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Repetitive Chanting or Mantra Japa is found in almost all the religious traditions. It is a simple, yet profound technique. Even though it is found in theistic traditions, to practise it you need not have any theistic beliefs. Of course, having theistic beliefs might be supportive, like a child playing in a room all alone thinking that its parent is in the adjacent room.
First, I'll present the technique, then we will discuss why it works, to the extent possible. Readings from different traditions are also included below.
The Technique:
The basic technique here is to repeat a word or a syllable continuously.
The Word: It is preferrable to have shorter words or syllables than longer ones. For example, you can use 'Love', 'Peace', 'Calm' etc. Or you can use words with religious associations. Hindu examples: 'Om', 'Ram', 'Om Namah Sivaya', 'Om Namo Narayanaya', etc. Christian examples: 'Amen', 'Ave Maria', 'Hail Jesus' etc. Buddhist examples:'Buddho', 'Namo Buddhaya', 'Namo Amitabha' etc. Choose any one word, but stick on to it forever. Generally we tend to be flimsy, so religious traditions tell that you should get your 'sacred' word from your religious teacher or guru, and stick on to it for your whole life.
The Styles of Repetition:There are three styles of repetition: loud / oral repetition(vachika), mumbling repetition (upamsu) and mental repetition (manasika). In oral repetition your chanting is loud. In mumbling style, the tongue, lip movements and sound are kept minimal. In mental style, the repetition is totally mental - no tongue/lip movements, no sound. In oral repetition, mind straying into other thoughts is less, but you will get tired soon. In mental repetition mind-wanderings are quite high, possibility of falling into a sleepy state is also very high, but the advantage is that you don't get tired fast. The mumbling style has the best of both: you get neither tired nor sleepy. And mind-wandering is not very high. Because of these reasons this style is called the 'diamond path' in Pure Land Buddhist traditions. Mental repetition is the best in terms of the concentration achieved. So practise oral and mumbling styles sufficiently, so as to achieve a comfortable mental recitation. Or in any session, start with oral repetion, then go to mumbling repetiton and when concentration is good enter the mental style. And when thoughts are distracting or you feel sleepy revert back to oral or mumbling repetition.
Time: Any time is suitable. You can practise it all along the day, whenever you need not focus on your work with your full mind. For example: mumbling or mental repetion during train/bus travels, boring seminars etc. When I got my 'sacred' word from my guru, he told that we can chant even in toilet! However you should find time for sitting practise also. Choose any time-slot when you will be mentally calm and not sleepy. To begin within try atleast 15 minutes sessions.
Place: As mentioned above you can practise mumbling or mental meditation even during travel, toilet etc. For sitting practise choose a relatively calm, non-dusty, non-damp, moderately lit room or corner in your home. If you have religous faith, then you may find it comfortable to practise before the relgious altar or religious symbols.
Posture and Seat:If you can squat and sit on a carpet on the floor it is good, or else sit on a chair without leaning on the back (leaning leads to sleep). Keep your spine comfortably straight. If you stoop forward or backward, sooner or later you will feel sleepy due to disturbances in blood and nerve currents. Your seat should be neither too hard nor too soft. Try quarter or half inch thick cotton mats.
The Basis of Japa (or) Why / How Japa works?
See the page The Non-theistic Basis of Meditation
(or) Why / How Meditation works?
Mind-Wandering/Lack of concentration and its management:
The main distraction in Japa is mind-wandering. We think that we have control over our mind. Just try mentally chanting any particular word ten times. First you will see that your mind strays between successive repetitions. Then if you look deep, you will see that even during a repetion it wanders here and there for micro-seconds! It is very very difficult to chant even once with your mind fully and exclusively on it. It will be a very humbling experience to test it!
Only when we start practising any meditation technique we understand how restless our minds are. Knowing this makes our mind all the more restless, we feel irritated with ourselves, the technique, the teacher etc. And we want to jump out of the meditation seat as soon as possible! This is just due to the fear of facing the inner restlessness, the inner storms and inner cyclones. Once we are ready to face it, we start looking for aids to manage this mind-wandering.
Mind-wandering or lack of concentration is due to lack of attention. So all auxiliary techniques are prescribed so as to increase the attention. We shall mention some of the attention-improving techniques. Try which works for you. Probably you might need to have more than one of these techniques, or better still, develop your own techniques!
1. Using a rosary or hand counting: Rolling a bead on the rosary as you chant the word everytime is the most common aid to japa used is many religious tradition. It is very helpful, provided the rolling of the bead itself is not distracting the japa. Or you can do the counting with your hands. In the most common Hindu hand counting scheme, we count from one to ten on the right hand, and when one set of ten is over on the right hand, we keep that count as a count on the left hand. That is the left hand is 'tens' and right hand is 'ones'.
2. Synchronising with the breath: Breath is always there. So if you synchronise your word with the breath then distraction will be relatively less. This is easy for small words or syllables like 'Om' or 'Amen' or 'Buddho'. For example, say 'Bud' during inhalation and 'dho' during exhalation. For longer words or sequences, try breaking it down into smaller groups.
