According to Sri Aurobindo, mantra is the poetic expression of the deepest spiritual reality.
The inspired Word secretly comes from the home of Truth (sadanam ¨tasya, RV (1.164.47)) above the mind. It is plunged first into our intuitive depths and emerges imperfectly to be shaped by the poetic feeling and intelligences.
There is a subliminal power, the transmitting agent, concealed in some secret cavern, nihitam guh¢, RV (1.130.3), (1.164.45); guh¢hitam, RV (4.7.6); nihitam guh¢v¤ª, RV (10.71.1).
The more we can bring in of its direct power and vision, the more intuitive and illumined become the words of our intelligence.
A mantra is potent with a certain power. What kind of power is it? The essential power of the mantra is to make us see the world or thought beyond our senses. This contact with the supra-physical world endows the person, who sees, with a certain power the intensity of which depends on the person.
The reciter of mantra experiences the rasa which was enjoyed by the poet-seer (kavi).