Meditation and Japa

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Q: Assuming time is limited, what proportion should be spent on

meditation and japa?

 

A: There are two ways of looking at this question. The time which we

spend in meditation, exclusively keeping a few minutes in the morning

and evening is of great necessity. But real benefit from meditation

does not depend upon the increase or decrease of time. It depends

upon our intensity. This is a psychological fact of which most of us

are ignorant. We always think, " My meditation is not progressing

because my time is so limited, but if I had a lot of time, I

definitely would be able to improve the quality of my meditation. " In

the beginning at least, that is not right because each one of us has

at any given time a certain measure of intensity. Whether we sit for

ten minutes or half an hour or three hours we can only take advantage

of that intensity. It cannot be increased all of a sudden. That's why

we find sometimes when we have a long holiday, we try to sit a long

time for meditation, but after a few minutes there comes a bit of

fidgeting, the mind becomes very fidgety. So, during our working time

we should try to prepare ourselves for that period of meditation.

Whatever we may be doing, we must try to analyse our mind, try to

keep a watch on our thoughts and try to recollect God, spiritual life

and the incidents which we read from the lives of holy people. This

preparation is absolutely necessary.

 

As for japa, this is what Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and all the

direct disciples recommended. Japa is much more effective. Why? One

reason is that we are not fit for meditation. Meditation needs a long

preparation. Unless we are well prepared we cannot really meditate.

We sit in a meditative pose, no doubt. That is not really meditation.

 

But japa, that is somewhat easier. Japa means repetition of God's

name, and that has a wonderful effect. There is also a bit of

confusion regarding japa and meditation. You see, the devotional path

always emphasises the repetition of God's name which, with the

development of bhava or devotional feeling, gradually takes the

aspirant towards his Chosen Deity and finally they become merged,

which is the last stage. But meditation is actually a term borrowed

from the path of meditation and contemplation, Raja Yoga. These two

meanings have very often become combined. In devotional terminology,

the word `meditation' does not mean the same thing, so I will try to

explain what it is.

 

Normally, when we meet our devotees, we advise them " Do japa and

meditation. " What we mean by this is quite different from what Raja

yogis mean by meditation. Japa means repetition of God's name with

devotion, and meditation means concentration on His Divine Form. In

Raja Yoga meditation means concentration - any object can be taken

for one's concentration and its discipline is to go on concentrating,

suppressing all other thoughts. No emotion there, no discrimination

there. One must only put one's mind on the object which one chooses

oneself. In time one is sure to reach the goal.

 

Whereas on the devotional path, one does not kill one's thoughts but

concentrates them on a Divine Form. So, in that sense we do the

repetition of God's name and imagine the Form of God at the same

time, and this can be done even while driving a car or any work.

Because you see, while we are driving or doing something else, a

portion of the mind seems to be thinking something else. Perhaps it

is planning: " Tomorrow I shall do that or this, " which shows what the

mind is capable of doing. With a little bit of its energies it can

perform whatever duties need to be done while diverting another

portion to something else. That secondary diversion can be directed

towards thinking about spiritual subjects, towards recollecting the

various incidents that happened in the lives of the great saints or

repeating the name of God.

 

If we can thus practise thinking of God at other times, it becomes a

good preparation for meditation. Then when we return to our homes and

sit quietly meditation becomes easy and intense. Even fifteen minutes

of such meditation produces great results.

 

- Swami Dayatmananda