Hari Aum.
Yesterday I was reading an article by Swami Krishnanda (disciple of Sivananda) regarding mantra japa. http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_80.html
In this article he mentions purascharana, and talks about a gentleman called Sri Rama Sharma acharya who performed 24 Gayatri purascharanas. This gentleman, regarded by his followers as a great yogi, did 24 purascharanas in 24 years, at the rate of one purascharana per year.
He did 66 malas japa a day which took about 6 hours daily. Not only this, he followed a tremendous discipline in diet, keeping a lamp lit continuously, and strictly followed many regulations as advised by his Guru. He later founded the All World Gayatri Pariwar, to encourage people to chant the famous Gayatri mantra. He initiated women into this mantra, breaking the centuries old tradition that banned women from chanting. He cited the numerous female rishis (rishikas) in the Vedas and in the Upanisads (Gargi, Maitreya) etc to demonstrate that in ancient times, women too did intense tapas and attained God.
Not only this, this gentleman joined Gandhi's movement to gain independence for India. He was a married man and his Guru said this was a very good thing as his wife would help him on the spiritual path. So he combined a life of a householder doing active service to the world, with a life of intense japa and spiritual practice.
I felt quite inspired after reading about this gentleman. I sometime feel that it is hard to combine japa with a life in the world that involves working as a doctor, running a house (which I see as my personal ashram), performing duties towards relatives etc.
But this gentleman did so much more and still had the discipline to keep up the japa for 24 years. I skim-read his autobiography online yesterday (available for free in English). It was very interesting and is well worth a read.
After reading about him, I mulled over what to do with my practice. Should I increase my japa from the current 1 hour 15 minutes, to 6 hours a day? This would involve spending almost every waking moment (after work, and essential self-care such as bathing etc), on japa. I strongly felt that I am not ready for this at present. May be one day, but not right now.
Equally I strongly felt that I am ready to try to gradually increase my japa commitment and see how this goes. As mentioned in a recent post, I have increased the daily japa from 11 malas to 15 malas. This is a small but significant increase. For a start, it reduces the time for one purascharana from 1 year 11 months, to 1 year 4.5 months - a saving of about 7 months. This is valuable time which can be spent on further sadhana.
Thinking about such spiritual heroes such as Sri Rama Sharma and others, I feel very small indeed. But then I was reminded of the story of the squirrel in one version of the Ramayana. (There are many versions of the Ramayana- the original Valmiki Ramayan, and many others written by various poet-saints such as Tulasidas etc).
I will remind you of this story in case you are not familiar with it. The avatar of Lord Vishnu, Sri Rama, asks the army of divine monkeys to build a mighty bridge across the ocean so that He can reach Lanka and vanquish Ravana (the adharmic demon king). The monkeys (who are sons of the devas, demi-gods) are tall and extremely strong. They bring large boulders, small hills, massive trees and so on to build this bridge, under the guidance of the monkey Nala (son of Vishwakarma, the divine architect of the devas). As the monkeys pound up and down carrying these massive weights, they see a strange sight.
A small squirrel is seen rubbing his body into the sand on the sea shore and then scampering on to the mighty bridge and shaking the sand off onto the bridge. He then goes off to the shore again and repeats the process over and over.
The monkeys curiously ask the squirrel, "O squirrel, what are you doing?" The squirrel stoutly says "I am helping to build the bridge!". On hearing this, the huge monkeys cannot help but laugh very heartily holding on to their sides. They are most amused by the minute squirrel's efforts.
At this, the squirrel scampers up to Rama who picks it up and strokes its back in appreciation of its efforts. The squirrel is reassured and continues his efforts at building the bridge. When Rama strokes the squirrel's back, the movement of His three fingers leaves three lines. In Indian legend, this is said to be the source of the three lines on the back of the Indian squirrel.
Rama then tells the monkeys that that it does not matter whether one is made large or small, it is the sincerity and doing of one's best that matters. It is the heart that matters.
Those of us who have set out on the spiritual path as beginners are like this small squirrel. We do a little japa daily as per our capacity. But every little counts. Every drop in the ocean makes up its might.
If each drop says "I am too small to be useful" and withdraws from the ocean, there will be no ocean left. It is the combined might of each tiny drop that makes up the power and might of the great ocean.
So I told myself, just keep going. Do a little, but do it every day, as I have been doing for the past 6 years. When I started out in earnest on this mantra japa journey in 2012, doing even 11 malas a day seemed like a challenge. Now that I feel relatively comfortable with this, I felt ready to increase it a little to 15 malas. In time I would like to increase further so that I can do a purascharana in around one year or under.
I tell myself, regularity is even more important than quantity. Yes one must certainly do the most that one can at any point in time. But when choosing how much japa to do daily, one should choose an amount that can be kept up comfortably for as long as possible, at least a year or more. Because japa has a cumulative effect. It is better to do 1 hour a day for 6 years, rather than do 6 hours a day for 1 year and then burn out and give up the practice.
