Nisargadatta on mantra recitation

In the Navanth Sampradaya, the tradition in which Nisargadatta was taught vedanta by his Guru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, spiritual aspirants were initiated with a mantra. A mantra is a word or phrase that is repeated in order to calm the mind or bring about some other spiritual effects. Here is what Nisargadatta says about mantra repetition.

“I was taught to give attention to my sense of ‘I am’ and I found it supremely effective. Therefore, I can speak of it with full confidence. But often people come with bodies, brains and minds so mishandled, perverted and weak that the state of formless attention is beyond them. In such cases some simpler token of earnestness (like repeating a ‘mantra’) is appropriate. After all it is the earnestness that is indispensable, the crucial factor. ‘Sadhana’ is only a vessel and it must be filled to be brim with earnestness, which is but love in action. For nothing can be done without love.”

“Repetition of ‘Mantra’ takes one to the pure ‘I am’ state or ‘Sattva Guna’ and from there one merges into the source of all bliss, and then, all knowledge that you possess is laid down or surrendered and you merge with the Absolute beyond all name and form.”

When specifically asked about how useful a mantra would be to a modern-day Westerner seeking self-knowledge, he answered “none”:

Questioner: In Europe there is no tradition of a mantra, except in some contemplative orders. Of what use is it to a modern day young Westerner?

Nisargadatta: None, unless he is very much attracted. For him the right procedure is to adhere to the thought that he is the ground of all knowledge, the immutable and perennial awareness of all that happens to the senses and mind. If he keeps it in mind all the time, aware and alert, he is bound to break the bounds of non-awareness and emerge into pure life, light and love.

The idea - ‘I am the witness only’ will purify the body and the mind and open the eye of wisdom. Then man goes beyond illusion and his heart is free of all desires.

Just like ice turns to water and water to vapour, and vapour dissolves in air and disappears into space, so does the body dissolve into pure awareness (chidakash), then into pure being (paramakash), which is beyond all existence and non-existence.