Hari Om.
I completed the second purascharana of the Om Namo Narayanaya today (my Guru mantra that I was initiated into nearly 11 years ago). It has been an eventful two years with passing a major post-graduate medical exam, getting married, dealing with some unpleasant personal health issues (including a cancer scare), taking six months out to travel in India including a pilgrimage, returning to Europe and starting work as a doctor, and now the process of looking to buy a house before thinking of starting a family. All in all, in a material sense, it has been very active. However, the thread of japa has fortunately run through all these events and has supported me in all of this.
For this I am grateful to my Mother Durga, through whose Grace I feel I am able to do sadhana. To say thanks to Her I am going to do some Durga mantra sadhana before starting my next purascharana.
The coming Friday, December 18, is the monthly shukla paksha (bright lunar fortnight) Durga ashtami day that is sacred to Her. The plan is to start a simple sadhana to say thanks to Her on this day. I will do one mala a day of "Om Sri Durgayai Namah" daily for around four weeks from this day until the next Durga ashtami day on January 17. I will also recite the Saptasloki Durga as often as possible during this time, ideally once a day.
Then with Her blessings, I hope to start the next purascharana of the Om Namo Narayanaya mantra on January 24, which is an auspicious day to commence sadhana as per vedic astrology (Ravi pushya yoga). From tomorrow until that day, I will reduce my daily malas of japa of Om Namo Narayanaya from 11 to 5. This is to allow the mind a feeling of rest before committing to another two years of 11 malas a day.
I invited a priest home last weekend to perform a Vishnu homam with offerings of ahutis to the Om Namo Narayanaya mantra. I am unable to do a homam with 80,000 mantra repititions as per the traditional rule of purascharana completion (would be a huge and very long homam/homams). However when I previously spoke to the elderly Swamiji at my Guru's Ashram (the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh) who has been guiding me from the start of the first purascharana, he said not to worry if I could not do this. He said the main purpose of extended practices such as purascharana is to develop a habit of remembering God regularly and the reason to aim for a certain number of repetitions was to give the mind a target to work towards. He said it was not important to become too fixated on the numbers. In other words, he reassured me that it was not necessary to do homam, tarpanam and marjana if I was unable, and simply advised remembering God and being regular in the japa.
With this in mind therefore, I can honestly say that I have completed 800,000 repetitions for a second time today. However I have not performed any elaborate completion rituals. In terms of completion rituals, I only did a relatively small puja and homam last weekend with the help of a priest (it did take four hours though.) I have done a similar homam and puja twice previously during this purascharana. And that is it. I do not intend to do a further 80,000 repetitions for completion as Sivananda himself advises if one cannot do the homam etc. This is based on the authority of the elderly Swamiji mentioned above. If I now did a further 80,000 repetitions of japa, I feel my mind would burn out and lose motivation to start the next purascharana which I do not want. Therefore I will do whatever is needed to keep my mind willing to continue the japa practice steadily, even if it means not adhering strictly to every formal rule.
Although 11 malas a day takes only about an hour, it has been kept up daily for several months, and there has been an element of anxiety every day about making sure this happens no matter what else is happening in my life. Therefore, my mind feels like it needs a break from this anxiety.... some 'down time'. I am going to grant my mind six weeks of down time to relax and prepare for the next purascharana......during this time as mentioned, the japa will be reduced to only 5 malas a day (25 minutes). The memory of this down time will I hope keep me going at the slightly more intense pace of 11 malas over the following two years. That worked last time and is therefore the plan once again.
I am also going to use this down time to reflect on my Guru Swami Sivananda's 20 important spiritual instructions and see if I can improve my practice of these.
Once again, I dedicate this purascharana to world peace, for the physical, mental, moral and spiritual wellbeing of all beings everywhere. May a third world war, particularly a nuclear war, be averted by the Grace of God- this is my most ardent prayer. May humanity learn to live in peace with each other and with fellow spiritual beings in the form of other species on this planet. I feel such a prayer is worship of the Universal form of God, His virat swaroopa. I also pray that, through the performance of such purascharanas, I may attain true devotion to God in this lifetime itself. As my Guru says, once this is attained, nothing more remains to be attained.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
I completed the second purascharana of the Om Namo Narayanaya today (my Guru mantra that I was initiated into nearly 11 years ago). It has been an eventful two years with passing a major post-graduate medical exam, getting married, dealing with some unpleasant personal health issues (including a cancer scare), taking six months out to travel in India including a pilgrimage, returning to Europe and starting work as a doctor, and now the process of looking to buy a house before thinking of starting a family. All in all, in a material sense, it has been very active. However, the thread of japa has fortunately run through all these events and has supported me in all of this.
