We saw different types of yajna. Even though all of these are excellent, still for an ordinary person who may not be able to do all this, or who is not able to take recourse to any of these processes, what kind of yajna can that person do in their life? Which is the yajna which can be done, by which anyone who participates in it, can make their life fruitful. Lord Krishna has said the most excellent yajna is यज्ञानां जप यज्ञोस्मि - amongst all the yajnas, the most excellent is japa yajna.
Look, earlier the Lord had talked about such great yajnas, such excellent yajnas, and the best among them was told by the Lord as
'My glory, O Arjuna, is japa yajna'. The Lord has given lot of importance to japa. In just half a sloka the Lord has placed japa in an exalted position. Why? Why has the Lord given such importance to Japa amongst all the yajnas? Bhagavan Shankaracharya has given the reason as सर्वसुलभत्वात् - being the easiest. Because it is easy for everybody. Anybody can do japa and very quickly japa purifies the mind. The Lord did not use just the word japa, he used the word japa yajna. We all do japa. We sit down and use our japa beads and while turning the japa beads we look to to managing the house. While turning the japamala we are alert to ask if the milkman came or not! The japamala is going on and at the same time we ask did you give yes to the guests!
Keep taking the Lord's name even while moving around. It will bless you. Remembrance of the Lord's name is exalted and the Lord continues to bestow auspiciousness on all jivas. Taking the Lord's name in anyway, is always useful - it destroys papa and begets punya. All this is absolutely true. Even though this is all true, I personally feel that we have oversimplified this sadhana.
In Japa Yajna rules are applicable
It is fine, that whenever you can you should take the Lord's name. While cooking you take the Lord's name and if you forget it is not remembered and you continue with your work. When Lord's name is taken in this way, it is japa alright but it is not japa yajna. This cannot be called as japa yajna.
I had said that wherever yajna is there, there bhavana (emotion) is necessary and together with that certain discipline is also necessary. There is discipline in yajna. Therefore when we sit down to perform a yajna then how many ahutis (offering in a fire ritual) are to be offered, with what materials are these offerings to be done, which mantra is to be used for making the offering - all these matters are pre-decided and one cannot make any changes in them. In the same way when we want to to give japa the nature of a japa yajna, then our performance of the japa should necessarily follow certain rules. We will have to bring in certain discipline and when we begin our japa, with certain discipline then our japa yajna will certainly prove to be the most exalted yajna in our life.
Japa is a unique sadhana. Since all our saints, our acharyas, and even the Lord, have given so much importance to japa, we will definitely have to seriously analyse the process of japa. All all other sadhanas, other yajnas are mostly externally oriented sadhanas. They are performed using external materials, external instruments. They require special performance, special situations. Whereas japa is a sadhana, for which no external material is required. We do use a mala (prayer beads) however the mala is not essential. The Lord has declared this most simple japa yajna as his vibhuti, his glory. A serious analysis of this will be very useful.
What is japa? Bhagavan Patanjali has also described japa amongst the sadhanas he has discussed. While talking about the Lord he said :-
तस्य वावकः प्रणवः।
तज्जपस्तदर्थभावनम्।
Om is the name of the Lord and one should do japa of that. How to do japa? He says do it with understanding of the meaning. This is applicable to japa of Lord's name as well as to japa of any mantra. You can take up japa of mantras, or japa of the Lord's name.However, japa of the Lord's name is given greater importance. Our scriptures have described very beautifully, what happens, when we consistently and regularly sit down and begin japa. They have described the processes that take place, and what are their uses.
Our main issue is antahkarana shuddhi (purity of mind) and antahkarana ekagrata ( capacity to focus the mind). If really one purifies one's mind, and with focussed mind one is to reach the absolute truth, then how japa alone, is the very important sadhana, can be understood by you.
The Nature Of The Mind
What is the nature of the mind, that one desires to purify and develop focus. What is the mind? Because of the limitation of language, we entertain an errorenous idea that mind is some kind of a physical structure or bag in which thoughts come in or go out. We say things like, ' such and such thought came in my mind', and 'such and such thought went from my mind'. When we think in this manner, then we think that the mind is some kind of physical structure/ bag and thoughts come and go from that structure. In reality the mind's nature is not like that.
What is the nature of the mind? When we say that thought came in the mind or a thought went from the mind then we think thought and the mind are two different things. We appear to differentiate between them.
In reality our mind is of the nature of thoughts. Thought is the very svarupa of the mind. The nature of the mind is waves of thought. This constant flow of thoughts is the very nature of the mind. We should understand this.
