Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

21. The Metaphysical Background of Mantras

(Darshan given in March 1999)

Swamiji [to a visitor]: What was there before the world was created?

A visitor: Consciousness.

Swamiji: You should not say anything, because consciousness of whom? That question will arise. You are not existing at that time. It was an indescribable potentiality; that's all we can say.

In the Manusmriti there is a verse at the very beginning itself. He puts a question: What was there? Āsīd idaṃ tamobhūtam aprajñātam alakṣaṇam, apratarkyam avijñeyaṃ prasuptam iva sarvataḥ (Manu 1.5): It looked as if the whole universe is sleeping. It was like darkness. We can use only that word: tamobhūtam. Aprajñātam: Nobody knew it. Alakṣaṇam: Nobody can define it. Apratarkyam: No logic can touch it. Avijñeyaṃ: Impossible to understand what it is. Prasuptam iva sarvataḥ: It looked like the cosmos sleeping.

This is that point which I mentioned, but it is a point without dimension. We cannot imagine such a thing. It is a metaphysical point you may say, if you like. From that arose the entire universe of... It looks as if the universe that is perceived doesn't exist at all. It is only an illusory development of that dimensionless point, which is impossible to think in the mind because that which has no dimension cannot be the object of thinking. You may even call it the Absolute Being, God Almighty.

This is, to my knowledge, the metaphysical background of the mantras. It is a sound made by the bursting of this metaphysical point into two halves, which explains also the two halves of the brain of a human being. It has descended to that level, and it has descended into the subjective side and the objective side of perception.

There is no such thing as the subjective side and the objective side without a correlative connection between the two. That correlative connection is neither the subject nor the object. It is some transcendent principle which includes and transcends both the subject and the object. It is like God thinking Himself.

Some such thing is the beautiful philosophical background of the mantra; and the mantra, if you chant properly with proper intonation, can burst and create an effect which is unimaginable for ordinary human beings. Very powerful are mantras. They can work wonders. And the verbal manifestation of this original point of mantra is Om. [Swamiji chants Om.] This is a cosmic vibration. Om is not merely a sound, it is a vibration. Sound is a vibration, colour is a vibration, taste is a vibration, and touch also is a vibration. Anything that you feel is a vibrational contact with the outside universe.

There are no hard substances in the universe. They are all pressure points of universal force. The hardness I feel of this table is only a reaction of the inner constituents of this object in regard to the constituents of my finger. It is an action and reaction taking place, while the thing may not exist at all. The world is an appearance in this sense. It is not a reality.

...incredible universe. You cannot know what is the extent of it. That is contained in a little metaphysical drop. How is it possible? That shows One alone is. The multiplicity doesn't exist. Only One. Even now, God only is. Neither I exist, nor you. They are all simply illusions created by that Big Bang. Very difficult to conceive. You must be a yogi to understand all these things. Mere scholarship is not sufficient.

A visitor: Swamiji, how would you explain how actually a mantra works?

Swamiji: It is a chemical action. How does milk become curd? It is a chemical action. Milk becomes something totally different from itself – like acid and alkaline, if you mix, become something totally different. Likewise, the letters of the mantra, when they are mixed together, they produce a third thing, which is called the power of the mantra. Therefore, the mantra should be recited with a competent expert. It is not simply mumbling something. Especially Veda mantras. They are so potent if they are recited properly that they can do wonders. But they should not simply be reluctantly chanted by people. Their heart must be there, their mind must be there, and the pronunciation must be exactly correct.

It is better we don't dabble in Veda mantras because the intonation is very difficult. You know Gayatri mantra?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: How do you pronounce?

Visitor: My pronunciation is not very good. [Chants Gayatri mantra]

Swamiji: This is a layman's pronunciation. But actually [Swamiji chants Gayatri mantra.] Upper and lower is there. But Veda is more difficult, more difficult. I think you need not enter into it.

[Later on]

Swamiji: ...so we are still in the same place where we were. This is the great marvel, and shows the foolishness of human beings. Utter fools, all people. “I was there, I was there.” There is no 'was', there is no 'is', there is no 'will be' there. That point has no temporal dimension. It has no past, present and future. Therefore, it is unthinkable. And where were we at that time? To think that we were there in that timeless Being, it is humanly impossible to think.

So we are all miracles. Even our own existence also is a miracle, a magic show. We don't exist, really speaking. What exists is that metaphysical point, which nobody can think in the mind because we are all subsequent evolutions of that point. This is another way of saying you cannot think of God. The mind will not operate.

An ashramite: We have nothing to worry then, Swamiji, because that point always exists.

Swamiji: We have to worry that we are incapable of thinking anything. That is the worry. This is what Arjuna said to Bhagavan Sri Krishna: “I cannot understand anything.” Though he was a highly learned person, Arjuna said, “I cannot understand anything.” After so much of boasting to all people, Arjuna said, “We shall finish the Kauravas. In three days we will finish them.” And afterwards he says, “I don't know anything. I don't know anything.” His real nature came out at that time.

How far is the sky? You ask anybody. How far is it, how many kilometres high? Let anybody measure it. Even such things we cannot think. Actually, we know nothing. Only we are imagining we are great, wise people. We go on going up, going up, going up, going up. How far will you go, because it is a non-existent spatial extension, and you cannot drive a motor car in non-existence. It is a miracle, a magician's. Māyāṃ tu prakṛtiṃ vidyān māyinaṃ tu maheśvaraṃ (SvetUp 4.10): He is a magician, this Maheshvara, the Lord, and He simply conjures up something which is really not there. This prakriti, purusha, and so many things we talk, but they don't exist, finally speaking. What exists is the incredible 'whatever it is'. Then it will stop the mind from thinking. At this moment our mind will stop, like Arjuna's predicament: “I cannot think anything. I surrender.” Such a mighty man is saying, “I cannot think anything. All my mind has gone completely.”

Everything looks well, though nothing is well. Our mind is made in such a way to conjure up an imagination that all is well. “No problem. I am going somewhere. I go to America. I go to India. I set up industry.” It is all a boast. The earth shakes, and all this program is gone.

Ashramite: We are only actual occasions, Swamiji.

Swamiji: Yes, that is the proper word.

Ashramite: So as the psychophysical organism that we are, we are actual occasions, but in the core of our being, we are one with the dimensionless point.

Swamiji: Core of our being, we are that point only. We are that point. Yes.

Another ashramite: The same thing was very nicely told somewhere by Swamiji: “It is the centre of the circle whose centre is everywhere.”

Swamiji: That is what they say. This mystery is the centre which is everywhere. How can the centre be everywhere? It is another mystery.

Ashramite: A circle with the centre everywhere and circumference nowhere.

Swamiji: That explains everything. Generally you have never heard of the centre being everywhere. That metaphysical point is everywhere. It is not in one geometrical point.