The Spiritual Power of Sound

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The power of the word is the power of creation and destruction. We know from experience that kind and benevolent words can have a restorative, healing effect. We can inspire others with our language. But words of sarcasm, morbidity, violence, and hatred can bring up the worst qualities within a person: the unconsciousness and the infraconsciousness of the human being. Vulgar words, swearing, cursing, foul language―these always convey the degenerated influence of the ego. And of course, these always have palpable effects on our environment.
 
It has been well documented by Dr. Masaru Emoto, how the vibration of speech and sound, they affect the formation of crystals in water. They also proved in this study how negative words produce chaos, disorganized, cluttered formations in the crystals―whereas loving words, classical music, positive vibrations―these engender very complex and harmonious geometric structures, crystallizations.
 
This proves to us that language affects matter. It is a vibration of energy. A vibration of force, which can be used by the consciousness or the ego.
 
The consciousness knows how to use language, the power of the verb to promote awakening, to elevate our level of being and the level of being of others. But why is this? Why is speech, sound, vibration, energy, essential to Gnosis? It is because language, like the Being, is an expression of energy, of force, of Being. The Being is a vibration, an energy or force, that is very elevated, extremely refined and eternal. It is a spiritual force that can reflect within us if we know how to use our speech, the verb, with precision.
 
If our level of being is low, our words will reflect that, because words are the expression of thought. As the Buddha Shakyamuni taught us in his Dhammapada, "Mind precedes phenomena. We become what we think.” And also, we become what we say.
 
We cannot take back a word of criticism, of sarcasm, of malevolence, because there is a particular magnification of force when we speak from the ego or from the soul, because that is how we direct energy.
 
As Samael Aun Weor spoke and explained, "Wherever we direct attention, we expend creative energy."  
 
So building off our former lecture on the energy of awakening, we are exploring the spiritual power of sound: how we utilize all those energies we are conserving as we mapped out on the Tree of Life in order to work with particular practices in our tradition, especially mantra―because mantra works with vibration, with energy, as we'll explain.
 
These exercises help to raise our level of being, the vibration of our psyche, because when we speak harmful words, we feed desire. We empower it. We condition ourselves. And therefore, our words will reflect our level of being with their energetic qualities: the states and qualities of desire, conditioning, mind, ego, which always produce pain.
 
This is very evident when we reflect on our life: how we argued when we should have been silent. But also, when we were silent and refused to speak―to act virtuously―because when you save power, creative energy, you have a reservoir by which to act.
 
So the next step is to know how to use that energy in a spiritual way, in a conscious way. If our level of being is high, if we use our energies to speak words of compassion, integrity, in all relationships, then we will originate new situations, beneficial circumstances, novel opportunities. When we show compassion and speak words of cognizance to others, we mend, we heal, we strengthen our connection to God, the Being.
 
But of course, we have to be careful with our speech, how we use the verb, because speech creates. It can originate heavenly circumstances, or it can originate diabolic situations in which we incriminate ourselves before the divine law, the laws of the Being.
 
This is why in every religion, the power of sound, of language, of recitation, is essential, without exception. The power of sound is spiritual, but if we take that energy with hatred and channel it through our wrath, we produce tremendous pain, which is why every tradition has its ethical conduct. They teach how to use that energy through practices so as to benefit the essence.
 
Hinduism has Japa yoga, which is mantra recitation: repeating sacred sounds through prayer. Many Buddhists meditations, sacred sounds or mantras are used. And the Jewish synagogues―the rabbi's read from the Torah, the great scriptures of Moses. The early Christians of the Gnostics have always had, secretively, many exercises of contemplation that utilize the verb. And then Islam, they recite the Qur’an with melody, with beauty, with strength.
 
Sound is a powerful medium by which we can invoke the Being, the presence of the divine. The Christians always referred to this as Christ, the Word, the Verb, which we can harmonize in ourselves if we live ethically, if we pray, if we visualize, if we imagine. 
 
So if you are familiar with the former lectures in this course, we spoke a lot about imagination. We talked a lot about energy and how all of these integrate, because our ethics, our codes of conduct, our ways of being, are empowered with the sexual force. Our visualization is strengthened through the power of energy, and it is through sound by which we amplify, we magnify our work. Therefore, if our foundation is very secure, if our ethics are strong, if we are working on our mind, then mantras will fuel our practice tremendously. But if we don't act ethically, if we don't know how to behave, how to speak with others in a proper way, to not act with desire, we can really create a lot of problems―because now we have more energy saved by which to act, and if the ego takes that energy, we fortify ourselves as a demon.
 
Our kind words, however, can transform an aggressor into a companion. But evil words can transform a friend into a fiend, an enemy.
 
This is why Christ said:

Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. ―Matthew 15:17-20

So it doesn't matter how clean and upright we seem on the outside, but if our inner sepulcher is filled with dead bones, we will speak with rottenness in every state of our life―unless we change. So upright speech is a foundation of Buddhism, especially, but every tradition as well, every religion.
 
Even the word religion, from Latin religare, means to reunite. We do not reunite people when we speak with the intention to harm, or if we gossip, or lie, or manipulate. Sadly, in spiritual movements, this is very common. It is because people forget ethics. This is why this Sufis taught, “We must always guard ourselves, our breaths, against God Most High,” because that breath is powerful. That vibration is powerful, especially if we are working with the sexual force. So, by protecting our speech, we protect our quality of mind.

The Definition of Mantra

Every meditative tradition offers mantras to help protect our mind. From the Sanskrit man, “to think.” Or the word manas, meaning “mind.” And trai, try, “to protect, to free.” Mantra literally means “mind protection―to free the mind through sacred sounds.”
 
Speech, logos, the word, originates from our psychological state, our intention. And we know in many religions they teach mantras to train the mind―to reach equilibrium, stability. Sound and vibration can harmonize our level of being and it can help calm the mind, control negative thoughts and restrain the ego.
 
Vibration and sound is a means of strengthening our concentration, our essence, so that it can be focused on one thing, without being distracted.
 
Any time we identify with an ego, with anger, with pride, with resentment, with fear, and we speak from that state in a crisis, in an ordeal, we create a lot of disharmony in our psyche. 
 
So going back to the study by Dr. Emoto. Literally water crystals form based off of positive words or negative words. And we know that in science, the human body is at least 80 percent water. So, if we are speaking harmful things or gibberish, disharmonious language, sarcastic expressions, or manipulative dialogue, we are literally charging our body with that force and therefore, even in our biology, we become very chaotic.
 
People who identify with anger and resentment, with pride, with hatred, exhaust themselves. They find that they cannot sleep well. They do not rest well. They cannot pay attention because they have wasted all their energy. They have crystallized and channeled their energy that they have been saving―whether from sleeping eight hours and waking up with fresh vitality―through desire. 

This is why to “curb our tongue” is the beginning. We learn to control our speech, but also, we work with mantras. We need to empower our consciousness, our essence, especially to control the ego when we are tempted. And these mantras help us to vibrate with divinity as we can see hinted at in this image, of a person sitting in a yogic posture, surrounded by a lotus and the seven lights of the chakras: the energetic wheels of the spinal medulla, within the energetic body, are illuminated.
 
The primary benefit of mantra is that it curtails the ego so that we don't act with negativity, because everything begins inside, psychologically. And if we are not paying attention throughout our day, we simply react to life. We do not perceive the causes of suffering and how they manifest in this present moment.
 
As we explained in “The Energy of Awakening,” we need fuel to drive our car, and likewise, the internal bodies need energy in order to operate effectively. The engine of the internal bodies, that which circulates the force of divinity, is the chakras, as we are going to talk about. These energetic wheels or centers, vortices of power, can channel all our psychic, biological, energetic, and spiritual force with balance. This is so we acquire equanimity of mind.
 