There was the mother-in-law who once told her daughter-in-law that I will send you some cabbage from the market. Please make vegetable out of it today. So the mother mother-in-law, went to the market bought a cabbage and got it sent to the daughter-in-law. She went away to do some other work. When the mother-in-law came back she was thinking to herself that I will have really good good vegetable made of cabbage today. Now the daughter-in-law had never worked in her mother's house. And she had to cook this cabbage vegetable. When the mother-in-law came back and asked her that 'is the cabbage ready?' The daughter-in-law answered 'how to make it? You didn't see and send me a good cabbage'. The mother-in-law said 'I had definitely looked and chose a good cabbage and sent it to you'. The daughter-in-law said 'I kept removing the leaves of that cabbage. I removed one leaf, then I removed the other leaf and I kept removing the leaves and I could not find any anything inside with which to cook! There was nothing inside to cook. What kind of cabbage did you send me?' The mother-in -law put her hand on her head and thought to herself that these educated daughters-in-law, they don't know that it is the leaves which are the cabbage, you don't have to find the cabbage!' The leaves of the cabbage are what is called as cabbage. In the same way you don't find the mind by removing all the thoughts. Thoughts are the mind. संकल्प विकल्पत्मकं मनः - these thoughts of the nature of sankalpa and vikalpa are verily the nature of the mind. And the basis for those thoughts as they arise, are words.
The Sadhana of Japa
Bhagavan Patanjali says that use one word to remove the chaos of words (occurring in the mind). तत् प्रतिषेधार्थम् एकतत्त्वाभ्यासः। If you want to to remove many words then take the support of one word. With the support of that one word all the other words which are there in the antahkarana will be able to subside.
Therefore what is that one word whose support we can take? Naturally, it is the auspicious name of the Lord -whichever name of the Lord which is pleasing to you, or better still the name of the Lord given to you by your sadguru. When we sit down to chant the Lord's name received from our Guru or any name of the Lord which is pleasing to us, we find that numerous thoughts come into our mind. Sometimes we experience that we get more thoughts when we sit for japa, than at any other time. However this is not the reality. Thoughts flow continuously. However it is only when we sit for japa that we notice how many thoughts are coming in the mind. It is because of this that we think that only at time of iapa so many thoughts seem to come in the mind.
It is not so. Thoughts always flow continuously and it is only when we sit for japa that our attention goes specially towards the flowing thoughts.
Thoughts will keep coming in the mind. Let them come. But when if we sit down for japa everyday and do a certain number of japa daily, and other thoughts keep coming, and we are not able to to stop them, it is okay - it does not matter. One thing you will certainly notice is that the thoughts which were coming were all different but my japa mantra is only one. So understand this that when I sat for half an hour to do japa, and in that half an hour many different thoughts were there, but my mantra japa was only one. In half an hour you would have repeated your mantra a thousand times and in those thousand repetitions your attention would have been on your mantra japa say around hundred times. The rest of the time your attention was distracted - it was all over the place even though your tongue kept repeating the mantra japa. Even then it's a very big thing that it at least a hundred times one thought alone took place in your mind. The thoughts which are coming are different different thoughts, however one thought was only the thought of the Lord's name.
If we follow this process with a little care then today a hundred times we paid attention to the name, yet it is possible that tomorrow or after a week or after a month it will become a hundred and fifty times or two hundred times. It is definite that this number will keep increasing. However for that to happen it is necessary that we sit down and do japa.
People who complain that our mind does not take to japa are people who don't sit quietly taking the prayer beads in their hand. If they don't take the prayer beads in the hand it is ok. But how many times did they sit quietly and repeat their mantra loudly? It is important to repeat the name loudly at first. This is called as vaikhari.
The meaning of repeating the name by vaikhari, is that one repeats using one's tongue. Our speech can be classified into 4 types. Vaikhari, madhyama, pashyanti and paraa. If we want to start our inner journey, then first of all it is important that the Lord's name should remain on our tongue always and we should take care of this. There should be a practice of taking the name by the tongue. When through the tongue the practice of taking Lord's name is there for a period of time, then though the mind will not be focused totally, still most of the time it would remain with the Lord's name. Now slowly the name should move from loud chanting, in which the tongue is used, to a state in which the lips are closed but the tongue is still being used to utter the Lord's name. In the third stage of japa, more subtle than the previous, when both the lips are closed and tongue is not being used, and the name is being uttered only in the mind. These are called as vachika, upamshu and manasika japa respectively. In this way, taking the support of the Lord's name, we can start our inner journey.
To be continued ....
Translated from Hindi Booklet 'Yajnamaya Jivan'