Mathoor Siva Temple (Pannithadam)

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situated in mathoor

NaMaSiVaYa → SiVaYaNaMa, SiVaYaMaNa
created by anoop andamukkil e-mail www.anoo447@yahoo.com


Mantra is the sound-body of a god; Yantra depicts the sound-body in a diagram: just imagine Mantra is the computer code while Yantra is the computer electronic circuit board. Mantra = (Man = is to think or meditate + Tra = is to protect = That which protects upon meditation) Yantra = instrument, engine, apparatus, amulet with mystical diagram endowed with protective occult powers. Yantra is a plate or paper on which geometric figures are drawn which concentrate the power of god. Tantra is a systemized way of offering worship. Mantras are chanted according to the rules of Tantra; the vibrations gather on the surface of Yantra and bounce off on their way to the specified god. The vibrations come into contact with the god, gather power and blessings and return back to the Sadhaka (chanter of Mantra) suffuse him with divinity and confer on him supernatural powers. Thus Mantra, Tantra and Yantra are complementary to each other.

An analogy to explain Mantra and Yantra: Mantra is your name and Yantra is your body, depicted on a paper as a line diagram. When you see your line diagram, you say your name; that is Mantra. Think of the deity who carries the specific Mantra and Yantra.



Mantras are not devised by sages or gods but were revealed by gods. Ajapa (A + Japa = No + Chant) is the primal Mantra. This chantless Mantra pervades the breath going in and out, the subtle sound ‘sah’ going in and the subtle sound ‘ham’ going out. (Sa = Siva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, or Gauri [Parvati or Sakti]; Ham = I am; so = Parvati.} As one chants this subtle-sound Mantra ‘soham’, a derivative of ‘sah-ham,’ ‘Hamsa’ comes into being by inversion. Soham, Hamsa and AUM (Pranava) are equipotent.



Tirumular says that AUM, though a three-letter word, is a one-letter Mantra. Soham is the unintonated sound of normal breathing, meaning ‘I am He.’ Hamsa, meaning ‘Swan’ as in RamaKrishna Parma-Hamsa, stands for an ascetic --Hamsan. Some call Hamsa a goose (Anser indicus). To the average Indian, goose does not sound very appealing compared to swan, which is said to have the mythic ability to separate milk from water.

(Yes, I see the retort coming; when the water is separated from the milk, you get desiccated powder milk. That is a swell swan. Sixty-five years ago and before in India in my time as a child, the milk venders brought the milch cow to the door step, tipped the milk container upside down and milked it right in front of the housewife. [Some owned the cows to avoid the hassle with the milkman.] Tipping was to show her that the milk container did not have any water and or rice flour to add bulk to the milk and fetch a higher price by adulterating it with rice water. Some housewives cocked their ears to the metallic sound generated by the first jets and squirts from the mammillae of the cow's udder. We, as children, listened for the onomatopoetic sound of the milk squirts, "Soin, Soin" when they hit the metallic bottom of the milk can. We went ahead and told everybody that we heard the Soin, Soin, attesting to the honesty of milkman. The milk co-ops, having come to know the rice-water foolery and chicanery, measured the butter fat before they accepted the milk for sale. A better substitute would have been to let the swan do the job!)

Hamsa. The wild goose (Anser indicus) is known for its discipline, grace and beauty. The west's association of goose with a silly or foolish person or simpleton does not apply here. Yes, there it is, the culture gap. In Vedic times, Hamsa, the bar-headed white goose was associated with the sun, Spirit, Atman, knowledge, prana, Brahman and life itself. Hamsa = ham + sa. Ham is exhaled breath and sa is inhaled breath; thus, Hamsa is life. Hamsa is a high flyer and thus a metaphor for spiritual endeavor to attain Brahman. The Indian goose is also associated with Brahma and Sarasvati as their Vahana (vehicle of transport). Usually the white swan is portrayed as the Vahana of Brahma and Sarasvati.