We stabilize the mind when the waters are calm and when the energies are flowing peacefully. So, the mind is serene when the ego is absent, so that awakening can occur, and we can experience the Being. We have to remember that to work effectively with mantra, we have to be calm.

So we spoke about nine stages of meditative concentration and how on the path, on Buddhist murals, leading up this winding path of a monk chasing an elephant, it takes less and less effort once we reach the higher stages of concentration, because real concentration is effortless in the highest degrees. But of course, in the beginning we struggle. Our mind, the elephant is out of control, and therefore, with the hook of vigilance and the rope of mindfulness, we chase after that elephant.
 
If you look and are familiar with Tibetan Buddhist image, there is a blazing fire around the curves of the path, which refers to the energy we need―the effort we need in the beginning to stabilize ourselves, to concentrate. Therefore, mantras especially, are effective for that, whether vocal or in silence.

​The Universal Language and Divine Principles

We have innumerable mantras in our tradition. Every religion has its sacred sounds, its words, its mantras, its prayers. Each mantra or syllable represents a force in nature, principles of divinity which we seek to embody, to express.
 
So first, the Word originated all. First comes sound, and then the calligraphy, the geometry, the scripted patterns of language, which we find in every religion. Just as every religion has its Bible, these bibles are written in different languages, which all carry and embody profound principles. While an infinite of different mantras exist, within the languages across the globe, they all originated from the Being.
 
The Being, God, is a multiple perfect unity. Divinity is one perfect light expressed through millions of masters. So, we have to remember that each master is an angel, a buddha, a god, a prophet, a luminary: one who embodies the Verb, the Word. 

This principle is beautifully expressed in the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, in his fourth movement of that symphony, the choral movement―in which you hear many voices, many masters, but one harmony and one melody, which is Christ.
 
This sound is the perfect joy of Being, the happiness of liberation from the mind. It is the fire of creativity, the fire of genius that inspires all the great musicians and classical composers, the great artists of humanity. And if you are interested in learning more about how this is the case, you can study our lectures on The Secret Teachings of Opera.
 
Samael Aun Weor, in The Spiritual Power of Sound states:

There is a universal language of life spoken only by Angels, Archangels, Seraphim, etc. When the sacred fire blooms in our fertile lips made verb, the word becomes flesh in us. All the mantras known among the occultists are just syllables, letters, and isolated words of the language of the Light. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Spiritual Power of Sound

What does it mean that the sacred fire blooms on our fertile lips made verb? Fertility has to do with sexuality, creativity, when we are taking that energy and raising it up our spine through exercises of transmutation, so that that fire manifests in our words, in our speech.

And all the mantras of the world of the Gnostic tradition help us to articulate that light, because mantras are very specific. They operate based on laws in the cosmos, of which the angels are manifest, of which they know and express with perfection.
 
Ancient languages carry tremendous power, especially because they are more accurate expressions and depictions, articulations of divine principles. So we study and apply different mantras from all faiths, because these mantras represent distinct qualities, forces we need to incarnate, to embody, which is why Samael Aun Weor stated in The Spiritual Power of Sound when he quotes the Book of John:

The Gods create with the power of the word, because, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1). ―Samael Aun Weor, The Spiritual Power of Sound

Different languages contain and retain spiritual power. This is why the great religions of the world have lasted for so long. I believe even Dion Fortune wrote in one of her books how the Catholic Church has subsisted through millennia because of the Latin Mass. Latin is a mantric language like Hebrew, Chinese, Tibetan, Arabic, Sanskrit. These languages, in their Genesis, in their provision to humanity, carry tremendous force. Each letter of the Hebrew or Sanskrit, Tibetan, Latin, Arabic alphabets represent principles and forces, which we can self-realize in ourselves. They represent laws of nature, and that is why these languages channel energy, because they operate as a conduit of receiving divine aid.
 
So the Latin Mass as the center of the Catholic Church, helps to invoke divine force. The problem becomes that many of the people who attend Mass, they feel the power and the beauty of that tradition, but because they do not circulate the energies in themselves. They do not awaken. They may feel inquietudes in the heart and appreciation for the symbolism of the Mass and they feel the power of the Latin, yet they cannot circulate and incarnate that force because they are not working with their own energies. They are not awakening. 
 
This is why Dion Fortune and even Samael Aun Weor wrote that, "Ritual is like dynamite." Ritual and mantra, as symbolic expressions and prayers using the mantric languages of the world, are a means of invoking divinity. And so the word is very powerful. These sacred evocations were always utilized with respect because with the word comes great consequences.
 
How we speak to others, but also how we speak to God, and how we manifest the Being in ourselves, is critical. But that depends on profound purity of speech: profound respect of the verb, because as I said, our language and our energies empower either the soul or the devil―the consciousness or the mind. It depends.
 
When we work with certain practices, like rituals or prayers, mantras, we have to be very cautious, always returning to our ethics, because with evocation, invocation, prayer, expressing sacred sounds, we are working with a very powerful force. And if we act unethically, instead of using the dynamite to break through the caverns of our own habits, we instead self-detonate. We commit spiritual suicide. This is why ethics is critical.

​Symbolic Notation of the Sacred Verb

So numerous spiritual schools always have their focus in different languages in the written word. Each character within these different sacred alphabets, again represent energy, which we seek to mathematically use with precision, with scientific results, with verification.
​
And when you understand the universal Christic principle: how that Christic divine energy, which is not a person, is in every religion, you understand how each religion depicts the divine, the principles of God, and how they relate to other religions.
 
This is why Dion Fortune wrote in The Training and Work of an Initiate:

All esoteric systems use a symbolic method of notation in their teachings. Each of the symbols employed indicates a spiritual potency, and the ideas associated with them indicate its method of function; their interrelation represents the interaction of these forces. If we have the key to one symbol-system we can readily equate it with all the others, for fundamentally they are the same. ―Dion Fortune, The Training and Work of an Initiate

So the principles are universal, but they are particularized through each language of this cosmic alphabet. So many correlations exist between the Nordic languages, the runes, and their derivatives: Hebrew, Aramaic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, etc. They share their roots in the divine language, which was a language of light that Samael Aun Weor mentions many times in his books, which was spoken by an ancient humanity on our planet, which is long forgotten, ignored. ​

Each letter in these alphabets represent force, potencies in nature, which we seek to access through mantra, through prayer. And in this graphic, we find the zodiac on the left with its constellatory and stellar script, its glyphs map in the stars, the laws of the universe. We have in the middle the Sanskrit Aum with its eternal script circulating outward towards creation, because the mantra Aum, the perfection and creation of divinity, represents how all the universes emerge from that source. And each letter of Sanskrit here circling out can represent the cosmos, the universe, in all of its multifarious and intricate laws, its balance, its harmony. And then we have some magic sigils on the right which relate to the runes, the Nordic yoga as we will explain.
 
So mantras have different purposes. The Sanskrit Om works with the heart, our innermost Buddha, the Spirit, the Being. The Arabic Hu, can relate with the breath and the Spirit as well. And the Sufis chant “Allah Hu Allah,” and many times they pronounce the Shahadah―the declaration of faith in Islam:

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
Lā ʾIlāha ʾIllā Allah, Muḥammadun Rasūl Allah
“There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.

That declaration of faith is also used as a mantra amongst the Sufis, to experience the height of the Tree of Life as we have explained previously.

