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Part 1 of 6
Understand the nature of your mind and empower it through japa, says SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI
Part 2 of 6
Japa is the repetition of a word or short sentence during the practice of meditation. The letter pa stands for that which removes or destroys all impurities and obstructions and the letter ja stands for that which puts an end to the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, japa is an indirect means for liberation or moksha. By destroying obstructions to knowledge, japa paves the way for liberation.
At any given time, you have only one thought and you can’t guess your next thought. There is no thought without a certain connection to the preceding thought. This connection may be flimsy or it may be very clear and logical. But the thought itself is never predictable. Even now, I cannot predict what I am going to say. I simply said I would talk on japa, and I started. Even the words I am saying right now were not known to me. What is going to come is unpredictable, but when it does come, it has logic, a reason.
Part 3 of 6
We really do not have a method to learn about our minds. We only know that we are subjected to a particular type of thinking. For example, we get into a reverie until something arrests our attention and only then do we come back.
Is there anything that we have in our thought life — which is our life — that helps us understand our ways of thinking? How do we learn how to direct our thinking for a given length of time and have the mind at our disposal? We have no directed technique. Some of us who were lucky had some intellectual discipline in school which has given us a capacity for logical thinking. In the process, we may have discovered some discipline, but we do not know it is a technique; nor do we use it as one.
Part 4 of 6
Japa As Technique
Exercising one’s choice is very important in japa. If I choose to mentally chant a word or sentence for a length of time, then I have a technique in hand and can see what happens in my mind.
In japa, I know exactly what is to come next. If something else pops up, I know this is not what is expected and I bring back the chosen thought. In the process, I learn how to dismiss unwanted thoughts and retain the one I have chosen. This is one important result of japa as a technique.
Part 5 of 6
Random Thoughts
As a technique, any word will work. You do not require the Lord’s name or a spiritual mantra. Anything can be a mantra, like gring…gring… gring… gring… gring. If you keep on repeating this sound, it will work. Extraneous thought will eventually come, like “What makes this kind of noise?” “A bagpipe,” may be the response. Then you may ask what a bagpipe has to do with my japa?” You then dismiss the bagpipe thought and return to your japa.
In this way, japa works as a technique for gaining mental discipline. However, japa is something more than the mere chanting of a sound. In repeating a given chant, you give yourself an occasion to see the ways of your own thinking. The repetition becomes a technique for keeping your mind directed for a length of time — and it helps the mind gain depth.
What is it that obtains in the interval between chants? Between one thought with a certain form and sound and the next thought, there is no given thought. There is only an interval with no form or shape. This is what we call peace or silence. Because this silence has no particular thought form, there is no thinking as we know it.
We always think that peace is something we have to acquire. People even ask for it: “Swamiji, I have everything except peace of mind.” How can I gain this peace?” Because the mind is restless, we think peace is something new that we have to acquire, an attribute with which we have to embellish the mind. Is peace something we have to acquire or
is it natural?
Part 6 of 6
Peace Comes Naturally
I once went to Yogi Ramayya, who was originally a yogi and then became a disciple of Ramana Maharshi. I could sense he was at peace with himself. At that time, I had committed to vedanta but, I also had a lot of conflicts and I went to this swami to resolve them. He never talked much, but said one thing that really hit home: “For restlessness, you have to work a lot. For peace, what is there to do?” having asked this question, he became silent, which I found to be very effective.
Restlessness requires a buildup, whereas peace is something very natural for which we need not do anything. We do not create peace; we create only restlessness, as one thought leads to another. In japa, you deliberately create a thought. Because you have a will, you can choose. In this way, you become the author of a given thought. A specific thought is created by you because you choose it, whereas the silence that ensues is not created by you. In fact, the silence is the basis of all thought. Two Talks On Japa Mantra Meditation
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