For this I am grateful to my Mother Durga, through whose Grace I feel I am able to do sadhana. To say thanks to Her I am going to do some Durga mantra sadhana before starting my next purascharana.
The coming Friday, December 18, is the monthly shukla paksha (bright lunar fortnight) Durga ashtami day that is sacred to Her. The plan is to start a simple sadhana to say thanks to Her on this day. I will do one mala a day of "Om Sri Durgayai Namah" daily for around four weeks from this day until the next Durga ashtami day on January 17. I will also recite the Saptasloki Durga as often as possible during this time, ideally once a day.
Then with Her blessings, I hope to start the next purascharana of the Om Namo Narayanaya mantra on January 24, which is an auspicious day to commence sadhana as per vedic astrology (Ravi pushya yoga). From tomorrow until that day, I will reduce my daily malas of japa of Om Namo Narayanaya from 11 to 5. This is to allow the mind a feeling of rest before committing to another two years of 11 malas a day.
I invited a priest home last weekend to perform a Vishnu homam with offerings of ahutis to the Om Namo Narayanaya mantra. I am unable to do a homam with 80,000 mantra repititions as per the traditional rule of purascharana completion (would be a huge and very long homam/homams). However when I previously spoke to the elderly Swamiji at my Guru's Ashram (the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh) who has been guiding me from the start of the first purascharana, he said not to worry if I could not do this. He said the main purpose of extended practices such as purascharana is to develop a habit of remembering God regularly and the reason to aim for a certain number of repetitions was to give the mind a target to work towards. He said it was not important to become too fixated on the numbers. In other words, he reassured me that it was not necessary to do homam, tarpanam and marjana if I was unable, and simply advised remembering God and being regular in the japa.
With this in mind therefore, I can honestly say that I have completed 800,000 repetitions for a second time today. However I have not performed any elaborate completion rituals. In terms of completion rituals, I only did a relatively small puja and homam last weekend with the help of a priest (it did take four hours though.) I have done a similar homam and puja twice previously during this purascharana. And that is it. I do not intend to do a further 80,000 repetitions for completion as Sivananda himself advises if one cannot do the homam etc. This is based on the authority of the elderly Swamiji mentioned above. If I now did a further 80,000 repetitions of japa, I feel my mind would burn out and lose motivation to start the next purascharana which I do not want. Therefore I will do whatever is needed to keep my mind willing to continue the japa practice steadily, even if it means not adhering strictly to every formal rule.
Although 11 malas a day takes only about an hour, it has been kept up daily for several months, and there has been an element of anxiety every day about making sure this happens no matter what else is happening in my life. Therefore, my mind feels like it needs a break from this anxiety.... some 'down time'. I am going to grant my mind six weeks of down time to relax and prepare for the next purascharana......during this time as mentioned, the japa will be reduced to only 5 malas a day (25 minutes). The memory of this down time will I hope keep me going at the slightly more intense pace of 11 malas over the following two years. That worked last time and is therefore the plan once again.
I am also going to use this down time to reflect on my Guru Swami Sivananda's 20 important spiritual instructions and see if I can improve my practice of these.
Once again, I dedicate this purascharana to world peace, for the physical, mental, moral and spiritual wellbeing of all beings everywhere. May a third world war, particularly a nuclear war, be averted by the Grace of God- this is my most ardent prayer. May humanity learn to live in peace with each other and with fellow spiritual beings in the form of other species on this planet. I feel such a prayer is worship of the Universal form of God, His virat swaroopa. I also pray that, through the performance of such purascharanas, I may attain true devotion to God in this lifetime itself. As my Guru says, once this is attained, nothing more remains to be attained.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
Hi! Congratulations on your completion of second Purascharana, well it seems strange to congratulate in a spiritual endeavour but i guess the undertaking of the task itself, in a spiritual field is a matter worth celebrating and acknowledging, so Bravo! Keep it Up, your dedication gives so many of us hope and inspiration to carry on, otherwise at times, i might say something like this :
ReplyDelete"Aargh!...kahan phasa diya." Hey Btw, do you understand Hindi..’cos at times I slip into that mode..ha ha..otherwise I’ll be careful not to indulge in my mother tongue while interacting with you.
