The Gravity of Grace

DEVI SAID, “Kali yuga is a polluted period, impossible to traverse and impossible to conquer. The world is shrouded in the inauspicious and turns away from dharma. The good conduct of varnas and ashramas decays and a calamity presents itself. Rights are full of uncertainty and everything is adverse. Since the progression from guru to shishya vanishes, the instructions are lost. O Mahehsvara! Through what means are your devotees emancipated?”

Ishvara replied, “Men who are my devotees cleanse their atmans by seeking refuge with the supreme learning of the panchakshara mantra in their hearts and are liberated – even though they may be tainted in thoughts, words and deeds, even if they no longer remember the smriti texts, even if they are polluted and ungrateful and even if they criticise and are deceitful in nature. They may be greedy, with crooked minds, but their minds are immersed in me. My panchakshara mantra is learning that enables a person to cross over the fear of samsara. O Devi! I have promised the world that my devotee will be freed through this knowledge, even if he happens to be fallen.”

Devi asked, “If a mortal person has fallen, he is not deemed worthy of karma. If he performs the karma of karma yoga, he goes to hell. In that case, how can a fallen person be liberated through this knowledge?”

Ishvara replied, “O beautiful one! What you have said is indeed true. Now hear from me about a mystery that has been kept a secret so far. If a fallen person is so deluded that he uses a mantra other than panchakshara mantra to worship me, there is no doubt that he goes to hell. There are those who subsist on water, subsist on air and observe other vratas to make themselves suffer. They cannot reach my world through those vratas. If a person uses panchakshara mantra to worship me even once, he goes to my region. Such is the power of the mantra. Therefore, crores of austerities, sacrifices, vratas and niyamas are not equal to worship with panchakshara mantra. If a person worships me with panchakshara mantra, he is liberated from the Pashas of bondage. He is emancipated. There is no need to think about this. Whether he uses a mantra to Rudra or does not, as long as he worships me even once with panchakshara mantra, a man is freed, even if he happens to be foolish. O Devi! If a person devoutly worships me with shadakshara or with panchakshara, along with brahmanga, he is liberated. (Brahmanga means the part that is the Brahman. Here, this clearly indicates AUM.) Whether a person is fallen or is not fallen, irrespective of whether he has obtained me or has not obtained me, when he conquers his rage and worships me with this mantra, he becomes my devotee. Obtaining me possesses qualities that are one crore times more than the qualities of not obtaining me. O Devi! Therefore, to obtain me, one should worship me with this mantra.”

Whether a person is fallen or not, whether he has obtained me or not, when he conquers his rage and worships me with this mantra, he becomes my devotee

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“Having obtained me, if a person possesses qualities like friendliness and brahmacharya and devoutly worships me with this mantra, he obtains my sarupya. All devotees possess the right to panchakshara mantra. Therefore, it is the best. It is because of the powers of panchakshara mantra that the worlds, the Vedas, the maharshis, eternal dharma, devas and the entire universe are established. When dissolution arrives, all mobile and immobile entities are destroyed. Everything merges into Prakriti and dissolves. I am the only one who is established then. There is no second, anywhere. At that time, all the Vedas and sacred texts are established in panchakshara. Protected by my Shaktis, they do not confront destruction. Through Prakriti and differences in the atman, creation proceeds afresh from me. Gunas that had withdrawn themselves inside, manifest themselves again. At the time, the divinity Narayana assumes a form that is full of maya. In the midst of the waters, he lies down on a couch that is made by a serpent. The grandfather, with the five faces, was born from the lotus. He wished to create the three worlds. But he was without an aide and was incapable. I assumed five faces and in the due order, uttered the five aksharas to the one born from the lotus. The grandfather of the worlds used his five faces to accept these. He understood me, Maheshvara, to be the one who was expressed through that expression. Having learnt the different techniques of application, Prajapati became a siddha with that mantra. He bestowed the mantra and the accurate meaning of the mantra on his sons. They obtained this jewel of a mantra directly from the grandfather of the worlds. Instructed by him about the path, they wished to worship me.”

