Sutra number 27 "Tasya Vachakah Pranavah"
translation he is represented through the sound vibration OM. Any entity when
it needs to be communicated needs to have a designation or a name. Without a
designation or a name how do you communicate? So God needs a name and that
name for God in the Vedas amongst other names is OM.
this OM is also called Pranav. It represents the formless aspect of God
without any attributes, without any designations, without any forms - is
all-pervading formless aspect is represented by the OM. This OM is
particularly significant because it is a cosmic sound, this whole universe is
pervaded by OM. So
in the Vedas the OM comes in the beginning of mantras as the beaj as the
seed. "Chanting Vedic mantra" the OM comes
there. So OM is uncontroversial, anybody, everybody can accept this OM
There are many Yogi's who are drawn to the formless aspect of God, they enjoy
meditating upon OM but what is important is the name of God, whichever
name you wish to take do remember his name. The Bible says in the beginning was
the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Vedas say when God
created this world before he created the physical entities earth water fire air
sky he created the sound OM and from that sound game sky and then everything
else unfolded so there's a parallel between these different scriptures and
there all of them emphasize the name of God. So what is the advantage of the name of
the of God? Our mind it fluctuates in its thoughts
we don't keep the mind focused in one place, so in a minute you're thinking
this and then thinking that and then thinking a third thing and so on it goes
so if we can develop this habit of taking God's name the mind gets yoked to
it. So that in order to bring the mind under control the chanting of his name
becomes very advantageous. This chanting of the name can be done in different
ways. One is Upanchu. Upanchu is where your lips are closed or or slightly open
and you are chanting but nobody can hear you.. you're chanting nobody can hear you
one is Maanasic you're just chanting in the mind Radhe Shyam Radhe Shyam
and one is Vachak when you are actually speaking it out.
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Ram and one is kirtan where you're singing it loudly with the playing of
musical instruments. So all these are different ways of taking the name of God
and devotees of the Lord they take advantage of all of these. Kripaluji
Maharaj he says, "Shwasa jab khicho to 'Ra' kahu man he manatee pyare, shwasa jab chodu
to kahu 'Dhe' dhyan bhi karu pyare, dhyan bhi karu pyare"
says when you breathe in, in your mind chant 'Ra" and when you breathe out in your mind chant 'Dhe' so
with every breath you will remember Radharani Radhey Radhey alternatively you
can chant Radhe Krishna or Sita Ram or Namah Shivaya in other words use your
breath to remember God. The Saints have reminded us "shwaas shwaas sumiran kuro yaha
upaya bado neek" Saint Kabir ji says, this is a beautiful strategy to remember God with
every breath
so while remembering we must also create those sentiments and for that the Saints
inform us that remember there is no difference between God and his name. That
distinction is there in the world the word water and the entity water they are
separate. If you are thirsty mere repetition of water water water will not
quench your thirst but in the spiritual realm
God is non-different from his name. God's names, forms, virtues, pastimes, abodes
associates. Naam, Rupa, Leela, Guna, Dham, Sant they are all one so because they are all
one God is sitting inside his name
there is no difference. If you can have faith then when you take the name the
sentiments will naturally be there that he is manifesting in the form of his
name when I am chanting it and with that kind of sentiment when we take the name
Lord Shankar, Shivji says.."quoting Lord Shankar"
"quoting Lord Shankar" he says Oh Parvati when I hear someone
say 'Ra' I feel thrilled that he's going to say 'Ma' he intends to say 'Rama' he may say
'Van' afterwards round one but I get thrilled merely hearing 'Ra' this is Lord
Shiv's sentiments towards the name because he
sees the name is not different from the Lord. So even in the world the name does
have an effect if you were to chant cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer 10,000 times
it would change your mood, if you were to chant hate, hate, hate, hate 50,000 times
you would get depressed and if you were to chant love, love, love 100,000 times
your personality will change. So now what is the power of chanting God's name
Maharishi Patanjali talks about this in the next sutra.