We have INRI, a Christian mantra [written on the cross of the martyr of Calvary], in Latin signifying Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum: Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews, which is a fire that particularized itself within Jesus. Because Christ, Khrestos in in Greek, means “anointed one” or fire, from Khrestos in Greek and in Latin INRI. It stands for Ignus Natura Renovatur Integra: “Fire renews nature incessantly,” because the Verb, speech, or creation, is the Christ, is an energy.

​Cosmic Symbols as Sacred Mathematics

So a competent esotericist knows the mantras and symbology of their tradition and their practices in relationship to others, such as the Tarot and astrology, which basically encompass many sciences in their depth. We study them with patience so that we can experience their profound symbolism through practice.
 
In the Gnostic tradition, we always examine the original languages of the scriptures so that we can comprehend our practice. We are spending a lot of time talking about these languages because the written word is the expression of the hidden word, the Being, whom we can access when we learn the science. And while the sacred languages of the East are very profound, in the western esoteric tradition, we emphasize Hebrew, which is the esoteric language of the west, the mystical Kabbalah. 
 
As Dion Fortune writes in The Training and Work of an Initiate:

These cosmic symbols are further represented by the letters of a sacred language, which, in the Western Tradition, is Hebrew. Out of these letters are formed the Sacred Names and Words of Power, which are simply algebraical formulas resuming potencies. Thus is the universe represented to the initiate, and he is able to trace the correlation between its parts and see what invisible realities are throwing their shadows upon the world of Maya, illusion. ―Dion Fortune, The Training and Work of an Initiate

So she is explaining that mantras grant us the power and energy to penetrate nature: to see it, to understand it. So, in our former lecture on imagination and fantasy, we spoke a lot about imagination and supraconscious imagination. These abilities allow us to perceive the reality behind phenomena. Likewise, mantra is the fuel. It is the engine. It is the mechanism by which we catalyze and accelerate our development, we empower our meditative discipline.
 
These algebraic formulas are very exact. This is an exact science. Prayers and mantras are perfect mathematics. And we know this because Hebrew, the letters and the words, have numerical value. Each character represents not only a number, but a principle. And just as a key unlocks a certain door, likewise, certain mantras give us access to different regions of consciousness, which is mapped by the Kabbalah.
 
For example the Mantra Pander can help us remain awake within the Being in Kether. Many mantras exist for astral projection such as Fa Ra On, which we have to intentionally imagine and visualize Egypt, the pyramids of Giza. Om Tat Sat invokes the Ain Soph Aur, the limitless light to descend into our minds and hearts, to awaken us.
 
It is well understood that music is mathematics. It is a science as well as an art, primarily because musical notations are mathematical; they are precise. And it is also artistic because it expresses the artist ‘s level of consciousness. So music and sound and art reflect the level of being of the composer, which is why we always look to the great classical initiates, especially the great masters, because they learned how to use sound in a powerful way, in a conscious way, and even supraconscious way; like Beethoven, especially,  Wagner, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and many, many others.
 
Likewise with numerology, the science of Kabbalah. The numerical values of Hebrew, those characters, always arrive at a synthesis, a primal understanding of their meaning. This is in relation to the sacred arcana, which we talked about in a course called “The Eternal Tarot of Alchemy and Kabbalah.”
 
We also have mantric prayers for defense, internally. These are known as conjurations. Conjuration comes from conjurare, which means “to swear an oath together; to invoke or summon.” So when you conjure in the astral plane, an entity that you think is negative, you are asking it to swear upon divinity "In the name of Christ, by the power of Christ , for the glory of Christ, show me your allegiance!"―because you are invoking divinity to come down and to show you the reality of this dream experience, to see what is objective and what isn't. We use the Conjuration of the Four and the Conjuration of the Seven especially, in order to reject negative forces. And we always utilize the Hebrew names because these help us to manifest those divine potencies, so we can receive their aid.

We also open the door to the internal worlds through mantra so that we can witness and experience the causes of phenomena, because everything originates internally first, and then the external world. To reiterate from Samael Aun Weor's book Tarot and Kabbalah:

In Kabbalah, everything is numbers and mathematics. The number is holy and infinite. In the universe everything is measurement and weight. For the Gnostics, God is a geometrist. Mathematics are sacred. No one was admitted into the school of Pythagoras if they were not knowledgeable about mathematics, music, etc. Numbers are sacred. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

So the language of mathematics is Hebrew. Divinity creates through the power of the word, through mantric language, through sound, in order to give mathematical form to our consciousness. Even the Hebrew calligraphy represents geometric vibrations, forms, which are pronounced or produced by sound. This is very well documented in studies of Cymatics, which is the science of how sound waves, cyma, influence and create visual geometric patterns.
 
Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Guggenheim, an electric optics engineer at aircraft industries of Israel, performed a study of sand formation through the influence of sound. After pronouncing Hebrew letters, those characters formed within the sand. This proves that language creates patterns, geometric forms. And the ancient languages such as Hebrew, represent the geometric and geo-spiritual manifestation of the divine.
 
Therefore, it is important to use mantras from our tradition and not to create our own, because mantras work with laws, universal laws, cosmic laws. Creating our own mantras or sacred sounds is a new age novelty, an invention. It has no basis in spirituality. If we wish to create a space in our interior for divinity to manifest, we must work with the universal laws which are mathematics. Just like your key to your car will not open other cars, so too will the supreme vehicle of Mantrayana, the vehicle of sound, will not open to you unless you work with proven methods.

The Laconic Action of the Being

As we explained earlier in this course, the laconic action of the Being is the perfect mathematical expression of the divine. The Being requires no effort to express his perfection within nature and within the consciousness that is awakening.
 
Mathematics and sound are principles of divinity, the Being, and we can invoke and manifest that perfection through sound, which is why Samael Aun Weor mentions in The Revolution of the Dialectic:

The laconic action of the Being is the concise manifestation, the brief action, which in synthesis the real Being of each one of us executes. This action is mathematical and exact, like a Pythagorean table.
 
I want you to reflect very well upon the laconic action of the Being. Remember that above, within the infinite starry space, every action is the result of an equation and of an exact formula. Likewise, as a logical deduction, we must emphatically affirm that our true image, the inner Kosmic Human, is beyond false values. He is perfect. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic

So every action of the Being is like math. It is universal. It is perfect. It is always eternal. And to work with that mathematics of God, we work with Hebrew, especially, which is why we always place special emphasis on the prayers of our tradition, because they have tremendous effect to develop serenity, insight, clarity, and especially inner-strength.

​Consciousness and the Musical Scale

The universe is governed by these laws, especially the law of seven, the law the musical scale. This law is known by Gurdjieff as the Heptaparaparshinokh. It is the law of organization. It is the law of the musical scale: DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI.
 
This musical scale, this law of seven, permeates nature. All of the universe, in astrology, especially, many ancient cosmogonies, many ancient histories of humanity, always speak about the law of seven: seven races upon the Earth or seven root races in Theosophy, seven planets in alchemy, seven virtues, seven vices, seven musical notes. We use the musical scale to refer to a type of psychological and spiritual development. And we also related to mantra.
 
Notice that the lower three notes DO RE MI are mapped out and related to different types of people. We are more or less predisposed to use the intellect, the emotions, or instincts with greater intensity, one more than the others. We have a psychological limp, so to speak. Some of us are more intellectual, some are more emotional, and some were very instinctual.
 
Regardless of our disposition, we want to become balanced, and if you remember the prior lectures, we talked about balancing the three brains. We have to balance our mind, our heart, and our body so that they are calm, serene, in a state of dispassion and equanimity, with clarity. We do that by producing a conscious shock, by working with mantra.
 
The musical note FA relates to a fourth type of person who is balanced: somebody who is not overly intellectual or overly emotional, or always acting in life without thinking or feeling about what they do. A balanced human being understands the three brains and is driving the car well. But to get to that point, to know how to work spiritually with these three brains with balance, we have to work with the musical note FA. 

