In this discourse a few questions have been answered by Om Swami. The first question asked was- When chanting mantras, is it more impactful if the pronunciation is perfect and the meaning known. Also is it necessary to know Sanskrit to connect?
Om Swami says, not all mantras have meaning and not every mantra is a sloka, nor every sloka a mantra. There are some mala mantras, which have more than twenty letters and have a meaning. The Vishnu Sahasranama, The Bhagavad Gita and the Lalita Sahasranama are mala mantras. Each word in these mala mantras have a meaning which can be understood by a person. Meanings when understood make a person’s faith and their feelings more strong and resolute. The glory of the deity is truly understood and it will make a person connect to the mantra with more devotion and determination. To say mantras, one need to only pronounce it properly and need not know Sanskrit. The meaning and the pronunciation can be found on some sites.
The other question was-How to awaken the subconscious mind and purify it
Om Swami says, the subconscious is like a godown and it has many things stocked in it about which one is not aware. If this has to be purified then one has to enter it, so that one can remove the unwanted things. This can happen only when the conscious mind becomes totally silent. When a person is able to reach where his conscious mind cannot reach then that is samadhi. Here there is no thought process and there is only the union of the seer and the seen for there is no duality. This can be achieved through meditation, knowledge, bhakti, karma, compassion etc.
Listen to the full discourse to get proper perspectives on these topics.
Timeline:
00:00 Start
01:56 Can we spend our whole life contemplating on even one word from any mala mantra
04:52 Is it absolutely necessary to do abhishek of Shiv Ling after finishing with the surya sadhana
06:01 Can the recitation of Bhagavad Gita be done, instead of meditation.
09:08 What is nirvikalpa samadhi
BREATHE / MEDITATE/ SMILE/ LET GO
