JAPA
Japa, that is the use of incantations and invocations of a Divine Name, is one of the most widely practised techniques of spiritual training. It has particular affinity with the bhakti paths of love and devotion. The Maharshi approved of it, subject, of course, to the condition illustrated in the story of the king and his minister on page 93, that the person who practised any incantation had been duly authorised to do so by a qualified guru. He himself occasionally authorised the use of invocations, but very seldom.The point is to keep out all other thoughts except the one thought of OM or Ram or God. All incantations and invocations help to do that.2
The more devotion there is behind the words the better this is accomplished, and therefore the more effective is the incantation.
D.: When I invoke the Divine Name for an hour or more
I fall into a state like sleep. On waking up I recollect that my invocation has been interrupted, so I try again.
B.: `Like sleep', that is right. It is the natural state. Because
you now identify yourself with the ego, you look upon the natural
Page 174
state as something which interrupts your work. So you must have the experience repeated until you realise that it is your natural state. You will then find that the invocation is extraneous, but still it will go on automatically. Your present doubt is due to false identification of yourself with the mind that makes the invocation. Invocation really means `clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all others'. That is the purpose of it. It leads to absorption which ends in Self-realisation or Jnana [?].
D.: How should I practise invocation?
B.: One should not use the name of God mechanically
and superficially without a feeling of devotion. When one uses the name of God one should call on Him with yearning and unreservedly surrender oneself to Him. Only after such surrender is the name of God constantly with you.1
In its early stages an incantation may even be accompanied by visualisation of the form of a Guru or of a mythological form of God.
D.: My practice has been continuous invocation of the
names of God while breathing in and of the names of Sai Baba while breathing out. Simultaneously with this I see the form of Baba always. Even in Bhagavan I see Baba. The external appearances are also much alike. Bhagavan is thin. Baba was a little stout. Should I continue this method or change it? Something within tells me that if I stick to name and form I shall never get beyond them but I can't understand what further to do if I gave them up. Will Bhagavan please enlighten me?
B.: You may continue with your present method. When
the japa becomes continuous, all other thoughts cease and one is in one's real nature which is invocation or absorption. We
Page 175
turn our minds outwards to things of the world and are therefore not aware that our real nature is always invocation. When by conscious effort, or invocation, or meditation as we call it, we prevent our minds from thinking of other things, then what remains is our real nature, which is invocation. So long as you think you are name and form, you can't escape name and form in invocation. When you realise that you are not name and form, name and form will drop off themselves. No other effort is necessary. Invocation or meditation will lead to it naturally and as a matter of course. Invocation which is now regarded as the means, will then be found to be the goal. There is no difference between God and His name.1
As the above passage indicates, incantation merges with dhyana [?], which, for want of a better word, is translated `meditation'. For this reason, silent incantation is better than vocal, being more inward.
D.: Isn't mental invocation better than oral?
B.: Oral incantation consists of sounds. The sounds arise
from thoughts, for one must think before one expresses one's thoughts in words. The thoughts form the mind. Therefore mental invocation is better than oral.
D.: Shouldn't we contemplate the invocation and repeat
it orally also?
B.: When the invocation becomes mental, where is the
need for sound? On becoming mental, it becomes contemplation. Meditation, contemplation and mental invocation are the same. When thoughts cease to be promiscuous and one thought persists to the exclusion of all others, it is said to be contemplation. The object of invocation or meditation is
Page 176
to exclude varied thoughts and confine oneself to one thought. Then that thought too vanishes into its source, which is pure Consciousness or the Self. The mind first engages in invocation and then sinks into its own source.1
This is certain: worship, incantations and meditation are performed respectively with the body, the voice and the mind and in this they are of ascending order of value.
One can regard this eight-fold universe as a manifestation of God; and whatever worship is performed in it is excellent as worship of God.
The repetition aloud of His name is better than praise.
Better still is its faint murmur. But the best is repetition with the mind -- and that is meditation, above referred to.
Better than such broken thoughts (meditation) is its steady and continuous flow like the flow of oil or of a perennial stream.2