There are topics that feel almost taboo to discuss in public, and mantra practice sits squarely among them. Yet much of what’s said about mantras in classical texts is not occult so much as carefully framed: initiation matters old masters said, context matters, and a great deal of the power attributed to a mantra is bound up with disciplined practice. That is all not so relevant. What is relevant is to do it with absolute presence.

Below is a compact, practical summary of key points from a classic exposition on mantra, what Om signifies, what a bija is, and how sound, breath and visualization work together.

Om: more than a syllable

Om is the archetypal mantra. In the Vedic tradition it encodes the waking, dreaming and deep-sleep states: the gross, subtle and causal layers of experience. Phonetically Om arises from the joining of a + u + m; pronounced correctly in Sanskrit it is a single sound that, in teaching, stands for the whole. In japa (repetitive mantra practice) Om functions as the sign of the divine: a compact symbol of the Absolute. Repeating it is not merely vocalizing a word but entering a long tradition. In short: Om points beyond content to the one consciousness in which waking, dreaming and sleep appear and disappear.

Bija mantras: seed-words and deity-form

Alongside Om in many mantras you will often find a bija, a “seed” syllable drawn from tantric practice. Bija mantras are terse, potent syllables connected to particular deities, they are called words of power for a reason. While Om signifies the undifferentiated Absolute, a bija links you to a specific form of the divine: Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Kali, Durga and so on. The teaching here is important: you are not meditating on an abstract Absolute in japa but becoming that Absolute in a particular guise. Hence a bija is not symbolic trivia; it is meant to bring about a precise transformatory alignment in the practitioner. That only happens if you are aware in the act!

Nada and bindu: sound and point

Technical doctrine speaks of nada (mystical sound) and bindu (a subtle point). Nada is the subtle, vibratory aspect of sound, the first manifestation of will. Bindu is the point in which multiplicity is held in potential; diagrammatically it is the center of the yantra, the seed in which the cosmos is withdrawn. Mantras are often described as composed of these two poles: the audible vibration and the central seed. Together they constitute both the means and the locus of transformation.

Practice elements: breath, visualization, puja

This teaching is practical, not merely metaphysical. Breath and sound are paired: an inhale may be aligned with “hung” and an exhale with “sa”, so every breath repeats the mantra internally. In ritual worship (puja) the priest may visualize protective flames or scatter sanctified water while uttering a bija , a disciplined practice that can, for the adept, produce visionary phenomena. Importantly, visualization is not presented as mere imagination but as a phase of practice that can mature into direct inner visions with sustained sadhana.

Mantra is at once symbolic and operational: Om as universal sign, bijas as deity-seeds, nada as the subtle sound, bindu as the symbol for the absolute consiousness envolding in the now. Together they form a compact ‘technology of inner regulation’ a means to steady the manifold layers of the psyche and open the possibility of direct, inner experience. Discussed soberly, without sensationalism, these practices reveal themselves as disciplined uses of sound, breath and attention, powerful, precise, and not for casual adoption. Shunyam Adhibhu