There are 70 million Maha Mantras.
How do Maha Mantras differ from ordinary mantras?
Here is an ordinary mantra, for example: Om Namo Narayanaya.
Their distinguishing feature is OM at the beginning.
Or Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Namah Shivaya.
And so on.
These are all technical mantras. They are used in various Brahmanical ceremonies.
Respect is expressed toward a particular Deity or Cosmic Force.
These are not Maha Mantras.
Maha Mantras are a DIRECT indication of the Supreme Power.
They are its PERSONAL, individual "code."
In other words, its NAME.
I have already explained all this in detail at my Shantaram Ashram for a long time, and I continue to do so.
Now I am saying all this simply for ordinary people.
If you have friends, children, and so on, you do not call them Om Nikolai or Om Valentina Namaha
You simply say Kolya, Valya...
These are very personal things.
Without any rituals.
Rituals are needed for something.
Once the goal has been achieved, the ritual is no longer needed.
However, yes, there are people who are fixated on the rituals themselves as the goal.
You all remember that parable of the Buddha, where a man carried a boat around with him all the time...
And what is the purpose of rituals?
To reach the level of direct communication with the Supreme Power.
And I also provide this at my Ashram.
Everything is in the NAME.
And then it will no longer be Om Namah Shivaya, but simply—Shiva.
Shiva Shiva Shiva—now that is a Maha Mantra.
Rama Rama Rama Ram, and so on.
As I already told you, there are 70 million Maha Mantras.
The Vedas say that one must possess a powerful intellect to know them all.
You probably have a very powerful intellect?
You surely remember them all right now
I have not been so fortunate as you
I am a little foolish.
And the Vedas say that of all these 70 million Maha Mantras, there is one supreme, principal one.
And what does that mean?
It means that you do not need to know all the Maha Mantras; it is enough to know the highest one.
Let us suppose.
I have many different binoculars.
Some less powerful, some more powerful, some even less powerful, some even more powerful....
I have a million pairs of binoculars.
Can you imagine?
A whole million different pairs of binoculars.
But one of them is THE most powerful.
Through it I can see the Moon, its craters, and even the smallest craters...
Do you understand?
That means I do not need the other binoculars.
This one alone is perfectly adequate for me!
Why would I need those other binoculars?
You do understand which Maha Mantra I am talking about, don't you?
The one Brahma himself gave you. The Cosmic God.