Sahaja Yoga Mantras

Shri Mataji has given us many techniques and pathways by which
we can approach Her and obtain that greatest of blessings – to be
connected to Her, becoming the detached witness and feeling the
bliss of the Divine Nature coursing through us. Mantras are some of
the most perennially effective.

As we might expect, Sahaja Yoga mantras have many intricacies and
correspondences with the subtle system. They may be considered as
a series of bīja mantras for the chakras.

The ‘Short Mantra’ which Shri Mataji recommended for Sahasrāra
and described as the ‘greatest of mantras’, has the simplest
correspondence

Om Twameva sākṣhāt2 . Earth Realm (lower 3 chakras)
Śhrī Nirmalā Devyai . . . . Atmospheric Realm (middle 3 chakras)
namo namaḥ . . . . . . . . . Heavenly Realm (Sahasrāra and above)

Om Twameva sakṣhat Shri Nirmala Devyai namo namah

Om – Muladhara Chakra

Om may be considered as the name of God and Shri
Gaṇesha is Omkara-swarupa –‘the embodiment of the Om’.

Om is the foundation of all creation, containing the three guṇas –‘moods’ of the three channels and activates the Mūladhara Chakra

As we say the ‘O’, which is an elision of A and U, it draws in the Left and Right Side activity, giving power to the Muladhara Chakra
to keep us in the ‘here and now’ without desires and thoughts.
The ‘ṁ’ activates the Suṣhumnā (Central Channel) and the
Kuṇḍalini rises up to Sahasrāra.

Twam – ‘you’. Twam activates the Kuṇḍalinī.
As explained on p.36, Twam is the personal aspect of God, the
Divine Mother who knows us intimately and cares for us and for
our ascent, embodied within us as the Kuṇḍalinī.

eva – ‘indeed, truly, really’: Eva is the Kuṇḍalinī rising to Nābhī
Chakra. E is the Goddess in the Sacrum, va is ‘to go,
move’.

Eva also means a ‘path, course’ and this activates the
Suṣhumnā Nāḍī as the ‘path of the Kuṇḍalinī’ and helps the
Kuṇḍalinī to bridge the gap in the Suṣhumnā between the Sacrum
and the Nābhī Chakra and cross the Bhava-sāgara –‘ocean of
worldly existence’.

Eva –‘really, truly’ – the quality of the Nābhī Chakra as the root of
the Central Channel is to be in reality, to witness the present
moment, so eva implies this quality.

Also eva, evaka –‘moving, quick’ is a name of Shri Viṣḥṇu, the ruler
of Nābhī chakra and controller of the Suṣhumnā channel.

sākṣḥāt –‘perceptible, actually present, really’: sākṣhāt works on the
Swāḍhiṣhṭhāna Chakra.

Sākṣhāt –‘with the eyes, with the senses’ [sa –‘with’, akṣha –‘eyes,
senses’, āt –‘with’ (ablative ending)] indicates the sense of sight,
associated with the fire element and the Swāḍhiṣhṭhāna Chakra.
Knowledge, the quality of this chakra, is gained through our sense
experience.

Sâkshât means felt through your five organs of perception.”
16-11-80, UK

Sā works on Left Swad, and kṣḥa on Right Swad; āt puts pressure
on the Viṣhṇu Granthi which is cleared by Śhrī. Sā –‘She’ is the Ādi
Śhakti (pure knowledge) and kṣha is ‘forbearance, destruction,
burning’. While saying ‘sākṣhāt’ one feels the attention being
pulled down into Mūlādhāra Chakra as Shri Ganesha sucks in the
Swāḍhiṣhṭhānas which are the energies and powers of the left
and right channels, keeping us in the Centre (present moment).
Sākshāt means ‘actually present’.

Śhrī –‘glorious, gracious, respected’: Śhrī is the bīja of the Heart and
Sahasrāṛa; after Om, it is the most holy of words. Śhra is the bīja
for Heart and ī is the Central Channel, so this works powerfully on
Centre Heart (see p.23 for a fuller explanation).

