Sadhana for Week 13
Body Level: LikhitaJapa
LikhitaJapa: Write your ishta mantra or Om Sri ChinmayaSatguraveNamah 21 times everyday.
Quote:
LikhitaJapa is writing Love letters to God.
The Supreme Reality is experienced through meditation alone. But the boat to reach the goal, viz. meditation is rigged with the practice of devotion through Japa.
Anecdote 1:
When Hanumanji’s statue was installed at Sidhabari, PoojyaGurudev said that now that Hanumanji is here, within one year, he will bring His Master also here and we will have a temple of Sriram here in his vanavasiroop. To make this a samashtisankalpa, PoojyaGurudev said that all the devotees across the world can do LikhitaJapa of Sri Ram Jay Ram Jay Jay Ram. Many devotees did the Likhitajapa and when the temple was built, PoojyaGurudev installed these Japa-books below the sanctum sanctorum saying that this is the SamashtiSankalpa of so many devotees that the Lord has manifested here in the VanavasiRoop. When a pure vyashtisankala (Individual sankalpa) becomes samashtiSankalpa (Sankalpa of the totality), it has to manifest because it becomes Ishwara’aSankalpa as Ishwara is the totality.
PoojyaGuruji also suggested to the devotees to do likhitajapa of Om Gam GanapatayeNamaha when the Pranav Ganesh Mandir was coming up at Chinmayavibhooti and the Japa-books were carried in a grand procession and placed below the sanctum sanctorum.
Anecdote 2:
Once after a lecture series on the last day when gurudakshina was being offered, a devotee, to show his gratitude wrote a note to PoojyaGurudev Swami Chinmayananda to thank him for “bringing back into our lives some of the poetry that was lost somewhere over the years”.
To his surprise and great joy he received by post a reply from PoojyaGurudev stating “the poetry of existence was never lost.In the serene quiet within, we can recapture the floating tunes of the Lord’s flute in our hearts.”
Often when are in trouble or we miss or pine for our loved ones, we either call them or write to them hoping that we will receive a reply and our agony will abate. Most often than not our loved ones will reach out and reciprocate. Sometimes they may not be able to or not want to.
But when we cry out or write to the Lord or our Guru with true devotion, humility and surrender, he Never fails to reply and reward us. Even though we have not loved him or remembered him previously.
Sometimes His grace is a shower of blessings and at other times His generosity is an avalanche that sweeps us off our feet!
The reply from Gurudev served like a catalyst to delve into the scriptures and study Vedanta, the devotee was set on the path, thus began his quest.
Why Japa?
Mind is a monkey riding on the donkey of the body in the circus of life.
- Swami Chinmayananda
Japa is a training of the mind in single-pointedness. It is the repetition of the Lord’s name or the mantra. It is holding on to the mantra, excluding all other thoughts, like the flow of oil which is smooth and continuous.
Love is not generated where sufficient thought is not bestowed. You love your near and dear relatives more than your uncle's sister-in-law's nephew, whom you had probably seen and even admired; yet you do not feel deep love for him; for, you have not spent sufficient thought over that child.
It is always the repetition of thinking that brings about fastness in all attachments. The less one thinks of a thing, the less one gets attached to it. No wonder it is often said - out of sight, out of mind. The opposite is also equally true: the more one thinks of a thing the more one gets attached to it.
Ja – Janmavichcheda Pa – Paapanaashaka.
Japa helps one to overcome the sins or agitations (papa naashaka) and also takes one across the cycle of Birth and death(Janmaviccheda). Many saints have used this time tested sadhana and realized the Truth.
Benefits of LikhitaJapa:
· LikhitaJapa is writing the mantra or the name of the Lord repeatedly. It is a very effective practice for integrating our personality. Loud japa or mental japa is more subtler because all senses are withdrawn. In LikhitaJapa, the senses are engaged in the practice. When one writes the mantra, the eyes see it, the hands feel the pen and the writing on the paper, the mouth chants it and it purifies the speech also, ears hear the chanting, the mind is filled with devotion for the Lord, intellect thinks of the meaning of the mantra.
· We use our senses for so much indulgence but not for the Lord. LikhitaJapa helps us to train the senses to do the work of the Lord.
· It is also a great way to develop patience and slow down our thinking. The general habit of the mind is to hurry up with everything and do it fast. Each name in LikhitaJapa is written with love and one does not rush it up.
· Where there is love, there the mind goes effortlessly. There is complete joy and fulfillment in the presence or thought of the beloved. One never tires of thinking, talking and writing about the beloved.
· The Ishta/Guru mantra has the name and qualities of your beloved, your Lord or your Guru. While writing the mantra of the Lord or the Guru we imbibe the qualities and the name goes deep into the subconscious mind and purifies us.
· It also increases sattvaguna, detachment and single-pointedness. Single-pointedness and purity of mind both are important qualities for a seeker.
How to?
1. Take a diary or a note book which is blank and keep it specifically for this purpose : writing love letters to your IshtaDevata or your Guru.
2. Daily spend a few moments of quietude before commencing to write.
3. Visualise the form of the IshtaDevata or Satguru and mentally bow down to them.
4. Start writing the mantra. If you can use the Devanagari script/Sanskrit please write it using that. If not, write it in English.
5. Do not do copy paste on the computer. Write each and every name and preferably write it in a notebook.
6. Concentrate on every word that you write.Let go of all other thoughts. Be with the japa. Your thoughts and writing must be at the same moderate speed.
7. Preferably say it aloud while writing, so that you get the oral as well as mental repetition of the Lord’s name as well.
8. Sit quietly for a few moments when you complete.
9. Don’t get up without finishing your decided quantity.
10. We have enclosed a sample of Japa written by PoojyaGurudev for guiding a seeker.
Beginners and Advanced:
Beginners:
1. If you have an Ishtamantra then write it 21 times as stated above. That is your love letter to your IshtaDevata.
2. Otherwise write Om Sri ChinmayaSatguraveNamah 21 times everyday.
3. However if you feel you are not ready for any of the above and are still seeking, actually pour your heart out in true devotion to a higher power and express your love or any other emotion by writing a letter to the Lord. Sincerely without any hesitation write your feelings with full concentration and from the heart. Write a one page letter every day.
Advanced seeker:
1. Write your Ishta mantra or Om Sri ChinmayaSatguraveNamah 108 times following the process described above.
2. Everyday write it at a specific time.
3. Sit quietly for 5 minutes before and after in complete silence.
4. You may go about doing your work and other activities but maintain the silence for 20 minutes. It would be most beneficial if you could go for a walk for 20 minutes after getting up.
Om Sri ChinmayaSatguraveNamaha
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UNTO HIM OUR BEST
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