I wanted to talk you about the time we take to recite a mantra..see, you’ve said you take approx. one hour to chant 11 malas, i.e., about 20-22 rounds per minute. Now, remember what Swami Sivananda had written in that table regarding mantra recitations. There it is written, that one can chant about 60-80 and 120 recitations in low-med- and high speed per minute. Now, at the other hand, he has advised to keep it slow and effective and with concentration etc..okay, are you following me? Now consider me as your guru for a while..ha ha..Now Swami Sivananda was not a confused person and would not say contradictory things to confuse his disciples, at one point he is saying you can chant 120 in a minute and on the other hand, opposite of that. He wouldn’t have said this if he knew this was not possible. If he says you can do 60 in a minute and that also at a low speed, then this ought to be in the range of possibility and could be done without sacrificing the quality of the japa. So, taking into consideration, that our Guru was indeed a realized soul, let’s ponder on this point for a while. See, I’ve noticed that when one goes deeper into mantra japa (this I observed when I did mantra japa of Mahamrityunjay mantra for about 6 months with no prescribed rules but followed a regular sitting everyday morning and evening for half and hour and on other informal times also), and you go into deeper layers of your mind, then the parts of mantra flashes inside your mind as a single unit..like “Om trayambakam yajamahe”..this would appear as a single unit and so on, so by this method which comes naturally as u progress, one is able to do japa very fast and in later stages the entire mantra flashes as a single unit, so what happens is, you read the entire mantra in a couple of seconds..getting it? Ha ha.. that is the true meaning of manasik japa. The deeper you go, the faster you recite and the vibrations that emanate from the recitations at such a deeper level become even more powerful and bring about the desired affect quickly. So, coming back to what I had in my mind, I think that you have not got the right technique, even after doing two purascharans (kaise kaise naalaayak students hain). You should have been doing at least 60 recitations in one minute amounting to 6o mins.x60 reps. =3600 leading to about 33 malas in an hour. This way you would be able to do a Purascharana in aout 7 or 8 months, or if you feel you’ll burn out by the pressure of doing the japa no matter what, you can devote less time to it and do it in a year or so by increasing the speed.
continued..
Recently I was reading this book again “Mantra : The Sacred Chants” by Swami Veda Bharti which I recommended to you. I didn’t pay attention to this aspect earlier but since I experienced it myself, I understood it a bit. This is covered under the heading : “How to Do Long Mantras Faster” You can find it here :
ReplyDelete(http://www.himalayanyogatradition.com/Library/MantraAfterInitiation.pdf)
So, relax! Don’t burden your mind so much, try to achieve this state (I’m also trying, :) ) and then do mantra japa only for half an hour and you’ll be able to do one hour’s worth in this much time only.
No! no need for thanks.. :)
All the best for your third Puruascharan. And hey! If the goal of your life is to attain realization in this lifetime only, I might suggest some other things also, besides doing japa because japa is a slow method, the way we generally do it. I don’t need to tell you that mantras are just a sound (powerful ones) that alter the vibrations of your bodies (physical, astral, celestial etc etc.) and produce changes in us and prepares us as a spiritual aspirant by burning our karmas and other such things. So, this is a preparatory stage, though it can be used as a full fledged discipline to achieve moksha but as I said earlier, “japa is a slow method, the way we generally do it”.
Okay, won’t bother you much, as you are in a holiday mode (from reciting, :)). So, Happy Holidays!
Hi Dharmesh,
DeleteThank you for the congratulations for the last purascharana and for the best wishes for the next one. Yes I do follow hindi so feel free to write in this too...it's all good.
Thanks for the words of advice Guruji (happy to reverse roles ;). I have faithfully read the article mentioned above - it was very interesting.
I have noticed that after I repeat the mantra verbally for some time, say 20 minutes, when I stop speaking, the mantra repeats itself in the mind automatically for a while.
I have been considering introducing some mental japa into my daily practice. Thank you for reminding me of this. One thing I like about my verbal japa, is that it allows a portion of the mind to visualise the deity in the heart...this creates a feeling of closeness to the Divine, and build up an awareness of God in the heart space as an available refuge whenever needed during the day.