Nirmalā –‘immaculate’: Nirmalā activates and clears the Viśḥuddhī
Chakra. Like Viśhuddhī –‘complete purification’, Nirmalā means
‘pure’. [nir –‘not, without’, mala –‘dirt’]. We accumulate mental and emotional dross such as anger, sadness and guilt which
accumulates in the Viśhuddhī.

The three syllables of Nir-ma-lā work on the Right, Centre and Left
Viśhuddhī. [nir = nirahamkāra –‘ego-less’ –Mahāsaraswatī, ma –M of
A-U-M, Mahālakshmī, lā –Mahākālī (Lalitā, power of love)] (See: The
Meaning of Nirmalā, 31-12-80)

Devyai –‘to the Goddess’: Devyai activates the Āgñyā Chakra and
clears the Rudra Granthi.
Devī is the feminine of deva –‘shining one, God’ from div –‘to shine’,
like the Sun in Āgñyā Chakra. –yai is the feminine dative case
ending (to…).

Deva may be taken as Da-iva –‘giving reality’ [da –‘give’, iva or eva
–‘truly, really, indeed’]. When the Kuṇḍalinī passes Āgñyā Chakra
we enter a state of heightened reality, seeing everything clearly
and thoughtlessly without the filters of ego and conditioning. By
surrendering everything to the Goddess we let go of past and
future, and forgive everyone. ‘To err is human, to forgive Divine’.

Ī, yai. Either ending (Devī or Devyai) has the quality of breaking
through and rising up the central channel, in this case splitting the
Rudra Granthi above the Āgñyā Chakra and opening the ‘Doors of
Heaven’. The fact that we can spend some time in heaven every
day is surely a blessing that one would imagine every soul would
want.

namo –‘salutations’: namo clears the Back Āgñyā, the repository of
our conditionings. As well as ‘salutations, surrender’, namo can be
taken as na –‘not’, mo –‘illusions (moha)’.

Note: Mokṣha –‘liberation’ [from much -‘release, liberate’] can similarly be taken as meaning ‘destroying delusions’; mo = moha –‘delusion’, kṣha –‘destroying’)

namaḥ -‘salutations’: namaḥ takes the attention to the Sahasrāra
above the head. As well as ‘salutations’ [from nam –‘to bend, bow’]
namaḥ is na –‘not’, maḥ -‘I, me’, an ego-negating mantra. In the
second level of Sahasrāra we lose our sense of separate identity

Clearing conditionings and ego takes us out of our limited selves; the
attention rises above the head to Shri Mataji’s Lotus Feet, which rest
gently in the petals of our Sahasrāṛa, pouring coolness and bliss over
the subtle system. Namo takes us beyond the physical body; namaḥ
takes us beyond the subtle body, into the causal body, the Ānanda
Kośḥa –‘sheath of bliss and joy’, where we connect to the Divine.

Practice Sahajyog Mantras

It is not necessary to think about the meanings as we say the mantra
but it can be good to keep the attention on the relevant chakra.
Hopefully the effect of the words will keep the attention focussed
anyway.

So:- Om –Mūlādhāra, Twam –Kuṇḍalinī, eva –Nābhī, sākṣhāt –left and
right Swād being sucked in to Mūlādhāra, Śhrī –Heart, Gaṇeśha –
Vishuddhi (or chakra of Deity), sākṣhāt –Āgñyā, Śhrī –Sahasrāra; and
then again Ādi –Mūlādhāra, Śhakti –Kuṇḍalinī, Mātājī –Nābhī,
Swādhiṣhṭhāna and Void, Śhrī –Heart, Nirmalā –Viśhuddhī, Devyai –
Āgñyā, namo –first level of Sahasrāra, namaḥ -second level of
Sahasrāra, silence –third level of Sahasrāra.

Om Twameva sākṣhāt Śhrī (Gaṇeśḥa) sākṣhāt Śhrī Ādi Śḥakti Mātājī Śhrī Nirmalā Devyai namo namaḥ.

Ādi –‘first, primordial, lowest’ – Mūlādhāra Chakra.
Śḥakti –‘energy’ – the Kuṇḍalinī.
Mātājī –‘Holy Mother’ activates Nābhī, Swāḍhiṣhṭhān and Void.