So I am quite content with being a squirrel on the spiritual path. With time, hopefully my capacity will increase, my spiritual stamina will increase and I will be able to do more. As they say, 'haste makes waste', while 'slow and steady, wins the race'. I intend to stay slow and steady on the path.
I am pleased that, from November 2011 till the present, the thread of daily japa has continued without a break (despite plenty of activity in worldly life). I hope that this may this continue for many more years to come.
I also feel that we should not be afraid to be a squirrel on the bridge, or a tiny drop in the mighty ocean. Coming briefly to the topic of japa for world peace, every little counts. Every recitation of the name of God, mentally or verbally, benefits humanity. As Sivananda says, we live in an ocean of thoughts. Our thoughts of God in the form of japa create positive vibrations that never perish in the cosmos, and also loosen the noose of Lord Yama that is currently tightly around our necks. By doing japa we benefit ourselves and others. And no amount of japa is too small. Even one recitation of the name of Narayana by Ajamila produced a tremendous effect.
Acharya Sri Rama Sharma, who I mentioned above, wrote something interesting in his autobiography with regard to humanity's future. He said that, although many mystics predicted the possibility of a catastrophe awaiting humankind (nuclear war etc), he strongly felt this would not happen. He said that many saints are working to prevent this, and advised humanity to follow suit and actively participate in this effort by doing whatever sadhana we can.
The way I see it, is that the saints are like the huge divine monkeys of Sri Rama building a great bridge of dharma to ensure world peace. We, their followers and disciples, are like small squirrels shaking sand particles on the bridge. But every particle of sand on the bridge counts, just like every drop in the ocean counts.
So let us, the tiny spiritual heroes that we are, keep up our japa practice in the midst of our worldly lives. For together, our tiny individual efforts, can form a mighty spiritual wave and support the work of the saints.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
P.S. Speaking of 'slow and steady wins the race', I am sharing a little 5 minute video (see below) by Om Swami (not the TV celebrity).
In this video, he talks about the value of doing a little sadhana daily (rather than doing a lot in one go and then stopping for ages). He also discusses how to stay motivated on the spiritual path, to do prolonged sadhana which is necessary for success. (This gentleman is a devotee of the goddess and is said to have had Her darshan as well as that of Lord Hari).
The video is in Hindi (though some of the others on his Youtube channel are in English) and I found it quite helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-lahvLpk58
Yesterday I was reading an article by Swami Krishnanda (disciple of Sivananda) regarding mantra japa. http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_80.html
In this article he mentions purascharana, and talks about a gentleman called Sri Rama Sharma acharya who performed 24 Gayatri purascharanas. This gentleman, regarded by his followers as a great yogi, did 24 purascharanas in 24 years, at the rate of one purascharana per year.
He did 66 malas japa a day which took about 6 hours daily. Not only this, he followed a tremendous discipline in diet, keeping a lamp lit continuously, and strictly followed many regulations as advised by his Guru. He later founded the All World Gayatri Pariwar, to encourage people to chant the famous Gayatri mantra. He initiated women into this mantra, breaking the centuries old tradition that banned women from chanting. He cited the numerous female rishis (rishikas) in the Vedas and in the Upanisads (Gargi, Maitreya) etc to demonstrate that in ancient times, women too did intense tapas and attained God.
Not only this, this gentleman joined Gandhi's movement to gain independence for India. He was a married man and his Guru said this was a very good thing as his wife would help him on the spiritual path. So he combined a life of a householder doing active service to the world, with a life of intense japa and spiritual practice.
I felt quite inspired after reading about this gentleman. I sometime feel that it is hard to combine japa with a life in the world that involves working as a doctor, running a house (which I see as my personal ashram), performing duties towards relatives etc.
But this gentleman did so much more and still had the discipline to keep up the japa for 24 years. I skim-read his autobiography online yesterday (available for free in English). It was very interesting and is well worth a read.
After reading about him, I mulled over what to do with my practice. Should I increase my japa from the current 1 hour 15 minutes, to 6 hours a day? This would involve spending almost every waking moment (after work, and essential self-care such as bathing etc), on japa. I strongly felt that I am not ready for this at present. May be one day, but not right now.
Equally I strongly felt that I am ready to try to gradually increase my japa commitment and see how this goes. As mentioned in a recent post, I have increased the daily japa from 11 malas to 15 malas. This is a small but significant increase. For a start, it reduces the time for one purascharana from 1 year 11 months, to 1 year 4.5 months - a saving of about 7 months. This is valuable time which can be spent on further sadhana.
Thinking about such spiritual heroes such as Sri Rama Sharma and others, I feel very small indeed. But then I was reminded of the story of the squirrel in one version of the Ramayana. (There are many versions of the Ramayana- the original Valmiki Ramayan, and many others written by various poet-saints such as Tulasidas etc).
