powerful, but if you contemplate on the divinity presiding over that mantra, the benefit will be twofold, threefold, hundredfold. What mantra are you chanting? Are you reciting any mantra? What is that?

Visitor: Om aim hrim klim chamundaye vichche namaha.

Swamiji: Who told you all this? Who taught you?

Visitor: Leda Mataji.

Swamiji: You ask her, what does this mantra mean? Let her explain it. What is the meaning of it?

Visitor: It's an adoration of the victory of Durga on demons.

Swamiji: What do you want from Durga? You want something?

Visitor: Nothing special.

Swamiji: But something is there; otherwise, you won't repeat the mantra.

Visitor: That's right. But it's not for something special. It's for my growing spirituality.

Swamiji: You must pronounce it correctly. The pronunciation should be correct. Anyhow, now I don't want to interfere with it. You can go on with that.

Visitor (translating for another visitor): She asks, what's your feeling about a human being doing meditation without believing in God?

Swamiji: Then on what are they meditating?

Visitor: With a mantra she is meditating.

Swamiji: What is the mantra?

Visitor: Karunama.

Swamiji: What is the meaning?

Visitor: I don't know.

Swamiji: Then why are you repeating it? The mantra is in what language? In Sanskrit?

What is the harm in believing in God?

Visitor: That's the first time she comes in India, and she discovers that in India all people are linked and are with God. It was a huge discovery for her, that Indian people are living with God all their lives, all their moments, all their seconds. She says in Italy she never thinks or feels that. Then automatically comes in her mind these questions to ask you if there is a sense for an Occidental, for her, to continue...

Swamiji: God is an Eastern concept. In Western countries there is no God, eh? In the West there is no God? God has reached only in the East [laughter]. Ask her, what is the meaning of the word 'God'?

Visitor: Creator.

Swamiji: Creator. She must meditate on that. So now she has changed her mind. Very good. You meditate on the Creator. Then no problem.

The mantra should be recited correctly. But if your faith is so much and your affection for the mantra is very intense, then even if the recitation is a little erroneous, it will work. Faith is greater than correct pronunciation. Though correct pronunciation is essential, faith is greater than anything else.

Visitor: She asks about the breathing, the breathing during meditation, how it must be during meditation.

Swamiji: She may take deep breaths before meditation, and when the breath subsides to a considerable extent her mind may concentrate on her divinity. When you start meditation, the breath will take care of itself. You need not think of it again a second time.

There was a low-caste woman. She went to a Namboodiri Brahmin. Namboodiri Brahmins will not even look at these low-caste people. She went and said, “Give me a mantra.”

“Hey,” he said, “Thavala kari. Go!” She thought this thavala kari is the mantra. A very hopeless word he uttered. A curry made of frog, it means – thavala kari. But she went on chanting thavala kari, thavala kari, thavala kari, thavala kari, thavala kari. The faith in that mantra, in her mind, was so intense, the divinity itself took pity on her. So much faith this lady has got that thavala kari became sa ka la hrim. You know what is sa ka la hrim? It is a Sri Vidya mantra. The goddess herself changed the pronunciation to sa ka la hrim. And the lady would walk on water also.

People asked her, “Hey, where you learned all this?”

“My Guruji taught me.”

“Who is your Guru?” She told them.

All the people crowded and went there. “Oh, you have taught such a great vidya to this lady! You tell us also.”

He said, “I have not taught anything.”

“No, you have taught. She is walking on the water.”

“Hey, if with this mantra she can walk on water...” Then the Namboodiri started walking on the water with the mantra thavala kari. He fell into the water and drowned himself.

Unconsciously a person uttered the word Narayana, calling his own son, it is said in the Bhagavata. Even then it had the power. Faith can work wonders. There is nothing equal to faith because faith is the operation of the soul inside, so it is stronger than even logical operations.