Counting and concentration in Gayathri japam...

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavathas :

 

Greetings on this great day of avani avittam. Last year,

I remember, there was a query about counting 1008 for

gayathri japam (which this year is tomorrow) and keeping

the concentration . I am sure a similar query may arise

on many such occasions concerning meditation. Some times

instead of concentrating on the Lord and his kalyana

gunas, the mind is entirely busy remembering whether it

is 254th or 255th time that the manthram concerned is

being recited. So the tension between concentration on

the Lord (one of the main dimensions of meditation in the

first place) and the counting of chanting/recitation is

a real one.

 

Our acharyal have gifted us with several solutions and

adiyen has one more suggestion as a solution for this

problem and it is my pleasure to share this with all.

 

This method is based on time calculation. Each of us may

take different amount of time to chant Gayathri manthram

say 10 times (because of our breathing rhythm, the speed

of speech - uchharanai - we are used to and the amount of

time we are willing to allocate for such purposes, your

own plans for that morning or later that day and so on).

Therefore, this method requires us to find unit time

i.e., time taken for one chanting. Then the total time

can be easily calculated.

 

Steps involved :

---------------

A. Finding the average time taken for chanting 10 times :

 

Before proceeding with the 1008 gayathri japam I suggest

that you take three attempts and time each attempt. A

stop watch is ideal but even an ordinary watch will do.

Take the watch and note the number of seconds it takes

for you to complete 10 recitations of gayathri in your

normal speed. Repeat this procedure two more times (but

not immediately - give a few minutes gap). Best would be

to time the Gayathri japam portion of today's evening

sandhyavandanam or tomorrow morning's sandhya vandanam

and use these also as samples.

 

Once you have the three sample timings, from that you can

work out the average time it takes for chanting 10 times.

Let us say the first time, it has taken 44 seconds to

complete chanting Gayathri japam 10 times; on second

attempt it has taken 49 seconds; and on third time it has

taken 46 seconds. The average is thus roughly 46 seconds.

 

B. Scaling up :

 

So for chanting 1000 times for this person it would take

4600 seconds or roughly 76 minutes. Add a factor of

safety depending on your own experiences. Let us say this

person added 4 minutes as factor of safety.

Total is thus 80 minutes.

 

C. Proceeding with 1008 japam :

 

Once the total time is known, the mind is free from

counting and can concentrate on the Lord and leave the

counting to time and rhythm. Set a stop watch or an alarm

for the total time and on you go...

 

This method can work not only for Gayathri for any japam

(including kamokarsheeth we did today).

 

 

If you use this method, as a symbol of gratitude please

add some amount of your choice to the dakshinai you are

sending to the kainkaryakal/acharyal of your choice (for

using the sankalpam etc. today, for instance, in NA send

your cheques to Prof. Dileepan as Sriman Sadagopan has

already suggested; if in India, send it to the

Koorttalwan kainkaryam that is being planned as Sriman

Velukkudi swamy has suggested).

 

Emberumanaar thiruvadigale saranam

Adiyen

Anand

----------------------

P.B. Anand

p.b.anand

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Anand for a great idea. I too focus more on the counting

than I'd like, and what's more, my hands start to hurt after two

to three hours of moving my fingers!

 

I'd like suggestions from List members about what particular forms

they concentrate on when they do their japam. For a while I used

to concentrate on Nitya Kalyana Perumaal of Tiruvidavendai (I can't

say why, He just came into my head), but now even He does not stay

fixed in my mind. It was also easier when I had a direct view of

the sun. When doing the japam outside, it was easy to concentrate

on the Paramapurusha as the indweller of the sun. However, now I

am forced to do my japam inside. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

emberumaanaar tiruvaDigaLe SaraNam

Mani

[Guest guest]

Reply-To mani

 

 

Sri Anand, Excellent idea - I had never thought of this before.

Actually it is so simple and yet effective.

 

Mani,

Last year for the gAyatrI, I tried concentrating on the Lord as

ramAsakhA imagining Him to be varAha avatAra. Actually the idea for

this came from a manuscript written by my grandfather-uncle on

prANAyAma where he describes the Lord to be meditated upon as

bhUvarAha. But the form (as per his description) was far too involved

to be concentrated upon (unless one is used to that) for especially an

early-morning week-day gAyatrI.

 

So, this year I hope to concentrate on the Lord simply as Kesava since

that is how he has come to our abode in the form of a sAligrAma.

Kesava with four chakrAs and Sree in his heart is far easier to

concentrate than ramAsakhA, especially because that is how I imagine

Him to be while performing bhagawad ArAdhanam. I think one or at most

two attributes of Him are all I can concentrate on effectively.

 

Hope to hear many more thoughts on this.

 

|| sarvam srI krSNArpaNamastu ||

aDiyEn muraLi kaDAmbi

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear Sri Murali,

 

I just came into my office after completing the Gayatri Japam..I saw your

mail.

Good post to start the day with..The way- I do - (which is my daily Japam

practice too..) is:

 

As and when I utter one Gayatri, I offer (mentally) thuLasi leaves to the

blue hued

Lotus (flower like) Feet of Sriya: Pathih, below which the pink lotus flower

 

whose pinkish charm itself is the reflection of the blissful Lord's Feet

underneath.

It is the same as what NammAzhwAr calls "adi jOthi thaamaraiyaai

ninadikkezh alarndhadhuvO?"

 

Regards

 

Narayana Narayana

[Guest guest]

Mani Varadarajan wrote:

>

>

> I'd like suggestions from List members about what particular forms

> they concentrate on when they do their japam. For a while I used

> to concentrate on Nitya Kalyana Perumaal of Tiruvidavendai (I can't

> say why, He just came into my head), but now even He does not stay

> fixed in my mind. It was also easier when I had a direct view of

> the sun. When doing the japam outside, it was easy to concentrate

> on the Paramapurusha as the indweller of the sun. However, now I

> am forced to do my japam inside. Any ideas?

>

 

Along the lines of Sri Murali's response, my

preference also involves meditating on the form

that I

"see" during thiruvAradhanai, which in my case, is

Sri Vaidya LakshmiNarasimhan of Yadagirigutta

(although the sAlagrAmam in our home is Vishnu).

 

It would seem to me that it would be easiest and

most effective to meditate on the form that brings

one into the mood of devotion, which, as we have

discussed recently, is equal if not more

important than the rituals themselves. And, what

rUpam could be more conducive to fostering this

than the one that we lovingly serve daily in

our thiruvAradhanai?

 

adiyEn

 

Mohan