Section 6
Question: What Happens When We Chant Aum?...
Question: What happens when we chant AUM?
Sri Chinmoy: A Sanskrit word or syllable has a special significance and creative power. When we chant AUM, what actually happens is that we bring down Peace and Light from above and create a universal harmony within and without us. When we repeat AUM, both our inner and our outer beings become inspired and surcharged with divine Light and aspiration. AUM has no equal. AUM has infinite Power. Just by repeating AUM, we can realise God.
When you chant AUM, try to feel that God is climbing up and down within you. Hundreds of seekers in India have realised God simply by repeating AUM. AUM is the symbol of God, the Creator.
No matter how grave one's sin is, if one chants AUM a few times from the depth of one's heart, the omnipotent Compassion of God will forgive and redeem the victim. In the twinkling of an eye, the power of AUM transforms darkness into light, ignorance into knowledge and death into Immortality.
Question: Should Meditation Always Be Preceded By...
Question: Should meditation always be preceded by chanting AUM?
Sri Chinmoy : No. I sometimes do it, but it is not at all necessary. When I first started my spiritual journey, I was fond of this divine sound which represents God in three forms: God as Creator, God as Preserver and God as Transformer. When we begin our meditation, we can first enter into God the Creator who is creating aspiration in us. Then we can feel that God the Preserver is preserving us to continue our divine journey. Finally, we can feel that God the Transformer is transforming our ignorance into wisdom at every moment. He is transforming our unlit consciousness into the illumined consciousness, our darkness into light, our falsehood into the plenitude of truth. The chanting is not at all necessary, but if one wants to get inspiration, it can be helpful.
Question: Will You Please Tell Me Briefly...
Question: Will you please tell me briefly about the soundless sound?
Sri Chinmoy: The most significant mantra is AUM, which is called the soundless sound, anahata nada . Anahata means 'that which is not struck'. If I strike something you will hear a sound. But the sound of AUM is created without any collision; therefore, it is called the unstruck sound, the sound that is not made by striking something. Yogis, great spiritual figures and all who are far advanced in the spiritual life hear the soundless sound in the inmost recesses of their hearts.
If you repeat the mantra AUM every day for two hours, three hours, or four hours, you will get the vibration of that sound within your heart. You will not have to strike your heart in order to hear this sound, but by repeating the word AUM outwardly, you get the sound inwardly.
When the soundless sound is vibrating constantly in your heart, your whole body is surcharged with divine knowledge, divine light, divine power. If you practise only that mantra, that is enough to take you to God. The syllable AUM is the most effective mantra. Again, if you want to hear the soundless sound, you can aspire all the time, saying, "O God, descend into me and make me hear the soundless sound." But the easiest and the most effective method is to repeat the mantra itself. AUM is the symbol of God, the Supreme.
Question: Guru, Can The Experience That Aum...
Question: Guru, can the experience that AUM will give me be visual and auditory and will it bring me consciously closer to God?
Sri Chinmoy: Absolutely! It will do everything. It will be visible, it will be audible and it will bring you closer to God within you. AUM is the mother of all mantras. AUM is God's sound. Every second God is creating Himself anew inside AUM. This sound He used to create the world; this sound He uses to preserve the world; this sound He is using to transform the world.
Question: How Are We Actually Supposed To...
Question: How are we actually supposed to chant AUM?
Sri Chinmoy: There are various ways to chant AUM. When we chant AUM with tremendous soul's power, what we actually do is enter into the cosmic vibration where the creation is in perfect harmony and where the cosmic Dance is being danced by the Absolute. If we chant AUM soulfully, we become one with the cosmic Dance; we become one with God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Transformer. All that God has within and without, AUM can offer to us, because AUM is at once the Life, the Body and the Breath of God. This is what an Indian seeker or an Indian spiritual Master feels when he chants AUM.
If you get an attack on the emotional vital plane and wrong thoughts, wrong ideas, wrong vibrations enter into you, repeat AUM or the name of the Supreme as fast as possible. Do not chant slowly. When you are trying to cleanse your mind of impurities you must chant as if you were running to catch a moving train.
When you do japa, do not prolong your chanting too much. If you prolong the syllable AUM, you won't have the time to chant five hundred or six hundred times. Just say the syllable in a normal but soulful way so that you will get the vibration.
I know that some of you repeat AUM and 'Supreme' at home. It is wonderful that you practise this, but please practise it aloud, not silently. Let the sound of the mantra vibrate even in your physical ears and permeate your entire body.
Question: Can We Hear Aum Inwardly If...
Question: Can we hear AUM inwardly if we can't say it out loud?
Sri Chinmoy: It is quite possible to utter the word AUM silently or to hear it inwardly without actually saying it. Wherever we are, the sound of AUM is already there. We have only to enter into the sound. If we know how to enter into the original source of the sound, which is inside the heart, then we need not chant aloud. We chant AUM aloud because when the outer mind is convinced, we get greater joy and a greater sense of achievement. We can very often hear the sound of AUM without chanting it ourselves, but we do not know whether it is coming from our heart or from the atmosphere. Sometimes during meditation seekers hear the sound of AUM although nobody is chanting it aloud. This means that inwardly somebody has chanted or is chanting AUM and the meditation room has preserved the sound. If we are conscious during sleep, we will hear the sound. It is not the heartbeat we will hear, but the soundless sound. We will hear it and feel it most convincingly.
If you want to meditate while you are in some public place where there are all kinds of noise, what can you do? If you go deep within, from inside either you can bring to the fore just a drop of infinite Peace, or you can bring forward a louder sound. That louder sound is not a destructive sound but a sound that contains indomitable power. It gives us the feeling of how potentially great and divine we are. If you can bring your indomitable power to the fore and become one with the force which is coming from your heart, you will see that the outer noises of the world are no match for your inner sound.
When you are surrounded by outer noises, try to enter into your own inner sound itself. To your surprise, you will see that the sounds which disturbed you one minute ago do not bother you now. On the contrary, you will get a sense of achievement because instead of hearing noise, you will hear divine music, and that divine music is produced within you.
Question: Aum Is Not A Term Which...
Question: AUM is not a term which as meaningful to us in our culture.
Sri Chinmoy: True. In your culture the most significant word is 'God'. In India, we repeat AUM or the name of a cosmic god or goddess, like Shiva or Kali. In chanting a mantra the most important thing is to know in what aspect of the Supreme we have absolute faith. I use the word 'God' here in the West because I know that all your life you have been trained to pray to God. But today AUM can enter into you with all its significance. The time will come when you can go deeper within, and if 'AUM' inspires you more than 'God' then you should chant AUM. It is the inspiration that you get which is of the utmost importance. You can chant the word 'God' if that gives you more inspiration.
