Swami Sahajananda Saraswati
Repetition is how you learn and develop skills. For example, when you’re teaching or giving a speech, repetition is necessary to get your point across. Only thirty-three percent of the group are hearing what you say at any given point in time. When you are listening to someone, there’s a sixty-six percent chance that you don’t hear what they say. Even if you hear it, you may not get its complete meaning. Thus, educators and effective communicators know to offer the same information in three different ways. Repetition is valuable.
As a Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher Trainer, I always give information about a pose five times. I demonstrate the pose, the students feel it in their bodies, do a partner-pairing process, then see it again and add personal notes to the information on their handout. When they return for more training, we review the same pose before adding more to it. Often they say, “The information is so much clearer this time.” Or, “You are presenting it more clearly.” They even think we’ve changed the handout because it is much easier to understand now. But the handout hasn’t changed. Neither have the Trainers’ presentation skills. Repetition is what made the difference.
The sage Patanjali explains how this works:
Tat-prati.sedhaartham eka tattvaabhyaasah
—Yoga Sutras 1.32
Focus on a single subject or technique to prevent the inner obstacles.
Repetition cultivates this one-pointed focus. It prevents the obstacles that keep your mind active and cause distractions. Simply pick an object of concentration and stay with it. You stay steady with what you have chosen. Of course, this focus makes your work in the world effective. Yoga says, however, that ultimately your goal as a human being is more than doing good work, avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. The goal is to attain the knowing of your own Divine Essence. When you make this choice, mantra repetition keeps you staying steady with it. You use your mind for a spiritual purpose.
In Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation, you repeat an enlivened mantra which honors your own Self. By applying your mind to these sacred words, a pathway is cleared allowing you to experience the knowing of God, your own Self. By repeating mantra, you come to live in that deeper knowing of who you truly are all the time. Yoga has thousands of practices to attain this goal. Mantra repetition is the most powerful. So constantly repeat mantra to know God within you.
It is through your mind that you have the capacity and ability to repeat mantra. Sages, both ancient and contemporary, expound on the power of mantra repetition. Each time you repeat the mantra, you are imprinting your mind with Divine Consciousness. You are using your mind to its fullest capacity, opening inward to your own Divine Essence. Repeating mantra takes you to God. “When you repeat mantra,” says a great yogic sage, “the mind assumes the form of God.”
Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, my teacher, has passed this sacred mantra on to me and countless seekers through the teachings of the Svaroopa® Sciences. She received the mantra from her teacher, who received it from his teacher. The passing of the mantra from Guru to disciple extends back through thousands of years. The vibrations of the voices of these God-intoxicated beings infuse the mantra with Grace. Thus, these Gurus, sages and meditation masters have bestowed countless blessings on us.
Once you receive this mantra, let it fill your mind. You can even have multiple tracks of your 12-track mind repeating this mantra. Let it reverberate through your mind and into your whole being. Why? Because mantra holds Consciousness It-Self. Mantra fills your mind with Consciousness. Then more and more, that Light illumines your mind. Yes, repetition is valuable. Repeating mantra can bring you this Light, which is your own Self. Repeat more mantra!