To reach that point, from intellectual to the fourth type, we have mantras. We have to enter a shock in the consciousness. The note FA relates to an exercise in our tradition known as the Rune Fah, the Nordic yoga. One of the first practices we do when we get up in the morning is we face towards the sun in the East that is rising. We have our left hand and our right hand out, our left hand above our right. Palms outward facing the sun to receive the solar effluvia and energy of Christ, the Solar Logos, the energies of God, which are manifested in the sun, so that we can take that spiritual force and awaken our consciousness―which is why we pray:
 
“Marvelous forces of love! Revive my sacred fires, so that my consciousness will awaken!"
 
So we pronounce and prolong the mantras: “Fa, Fe, Fi, Fo, Fu.”

This mantra work and this runic yoga awakens the consciousness. These energies circulate our fires from sexuality to the brain. We also receive the energies of the prana in the atmosphere so as to charge our temple, our body.
 
So this diagram of the musical scale, traditionally, in the Fourth Way school also refers to the work of alchemy: how we conserve and raise creative energy in different bodies, which in a marriage we create through a surplus of conserved sexual energy, the creative force.
 
The note Sol, relating to the sun, refers to the creation of a solar astral body. These bodies are internal vehicles that can circulate Christ. We need these bodies if we want to become an angel, to be perfect, because divinity cannot mix with the ego. First, we create these bodies, like a lightbulb, so that we can channel these energies clearly, and then by removing all the impurities, we reach perfection.
 
The solar astral body is a great luxury that we need to create through alchemy. It is a solar emotional body: a miniature Logos, which can channel the forces of the sun, the spiritual sun [the note Sol].
 
Likewise, with a surplus of conserved and raised and elevated sexual energy, we create the solar mental body, a solar mind, which is like a beautiful chalice that contains the blood of redemption. The profound energies of sacrifice of Christ, our inner Christ, are the Intimate Christ, which is not a person, but an intelligence inside, whom Christ, Jesus, manifested.
 
And likewise, with another surplus of sexual conserved energy, we create a solar causal body, the Christ Will―a will that only obeys the Being.
 
Now the important thing to remember is that we can only create these vehicles through the power of sound, through mantra within the sexual act, when these notes do not deviate. It means that we have to apply constant effort and diligence so that we maintain our practice and that we never cease to work in ourselves. So, this means if we want to awaken, first that constant shock below, the transition from MI to FA, we have to begin working with mantra―to maintain that balance in ourselves at all times, not identifying as an intellectual, emotional, or instinctive person, but harmonizing ourselves daily.
 
If you work more diligently in yourself and raise those energies and conserve them, establishing your foundation in the fourth type of human being, we can begin to work at higher degrees, which is known as initiation: the creation of the solar bodies.
 
But this scale also applies to our work each day, our moment-to-moment work. 
 
When you balance yourself in your three brains, we have to learn how to work with the superior emotional and superior intellectual centers. These are perfected with the creation of the solar bodies and their development. But superior emotions have to do with the sentiment of the Being, which has nothing to do with sentimentalism or the emotionality of afflicted persons. Likewise, a superior mind knows how to receive intuitive understandings and messages from the superior worlds.
 
We have to learn how to become acquainted with these centers and to create them, to develop them.
 
So, this scale also pertains to any action in life, not only to alchemy. We might fluctuate between notes. We have to initiate and sustain our work, such as through silent or vocal japa: mantra recitation, so that we can initiate that effort to maintain the note Fa, which is awakened consciousness, vigilance, mindfulness, and never forget that we are doing it. When we fall asleep, we are either identified with the intellect, with the heart, or the body, the lower three types of people, which constitutes in the Bible the Tower of Babel, gibberish.
 
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky also mentioned in their Fourth Way school that there is a tendency in students to begin an activity and then end it, starting something else under the illusion that they are doing the same thing. But the reality is that we have deviated. We are not maintaining the same note. We are not raising the octave of our energies so that through their acceleration and elevation, we are awakening higher states of consciousness.
 
So literally, this vertical diagram can show us qualities of being and if we wish to reach the goal, which is the fulfillment of our Christic Will, we can't forget what we are doing at all times. The solar causal note, related to SI, which is the height of this septenary diagram, relates to the fulfillment of our divine Being's will. This is the type of effort from the soul that follows exactly the commandments of the Being. This is the degree like a figure like Moses, like Jesus, like Buddha, many prophets.
 
So we have to learn that when we focus on one thing in life, we fulfill it with completeness. We don't necessarily forget what we are doing. We are attentive at all times. So this has to do with how attentive we are when we perform our daily life. But also can refer to alchemy.

The Chakras

So we also study the chakras. Chakra means “wheel” in Sanskrit. We have to learn to awaken these vortices of energy in ourselves, which the Taoists call Chi. It is the power of awakening.
 
Different mantras activate different chakras. Seven vowels exist in nature in order to awaken the energies of the spine. So these wheels or flowers of the soul, of the vital and astral body, of the internal bodies, are centers by which certain energies circulate. So in our energetic body, we have meridians, nadis, which are channels that circulate the energies of our physicality, our vitality, our emotionality, etc. And when nadis overlap in one area, they form a chakra.
 
So there are not only just seven chakras in our inner being, but there are literally thousands, because the nadis or meridians overlap in many places of our organism.
 
The vital body penetrates the physical body to give it life. 
 
So the seven chakras are precisely the main chakras we work with, because they contain the most power and the law of seven applies here. Seven chakras, seven churches of the Book of Revelation.
 
The vowel “I” (pronounced “ee”) vibrates in the crown Chakra Sahasrara and the third eye, Ajna―awakening polyvoyance or omniscience as well as clairvoyance in the third eye, the faculty of imagination as we explained. 
 
The vowel “E” as in “eh,” awakens the chakra of the throat, Vishudda, the faculty of clairaudience: the ability to hear mystical sounds in meditation and in the astral plane. This chakra also grants us the capacity to understand the Verb. So, when we study a scripture, we work with Vishudda and this mantra “E” in order to awaken that capacity to interpret what the different Bibles and religions teach.
 
Anahata, the vowel “O,” in the heart relates with intuition: the capacity to know without having to think. It also grants us the ability to astral project, because many times when the physical body goes to sleep, if we are attentive, we can project ourselves in the astral plane as a soul through the Chakra Anahata, in order to have a superior projection into higher states.
 
Manipura, the abdominal chakra, the vowel “U,” works with telepathy: the ability to receive psychic messages from other people, from other beings, and to interpret them, to understand them immediately.
 
Svadhisthana, the letter “M.” I know in English, we do not like to think of the letter M as a vowel, but it is not a consonant according to the teachings of gnosticism. We prolong the vowel “M” by closing our lips so that it vibrates at the center of the prostate or the uterus. The vowel 'M' is prolonged like the moaning of a bull―“Mmmmmmmmm…” This prostatic or uterine chakra also has capacities to awaken us in astral projection.
 
And lastly, the Chakra Muladhara, the sacral chakra at the base of the spine, the vowel “S.” “Sssssssss…” which is a fire of the serpent in which Kundalini is enclosed coiled three-and-a-half times, awaiting its awakening in the perfect matrimony. 

By awakening these chakras through mantra, we raise the serpentine fires of our sexual energies up through two circuits of the spine known as Ida and Pingala, or Adam-Eve in the Bible, Od and Obd in Hebrew and Kabbalah―Pingala, the solar masculine energy and Ida, the feminine lunar energies. So, we will give some practices we can use to awaken these forces in a harmonious way, in a balanced way. 

