Our Mantra Yoga tradition begins with the Lord Narayana, the first meditator, who thought the first thought and set in motion this science of sound vibration. The thought sounds or mantras were cognized in ancient India by the rishis, that is, the seers of the science of sound, the first psychic pioneers of consciousness. In the Mantra Yoga tradition the first yogi was Yajnavalkhya, who cognized the first bija mantra, and passed this teaching to his daughter Shakti.
According to the Tantras, bija mantras are shorthand for a complete description of the universe in the mind of Sri Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom, Learning and Knowledge. So, sounds, ergo language, was the primal vibration of Vac, that is, the Lord of human speech, who formed the first bija mantras. In a long line of illustrious masters comes this Mantra Yoga tradition from Vasistha and Parashara. So, lets review the TMer sampradaya: The TM teachers puja to SBS clearly states the desciplic succession from Shakti via the Jyotirlinga hence to Badarayana, to Gauda, to Govinda, hence to Shankara, founder of the Jyotirmatha, hence to Trotaka and on down to Brahmanand Saraswati and hence to Shantanand, hence down to Vasudevananda Saraswati, the current Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath. Narayana Padma Bhava Vasishtha Shakti Parashara Badarayana Shudadeva Gaudapapda Govinda Shankara Trotaka Brahmanand Shantanand Vishnudevananda Vasudevananda
