The Protective Power of the Mantra

A devotee reported the following incident: He had visited a researcher at JIPMER Hospital in Pondicherry, India, who was using Kirlian photography in his research. The researcher showed him several stones. One of them was an ordinary stone. The other one had been in an active temple for a considerable period of time. He showed the Kirlian (aura) photographs of the two and it was clear that the temple stone had a strong radiation coming off it. The researcher then suggested that this devotee become himself part of the experiment. First he took a photograph of his extended hand. He then had the devotee chant some mantras for a couple of minutes. The post-mantra photograph had a strong radiating aura coming off the fingers.

One of the powers of an active mantra is to energize the vital being and strengthen the aura. The aura provides a protective vital field around each individual, so the power of the mantra is a boost to the ability of the individual to ward off negative forces, including, potentially, forces that can create illness if they succeed in penetrating the aura.

The mantra must be a living one, not an intellectual pursuit that someone picks up out of a book. It also must be honored, supported and encouraged in its action through repetition with focus and intent. It then gains its utmost power. The deeper it is ingrained, the more it is able to respond instantly to situations and provide added protection for the individual.

Frequent repetition of the chosen mantra, particularly in situations of danger or stress, makes it easier for it to appear at the moment of need in the consciousness. It is something like classical conditioning in Western psychology which practices repetition of a specific conditioning event and elicits a specific conditioned response, such that whenever that event occurs, the response occurs automatically and instantaneously. In the case of a mantra that is remembered at times of difficulty or danger, the being is conditioned to bring it forward whenever such stress arises. And the action of the mantra conditions the aura and other elements of the body-life-mind complex to respond with a protective response.

The Mother observes:

"And then, you may also take another attitude. When you are playing and suddenly become aware that something is going wrong – you are making mistakes, are inattentive, sometimes opposing currents come across what you are doing – if you develop the habit, automatically at this moment, of calling as by a mantra, of repeating a word, that has an extraordinary effect. You choose your mantra; or rather, one day it comes to you spontaneously in a moment of difficulty. At a time when things are very difficult, when you have a sort of anguish, anxiety, when you don't know what is going to happen, suddenly this springs up in you, the word springs up in you. For each one it may be different. But if you mark this and each time you face a difficulty you repeat it, it becomes irresistible. For instance, if you feel you are about to fall ill, if you feel you are doing badly what you are doing, if you feel something evil is going to attack you, then.... But it must be a spontaneity in the being, it must spring up from you without your needing to think about it: you choose your mantra because it is a spontaneous expression of your aspiration; it may be one word, two or three words, a sentence, that depends on each one, but it must be a sound which awakens in you a certain condition. Then, when you have that, I assure you that you can pass through everything without difficulty. Even in the face of a real, veritable danger, an attack, for instance, by someone who wants to kill you, if, without getting excited, without being perturbed, you quietly repeat your mantra, one can do nothing to you. Naturally, you must truly be master of yourself; one part of the being must not be trembling there like a leaf; no, you must do it entirely, sincerely, then it is all-powerful. The best is when the word comes to you spontaneously: you call in a moment of great difficulty (mental, vital, physical, emotional, whatever it may be) and suddenly that springs up in you, two or three words, like magical words. You must remember these and form the habit of repeating them in moments when difficulties come. If you form the habit, one day it will come to you spontaneously: when the difficulty comes, at the same time the mantra will come. Then you will see that the results are wonderful. But it must not be an artificial thing or something you arbitrarily decide: 'I shall use those words'; nor should somebody else tell you, 'Oh! You know, this is very good' – it is perhaps very good for him but not for everyone."

- Santosh Krinsky

(Institute for Wholistic Studies, USA & Lotus Press, USA)

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter VII Attitude, pp. 76-77

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