What Is Japa And Where Is One To Meditate?

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What Is Japa And Where Is One To Meditate?

 

The Infinite Spirit is there but we cannot reach it. We must follow a

path that helps us to reach That, higher and higher, step by step. I

want to reach the snow-capped mountains; can I jump and reach it all

at once? No. Swami Brahmananda says in his Spiritual Teachings: `You

want to reach the roof. Do you jump to the roof? No. If you do, you

fall down and break your legs. Go step by step.' So Japa, as the

Master has been saying, is one of the most efficient means. But Japa

is not to be done like a parrot. As you repeat the Divine Name, do

the Artha-Bhavana. What is Artha-Bhavana? Dwelling on the meaning.

First of all, let us think of the Luminous, Blissful Form of the

Lord, i.e. the Ista Devata. Then think of Him as an embodiment of

Infinite Purity, Knowledge, Devotion, Compassion, Love and Bliss.

Then think He is no other than the Paramatman - the all-pervading

Spirit dwelling in all beings.

 

We are asked to meditate in the `Lotus of the Heart'. Where is this

Heart? Is it the physiological heart? We cannot do anything there. It

is the consciousness that is in the Heart, the consciousness that

permeates my entire body and mind. It is the consciousness of the

Atman, the consciousness of the Paramatman. We have to meditate in

this Chidakasa. We have to think of ourselves as the devotee, and

think of the Ista Devata as the manifestation of Paramatman.

 

Swami Brahmananda used to tell us, " As you do your spiritual

practices, you understand what is meant by the word `Heart'. First

you may think of it as the `Mahakasa', external space; later, you may

think of it as the cosmo-mental world. " The real heart is in the

Chidakasa, in the realm of pure consciousness. In that, the soul, the

unit of consciousness, is eternally united with the Infinite Spirit.

So you have to meditate on the Ista Devata in the inner world.

 

It is good to have a picture. Gaze at the picture; watch the picture.

But it is much better to install your picture, the Holy form, in your

inner world. Then you are not to depend on anything outside. Whenever

you want, look within where your Ista Devata is seated, and pray to

Him. Repeat His Divine Name; meditate on Him; first, it may be on His

Form, then on His attributes, next on His infinite nature. That is

how one is to progress.

 

Let us go back again to the Yoga aphorism of Patanjali, already

referred to, wherein he tells us how to do japa. Now if I repeat the

Lord's name and meditate on Him, what will happen to me? The Teacher

says, " Think of the meaning - the contents, the connotation of the

word. " What happens if we do that? Obstacles are removed and new

spiritual consciousness awakens. Now with the help of Japa and simple

Dhyana, obstacles are removed. Psychologists have explained this in a

remarkable way. We are always manufacturing worries and anxieties,

always manufacturing evil thoughts. These evil thoughts sicken our

mind and sicken our body. The more we think of holy thoughts, the

more we repeat the holy harmonious sound and the more we meditate on

the blissful Form of the Lord, the more the mind is set in abundant

harmony. Illnesses, self-created, self-manufactured, drop off. Then

harmony is established in the mind This harmony reflects itself on

the body. So, to some extent physical health and mental health

improve with the repetition of the Divine Name and we come to know

the power of the Divine Name. With the power of meditating on the

holy Form, a new spiritual consciousness that was lying hidden, that

was potential, manifests itself. Then we discover that we are not

just these personalities but we are all souls; and the Ista Devata is

no other than the Paramatman, the source of all Peace, source of all

Bliss, the source of all Love. Such is the power of the Divine Name.

 

What is Dhyana? We talk of meditation. You say `I am meditating'.

What are you meditating on? Going on brooding over something or

other? That is not what is implied by the word Dhyana. Dhyana is:

when as you think of the Lord, you become absorbed in the Divine

thought. But this absorption would not come all of a sudden. The Japa

we do is a step towards that. Repeat the Divine Name, think of Him,

and the mind becomes a little calm. Even the sound drops off. You can

go on thinking of Him. Then, when God or the Ista Devata becomes more

real than the things of the world, naturally the mind gets absorbed

and you gradually get a taste of the Divine Presence, Love and Bliss.

He may come to us in the form of the Ista Devata; as the Supreme

Spirit, as Sat-Chit-Ananda, i.e. Infinite Consciousness, Infinite

Love, Infinite Bliss. This is what happens if you undergo regular

spiritual practice.

 

In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the Master has said, `You must have

spiritual yearning'. Spiritual yearning is like hunger. When people

ask me `Why should I meditate?' I say in return, `Why should you?

Don't do it.' But if you had the yearning born in you, you would have

come to know what spiritual hunger is. Then you could not but think

of God, you could not but pray to Him, you could not but take his

Divine Name and think of His glory. This hunger is to be awakened.

This hunger is to be maintained. That becomes possible if you do your

spiritual practice regularly. You feel the body with material food;

you feed the mind through study, with thoughts. But you actually

starve the soul in the midst of plenty. Do you not feel starved? The

soul yearns for the Infinite Spirit; it yearns to realise the Divine

Presence, Love and Bliss infinite, and we do not satisfy the

yearning. But when that is done, a new life starts.

 

The Master has also said that holy company is necessary, company of

those who are following the spiritual path, who help in strengthening

us in the spiritual path, who reflect something of the Divine Glory,

which we also wish to realise. That is necessary.

 

- Swami Yatiswarananda