I will remind you of this story in case you are not familiar with it. The avatar of Lord Vishnu, Sri Rama, asks the army of divine monkeys to build a mighty bridge across the ocean so that He can reach Lanka and vanquish Ravana (the adharmic demon king). The monkeys (who are sons of the devas, demi-gods) are tall and extremely strong. They bring large boulders, small hills, massive trees and so on to build this bridge, under the guidance of the monkey Nala (son of Vishwakarma, the divine architect of the devas). As the monkeys pound up and down carrying these massive weights, they see a strange sight.
A small squirrel is seen rubbing his body into the sand on the sea shore and then scampering on to the mighty bridge and shaking the sand off onto the bridge. He then goes off to the shore again and repeats the process over and over.
The monkeys curiously ask the squirrel, "O squirrel, what are you doing?" The squirrel stoutly says "I am helping to build the bridge!". On hearing this, the huge monkeys cannot help but laugh very heartily holding on to their sides. They are most amused by the minute squirrel's efforts.
At this, the squirrel scampers up to Rama who picks it up and strokes its back in appreciation of its efforts. The squirrel is reassured and continues his efforts at building the bridge. When Rama strokes the squirrel's back, the movement of His three fingers leaves three lines. In Indian legend, this is said to be the source of the three lines on the back of the Indian squirrel.
Rama then tells the monkeys that that it does not matter whether one is made large or small, it is the sincerity and doing of one's best that matters. It is the heart that matters.
Those of us who have set out on the spiritual path as beginners are like this small squirrel. We do a little japa daily as per our capacity. But every little counts. Every drop in the ocean makes up its might.
If each drop says "I am too small to be useful" and withdraws from the ocean, there will be no ocean left. It is the combined might of each tiny drop that makes up the power and might of the great ocean.
So I told myself, just keep going. Do a little, but do it every day, as I have been doing for the past 6 years. When I started out in earnest on this mantra japa journey in 2012, doing even 11 malas a day seemed like a challenge. Now that I feel relatively comfortable with this, I felt ready to increase it a little to 15 malas. In time I would like to increase further so that I can do a purascharana in around one year or under.
I tell myself, regularity is even more important than quantity. Yes one must certainly do the most that one can at any point in time. But when choosing how much japa to do daily, one should choose an amount that can be kept up comfortably for as long as possible, at least a year or more. Because japa has a cumulative effect. It is better to do 1 hour a day for 6 years, rather than do 6 hours a day for 1 year and then burn out and give up the practice.
So I am quite content with being a squirrel on the spiritual path. With time, hopefully my capacity will increase, my spiritual stamina will increase and I will be able to do more. As they say, 'haste makes waste', while 'slow and steady, wins the race'. I intend to stay slow and steady on the path.
I am pleased that, from November 2011 till the present, the thread of daily japa has continued without a break (despite plenty of activity in worldly life). I hope that this may this continue for many more years to come.
I also feel that we should not be afraid to be a squirrel on the bridge, or a tiny drop in the mighty ocean. Coming briefly to the topic of japa for world peace, every little counts. Every recitation of the name of God, mentally or verbally, benefits humanity. As Sivananda says, we live in an ocean of thoughts. Our thoughts of God in the form of japa create positive vibrations that never perish in the cosmos, and also loosen the noose of Lord Yama that is currently tightly around our necks. By doing japa we benefit ourselves and others. And no amount of japa is too small. Even one recitation of the name of Narayana by Ajamila produced a tremendous effect.
Acharya Sri Rama Sharma, who I mentioned above, wrote something interesting in his autobiography with regard to humanity's future. He said that, although many mystics predicted the possibility of a catastrophe awaiting humankind (nuclear war etc), he strongly felt this would not happen. He said that many saints are working to prevent this, and advised humanity to follow suit and actively participate in this effort by doing whatever sadhana we can.
The way I see it, is that the saints are like the huge divine monkeys of Sri Rama building a great bridge of dharma to ensure world peace. We, their followers and disciples, are like small squirrels shaking sand particles on the bridge. But every particle of sand on the bridge counts, just like every drop in the ocean counts.
So let us, the tiny spiritual heroes that we are, keep up our japa practice in the midst of our worldly lives. For together, our tiny individual efforts, can form a mighty spiritual wave and support the work of the saints.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
P.S. Speaking of 'slow and steady wins the race', I am sharing a little 5 minute video (see below) by Om Swami (not the TV celebrity).
In this video, he talks about the value of doing a little sadhana daily (rather than doing a lot in one go and then stopping for ages). He also discusses how to stay motivated on the spiritual path, to do prolonged sadhana which is necessary for success. (This gentleman is a devotee of the goddess and is said to have had Her darshan as well as that of Lord Hari).
The video is in Hindi (though some of the others on his Youtube channel are in English) and I found it quite helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-lahvLpk58