​The Six Parts to Every Mantra

It is also important to remember that there are six parts to every mantra when we work with sound.

​Rishi

Rishi which means “sage, saint,” or “master.” In synthesis, every mantra is given by a master who received that mantra from a deity, a buddha, a god. 

​Meter

There is meter: this has to do with the rhythm, the cadence, the melody, the pronunciation of sacred sounds. Mantras can be sung, and they have many variations, even across and within the same traditions. While these are effective, the true meter of a mantra exists in the internal planes.
 
Samael Aun Weor would often correct student's pronunciation of mantras because they communicate great power whether they are sung or intoned in a certain way. Even the intonation or the meter has precise principles at play that are mathematically precise. So just like we perform a classical composition using many instruments, according to the intention of the composer, it is important that if we want to get the same result, we work with the same method according to the divinity that originated those mantras. 

​Devata

Devata, divinity, God or deity: this signifies how each mantra originates from a Being, from a God, from a deity, an angel, a buddha, a deva. 
 
Each angel is invoked in relation to sacred names, sounds, terms that are utilized within the mantras they gave to the Rishis, the masters. Therefore, we cannot create our own mantras, because mantras invoke specific divinities with mathematical precision.
 
These are laws of nature. We do not make up our own laws. We can believe we are separate from other people in that we can do whatever we want, and yet, there is the law of interdependence. Nothing is separate. Everything depends on other phenomena, whether internal or external for their existence. All of us are submitted to the law of gravity. You can believe that you will fly when you jump off a cliff, but the law is the law. Unless you are an exceptional jinn master, I think that might be a problem.
 
So people can make up mantras and they call upon energies that they don't comprehend. They harm themselves. So, creating our own mantras is something like speaking gibberish, which literally could be perceived as some act of insanity. So likewise, among the angels, the devas, the gods. To speak gibberish is to live within the Tower of Babel, the lower three types of people on the musical scale.

​Bija

We have Bija: the seeds of a mantra. These are the letters that constitute the life or Genesis of mantric words. Just as the seed becomes a flower, Bija, the seed mantra, the letters of a mantra, gives flowering to words, to phrases, to sentences, to prayers. Bija mantras like Om form many other mantras and are the seed of those verses, those prayers, etc.
 
So, from Bija emerged the life of a mantra. It empowers. It gives life to the soul. So these seed mantras are not just physical, but they constitute vibrations. They provoke ecstasies. They help us vibrate at realities outside the body in the superior regions of the Tree of Life. From Bija emerges trees of wisdom, in Being, which are perfected meditators, because these sounds create entire dimensions and realities. For example, Aum or Om is very memorable. It is the root of many mantras. It is therefore a Bija, or a seed mantra, because this sound correlates and articulates many derivations and elaborations. It also relates with our innermost Being, and the same vibrations of this mantra relate to Chesed, the Spirit. 

​Shakti

We also have Shakti. This is energy associated with power and vibration of mantra. Mantras carry power, as we have been explaining, and any spiritual activity relates with the type of vibration, such as the runes. Different runes, different yogic postures with mantra, work for different purposes. Like the Rune Rita for judgment, the Rune Fah for solar force and transmutation, the Rune Dorn for willpower, the Rune Olin for transmutation as well. The vowels awaken different faculties, etc. Each energy has its specific flavor and subtlety we must explore through experimentation.

​Kilaka

And lastly Kilaka. It is the ultimate meaning or the secret significance, the key to the lock: ki-laka. We even find that etymology hidden there. It is like opening a door to a great mystery. It is the meaning of a mantra that you can only learn from the internal planes. For example, we have the mantra Om Masi Padme Hum. In traditional Tibetan Buddhism, they say Om Mani Padme Hum. But in the internal planes, this is how the mantra is pronounced.
 
I remember speaking with certain initiates in the Gnostic movement in the astral plane. They came to my home and we were performing the mantra Om Masi Padme Hum, because in Mani, we find the letter N becomes an “Sssssssss.” It has profound symbolism, which we don't have the time to explain in detail here, but basically we are to working with our vital waters, represented by the letter N or the Hebrew נ Nun. We awaken the fire of the divine. The vowel “S,” the serpentine fire of the serpent, so that we can become a perfect padme, a Lotus of God.

We pronounce this mantra in the astral plane. I was with a group of Gnostics internally and this is how they perform it. This is how we perform it too in our physical schools. And you can learn the hidden meanings of these mantras only through meditation, through profound reflection.

Conclusion: Instructional Videos on Mantras and Runes

Our last two slides are videos which you can access on the pdf for examples of how to perform mantra. We have the famous mantra: Klim Krishnaya Govindaya Gopijana Vallabhaya Swaha, which has the power of protecting ourselves from negativity and the explanations for that mantra can be studied online with great depth, especially in a lecture called Christ, Mantra, Mind Protection, which we find on Glorian.org. 

Likewise, we have the runic exercises, the seven vowels, the seven runes, by which we charge our body and work with energy in nature, in order to fully awaken our potential.
 
So I invite you to ask questions.

​Questions and Answers

Question: Thanks for that for this wonderful lecture, which I really appreciate. Yeah, I have three questions. So I am going to ask you those questions one by one. Are you okay with that? 
 
Alright, so the first one is regarding mantra. Does it matter the way you say that mantra? Let us say in the Gnostic teachings, we have learned we have to pay attention to every syllable of a mantra. However, if we are listening to Buddhist people, the way they do mantra, some of the words, you do not even hear them because they go so fast. I remember the other day in a Buddhist temple, the Padmasambhava monastery, they have an online website and broadcast with them during the day. The way that Master Rinpoche was saying the mantra, he started it slow and then went very, very fast and then slowed down and went very fast. I am asking you: does the way we say mantra, does it matter? And which way is the best? The slow, paying attention to every syllable, or going fast?
 
Instructor: Excellent question. The thing to remember is that when we perform a mantra, we pronounce the syllables correctly, and in the beginning of this is difficult because some mantras are very elaborate. As we know from Tibetan Buddhism, especially at the Padmasambhava Buddhist center / monastery, those monks have been practicing for many years, decades [for] a lot of them. And so when they are performing these Tibetan mantras, they do it with a type of ease that is very familiar and easy, where they can be performing and pronouncing the syllables, even very quickly, which can be difficult for non-native speaker of Tibetan or practitioners or a student of that tradition―very difficult to follow along. So that is one level to that.
 
Now certain mantras according to meter have different pacing and different speed. Some prayers can be performed quickly, some very short or better said, very prolonged. And the only real sure way to learn that and to know with certainty today is by going into meditation and internally investigating. Or being fortunate enough to study under the auspices of an authentic teacher who really knows the tradition well, whether Buddhism or even Gnosis. Because I remember even Samael Aun Weor would spend time correcting students, as I said, who were pronouncing mantras either too fast or too slow, and he knew the inner secret off those mantras―even the meter how they should be sung or pronounced.
 
And fortunately, we do have some audio clips on Glorian.org, which give us a basis for approaching certain prayers.
 
But my answer to the first question is that my assumption is that these monks who are practicing for so long, can perform certain mantras very quickly, that are very elaborate, because that is part of their training, and that is something that has been passed down to them through the transmission of their teaching, their initiation. So there is some validity to that, but if you really want to know the real depth of a mantra, whether you sing it or you prolong it or you say it quickly, that is something that you can only really gather with absolute certainty when you are working with a mantra effectively from an authentic tradition like Tibetan Buddhism, especially. You know, it may depend on the schools, but also your internal experience, if that makes sense.
 
