MANTRA NATURE

Mantra is a very important subject. Here is a quaotation which describes its magickal attributions:

"Through almighty Shiva... whose benign glance the Mantra Sastra [mantra text and doctrine] has been revealed... Through which people in former times were able to defeat the gods even, and having subdued them made them do whatever they wished... Through mantra sastra people could vanish from sight right in front of others... Through it they were able to move below water for thousands of miles... Through it they could enter into and assume other people's bodies... Through it they could visit the sky and enter the abodes of the gods."

Mantra is as old as Sanskrit. It is sound, song, vibration, and secrecy all rolled into one. While it is written, it is also believed by many that mantra is empty unless passed on from one teacher to the next, with the correct magickal pronunciation. It also serves memnonic purposes. Mantra is definable not by what it describes but by what it creates. It is a metalinguistic function.

Adherents pursue mantra, and in seeking their perfection experiences Logos as it pervades their body through vibration [parabrahman]. There may be a deity chosen as the focus of a mantra [istadevata]. It may be based on text [yamala] or transmitted orally. There are certain sign one seeks in finding a place to perform mantra [sthanalaksan]. And of course at its center is repetition [japa], sometimes in the thousands and tens of thousands. Monastaries hum with the eternal rolling of mantras.

Mantra-sastra - Occult linguistic.

Mantra-dhvani - Unlettered.

Mantra-varna - Lettered.

Mantra-siddhi - Perfected.