Mantra for Beginners -- VI

In my earlier messages I had equated Mental Japa to meditation. I saw recently that some one had called this Dhyana Yoga. The Art and science of Meditation. I was talking about how in India we generally proceeded from rituals to meditation. In Tantra this process is emphasized. The initiates are classified according to their levels. You proceed gradually from one process to the other. Some of the more esoteric Sadhanas are meant for only advanced initiates. You proceed from the form to the formless. Tantras are basically instruction manuals. They tell you how to proceed. Again in Tantra we specifically forbid anyone to act without a Guru.

We are not discussing Tantra now. I am only drawing a parallel. There is a lot of interest in Yahoo groups and the different forums to know about advanced Tantrik Sadhana like Smasana  Sadhana, Sava Sadhana, and five Ms. But after trying to answer some of the curious people I realized that without explaining the basic philosophy of Tantra and the pre-requisite qualifications, talking about these Sadhanas will be only vetting the appetite of the curious and......

Talking about the pre -requisites, there is a Sadhana, which you might be familiar with, called Jala Sadhana. You stand in water (preferably in a holy river) up to your neck in water and meditate or do mantra Japa for hours. But do you know what happens to your body? Cramps ! I was discussing this with a Tantrik friend. He said he had to be almost hospitalized as the body had become so stiff. We talk about Smasana  Sadhana or worship in the graveyard/cremation ground. Leave alone Sadhana, do you have the courage to spent hours in the middle of the night in a Graveyard? And how do you ensure that the police do not arrest you? Even in India you will be.

Meditation being the highest form of Sadhana also gives very quick results. Scientific studies have clearly proved the effects of Meditation on the body. So it is but natural that everyone is attracted to meditation. Again this does not have the dogma of ritualistic or idol worship.

Now the entire spiritualistic practices of Hinduism are a synthesis of many aspects. You want to do meditation or even Japa for 1 hour. How do sit still for one hour. Your legs start feeling numb after 20 minutes. How do you concentrate for 3 to 4 hours or more than that, if your body does not cooperate? That is why Hatha yoga was considered an essential part of Hinduism. Again if you have training in Pranayama it is much easier to meditate.

Maa Kundalini or Kundalini Sakthi resides in everyone. We all have the Chakras. All spiritual practices right from Pooja, Japa, Meditation has an effect on Kundalini. In Tantra we call SriVidya, pure Kundalini Yoga. All Tantrik practices have their basis in Kundalini Yoga. I had asked my Guru before my initiation about Kundalini. He said with Mantra Japa your Kundalini will automatically be raised. With meditation the Kundalini raises much faster. The raising of the Kundalini again depends on the Mantra. Even with a Nirguna mantra you cannot prevent or control your Kundalini from rising.

Since with meditation it raises much faster the effects may not be what you had anticipated. For most of us Kundalini Sakthi is at different levels. So the effect of meditation will be different. Though the road is smoother at 80 mph than at twenty mph because the car feels the bumps less, if you hit a wall the effects are much more serious than at 20 mph. You may find an explanation in Kundalini Yoga about what is happening to you.

Mantra for Beginners -- V

The different kinds of Japa are

1. Vaikhari Japa (audible)
2. Upamsu Japa (whispering)
3. Manasika Japa (mental)
4. Likhita Japa (written)

In Tantra a lot of emphasis is laid on Japa. For attaining Mantra Siddhi you have to do Japa of the mantra a particular number of times. But it is not that you stop with that. You are expected to do constant Mantra Japa so that the Mantra becomes part of you. The Mantra is always running in your mind. In Tantra the rituals are necessary for only the main Japa when you count. But otherwise you are free to do Mantra Japa without any restrictions.

The same attitude is taken in Nama Japa also where the Nama becomes part of you. Here here is no emphasis on the count. Still many traditions insist that you should do minimum number of times per day. This is to ensure that you do it regularly. It is good if you decide the minimum number that you will recite per day.

In Japa you progress from Audible Japa to Mental Japa over a period of time.

There is very little difference between Mental Japa and Meditation

Most of the Hindus know about prayers, and Nama Japa well, as these are part of the daily ritual. Though the term Dhyana (Meditation) is known, wherever it is mentioned Dhyanam we just said Dhyanam or recited what is called Dhyana Sloka of the Deity.

Meditation as is now known was only for the very few. I have not heard of anyone doing meditation in my village full of Brahmins. Meditation was associated with Tapas, which meant that it was beyond the reach of the common man. Because meditation was equated almost with Tapas, only those Hindus who were deeply spiritual took to meditation. Mostly these were Sanskrit scholars and students of Philosophy.

Meditation became popular in India mainly due to Bagavan Sri Ramakrishna, Bagavan Ramana Maharshi and Swami Sivananda. However it is still largely confined to the English knowing population. In India Bhakthi and rituals are considered superstition by the English educated intellectual class. Many of these people took to Meditation.

When my father was a student of Swami Sivananda in the early 50s what he learnt was mainly Hatha Yoga, Japa and Hindu Philosophy. Swami Sivanananda's books give a lot of emphasis on Japa. Even In Hatha Yoga though we were taught all the Asanas, we were asked to do only Sirasasana , Sarvanghasana and other simple asanas daily. Even Sirasasana was to be done only if it suited you. Again Pranayama was learnt only through an experienced teacher. Sri. Kali Ghosh who was my teacher was very particular that I follow all the rules and also checked my progress regularly.

Though the development was like this in India, in the west it was the other way around. Meditation became almost synonymous with Hinduism. I saw someone writing that Meditation is Hinduism.

When we attend a course in Mountaineering, you are first taught rock climbing and then taught how to climb small mountain peaks. You do not expect to climb Mount Everest just by attending one Mountaineering course. You become proficient in rock climbing, climb a couple of peaks in the Alps, and then try the minor peaks in the Himalayas before attempting Mount Everest. Even in that I can never progress as fast as a man from Ghatwal because he is from the mountains and his heart is already accustomed to heights.

The reason why I am writing all this is that I find that, though in India we progressed slowly from prayer to Meditation over a period of years, most people in the west are directly initiated into meditation. It is my view that for most people it is like trying to climb Mount Everest without ever having done even rock climbing. Many of the instructions given for spiritual aspirants by Swami Sivanananda have been part and parcel of our daily life for generations.

Am I saying that all the courses in Meditation are fake? Definitely not. But if you are in New York and you attend a course in Rishikesh India you may have problems. If you stay in Rishikesh for six months then you have a better chance of success. Even then when you come back to New York you may have problems and you would not have anyone to discuss your problems. During my last visit to Dharamshala I found that for there are many people from outside India who come there regularly. These are people who are very serious students and practioners of Buddhism.

Similarly we find many people visiting India regularly. Even Swamijis who have reached great heights visit India regularly for spiritual regeneration.