Question: Yes, it does. Thank you. Yes, I am going for the second one. Is a ritual required before wearing a talisman or pentacle, because can anybody just pick up or a talisman and then wear it and then it works?
 
Instructor: Good question. Now certain prayers in our tradition are effective for charging talismans, and I would say the more intentional you are about working to charge, like a pentagram or certain object in your home like an altar, that the more intentional you are and prolonged with your efforts, the better, because the more you work with certain prayers in our tradition, like Conjuration of the Four, Conjuration of the Seven, and especially the Invocation of Solomon. These help to accumulate energy at a very high degree. These are prayers which are very exceptional. They were written down by Eliphas Levi, originally, and have been used in the Gnostic tradition by many initiates.

So you don't necessarily need to have a talisman or some objects. It is actually beneficial if you do, especially if you are learning to channel energy and you want to get additional help, like a Gnostic pentagram with the seven metals that, personally, we know some people who do sell them. I personally own one myself and I found that in order for that talisman to really have effect, it is all dependent on many things: first off, my meditations, my quality of work upon my mind. That is really the foundation, because you can wear the cross or the pentagram or the star of David, and you know many people in society wear these trinkets, but because they are unethical people, they don't have any effect. And those talismans are only effective if we are working in ourselves to elevate our vibration.
 
The best way that you do that is by being consistent, especially with your prayers and practices. I like to perform, before I go to sleep, the Conjuration of the Four, the Conjuration of the Seven, and the Invocation of Solomon. And in our home here, we have a lot of pentagrams. We keep them up in our bedroom, especially, and I have noticed, internally, that when I have done these prayers for a prolonged period of time, in the astral plane, I have seen my pentagrams light with fire, Christic energy. And so those talismans only have power if you are working with them for a prolonged period of time.
 
It is not enough just consecrate it, like you can read in the opening of The Gnostic Bible: The Pista Sophia Unveiled, [see Chapter 1 for how to consecrate pentagrams] but really work with these exercises daily, because then that energy like a snowball accumulates. It gets more magnified, as I said.
 
Question: Okay, thank you. And the third and the last one: for a prayer to work like you just mentioned, does that require some level of faith or ability of concentration and of projection? Because there are many prayers, like you said the conjuration and other kind of prayer. Even though they were written by some very elevated people, however, I noticed that some people might use them―it works, but some other people use them and it doesn't work. So my question is, does that depend of your ability to concentrate, to focus, or what makes a prayer really effective?
 
Instructor: Great question. I will answer that by quoting Hamlet. When King Claudius, who killed his brother, is praying over the murder he committed, he says "My words fly up to heaven, my thoughts remain below, / words without thoughts never to heaven go.” If we lack concentration, then we lack the ability to penetrate the internal planes.
 
The reason why mantra is so valuable is because as an energy exercise, it concentrates our will, helps us to develop focus, so that we can deepen our prayer. Now we can pray at whatever level we are at, and it is necessary. We are at our level of being and we need to pray and to ask for help. It does not mean that we have to be perfectly concentrated to pray and to ask for assistance, but obviously if you want to get an answer, it requires concentration. Because you have to be able to focus on that one question or mantra at the exclusion of everything else.  And when you are accumulating energy, you are acquiring more force to penetrate the subconsciousness and in the internal planes. When you work with those mantras and are focused, you gradually, little by little, gain more concentration and clarity. So they go hand-in-hand.
 
Question: I have a question. There is a few different mantras that Samael mentions and he says this will do, you know, work all of the chakras, and when you look at the vowels for each of the chakras, they have of course their own vowels, but when you look at the different mantra combinations he is giving that says, they work all the chakras, they don't always contain all of the vowels. So how does that work? 
 
Instructor: That's a good question now. Now, I know certain mantras are kind of like a panacea, so to speak―kind of a catch-all phrase. Some mantras, even though they may not contain all the vowels, because of their vibration and their concentration, they do work with every chakra, because you have to remember that not a single chakra of the body is isolated.
 
If we are really working with a certain mantra or chakra specifically, you are learning how to develop that muscle with particular attention. So if you consider it like an allegory of going to the gym, where you work out certain muscles in the day, you might spend a lot more time on your arms, or your back, depending on what your schedule is, or what your needs are. The same thing with mantras, but that doesn't say that because you are working on your biceps, that there aren't other muscles involved there, if you know what I mean, because usually that type of exercise in a spiritual sense, as well as physical, you are involving all the other chakras to a degree.
 
Now, for example, certain mantras like Om, we know is related to the heart, because the vowel O relates that center, the cardiac chakra, but Samael Aun Weor also mentions that the mantra Om awakens the third eye as well. So this mantra actually works not only with the heart but with the third eye, and that is really interesting, because a lot of times we like to box in and compartmentalize things or practices: this is for this, this is for that, but really all of these exercises are very fluidic. They are dynamic and they all relate. So mantras like Fe Uin Dagj is a mantra that I know works with, as a guttural mantra, can relate to the liver or the spleen as well, the hepatic chakras, but he states that mantras like that work upon the whole system. So there is a relationship there, if that makes sense. 
 
Question: Yeah, and I also noticed that there are certain mantras that he says you can use, not only for sexual magic, but just in general as well, and then there are other ones, but he doesn't mention that you can use outside of it. 
 
Instructor: Yeah, and the thing is, I would rely on his instructions, because he gives certain mantras that can be used individually, and obviously with sexual magic, and there is a lot of subtleties and application to those exercises. And being that he is a Rishi, a master, who received those exercises internally from different Devas, that he is very articulate and pretty clear about what those exercises are for. So it is always best to follow the specific context of that mantra.
 
Question: One of the other things too, you know how you are supposed to kind of be visualizing the energy and focusing on the mantra, and when he talks about, you know, doing the different mantras in sexual magic, he doesn't really say what you should be, you know, focusing on or you know, really doing outside of mantra itself. And then it kind of becomes the “Okay, where is my imagination supposed to be in there or what am I supposed to be focused on while doing that mantra?”
 
Instructor: Great question, and a lot of students ask about that because it would seem that the instructions might be vague. You know, we get this a lot where people say, you know, “How do I mantralize when I am connected with my partner and what should I focus on as you said? What should I concentrate upon?” And it is a dynamic thing.
 
If you are practicing alchemy, usually the requisite is that we are already stable within our own transmutation practice: meaning we have already been working to circulate the sexual energy as a bachelor. You know, that is the ideal situation. Not always the case for everybody, but you know, people have their own particular situation. But traditionally in monasteries before they degenerated, they would have the monks and the nuns separate and training for years, learning to concentrate their energies individually so that they learn how to circulate that power with mantra on their own, and to do it with efficacy. And once they learned how to transmute the sexual energy as an individual, then they were given the opportunity, when they deserved it, to get married.
 
Now with alchemy, bearing in mind our ethical conduct and our ability to restrain the sexual energy, there are many things that we can focus on, especially when you are connecting with your partner, if you are married. You want to be able to stimulate that fire that energy through the connection, but not to be so focused on the physical sensations, because it is pleasurable. It is blissful, the expression of love. And in Hebrew the term they use is Eden, which means “bliss,” but not only is it a physical bliss of being united sexually with one's partner, but it is an act of love, and also it is an act of creation. Because those energies become much more magnified in the couple.
 
So the question becomes, what do you do? Well, the same procedure as you did when you are single: circulate the energy, but now it's more challenging, because you have more force and we have to learn to circulate it without lust. You know, and that is the primary factor that we have to concentrate upon: is our lust acting in that in the moment, or we working from a state of meditation, of real love?
 
Question: Like when you are doing Ham-Sah, you've got a specific visualization to be working there with the energy and same with the Egyptian pranayama. But then when you get into with your partner, you are kind of like, “Okay, well, what am I doing with the energy while I am doing the mantra this time?”
 
