Discourses: the Mantra Series



Discourses: the Mantra Series

On 7 November 1987, Osho begins a five month-long series on ancient sanskrit mantras, in response to questions from disciples

These are the mystic sounds. They are very few. I have talked to you about satyam-shivam-sundram, sat-chit-anand, hari om tat sat, om mani padme hum, om-shantih-shantih-shantih. These five I have chosen as the most significant, as the most deep-going. I will try to give you the meaning also, because that meaning will help the significance to become deeper. That meaning will not only touch your heart, it will also touch your intelligence. And you have to be touched in your totality to be transformed.
I will begin with the last one. That is the sound every Eastern scripture ends with...om-shantih-shantih-shantih. It means "The soundless sound, or the sound of silence: peace...peace...peace..." Just giving you the sense of the whole scripture in these few telegraphic words. Every scripture in the East ends with the same. It may be Hindu, it may be Buddhist, it may be Jaina--it doesn't matter.
They are all different in their philosophies. They are all different in their theologies. They are different religions continuously in controversy for at least ten thousand years. But strangely, they all end their scriptures with the sound of silence: peace...peace...peace...It seems they are all different roots of this experience.
They may differ about their roots, about the description of their roots. They may quarrel, they may contradict each other, but as far as the end is concerned, when they reach to the highest peak of consciousness, all that is found is the sound of silence and utter peace, so deep that they have to repeat it three times: peace...peace...peace...
The fourth is used by the Tibetans, although it takes almost all the words from Sanskrit: om mani padme hum. It is a very mystic statement. It says, "The diamond in the lotus...the sound of silence." You cannot conceive a more beautiful thing than a beautiful diamond in the most beautiful flower on the earth, the lotus. They are trying to convey to you the beyond in some way comprehensible to the mind: the sound of silence--om--the diamond in the lotus. I have loved it from my very childhood. Just the words, "the diamond in the lotus..." They have managed in the most beautiful way to express the beyond.
And the third is hari om tat sat: "the sound of silence...this is the only truth."
And the second is, sat-chit-anand: "truth, consciousness, bliss."
And the first is, satyam-shivam-sundram: "truth, godliness, beauty."
These five I can say to you belong to the universal religious consciousness, not to any organized religion, because they have come from individual mystics. They have poured their heart, they have poured their enlightenment, they have poured their awakening into these five mantras.
There is no word in English to translate mantra. It means a sacred word, not of any use in the day-to-day life experiences, but only significant when you go beyond this visible world and enter into the invisible consciousness. A mantra is a secret key. It opens the door to the ultimate. chit07

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