Shanti Mantra-s - 3 (Rig..Contd..)

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Vedic shAnti mantra-s - 3

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2. shAnti mantra in the Rig Veda - Contd.

 

' vA~Nme manasi pratiShThitA '

The prayer start with the words - 'May my speech be established in the mind'.

The scope of words which manifest as an expression of the diversified activities

of the mind is indeed endless. All the words we utter are reflections of our own

mind. There is a saying from shruti 'mana eva asya AtmA...' (Br.Up 1-4-17: Mind

is the Soul and speech is the wife). Words always follow the mind. So here the

seeker is praying for his speech to get established in his mind. When we say

'mind', what we mean here is the antaHkaraNa, i.e. the mind and the intellect

together without any demarcations. So the prayer is for getting the speech

established in the antaHkaraNa. Let me utter the words which reflect my

antaHkaraNa. Let me be always true to my words. This is the intended prayer of

the seeker.

 

Again, this can also be interpreted as follows - Let my words be established in

my mind alone, without manifesting itself as speech. Let the words remain in its

immanifested causal state in my mind itself. Let me refrain from unwanted speech

and reside in my true nature as the innermost Self of all. Let me practice the

virtue of Silence.

 

Further it is said - ' mano me vAchi pratiShThitam (bhavatu)', may my mind be

established in the speech. Here, the prayer is for the proper manifestation of

the mind as speech. For this, our speech should have sufficient strength. We

will be able to communicate to the external world only if our speech has ample

strength in them. The strength of our speech is a very important quality,

particularly in Vedanta. Listening to the Guru's words and scriptures,

assimilating the teaching, and spreading this Knowledge in the world is not

possible without this quality. With this shAnti mantra, the seeker is praying

for the strength in his words.

 

We can interpret these words in yet another way. We should always exercise a

vigilant supervision over our worldly activities. For this, our control over the

speech is vital. What am I going to say, should I say it or not, a person who

muse on such things will not say anything which will inflict harm to others.

Usually, a person unnecessarily wastes a lion's share of his energy indulging in

futile, unchecked conversations. Moreover, our words are the cause of all the

social disparities, misunderstandings and also our success in this empirical

world. So the prayer is to get a control over our speech so that the

discriminative potential that we have in our mind is reflected in our words.

 

With these first two lines, the seeker is praying to unite his mind and speech

for attaining a single goal. To reflect upon one's own words and to speak only

that which has been established in the antaHkaraNa is what this part of the

prayer essentially implies.

 

To be continued..

 

Hari Om