Richard Williams wrote:
> Bhairitu wrote:
>
>> Besides Om Nama Shivaya can be translated
>> (though somewhat too literal) "I bow down
>> to Mahesh."
>>
>>
> There's on small problem here - 'Om Namah
> Shivaya' isn't a genuine 'bija' mantra - it's
> just a common Sanskrit phrase. So, you might
> as well just say to yourself 'I bow down to
> Mr. Varma' or 'I bow down to Pilot Guru'.
>
> Bija mantras are esoteric - they don't have
> any semantic meaning. If you've been doing
> this for any length of time then it's been
> wasted time. You can see what effect this had
> on the Swami Muktananda!
>
> The Muktananda apparently used to chant this
> phrase, but he didn't get any esoteric bijas
> from his teacher Nityananda - maybe the Mukta
> just read it in a booklet somewhere.
Mantras for the general public are not bij mantras, Richard. In fact
the use of bij mantras are frowned upon. You are confused if you think
that only bij mantras should be used for meditation. In fact there is
another meaning to "bij mantra" in that it also means the "guru mantra"
because it is the seed or key which can be used to enliven other
mantras. And guru mantras are unlikely to be single word mantras. Hope
that helps with the confusion.
