Why Do We Say That Rishis See Mantras and Not Hear?

Who are rishis?
In general terms — mantra drashtaro rishayaha — rishis have seen mantras.
Mantras have been shown to them, revealed to them by Parameswara.
They are blessed beings.
This happens when they do tapas.

When you do tapas, your mind goes on becoming more and more empty.
There are no desires, there are no emotions.
That will take them towards samadhi.
In samadhi also, there are two kinds of samadhis — samprajnata and asamprajnata.
In asamprajnata, the chitta of the mind is totally blank,
except for the monitoring that you do — that nothing raises its head in the mind.
In samprajnata, a single object is there in the mind upon which you focus.
They are also called nirvikalpa and savikalpa.
Logically, mantras are seen in the savikalpa state because nirvikalpa is absolutely blank.
Or even if the revelation is in nirvikalpa, then the mind comes out of nirvikalpa.

Not just mantras.
Ramayana says Valmiki Maharshi went into yogavastha and the whole story of Rama played like a movie in his mind, which he wrote down as 24,000 shlokas.
Bhagavata also says the same thing.
While Sage Vyasa wrote the other Puranas out of traditional knowledge, Bhagavata appeared in his mind during samadhi.
Same with Mahabharata also.
Vyasa was observing tapas at the base of the Himalayas and all the content of Mahabharata started showing in his mind, like a movie.

So, mantras are shown to rishis in their samadhi.
Why is it said that they are shown and not heard?
What do they see — the alphabets of the mantra?
No.
They see the knowledge pertaining to a particular mantra.
Then they convert it into an audible form and give it to us.
It is like you visit a place and describe it to someone.
But there is a difference.
The mantras that the rishis reveal to us are not like ordinary speech.
They have the power to manifest.

Say, for example, a rishi for the first time sees the phenomenon called lightning in his state of samadhi.
Before this, lightning has never occurred in the universe.
What would come out of the rishi after this is speech — audible sound in a certain way, a certain pattern of sound vibrations.
Originally, for the first time, when this sound comes out of him, the lightning actually manifests in the universe for the first time.

How did Brahma create?
Through his manasa putras.
Who are these manasa putras?
Rishis — Atri, Bhrigu, Kratu, Marichi.

Who shows the mantra to them? Their father, Brahma.
Where does Brahma get it from?
Knowledge is eternal.
They are always there.
It is called amrita.
Parameswara delegates the responsibility of creation to Brahma and gives him the portion of knowledge which is needed for creation.
When I say creation, it does not mean only the creation process — whatever is needed for the sustenance of the world and also what is needed for its elimination.

That is why you see all three in the Vedas — Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra.
This is not all knowledge.
Just that much which is needed for creation.
Then Brahma reveals them in the minds of his manasa putras, rishis — some of it to Atri, some of it to Bhrigu.
Then sound in the form of mantras comes out of them.
They don't compose or create them.
They just come out.
Do you have to put effort to breathe?
No, it happens involuntarily.
Like that, mantras come out of them.

Then that sound manifests into objects.
Like the corresponding mantra of lightning — when it comes out of the rishi, lightning manifests.
Like that — for every object, every thought, every emotion, every relation, every situation —
they all have corresponding mantras.
They all manifest and start interacting with each other.
This is what the world is.

Now, these mantras — when chanted in the proper way, following the proper method —
at any time can manifest the corresponding object or emotion or whatever.
For example, chant shanti mantras — it will manifest peace.
Chant Manyu Sukta — it will manifest courage and rage among fighters.

The collection of mantras is Veda, which has knowledge at its base.
The meaning of the mantra need not always reveal what it manifests.
It is not like an instruction manual.
The mantra may not even contain a term corresponding to what it can manifest.

This is one of the ways to understand about rishis.
There are several other aspects also — like rishis are primal energies.
Rishis are also nakshatras.
The saptarshis — you can see them in the sky.
We will try to explore these later.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi