Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 037

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Yogena Chittasyapadena Vacham Malam Sharirasya Chavaidhyakena Upakarottam Pravaram Muninam Patanjalim Pranjalirana Tosmi One of the best ways of realizing the Self or God is to surrender oneself to Ishwara according to Patanjali. What does he mean by self-surrender? He means repeating the name of God and the name for God is Om Tasya Vachakaha Pranamaha Omkara I briefly explained to you why Om is the best syllable which represents God both in his personal as well as impersonal aspects. Now in this class, I would like to devote some time for Japa. So Patanjali says Tath Japaha Tath Artha Bhavanam When we do Japa, we have to think of the meaning. What is the meaning of meaning? There is a philosophy behind. I would not go... It is a very difficult as well as very detailed analysis. But very briefly it is this. This world consists of only two things, names and forms. Wherever there is a form, there is a name. We can never separate the name from the form. For example, here is a table. Even when you have closed your eyes, the moment I utter the word table and if you know about the table in the past, instantaneously that name comes or shows its opposite idea which is the form will come. In fact what is so wonderful is whenever we are looking at the other person, we never look at the person as that person is but we impose so many filters. Last time this person did not invite me properly, he did not smile at me and he has insulted me or this person has really... he loves me, he gave me the best things. All the qualities, experiences that we have, it is those things which we remember albeit unconsciously and that's what determines our reaction. How do I react to this person? If my impression has been good, my face breaks into what they call 32 teeth will be out. But if I don't like, I try to smile but it produces more pressure. So this is the philosophy. The whole universe is nothing but name and form and whenever we see the form, the name comes to the mind. Whenever we remember the name, form will come. Whenever we see the form or remember the form, the name will come. I'll give very interesting example. You are walking in a street and suddenly you see somebody whom you do not know but he resembles someone whom you know previously. The moment you see that person, immediately the other person, that name also will come, name, form, everything will come and that is how unfortunately or fortunately we form wrong impressions about other people. See, for example, first time we are seeing some people, we know nothing about them. They may be good people, they may not be good people but then as soon as we look at that person's face, immediately we make judgments, this person must be very good or must be very bad. How do we come to that conclusion? This is the first time we are seeing a person. How do we know? We know because in the past we have seen people like him, looking like him and then we know about that person in the past, good or bad, and that goodness or badness, qualities are superimposed, we are superimposing now on this person whom we are looking at and instantaneously I like, I don't like etc. will be coming and that is sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad. How is it good? The famous instance you know, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, once he was passing through a village and suddenly somebody happened to remark that the clay from this village is used in making the khol sound, a type of percussion, Indian percussion sound. Immediately he went into Samadhi. Why? The moment he heard that this clay is used in the percussion and percussions are used only in singing the glories of God, immediately that brought to his mind. Who? Krishna himself and he went into Samadhi. Sri Ram Krishna. Very often he used to go into Samadhi by singing Narendra. Interesting, though the topic is Patanjali Yoga Sutras, but it's very highly useful. Why was Sri Ram Krishna going into Samadhi? Just merely hearing that his disciple is coming, seeing his face, he used to go into Samadhi. Why was he going? That's because, you see, when Sri Ram Krishna looks at any object in this world, he never looks as we look at other people. He only sees what is the manifestation, how much is the manifestation of God in this person. This is very interesting. Those of us who have read the life of Sri Ram Krishna, we have to understand this. Whenever he used to hear a song, how much that song goes into himself, how much he appreciates that song doesn't depend upon how well that song is sung and whether the singer knows the classical music, his voice is extraordinarily beautiful. All these are secondary minor details. What's most important is the person who sings and feels the meaning of that song and that person's singing throws him into Samadhi. Devotees of Sri Ram Krishna also would recollect, you know, how much Sri Ram Krishna loved Narendranath and there was a time in his life, Narendra's life, when after his father's passing away, he was in great difficulties. So he was in search of a job and he could not get a job. He was going through very hard times. At that time, he happened to come to Dakshineshwar to Sri Ram Krishna and Sri Ram Krishna asked him to sing and Narendra started singing. Simply Sri Ram Krishna went out of the room and started chatting with somebody. It was an unusual reaction for Sri Ram Krishna to leave Narendranath singing and going and later on he remarked, I did not relish your singing at all. Why did not he