Patanjali and Ishwara

Sutras 23 - 28

Ishwara and enlightenment         

      We are such unknowing creatures. We start the spiritual odyssey with great hope and tons of concepts. This hope can and does turn into amazement, gratitude and eagerness as we progressively come into the spiritual realities. 

And along the way, those tons of concepts disappear. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes in a Big Experience. We become Knowing on the spiritual planes. 

And one of the ways that Patanjali recommends is by meditation upon Ishwara, the God within creation. Another method he suggests is by using the sound of God, which is Aum.

Aum chanting

Using Aum as a mantra is indeed profound. On the one hand it works as all mantras do:

• as we chant our cares and worries recede in that moment. Immediately? I think not. Now it takes me just one Aum, but for many years, after the twenty-seventh Aum, I would notice that I had moved into a different state. One which is highly energised and with a very clear state of mind. More spiritual than the everyday. 
• as we are undergoing the process of mantra, new neural pathways (nerve impulses) are being created. With each session (of whatever mantra you consistently use) these pathways become strengthened so that gradually they start to supersede our everyday agitated brain wave state. In this manner our meditation states starts to become our everyday state also. At first bit-by-bit, in moments here and there, and then those moments start to get bigger and bigger, until our entire state of being changes in such a profound way. 

samadhi is a process

Personally, I do not think that it's enough to do a bit of meditation here and there, or even just a tiny bit to start with, to achieve samadhi. It truly is a process of unfolding the True Inner nature within. A gradual process. And meditation, consistent meditation, is the major tool.

Aum The Divine Sound

Years ago I met a wonderful man who had a Near Death Experience when he attempted suicide after a very difficult life. He went into a realm where he could hear an amazing sound. This lead him to journey to India to find this beautiful sound. It was Aum. 

Aum is The Divine Sound. And, according to The Ancient Lore of The Whare Wananga (the spiritual house of learning), Divine Sound sound comes forth in one of the uppermost Heavens. There are twelve heavens. 

why Ishwara? why Aum?

Aum and devotional to the Great Divine, Great Spirit, whatever one wishes to call "god" are incredible vessels for ascension.  Ascending the layers of Being, of Samadhi. 

But there are other reasons too.