Instructor: In schools of Tibetan Buddhism, they can get very specific too in their teachings of tantra. When you are practicing alchemy, you can also visualize the energy circulating up the spine, you can imagine those forces, but also you focus on the mantras and the vibration they are invoking. But also, more importantly, is the remembrance of God in the act. That is the most important thing, because if we connect sexually out of ego, we are not going to get the results we want. But if we are acting from a state of equanimity and conscious love for our partner, but also for divinity, then we find that the energy circulates with a greater efficacy, with greater force.
 
You can imagine the chakras when you are connected. You can also feel the power of the sexual energy circulating, and the main thing is, the most important thing is, do not get identified with sensations―you know, with too much movement or too much fire―because that can lead to expulsion from Eden, as we know. But more specifically, my recommendation is concentration on your Being: what is the quality of God in that act? That is the main thread we have to hold onto, because as soon as we forget God, we have lost our presence and therefore there is no creation there.
 
Remember that in the Bible, the Ruach Elohim floats above the face of the waters in the bottomless deep. He says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” Divinity is the one who has to perform that act and we have to be His instrument, and learning that is not easy, which is why we meditate and we learn to separate from the ego. That is the most important thing. And then you can do other visualizations when you are connected, like the chakras or seeing the light of the energies there, and circulating them with will―inward, upward―and with a lot of humility and prayer. That is the most important thing. 
 
Question: I have been working on the... there was a suggested meditation through Glorian and with Aries this month and it's just repeating you know, [the mantra] “I” for an hour, and I was wondering, it says to do that while we are in the sign, but what about after that? Is it how long, do you know? I mean will that be effective after work… I am just trying to figure out how long to do it for and when it is most effective, because it suggested to do it for an hour and that's what I've been doing every night.
 
Instructor: Yeah, those practices of the zodiac, for those who are not familiar, we have exercises in a book called Practical Astrology in which we perform certain mantras and prayers during certain zodiacal periods. So right now, we are under the constellation of Aries. The exercise is to sit in a chair and for the first 30 minutes: you can empty your mind of all thought. Relax. Reach a state of equanimity. You also have other instructions relating to the mantras you perform, but the important thing to remember is that under certain signs of the zodiac, we receive particular help.
 
Now the mantra “I” for an hour is always effective. I mean, really mantralizing an hour each day is ideal, but especially when you do the mantra “I” under the influence of Aries, we have a type of magnification there that is very high. So, there is extra help. It does not mean that those mantras will not be effective any other time. It just means that if you wish to receive even an additional amplifying effect of stellar zodiacal forces, you can work with that mantra during that period.
 
But all the exercises are really powerful. I mean even for Scorpio, the exercise is to practice alchemy, and of course, not everyone that is married can practice that during the sign of Scorpio, but sexual alchemy is very powerful under that zodiacal influence. So, we should take advantage as much as we can with our schedules and our time to work with the zodiac, especially. But it does not mean that these exercises are useless out of their context. They may not have as much force compared to that zodiacal period, but you still can benefit a lot either way.
 
Question: So next month or when it changes, I guess in the middle of this month and it goes to into Taurus, would you say that it would be good to switch them, the vowel “A”?
 
Instructor: You can switch practices if you want. Yeah, so the purpose of that series of exercises is precisely to round off the soul, you know. You can begin with Aries and continue with the rest of the zodiac throughout the year, and that is a very powerful way to charge yourself. But depending on your needs, you may need to work with certain mantras more than others. So, there is an option where you can work with the zodiacal practices according to what your needs are. And the thing to remember is that we practice in accordance with our needs, our disposition so to speak. 
 
Question: So to practice a mantra like the runes. I have been doing a bunch of different runes that I have learned, and I just combine them all and I do the runes three times and then I pray. Then I do the runes three more times and then I pray and I go through a series of them. Is there some kind of a sequence that I should actually be following? Am I supposed to be doing that seven times or is three times through enough for it to be effective?
 
Instructor: Gauge your mind. Evaluate your body. Evaluate your energy. Some people need to practice seven rotations, three rotations. You know, when I would do runes, I would do for an hour or even to three hours a day, because there were times in my life where I needed that. And that may fluctuate for certain people, you know. We all have different needs, and I would not argue that there is one set way to do everything, because you know, even with the writings of Samael Aun Weor, there are so many exercises to do. You know, obviously we need to meditate each day, that is the important thing: work on our ego. But how we approach meditation, how much mantra work we do, runes sacred rights, etc., depends on our own needs. You have to learn to listen to your heart, because your intuition is going to tell you, “You need to do this more times or less.” It depends. It is up to your Being.
 
Question: I wanted to ask about the different chakras. You have the picture of that, and so if we are physically ill with a chronic disease, does it mean that some of our chakras or a particular one that is closest to that body part that we have a condition of, does that mean that particular chakra or more is also sick?
 
Instructor: Yes, it can be, more specifically. Now, if we have certain physical conditions, maybe we have a lung problem or a mental problem, an emotional problem, a throat problem, those sicknesses originated from the internal vehicles. So, if you wish to heal those areas in your body, you can work with mantras that vibrate at that level, and that is a very great way to heal, especially.
 
But the important thing is if you are sick and you are struggling, not to force the body so much with vocalization, because I know a lot of people can struggle with vocalizing for an hour. Some people may need to do 15 minutes or even 5 minutes a day, whatever their abilities are. But little by little we gain stamina and greater will. But mantras relating to the organs can be good, especially, because those sicknesses do not just come out of the physical body, but they originated from the vital body, the astral body, the mental body, etc. 
 
Question: So working with the [mantras] I E O U A would be the best way to activate or to circulate, or to heal the chakras then?
 
Instructor: It can be. If you want to have a more balanced approach, if you feel like all your chakras need to be worked upon. The seven runes or the seven vowels are really great for that. But some people may feel like, “I feel like my heart” for example, they could say, “or my mind or my spine is having difficulty. Therefore, let me work on that particular point that we can identify.” But if you want to work overall through the different centers, you can work with the seven runes, especially. Those are exceptional.
 
Question: Okay, and someone mentioned about a mantra that will make all the chakras vibrate. Is that the one that is from the Kundalini Yoga book and I don't really know how to pronounce it. Is that the one that comes to your mind?
 
Instructor: I think there's one called Fe Uin Dagj. There are others like Om Masi Padme Hum is one. If you pronounce it a certain way, you can encompass all seven vowels too, but even just doing I E O U A M S is powerful. Seven vowels: I E O U A M S [See Mantras and Pronunciations].
 
Question: Okay. Or the Om Masi Padme Hum that you were talking about? 
 
Instructor: Yes.
 
Question: On the point of the lady who just spoke as well. I am wondering if there would be a mantra to help with this. You know, how we can get virus and bacterial...There are so many different kinds of bacterial infections in the body. Now, if we have done everything we can in the physical world to deal with that and it is still, you know, not working, then of course there would be something else that is causing that and from what I recall reading Samael, he mentioned some things about, you know, those not necessarily being, you know, just bacteria having, you know, a life of their own. So, I am not really sure what would be going on with my aspect in that, but is there mantras for that kind of thing that you would recommend?
 
Instructor: I would recommend going in the astral plane to talk to the judge of the law, Anubis, because we can do our best to heal ourselves, doing certain mantras,  whether whatever condition we might have, but if we are not getting the results we want, the reality is that we might have a karma that needs to be paid. And so that is something we would have to go in meditation to ask internally.
 