3. Visualisation: Mentally visualising an object connected with the word directly or indirectly keeps more attention on the process of repetition, and hence distraction will be lesser. If the word you choose is the name of a person or a deity like 'Hail Jesus', 'Buddho' or 'Ram', you may visualize their form. Or if your word is impersonal like 'Om' or 'Amen', try vast expanse of sky/ocean, a lamp or a flower etc. Some might feel that these visualizations are too artificial, then try some other attention-improving technique.
4. Mental hearing & Focussing on each syllable: Like there is mental seeing (visualization) and mental chanting, there is mental hearing too! You can be mentally hearing what you are mentally chanting. This also like visualization ropes in more faculty of mind into the process, and hence this also increases attention and decreases distraction. Try to chant each syllable clearly and focus on each syllable as you chant. This boosts the attention. This technique is very powerful. Personally I prefer this because it does not have artificial adjuncts like visualizations.
5. Taking care of the current repetition: Don't worry about meditatating for 15 minutes or 30 minutes. Don't worry whether you can chant 10 times or 100 times without distraction. Just take care of the current repetition. Focus your mind on the current repetition. When you have repeated it with concentration, do that same for the next 'current' repetition! Always focus only on the current repetition. If you can do 'this' repetition with concentration, you can do 'any' repetition with concentration. Just focus on the 'NOW'. This concept of attaining concentration just for the current moment is called 'Khanika Samadhi' - momentary absorption in Buddhist traditions.
6. Mental completion/offering: After each repetition mentally feel that it is complete. Feel happy that you have chanted once with concentration. If you have theistic beliefs, you can mentally offer a flower or offer a salutation to God after each repetition. This is emotionally soothing and it enhances concentration.
7. Endless Chant: Say your chant is 'Om Namah Sivaya'. You will see that most often the mind gets distracted the most at the end of Sivaya, because it knows that one repetition is over, and that it has time now to wander around! So consider your chant endless. That is after 'Sivaya' there is another 'Om Namah Sivaya' ad infinitum. So now 'Sivaya' is not the end of your chant. So just go on and on!
8. Witness attitude: Try to maintain a witness attitude towards the wandering mind. Stand apart from that and see its wanderings. Don't try to control it. But just keep looking at it. This is like a mother staring at the pranks of her naughty child. Soon the child will stop its pranks! Similarly, with this witness attitude towards our wandering mind, the wandering tendencies slow down. Why does it happen? Earlier all our mental energy was going into the wandering. Now, all the energy is not going for wandering, because some mental energy goes for witnessing or seeing the wandering. When all the energy gets spent for witnessing the wandering is no more.
9. Have a search or quest along with the chanting: For example, in Pure Land - Zen Buddhist tradition, while chanting 'Namo Amitabha', they simultaneously contemplate 'Who is the one reciting the buddha-name?'. Or as Sri Ramana Maharshi suggested to Ganapati Muni, while doing japa see from where the word sprouts within you. In traditional Hindu japa, the aspirant will be advised to contemplate on the meaning of the word as he chants it. This contemplation or search during the chanting helps to improve the attention. Also it helps the aspirant to avoid entering mano-laya, a dull pleasurable mental state.
Sleep and its management
If you did not have proper sleep last night, surely today while doing japa you will sleepy. But inspite of having good sleep last night, today if you feel sleepy during japa, then it is boredom and not sleep. And this can be managed by various means.
1. Correct the posture. Keep your spine comfortably straight. Don't stoop backward or forward. Don't lean on any surface. Maldistribution in the blood flow or nerve currents lead to sleepiness.
2. Do japa in a place with fresh air. At times due to stale air (low oxygen content) we might feel sleepy.
3. Keep eyes open: Keeping the eyes open decreases the sleepiness. But it might increase the distraction. So focus your eyes on a single object like a candle/lamp, a photo of a pleasant scenery or god (if you have theistic belief).
4. Wash your face and do japa standing.
Or if nothing works, just sleep! Continue your practise after getting up.
Links
I'll try to add those links which I find interesting. Of course, majority might have an under current of theistic faith. However you need not have theistic faith to practise and reap the benefits of japa.
Swami Sivananda of Divine Life Society on Japa
Chanting the Name of Amitabha - Pure Land Buddhism
Readings from different traditions
Note the techniques and common features among the different traditions,
and absorb whatever you like!
I'll be expanding all these readings pages, so keep checking periodically.
Thank you!
Readings from Hindu Traditions
Readings from Buddhist Traditions (Not yet uploaded)
Readings from Christian and Islam traditions
Lord Tennyson's meditative absorption due to the repetition of his own name:
The famous English poet Tennyson was able to experience meditative states by repeating his own name. This remarkable experience he has described in his poem 'The Ancient Sage'.
... More than once when I
Sat all alone, revolving in myself
The word that is the symbol of myself,
The mortal limit of the self was loosed,
And passed into the Nameless, as a cloud
Melts into heaven. I touched my limbs--the limbs
Were strage, not mine--and yet no shade of doubt,
But utter clearness, and thro' loss of self.
The gain of such large life as matched with ours
Were sun to spark--unshadowable in words
Themselves but shadows of the shadow-world.
Source: 'Meditation and Spiritual Life', Swami
Yatiswarananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore, Pg 396.