However mental japa is also very interesting and no doubt a powerful practice. Having said that sankirtan which involves singing God's name loudly to music is also said by our Guru Sivananda to be a samadhi-inducing practice. The key seems to be mental absorption in God... whether or not the tongue is moving seems less relevant.
Anyway, I will take a step in this direction. Will start by doing a mere 5-10 minutes a day of mental japa, while keeping the rest of the japa as verbal with visualisation of the deity. Will see how this goes and aim to gradually increase to around 15-20 minutes of mental japa a day over time.
Regarding alternative practices to japa, well, I combine karma yoga with mantra yoga (and some puja/havan etc). I also talk to God regularly as a spiritual practice and means of remembrance - this feels comfortable to me, and fortunately Swami Chidananda (Sivananda's beloved disciple and successor) highly recommended this in his book (The path beyond sorrow) as an aid to Realisation so I do not see this as madness. (Or perhaps a helpful type of madness :)
Also I would like to clarify that I have subtly changed my goal for this life. My spiritual goal is to attain true devotion to God in this life. Realisation is a good side effect that can be granted when God wishes. As Sivananda says, Bhakti is the Queen whose maidservant is Mukti. He advises attaining the former, and the latter will automatically follow.
Thank you for the advice and link Guruji, it is much appreciated. :)
Your humble shishya,
Vishnupriya
HI Vishnupriya,
ReplyDeleteYou definitely need a pat on your back..you are doing wonderful and I take it that you do not need a Guru anymore, so I’ll discharge myself of that duty :) . You are good on your own and doing so well. Keep it up.
No, seriously, your approach to the spiritual path is truly well balanced and ..and just perfect.
When you say “My spiritual goal is to attain true devotion to God in this life. Realisation is a good side effect that can be granted when God wishes”, then you are in the right direction and I too believe in what you have said. Now, since your intentions are so high and yet so noble and humble, then you don’t need any guru, in fact you can be the guiding light to so many stranded souls.
Now I won’t make the mistake of even trying to be your Guru.
All the best…:)
And hey! I’ve started using japa mala and I’ve found I’m able to do about 15 malas in an hour, and the concentration too is good, though it doesn’t go so deep as it was while I was doing by watch.
Hello Dharmesh ji,
ReplyDeleteI did about 10 minutes of silent japa early this morning after 5 malas of done verbally and it was very enjoyable. Thank you for inspiring me to take up this silent practice - now feels like the right time to introduce this into my sadhana.
After giving such good advice, how can you abandon your position as Guru?! I am neither as good as you generously describe, nor as 'nalayak'....hehehe. :D So please do not abscond!
But seriously, I feel that we are both travelers on the spiritual path and can benefit from each others' advice. While neither of us can perhaps yet claim to be a fully fledged jnani or bhakta or yogi, we appear to both making some efforts to attain some spiritual progress in this life.
I regard you as a serious japa yogi and spiritual aspirant based on what you have described regarding your spiritual efforts. Therefore I am perfectly willing to consider your advice and suggestions including literature to read. Therefore kindly continue to share your valuable guidance...regardless of whether you choose to call yourself a friendly Guru, Gurubhai or something else. :)
Take care, and Om Namo Narayanaya.
I am really enjoying my spiritual holiday btw, hope you are enjoying your intense tapas equally....hehehe (kahan phasa diya as you say)... :P
A very happy new year in advance. May it bring great spiritual advancement and both worldly and spiritual bliss.
Vishnupriya
Ha ha ha...don't worry, tumne itne saal tap kiya hai , tab jaaker main prakat hua hun..won't run away now. .:)
ReplyDeletePlease ignore my weird sense of humour. On the contrary, it's my good karma that I happen to come across your blog n meet you. You seem to be such a balanced n grounded person, your knowledge in the spiritual matters seems to be very deep and yet practical unlike many others I've come across who talk very heavily upon such matters but very soon it becomes evident that they were just floating on the surface. You write in such an unassuming manner n on the other hand, here I'm, given to indulge in going into episodes of ego boasting n self appraising sojourns, but reading your blog makes me realize how vain I am.
uplifting n a humbling experience and you are doing that job so wonderfully. Thanks to you who encouraged me to take up japa sadhana..
ReplyDeleteKhushi to bahut ho rahi hogi..apni itni tareef sunkar...:)
yeh tha lesson no. 2, never ever let the praise effect you..maintain equanimity at all times (Hey Prabhu! Kitna sudharna padega, apni sadhana mat karo, bas ab yehi kaam reh gaya)
Sorry, please don't mind my idiotic chattering..