The best way to you know, to reach that state, is to negotiate with the law, which you know, we have exercises that help us to speak directly to Anubis, who is the judge of karma within the laws or tribunals of divinity in the astral plane. So, if we learned to project in the astral plane, we can speak to him directly and ask, “What can I do to overcome this illness, this sickness, this karma?” 

There is the rune Not, which I recommend if it is a great crisis for you, to work with that rune. And the way that you do it is that you have a certain postures you perform with mantras, and you pray to Anubis and you state, “In order to receive this healing that I am asking for, I will do this, this, and this,” or whatever promise you make that you are going to fulfill: a certain deed as payment for your requested aid.
 
We have to remember that the law of karma is compensation. We never receive something without having earned it, but also the law is not a blind law. It is a law managed by divinity, so we can ask for credit. Like you go to the credit card company, you file for a new credit card, you are allowed to get new access to things and opportunities. But so long as you pay what you owe, you are fine, and you can balance things and learn to live more intelligently. The same thing with divinity and the same thing with karma.
 
Now, the Rune Not in The Magic of the Runes, especially, by Samael Aun Weor, has a practice by which you can negotiate your sicknesses. Personally, many years ago when I was very sick, I had a condition, or I suffered through a condition where I was suffering tremendously. And so, I was praying to Anubis, “Please help me to be healed of this, and in exchange for this work that I am doing, I pray that you heal me.” And after doing that rune for many months, practicing very diligently, I got the results I asked for. But only because I did what I said I would do.
 
If I did not do as I promised I would have, I would have died. They would have taken my life, because nobody can mock the law. If we owe something, we have to pay it. But it does not mean that we pay mechanically through pain. We pay it with intelligent and charitable deeds, if that makes sense.
 
Question: I have a question regarding mantras and in reference to chakras. Sometimes when I am doing a mantra like for example Ham-Sah, sometimes I know the center, where it is or what is supposed to be happening action-wise. Sometimes I find that if I concentrate too hard on that particular action, that the connectivity to God is lost and it is more about my driving for something.
 
For example, like Ham-Sah. I learned it from the standpoint of bringing the energy up with Ham and then out the heart with Sah. Sometimes if I just wish to engage with God in it, my intention is to do that. That is the intention, but I find sometimes I'll have Ham and it echoes in my feet. I feel vibrations elsewhere. I feel a different action inside occurring, but it will lead to, sometimes that will then lead to what was originally intended to go there. It is just a different form of the same thing. Like one is about more concentrating on what you want to do while the other is more exploring to get to destination? Or do you have any thoughts? 
 
Instructor: My suggestion―and we get this question quite a bit―my suggestion is that whatever the exercise is telling you to focus on, make that your focus, because part of the value of these mantras or pranayamas like Ham-Sah is that you are not only learning to circulate energy, but you are developing your concentration simultaneously. And we cannot do that if we are distracted. So, if you are sensing things in your feet and you let that become your focus, that tends to be a distraction more than anything.
 
I recommend with Ham-Sah, focus on the inhalation, especially and the mantralization of Ham, because you have to prolong that mentally as you bring the creative energies up your spine to your head. And then let it sit there for a moment. Feel the retained breath and the serenity of the retention of that energy in your mind. And then gently exhale. Bring it to your heart. So, if you are sensing other things and it happens, you start to sense energy in your body, but the problem becomes in our mind. You know, we can be sensing all these psychic phenomena and they could be fascinating and interesting, but if we let that be our focus of our concentration, we lose the practice as you were implying. 
 
Question: I think where I get confused is: if I find that if I focus on Ham-Sah in particular, because it was one of the first ones I ever learned. What I run into and this is something to work on is the troubles in the mind regarding that and the process of Gnosis up to this point. In a way it is like, is it possible to have these other sensations, but to still have the intention and focus and to lead to that? It is almost like it bypasses a problem in order to arrive to the point, but that doesn't mean the problem has been dealt with. Because it is almost like focusing on like.... like originally that was easy to do.  Just focus on the breath, but now sometimes it is almost like the focus is too hard.
 
I don't mean hard, like difficult, I mean like there's too much focus. Does concentration ever have… it is an ego obviously that something is wanting. Is it better then to stop the mantra and address that “want” in meditation? Or because what I am doing seems to be arriving to a point, but bypassing a problem, trying to bypass a block of some kind.
 
Instructor: When you are practicing transmutation, we start to sense energy. We sense a lot of things. We see a lot of things, but there comes a point in our preliminary exercises where once the energy is circulated and we feel enough focus in ourselves to really begin meditating, that you can leave the pranayama alone. So, if you found that you have enough energy to begin concentrating yourself to work on your mind, then you can stop the transmutation and focus on your concentration.
 
Real concentration is relaxed. It does not take exertion, and we talked many times about how, when you are working effectively with pranayama, you are going to get sleepy, get relaxed. You know, you might be breathing more deeply, you might be yawning or inhaling more air so that your body mind and heart calm. And that is the place, if you really are concentrated and relaxed enough, but focused, that you can begin meditating: concentrating and reviewing your day, doing retrospection meditation.
 
But the first step is do not get identified with the body. Do not move around. Do not necessarily get identified with energy―and letting that become a dichotomy of “should I pay attention to this? Should I ignore it?” That becomes a conflict. If we are really working effectively with pranayama, you will find that all of that will dissipate.
 
So, pranayama leads into pratyahara and pratyahara means suspension [withdrawal] of the senses. If we are really affected with our pranayama practice, really circulating the energy well, the mind is going to stop chattering. It is going to stop thinking so much, and then the imagery of the internal worlds will start to open. So, my suggestion is relax, and do not overthink it so much. Do not identify with sensations because they are not reliable.
 
Comment: I get that could even apply to identifying with when one is doing the intent. Like one is doing what they intended, the correct, so to speak, that can be identified with it as well. 
 
Instructor: Yeah, and that is a problem in Gnosis that we develop a gnostic ego that thinks “I am doing the practice: I am checking off my asana. I got my incense. I got this and that.” And we are making a big list of “this is what I am doing right,” and meanwhile, we are ignoring that we have made it mechanical. Meditation is not mechanical at all. It is very fluidic, dynamic, profound. It is always new every time, and the way that we know that we are meditating well, is that we are seeing the practice in a new way each time we sit. It is not repeated. It is always something new. Because the truth is the unknowable from moment to moment.
 
Question:  Yes, one last question. I know right now for Aries there is an exercise on that book of Samael when he says for this time, for this on zodiac time, we can… there is an exercise that said use your hands, get your thumb to seal the ears and the index finger to seal the eyes and the ring finger and the middle finger to seal the nose, and the last one on the mouth. But when I am doing it, I am trying to figure out how long can you hold that? Because if we feel the nose, you know, we cannot really breathe? I would like to know if you are familiar with this exercise. How do you do it? Do you like seal the nose and hold the breath and then get it out and then start again? So, I would like to know if you used to do it, how you do it?
 
Instructor: Exactly as you said exactly is how you do it.  You might hold your breath for a little while, but do not force yourself so that you become blue in the face. But you know, you want to be able to, you know, close the nostrils and the mouth and all the parts of your body so that you become, like in a metaphorical way of saying it, like in an isolation tank. You think of an isolation tank as you lie in a pool of salt water in the dark and you hear no sounds, no movement. All you are doing is floating like in space, and you are left with your mind. You are left with your consciousness. So, then you have to learn to work with imagery. The same thing with this practice. You do close off your mouth and your lips and your nose and your ears and your eyes and just concentrate on visualization. But you know, you do have to take a few moments to breathe. But do not necessarily force it so much, because you don't want to be holding your breath for so long or breathing too rapidly where the focus of the practice is now just on breathing, rather than the concentration and imagination.