Hari Om,
I created this blog today to connect with others who are performing purascharana of a mantra. I started my first purascharana in January 2012 and am keen to connect with others who are doing the same. It is a long process (in my case will take nearly 2 years) and needs a fair amount of determination and motivation to keep going. It would be nice to be in touch with other purascharana practitioners- to hear what is going well, what obstacles have been encountered and so on. It would be great to motivate and inspire each other to keep going on this long but rewarding path.
I'm doing 11 rounds a day of the Ashtakshara mantra Om Namo Narayanaya with the aim of spiritual development. I have been a follower of the Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh for the past 7 years and was initiated in this mantra about 6 years ago. Since then I have always wanted to do an extended mantra practice but never managed to because of work commitments. I finally decided that it was high time I made a beginning as I realised that there will never be a perfect time. I took the sankalpa to do a purascharana in mid January and contacted a respected Swamiji whom I know well in Rishikesh for advice. He was very encouraging and said that I should go ahead- I contact him regularly for advice and to update him on my progress. I have been keeping a daily record and have worked out that I will finish the required 800,000 repetitions in September 2013! I initially started out with 24 malas a day, but then had to reduce to 11 malas a day due to increased work pressures. For anyone who's interested in mantra repetition (japa), here is a link to Swami Sivananda's wonderfully clear and concise article on Japa Yoga. The link below that is about Purascharana. If you haven't yet considered mantra japa or purascharana, his words may well inspire you to get started and experiment for yourself!
If you are already a mantra practitioner from any tradition, or someone with experience in purascharana or currently doing one, it would be great to hear from you. I'd be interested in how your practice is going.
http://www.dlshq.org/teachings/japayoga.htm
http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection§ion_id=525
I created this blog today to connect with others who are performing purascharana of a mantra. I started my first purascharana in January 2012 and am keen to connect with others who are doing the same. It is a long process (in my case will take nearly 2 years) and needs a fair amount of determination and motivation to keep going. It would be nice to be in touch with other purascharana practitioners- to hear what is going well, what obstacles have been encountered and so on. It would be great to motivate and inspire each other to keep going on this long but rewarding path.
I'm doing 11 rounds a day of the Ashtakshara mantra Om Namo Narayanaya with the aim of spiritual development. I have been a follower of the Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh for the past 7 years and was initiated in this mantra about 6 years ago. Since then I have always wanted to do an extended mantra practice but never managed to because of work commitments. I finally decided that it was high time I made a beginning as I realised that there will never be a perfect time. I took the sankalpa to do a purascharana in mid January and contacted a respected Swamiji whom I know well in Rishikesh for advice. He was very encouraging and said that I should go ahead- I contact him regularly for advice and to update him on my progress. I have been keeping a daily record and have worked out that I will finish the required 800,000 repetitions in September 2013! I initially started out with 24 malas a day, but then had to reduce to 11 malas a day due to increased work pressures. For anyone who's interested in mantra repetition (japa), here is a link to Swami Sivananda's wonderfully clear and concise article on Japa Yoga. The link below that is about Purascharana. If you haven't yet considered mantra japa or purascharana, his words may well inspire you to get started and experiment for yourself!
If you are already a mantra practitioner from any tradition, or someone with experience in purascharana or currently doing one, it would be great to hear from you. I'd be interested in how your practice is going.
http://www.dlshq.org/teachings/japayoga.htm
http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection§ion_id=525
