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kriyaboy
USA
28 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 08 2014 : 09:36:28 AM
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Having done TM for many years, Yogani's DM seems similar in many ways--except for the choice of mantras. I have always been curious why he chose the "I Am" mantra.
In Lesson 59, he compares "I Am" with Om and explains that I Am has both a linear quality--the I--and a circular quality--the "Am". Can anyone elaborate on what gives a mantra a linear or circular quality.
It seems many offer mantras, but few really provide any explanation on why they are chosen.
I understand that Yogani views such issues as "under the hood", nonetheless, if we are really going to take a scientific approach, someone needs to understand the underlying mechanics and should be able to explain them to those who are interested. |
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Mr.Meditator
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - Mar 08 2014 : 6:30:53 PM
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Hi Kriyaboy,
Lesson 188 (http://www.aypsite.org/188.html) explains the mantra mechanics in great detail--both for the "I AM" mantra and also for the optional mantra enhancements. "I AM" resonates with the spinal nerve. From my understanding, the "I" resonates with the part of the spinal nerve near the third eye, and the "AM" resonates with the part of the nerve going down through the center of the body to the root. This allows meditation to work together with spinal breathing in creating a balanced yet effective routine, purifying the whole spinal nerve while considering the "Shiva" and "Shakti" aspects of it.
Hope this helps.  |
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Dhyana
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2014 : 8:47:55 PM
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Hi Kriyaboy,
You are in a special position to find out and appreciate the mantra I AM, as you have already experience with another mantra. One way to check the qualities of the mantra I AM is to compare it with the TM mantra. While the process of meditation is the same, the way the DM mantra resonates is quite different from the way the TM mantra does it. Try it for yourself: Close your eye, take a couple of slow breaths, go inside. Say the TM mantra. Let it refine. If it is the one I think it is, you could feel it coming back to your heart. When you are done, rest, and then try again the same process with I AM. Do you feel the difference? "I" resonates on the upper chakras, takes the energy up, out. "AM" brings the energy to the heart. So simple, so powerful.
Another way is to simply ask your question at the end of the meditation time. Let the question be in your inner space, the way you do in samyama, and you may get an answer! As the inner perception grows, one can really appreciate why Yogani says that the mantra I AM opens the nervous system in a very specific way. It does it no matter how much we understand what is going on under the hood. Of course, many mantras are supposed to lead to samadhi in due time, and there are many kinds of samadhi, experienced with different intensities, but why not aim for the highest?  |
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tonightsthenight
846 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2014 : 11:49:35 PM
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Mr Meditator is correct.
IME, the I portion is masculine, linear, moving through the upper part of the central axis. The Am portion is feminine, round, moving to the base of the spine.
I don't know how scientific we can get. But with I Am we are working with the two poles of sushumna. But not the extreme ends of the poles. This mantra awakens the two poles, and in this way, movement is naturally induced through sushumna gently. |
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kriyaboy
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - Mar 30 2014 : 12:46:22 PM
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Thank you for your responses. I am grateful that there is some interest in this topic.
It is fine to suggest trying one mantra and trying another and comparing them if one can discern the difference. Unfortunately I can't. If I could I probably wouldn't be asking.
The underlying question really seems to be whether mantra choices matter at all. I believe they do. But it is just that-- a belief.
You asked how scientific can we get. Well science generally offers a theory, which can then be put to the test.
So, I'll offer the following as a theory of why mantras might matter. At the gross level, they involve different sounds formed with the lips, tongue and so on.
With this idea in mind, one might easily see why Aum could be considered to have a circular quality. If you look in the mirror, you see the lips remain rounded throughout, but they open and close.
Mantra Chia, in his writing on Taoism, discusses that the lips are only one of many sphincter muscles in the body and how movement of the lips has a reflexology effect on similar muscles in other parts of the physical body.
As the mantra becomes silent and more subtle, perhaps it has a similar effect on the astral body, opening and closing and effecting the flow of energy, or the ecstatic conductivity, as Yogani calls it.
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tonightsthenight
846 Posts |
Posted - Mar 31 2014 : 12:04:33 PM
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Regarding science, we need a tightly controlled environment with as few variables as possible in order to test. We don't have that. Rather we have infinite variables in the matrix of the phenomenal world.
In spiritual science we have theory and praxis. Theory introduces us to the field. Its the map. Praxis is walking the path. Its the territory itself. Ayp favors praxis over theory.
We can't test things on the same way as true science but we can test from the best of our abilities. That's what we are doing, but favoring praxis over theory. We are testing the results not analysing and defining. |
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Linear and Circular Qualities of a Mantra