“On Meru’s summit, there is the beautiful mountain named Munjavat. It is prosperous and loved by me. It is always protected by my devotees. Eager to create the worlds, they tormented themselves through fierce austerities there, subsisting on air. They did this for one thousand divine years. Beholding their devotion, I immediately showed myself before them. To make the creation of the worlds prosper, I told those noble ones everything about its application – rishi, chhanda, kilaka, bija-shakti, devata, nyasa in six limbs and digbandha. (These are components of any mantra. Rishi is the sage who composed it, chhanda the metre in which it is composed and devata the deity to whom the mantras is dedicated. Kilaka (meaning pin) is the inner akshara of a mantra, digbandha means protection of the directions and nyasa is performed in six limbs, one for each askshara. Bija-shakti is the power of the bija (the seed mantra).) Realising the greatness of the mantra, the rishis engaged in austerities and the creation of devas, asuras and humans flourished in a proper way. I will now recount the supreme learning about the nature of this mantra. “Namah” must be stated at first, followed by “Shivaya”. This learning about panchakshara mantra is present in all the Upanishads. This is the eternal seed for everything, for every kind of being. It expresses me and was first uttered from my mouth. The goddess of this mantra has a complexion like that of molten gold. Her breasts are thick and peaked. She possesses four arms and three eyes, with the crescent moon on her head. Her hands are like lotuses. She is amiable and her hands are in the varada and abhaya mudras. She possesses every auspicious sign and is adorned with every kind of ornament. She is seated on a white lotus and her hair is dark blue and curly. There are five coloured discs of rays around her – yellow, black, smoky, golden and red. She is separately ornamented with bindu and nada, which must be separately worshipped. Bindu is in the form of the crescent moon and nada has the form of the flame of a lamp. The second askhara is the bija. This is the seed of the mantra. The fourth akshara has a long vowel and the fifth akshara is mentioned as Shakti. (There are many different kinds of symbolism associated with “Namah Shivaya”. For example, Na = earth, ma = water, shi = fire, va = air and ya = space.) The rishi’s name is Vamadeva and the chhanda is pankti. (Literally, a collection of five, doubled as ten. Pankti also means a row, though it should be of only five or ten people. Panchakshara mantra has five aksharas, so it fits the etymological definition of pankti. A classic pankti chhanda will have five lines, each with ten aksharas.) I, Shiva, am the devata of this mantra. In the due order, the letters are said to represent the rishis Goutama, Arti, Vishvamitra, Angiras and Bharadvaja. In general, chhandas are gayatri, anushtup, trishtup, brihati and viraj and devas are Indra, Rudra, Hari, Brahma and Skanda. My five faces are stated to be their places, starting with the east, moving upwards, with “Na” and so on. The first, second and fourth aksharas are pronounced in an udatta accent, the third is anudatta and the fifth is svarita. (Udatta is a high-pitched accent and anudatta is a low-pitched one. Svarita is between the two.) This is known as the fundamental learning about Shiva, Shiva’s sutra and panchakshara. This mantra to Shiva is my great heart. “Na” is spoken of as my head, “ma” as my tuft of hair, “shi” as my armour, “va” as my eyes and “ya” as my weapon. Using this mantra and through japa, oblations and other things, depending on differences in thoughts, words and deeds, a devotee should worship us. There will be variations according to wisdom, time, sacred text used, intelligence, capacity, wealth, use of yoga and inclination. O Devi! However, whoever does this anywhere and at any time, as long as the worship is full of devotion, it conveys him to emancipation. As long as the mind is devoted to me, whether something is done in the right order or in the reverse order, it is loved by Shiva.”

About The Author

Bibek Debroy

Bibek Debroy has translated the Mahabharata and the Valmiki Ramayana into English. He is the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

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