But jokes a-part, there seems so much I would like to talk to you on these matters but on the other hand. ...is there really a need??
Pravachan samapt..
Koi bhool ho gayi ho to kshama kijiyega Vishnupriya ji.:)
Hey. .This part in the brackets comes after the first part,i.e. how vain I am and before uplifting n humbling experience. Somehow got lost during posting the comment..
ReplyDelete(Reading the works of gurus n saints is a different thing but actually seeing someone practicing those teachings is really inspiring,)
Hello Dharmesh ji,
ReplyDeleteNaturally bahut khushi ho rahi hai after hearing so many nice compliments....how could it be otherwise? :)
On slightly more serious note (sorry for being boring), in the midst of all these nice mutual compliments (which are good in the sense of being encouraging), I am sure that as sadhakas treading the spiritual path, we are both well aware that all these compliments comes to naught if the Supreme is not pleased.
I might be impressed with your sadhana, and may be vice versa, but if He/She is not impressed, then what is the use?
When we meet Lord Yama, and he asks: Ok what did you achieve in this lifetime?...and we say, Errrr...I got a lot of nice compliments from ABCDE people....he will just say, Right you failed the class again, back again you'll have to go!
We don't want to have to say that....we'd rather say "Thank you for your kind interest in me, Lord Yamaji, however I am now beyond your remit. Best wishes!" ;) (Obviously we won't have to say anything at all to him having attained Realisation...but this conveys the gist of how it might be)...
Therefore...do carry on with your noble sadhana Dharmesh ji, and I look forward to joining you with the purascharana practice in a mere four weeks. Till then I am enjoying the Durga sadhana.
God speed as they say....may we both be fortunate enough to impress Lord Vishnu Himself with our tapas and get His compliments....that's only possible through His Grace anyway...but we still need to put in our 'self-effort' so let us plod on determinedly....
Hi Vishnupriya,
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, these compliments and useless talks mean nothing on the spiritual path. Unfortunately, I do not have the maturity to take things seriously in life but what to do, don’t want to change that ;).
But, don’t worry, I would not indulge in such frivolous talks in the future which would cause distraction to a sincere and a good sadhak like you.
Hey Prabhu, mera to uddhar tumhi karna, jab is mayajaal mein phenka hai to yahan se nikalo bhi tumhi.
I also wanted to tell you that I have started my kids on japa sadhana too, from the day I began,i.e. from Diwali, just so that it does not overwhelm them, I have started them slow, started with two malas and now they are doing 4 malas. They have done it earlier also so have a hang of it.
Ok, no frivolous talks..
All the best with Maa Durga’s Sadhana.
tc
Hi Dharmesh,
DeleteI was only agreeing with your point that one should not take praise too seriously though one cannot deny that the human mind always likes this.
No problem about not taking things seriously all the time...it's healthy to have a good sense of humour which you have...no need to give up this God-given talent. ;)
It's really wonderful that your children are also doing japa. I have to say that your children are blessed to have a father like you, and you are blessed to have children like them. Not many parents today give their children any spiritual education, and even if they did, not many children are willing to listen. Your family is an exceptional one. The gift of sadhana that you are giving your children is an extraordinary one (even if they are too young to realise this right away). The world is also fortunate to have more people chanting mantras of peace. Amazing work. :)
Thanks for the wishes for the Durga sadhana...am enjoying it so far.
Best wishes.
Found something inspiring to share with you. It's by Paramhansa Yogananda.
ReplyDelete"Do not look for a spiritual flower every day. Sow the seed, water it with prayer and right endeavour. When it sprouts, take care of the plant, pulling out the weeds of doubt, indecision, and indifference that may spring up around it. Some morning you will suddenly behold your long-awaited spiritual flower of Realization."
Btw, have you read Paramhansa Yogananda..
Very nice quotation, thank you. Will persevere. :)
DeleteI have read Yogananda's book "Autobiography of a Yogi"...fantastic book. Also recently watched a documentary on his life called "Awake: The life of Yogananda"....it's available online, would highly recommend this if you've not seen it yet...very well-made.
