Swami Muktananda, Meditate: Happiness Lies Within You, first ed.(South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1999), p. 24.
I have loved the Siddha Yoga practice of
mantra japa ever since receiving
shaktipat diksha from Baba Muktananda in 1980.
For many years, while doing
mantra japa, I have focused on the teaching—which I first read in Baba Muktananda's book
Meditate—“Mantra is God.”
When I do this, I often experience that my mind becomes filled with the powerful awareness that the mantra and God are one and the same.
Also, at times, when I chant the mantra along with Gurumayi ji on a recording, I feel the divine vibrations of the mantra easily taking me into the Heart, where I experience my inner divinity in the form of peace, love, and joy. Feeling my mind become absorbed in the divine sounds of mantra has given me the insight that mantra is the sound form of God.
Vadodara, India
Whenever I wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep, I turn to the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya. When I practice silent repetition of the mantra, I find that it usually dissolves all of my mental worries and agitation. It is as though I can actually feel God’s love healing my heart and mind. For me, the mantra is truly the tangible embodiment of God.
Ville St. Laurent, Canada
The mantra is like a life force for me. When I saw Baba’s teaching “Mantra is God” on the Siddha Yoga path website, I had the experience that my mind was consciously breathing. I had the thought that I am so lucky to have this breath and to be able to repeat the mantra as I breathe. For me, being able to combine the breath with mantra repetition is like adding fragrance to gold.
Bhandara, India
After reciting
Shri Guru Gita, I sat for meditation and repeated the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya while focusing on the awareness that “Mantra is God.”
At first, as I did this, I noticed that the mantra helped me slide easily into meditation. After a while, I imagined that right at that moment Gurumayi was also repeating the mantra and infusing it with her
shakti. As I envisioned this, the mantra seemed to become alive. It pulsated. For me, the mantra became Gurumayi. Then this vision dissolved, and a deep silence filled me.
This state of deep silence—a feeling of endlessness and freedom—is, for me, the experience of my highest Self, of my Guru, and of God.
Unterlangenegg, Switzerland
Baba’s teaching, “Mantra is God,” has certainly been my experience. I carry the sacred mantra
Om Namah Shivaya with me all the time. It exists in my very breath, both consciously and unconsciously. Whenever I call upon it, it is already there, waiting for me to speak it silently or aloud. It protects me from all difficult situations, and carries me through them in serenity. It is so powerful. What else could it be but God?
I am so grateful for being given this amazing gift and I treasure it always.
Florida, United States
I see the mantra as a seed that the Guru has sowed in my mind. Over the years, as the mantra continues to “grow” in my being, nourished by meditation, chanting and
japa—its inner repetition—I feel the
prana circulating more and more intensely in my body. That gives me an immense joy and a profound happiness.
What can this flow of
prana-shakti be but the intimate presence of God?
Rodez, France