NAMA JAPA – ITS METHODS AND SIGNIFICANCE:

[Guest guest]

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.

 

NAMA JAPA – ITS METHODS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Japa, or the repetition of

God's name, helps to activate a resource center in our system that is

otherwise dormant. Most people pass through life entirely ignorant of

this spiritual facility, or they underestimate it. Nama japa is done

in three ways: In high tone, in low tone and in mental mode. Low

tone japa is more powerful than high tone japa, and mental japa is

more powerful than low tone japa. One must begin with high tone and

gradually move on to low and then to the silent mode. It is important

to coordinate thought with chant: If the mind wanders while the lips

utter the Name, the exercise is futile. The mind is bound to wander;

it must however be repeatedly and gently drawn back to the japa.

Regular practice of mental japa leads to a-japa japa or effortless

chanting in the subconscious mind. This leads to an exalted state

where the individual ego begins to dilute, because the self is logged

on to the Cosmic Self. While chanting the Name, many people fix in

the mind an ishta- rupa (favoured form) of God. It is better to

contemplate on the vishwa-rupa, the all-inclusive cosmic form. A

better way perhaps is to contemplate on the formless, an expanding

light, or a brilliant void. – S.K. Ram