Thanks for the wishes Vishnupriya,
ReplyDeleteyes, i'm indeed blessed to have such a family. Just last night, my younger one was asking questions like who made this earth, universe etc.. and if GOD made it, then who made God, and if God made all this then where does he/she lives and if he lives in this Universe then where was he living before this Universe was made by him and if there is life, only on this earth then why did he create other planets and so on and on...i told him to let me sleep i'm tired but i'll answer your questions tomorrow as best as i can. He's 9 years old and he's having same kind of questions that kept my perplexed when i was around his age. The Only difference is, he gives voice to his thoughts whereas i was kept things to myself. which resulted in the strange dreams and visions i had at that time, they were terrifying, terrifying in a way that i felt like i was frozen and it was never going to end (it mostly resembled of space, universe etc..)and i had no answer to those puzzles. But with time, those dreams stopped, those questions stopped. But those questions were to return though in a modified version. When i strted doing a job, which was frustrating and not satisfying, but those difficult situations in the job pushed and prodded me into the spiritual realm once again. And this time i had to find answers, God was kind and compassionate enough to give me patience, time and situations that paved this path for me. It literally seemed like i was put on this path deliberately, yet not forcefully and harshly but with tenderness and love. My basic needs were looked after magically (literally, waise to every act, creation of God is magic and if one understands that, then nothing is magic), not just basic needs, but much more than that. Sorry, main kahan apni katha lekar baith gaya..
Yeah! God given talent of good sense of humour..ha ha..indeed, it's God given, the pain that one receives, if understood, brings forth abundance of sense of humour and if not understood, then it brings more pain, ha..ha..ha..And you know, i'm a fast learner, because i'm too sensitive, to everything, and to pain specially, so i understand my lessons very fast and i always pray to God, that i'm your good child, so please do not give me pain and suffering to make me learn lessons, when i'm willing to learn them with love :)
Thanks for your recommendation, i'll definitely watch it and coming from you, i'm sure it's a good one.
Have a good day..tc
Hi Dharmesh,
DeleteNice to see that your young son has inherited your spiriual genes. :) That really is a rare blessing. It is great that you are encouraging him on the spiritual path with your own noble example of doing regular sadhana.
I agree it is nice when God explains things lovingly rather than through suffering. However, oddly enough, the spiritual path seems to be reaching that state of mind where suffering is not suffering anymore - pain and pleasure are both transcended by that blissful state called Yoga, union with the Divine. We are not yet there, but are definitely on the way, and one day we will experience That too.
Happy new year to you and all the family. :) May our sadhana contribute in some small way to a more peaceful and happy year for all globally.
Thank you Vishnupriya for the wishes... A very happy new year to you and your loved ones, going by your nature, I guess all the inhabitants of the Universe are your loved ones.:) have a great year...
DeleteThank you Vishnupriya for the wishes... A very happy new year to you and your loved ones, going by your nature, I guess all the inhabitants of the Universe are your loved ones.:) have a great year...
DeleteNamaste. I have heard that upamshu( uttering mantra while moving lips) is considered superior in the dual world as its lorded by Durga Devi herself. Request you to pls shed some light on mental
ReplyDeleteJapa, how things have bettered with practise and any tips for myself.
Much appreciated
- P
Namaste
DeleteMy understanding based on what I have read in my Guru and other teacher's works is that there are three types of japa:
1. Vaikhari (verbal)
2. Upamsu (very soft whisper, lips moving)
3. Manasik (in the mind)
All three have their own pros and cons.
Vaikhari:
Is good for shutting out outside sounds and the mind is forced to repeat the mantra throughout. Another advantage is that one can combine this with manasik dhyana/meditation on the form of the deity.
However, the downside is that one's attention can wander away.
Upamsu:
Is good for training the mind to repeat the mantra mentally (a step between vaikhari and manasik japa).
Downside is that, compared with vaikhari, it is harder to combine with visualisation of the form on the deity.
Manasik:
Good for developing deep concentration on the sound of the mantra.
Downside is that it can feel more tiring. Also if the mind wanders a lot and one does not realise this quickly and bring it back, then there is less time on repeating the mantra during the japa session (in contrast with the other two above).
Sivananda and others recommend combining all three and this is what I also follow. I am better now at repeating the mantra mentally. However in my own practice, I prefer vaikhari japa with manasik dhyana of the deity as my first choice. Secondarily I do upamsu japa at times. When I am busy with work in the day, I repeat the mantra mentally or verbally depending upon the circumstances.
Hope this helps.
Thank you 🙏🏾
Delete