Chapter 23Mantra and Japa · Mantras in the Integral Yoga

The idea of your friend that it is necessary to receive a mantra from here and for that he must come is altogether wrong. There is no mantra given in this Yoga. It is the opening of the consciousness to the Mother from within that is the true initiation and that can only come by aspiration and rejection of restlessness in the mind and vital.

* We do not usually give any mantra. Those who repeat something in meditation call on the Mother.

* As a rule the only mantra used in this sadhana is that of the Mother or of my name and the Mother. The concentration in the heart and the concentration in the head can both be used — each has its own result. The first opens up the psychic being and brings bhakti, love and union with the Mother, her presence within the heart and the action of her Force in the nature. The other opens the mind to self-realisation, to the consciousness of what is above mind, to the ascent of the consciousness out of the body and the descent of the higher consciousness into the body.

* There is not necessarily any difference of Force.1 Usually the Mother’s name has the full power in it; but in certain states of consciousness the double Name may have a special effect.

1 The correspondent asked whether there is any difference of Force when one repeats only the Mother’s name and when one repeats both the names of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother together. — Ed.