Chanting

This article is adapted excerpts from the book "Japa Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

• What Is Japa?
• Mantra, Sound and Image
• Glory of the Divine Name
• Chanting the Maha Mantra
• Program Mantras

What is Japa?

Repetition of any Mantra or Name of the Lord is known as Japa. Japa is an important part of Yoga. It is a spiritual food for the hungry soul. Japa is the rod in the hand of the blind aspirants, plodding on the road to Realization. Japa is the philosopher's stone or divine elixir that makes one God-like. In this iron age, practice of Japa alone can give eternal Peace, Bliss and Immortality.

Japa is the repetition of the Mantra. Dhyana is meditation on the form of the Lord with His attributes. There is meditation or Dhyana with Japa; there is meditation or Dhyana without Japa. It is prescribed that one should combine Dhyana with Japa.

Name and the object signified by the Name are inseparable. Thought and word are inseparable. Whenever you think of the name of your son, his figure stands before your mental eye, and vice versa. Even so when you do Japa of Rama, Krishna or Christ, the picture of Rama, Krishna or Christ will come before your mind. Therefore Japa and Dhyana go together. They are inseparable.

Do the Japa with feeling. Know the meaning of the Mantra. Feel God's presence in everything and everywhere. Draw closer and nearer to Him when you repeat the Japa. Think He is shining in the chambers of your heart. He is witnessing your repetition of the mantra as He is the witness of your mind.

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Mantra, Sound and Image

Mantra Yoga is an exact science. A Mantra is so called because it is achieved by the mental process. The root 'Man' in the word Mantra comes from the first syllable of that word, meaning 'to think', and 'Tra' from 'Trai' meaning 'to protect' or 'free' from the bondage of Samsara or the phenomenal world. By the combination of 'Man' and 'Tra' comes Mantra.

Sounds are vibrations. They give rise to definite forms. Each sound produces a form in the indivisible world, and combinations of sound create complicated shapes. Repetition of a Mantra has a mysterious power of bringing about the manifestation of the Divinity, just as the splitting of an atom manifests the tremendous forces latent in it. When a particular Mantra appropriated to God is properly recited, the vibrations so set up to create in the higher planes, a special form which God ensouls for the time being.

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Glory of the Divine Name

The Name of God, chanted correctly or incorrectly, knowingly or unknowingly,or carefully, is sure to give the desired result. Just as burning quality is natural to and inherent in fire, so also, the power of destroying sins with their very root and branch, and bringing the aspirant into blissful union with the Lord , is natural to and inherent in the Name of God.

The glory of the Name of God cannot be established through reasoning and intellect. It can be experienced or realized only through devotion, faith and constant repetition of the Name.

There is a Sakti or power in every word. If you utter the word 'excreta' or 'urine' when your friend is taking his meals, he may at once vomit his food. If you think of 'Garam Pakoda', 'hot Pakoda' (fried delicacies), your tongue will get salivation. When anyone suddenly shouts 'Scorpion! Scorpion!', 'Snake! Snake!', you at once apprehend the scorpion or the snake and jump in fright. When anyone calls you a 'donkey' or an 'ass', you are annoyed and you show anger. If anyone says, "You are a nice person," you smile. When such is the power of the names of the ordinary things of this world, what tremendous power should there be in the Name of God! God is the completion or the fullness of existence. Hence, the Name which denotes Him, too, is full and perfect. Therefore, the power of the Name of God is incalculable, for it is the height or the zenith of power. The Name of God can achieve anything. There is nothing impossible for it. It is the means to the realization of God Himself. Even as the name of a thing in this world generates the consciousness of that thing in the mind, the Name of God generates God-consciousness in the purified mind and becomes the direct cause of the realization of the Highest Perfection, or God.

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Chanting the Maha Mantra

The Bhakti Yoga Club encourages this powerful form of yogic meditation through the chanting of mantra in japa and kirtan.

Japa : An individual practice of the recitation of the Maha-mantra with concentration and attention. It is performed and calculated on a mala, (or prayer beads), which engages the sense of touch through the finger tips, as well as regulate the breath and the mind. Japa mala is generally performed alone as a sacred communion with the Divine through the soft utterance of the Lord's holy name. The chanting of Maha-Mantra is what is prescribed by the great eastern saints as the most effective form of self realization in this day and age.

Kirtan: The other form of meditation that the Bhakti Yoga Club encourages is called Kirtan yoga. Kirtan is a group process of loudly reciting and singing mantra with the accompany of traditional instruments, such as karatals and mrdanga drums. Kirtan is a powerful meditation that invokes clarity of heart, mind and soul. All of the Bhakti Yoga Club programs conduct kirtan yoga as an effective and comfortable form of group meditation for all skill levels. The Maha-mantra as well as standard program mantras are regularly recited (see above: Program Mantras)

The Bhakti Yoga Club offers japa meditation and kirtan instruction and coaching as per request.The club also offers The Japa Kit which contains a mantra book, your own stranded mala, a bag, and a tape of chanting to attune your journey into transcendental sound. ($3)

Contact : japa@BhaktiYogaClub.com

Maha- mantra :"The Great chant of deliverance"

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

These three words, namely Hare, Krishna, and Rama are the transcendental seeds of the Maha- mantra. The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His internal energy Hara to protect the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for it’s mother.

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