Once I happened to ask my Gurudeva with maximum humility at my command after bowing my head into His Holy Feet,
“Kindly tell me the Mantra that may be –
Regarded as the most profound Mantra,
Most mystical of all, encompassing entire Adhyatmika mysticism,
With which anyone may become a seeker,
One that may propel one to the ultimate goal of human existence starting from Ground Zero,
Easy to remember, easy to pronounce, easy to tell others…”
Pat came the response from Him –
NETI, NETI, NETI…..i.e. NOT THIS, NOT THIS, NOT THIS…
Since then, I have been often contemplating deeply over the Mantra and discovering to my amazing bewilderment that the Mantra brilliantly passes against all those parameters stated as above. Let us scrutinise a little bit, one by one –
Regarded as the most profound Mantra –
Yes. Mantra assumes you are dwelling in the domain of Prakrti and continuously inspires you to be acutely conscious of the long-term futility of its Maya. It allows you to interact with all elements of Maya albeit from a distance, from the position of a Saksi with a sense of utter detachment…distractedly.
Most mystical of all, encompassing entire Adhyatmika mysticism –
Mantra cautions you not to entangle yourself in the cosmic web of evolutes of Prakrti. Instead, it insists upon you to constantly deny its absolute existence yet NOT grosser ones. Evolutes of Prakrti do not enjoy absolute existence at all. Since gross existence of Maya is a reality albeit transient, it cannot be denied it’s share of cosmic significance and inevitability during our journey through the world.
With which anyone may become a seeker –
Pursuit of this Mantra is so simple, so transparent that even a novice in Adhyatma can accept it as his/her mission of entire existence. As soon as a seekers life revolves around the Mantra incessantly, its mysticism comes to fore, progressively.
One that may propel one to the ultimate goal of human existence starting from Ground Zero –
Certainly. If pursued ardently, this Mantra is capable of catapulting one onto the dizzying heights of Adhyatma starting from the lowest order of enlightenment/knowledge. It prevents an ardent seeker from wallowing in the darkness and delusion of Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Ahamkara, Avidya, Abhinivesa etc. by denying all sorts of hurdles, temptations and deviations. With this, the seeker remains tightly on the right path discriminatively with wisdom, howsoever imperfect or incomplete.
Easy to remember, easy to pronounce and easy to tell others –
By all means Mantra is easy, rather easiest to remember, pronounce and communicate to others. Is there a Mantra easier than this ?
Can there be a Mantra easier than this ?
Mantra was live in action in its full mystical glory in the highly celebrated life of Jagatguru Adi Samkaracarya. In his teens, he was asked, “Who are you ?” by his prospective Guru when he had approached him for Diksa. And his poetic six stanza reply became a legend 13 centuries later, now known as Nirvana Satakam with the most mystical Mantra of Neti, Neti, Neti in blazing action. The young erudite lad from Kalady responded, he was not the Mana i.e. mind/Buddhi i.e. intellect/Ahamkara i.e. ego/Viveka i.e. perception, not the ear/tongue/nose/eyes, nor Akasa i.e. sky/Prthvi i.e. earth/Usna i.e. heat/Vayu i.e. wind, nor Jiva i.e. object imbued with life, nor five orders of Prana-s, nor seven Bhuta-s, nor five-fold Kosa-s, nor Vani i.e. speech/Indriya-s i.e. limbs/Yoni i.e. genitals, nor Kama i.e. passion/Lobha i.e. greed/Moha i.e. delusion, nor Darpa i.e. conceit/Dvesa i.e. animosity/Vaibhava i.e. wealth/pleasure, nor four ends of life i.e. Dharma/Artha/Kama/Moksa, nor merit or transgression, nor comfort or despair, nor ingestible or one who ingests, nor fear of death, nor any Varna, has no father/mother/kin/friends/Guru or disciple. The legendary Seer then described himself as the eternal ‘Everyself’ that everyone is, Param Ananda that suffuses all, governs all senses with the equipoise neither emancipated nor incarcerated…..
Discussion about this post