Mantra writing

 Hari Aum.

Swami Sivananda used to strongly encourage his students to practice mantra writing (likhita japa) as a form of meditation. He used to recommend practicing silence (mauna) while writing the mantra and concentrating the mind on its sound, the letters and its meaning. He used to say this is a very potent way to develop good concentration and meditate on the mantra.

I used to practice this a long time time ago and recently decided to take it up again as it adds some much-needed variety to my practice. Sivananda used to say that books that are filled with the mantras or names of God have a certain positive energy associated with them. He used to recommend keeping these books near one's altar or meditation place as he said this would create a sacred atmosphere. 

While any notebook can be used for mantra writing, I feel it can help to have a special notebook set aside for this purpose. To help create a sense of joy and interest when doing this practice, I recently purchased a sturdy notebook with a rather pretty and inspiring cover and also purchased a special set of pens of different colours to write (it can get a bit tedious to write pages and pages in a single black/blue colour sometimes in my view). I started this practice about a week ago and find that I really look forward to it now. I do about 1-2 pages of writing the mantra (around 65-120 times) and find that it brings me peace.

I conducted a puja at home for Lakshmi and Narayana recently and placed some of the flowers that had been offered to the deities into the notebook (as I like pressed flowers)-- somehow this makes the notebook feel even more special. 

I plan to keep up this practice in the coming months and try to do the mantra writing at least 4-5 times a week for 15-20 minutes at a time. I will hopefully be able to build up to 30 minutes a day over time.

Sivananda says the following on mantra writing or likhita japa:

"Likhita Japa or Mantra-writing is a sharp goad to direct the mind towards God. Fix the mind on the Lord. Think of His attributes when you write the Mantra. Forget the environments. Forget everything. Remain alone with your Ishta Devata. Daily write the Mantra in a notebook with ink for at least half an hour, observe Mouna. You can write the Mantra in any language. Stick to one Mantra, your Guru Mantra or Mantra of your Ishta Devata."

See link here for the full article: 

https://www.sivanandaonline.org/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=428

The coming weekend is that of Narasimha Jayanti, the celebration of the day when the man-lion avatar of Narayana is said to have manifested to protect the child, Prahlada. There is also a lunar eclipse on the coming Sunday/Monday (depending upon where you live). This is a good period to spend some additional time on spiritual practices and staying grounded. According to the yogis, eclipses can create some mental/physical disturbances in people and spiritual practices can help. 

A single recitation of a mantra of God recited during an eclipse is said to have 100 or 1000 times the effect of it being recited at other times. Needless to say, the yogis say that this is therefore a wonderful time for doing some extra mantra practice including mantra writing that spiritual seekers should not miss.

On an astrological note, this lunar eclipse takes place in the sign of Scorpio and involves the south node of the moon (Ketu in jyotisha). This is an interesting combination. The moon representing the mind is debilitated (weakened) in the sign of Scorpio, which is quite an intense sign representing deep hidden and complex karmas. Ketu is a volatile and unpredictable entity in Vedic astrology representing sudden events and changes in our lives as well as past life karmas. The combination of these two intense and volatile factors, Scorpio and Ketu, is likely to pose a challenge on some level for most of us.

This eclipse will have different effects based on our zodiac sign i.e. ascendant and moon signs (I find the effects seem particularly accurate when seen from the ascendant sign) and various karmas can suddenly manifest. Therefore, it is generally regarded as wise to avoid making any important decisions about any aspect of one's life during the period in the few days before and after an eclipse due to the risk of cloudy thinking and poor judgement. The best advice during this time is to engage the mind in spiritual practices, keep worldly activities (including travel, new projects etc) to an absolute minimum and generally be patient and wait for this to this tricky period to pass. 

On that note, I will conclude by wishing all of you a pleasant weekend, a joyful Narasimha jayanti and a spiritually productive lunar eclipse with hopefully some enjoyable mantra-writing. 

Hari Aum Tat Sat