relish his that most beloved disciple singing whose very name throws, used to throw Sri Ram Krishna into a state of Samadhi. That's because even though Narendranath was singing, his mind was not on the song. He was only thinking where next time whom am I going to interview and when am I going to get a job etc. etc. Now you see, Sri Ram Krishna never reacts to anybody's singing or any person just by looking at him or at his talents. No. He would always see how much of divinity is manifesting through this person. Only that alone will bring the reaction. Whenever we see a thing, we see the qualities. The qualities are reminded. Whenever we hear a name, form will come along with form. Also the qualities associated. Why? Because this form also is only an expression of the qualities. A simple example, you meet a person and when you happen to meet that person, that person is in a very angry mood. What do you think his body would be like at that time and what would be your impression at that time? It's a very common thing you know in offices. One lawyer clerk says, I would like to ask boss for a rise. In what mood is he? So find out the mood. If he is in bad mood, he is sure to be rejected. If he is in a good mood, it will be much better. So we are always unconsciously reacting. This is the relationship between the name and the form and the qualities. And we would never function in this world excepting through this name, form and form means in the brackets the qualities. Now coming back, Patanjali says that you don't need to struggle in any other way. Just surrender to him. Surrender means you just repeat his name. What is the name of God? Om. Om is the name of the God. This is the best representation. So what do you want me to do with this word Om? Syllable Om? Do Japa. Tat Japaha Artha Bhavanam. Repeat. Usually when we talk about Japa, I think most of you have heard about the word Japa. Japa means take a rosary or repeat the name of God on fingers or mentally also varieties are there. I will come to that point. So repeating the name of God. But a parrot also repeats whatever it is taught. Is that called Japa? No, it is not called Japa. Artha Bhavanam. The meaning we must become one with the meaning. What does that mean? The simplest way of explaining it is that remember or practice the presence of God. A simple example. What does it mean to practice the presence of God? Just imagine terrorist is running behind you. You know there are so many and you have seen him coming behind you with a gun inside his coat pocket and you know he is after you. He is stalking you and you cannot complain to the police because there is no proof that he is not just a visitor, tourist moving. You don't have any concrete proof but in your heart of hearts you know that person is the first opportunity he gets is going to take you out. What would be your reaction? How would you behave after that? Every breath, every second you are constantly aware of that person behind you and what he is going to do to you if he gets an opportunity. That is called practicing the presence of God. The best expression of this we find in that beautiful book, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. He says, I would not lift a straw but for the remembrance of God. He said, in my whole life I have never done anything without remembering God is here. But when we examine most of our actions, especially spiritual actions, it would be very interesting. If you take a videograph, suppose you do japam here in the shrine in front of all the people and like a good person you'll be sitting. Suppose you know that no one is there to watch you like that, go on becoming restless, you observe yourself. It is rare that when we are alone because we know we can do whatever we like. No one is there to watch. When everyone is watching, our behavior is different. When no one is watching, our behavior is totally different. We behave like good children in the presence of a schoolmaster. So you see, what is called japa, you not only repeat the name of God. When we repeat the name of God, the name, the quality, the effect, everything must come to our mind as though God is right here. Where? Everywhere. Where is not God? That is called practicing the presence of God. So let us remember and proceed further in this talk, these two points. One point is that through the repetition of God's name along with his meaning, we can achieve the same self-knowledge which other people, those who do not believe in God can achieve through other type of spiritual practices. Second point is, it is very important that name and form and qualities can never be separated. They are always eternally there together. God and his name are identical. In fact, Sri Ramakrishna used to say, he has given a beautiful example to us. Suppose there is a man who got lot of treasure and he doesn't want anyone to know about it. There was no Switzerland at that time, you must remember it. So what does he do? At midnight, he bundles it up, goes to the lake and then he puts it somewhere in the lake where nobody else could see. But then the problem is, the next time when he wants that, he himself will not be able to find out. So he ties a thread and that thread, he takes it to the shore and somewhere he puts a sign which he could recognize and ties that thread there to a piece of stone or a stump of a tree etc. and happily he goes back. Next time when he wants to get hold of the treasure, what does he do? He comes to that place, he catches hold of that thread and holding that thread, slowly he goes forward into the lake and then he gets. Sri Ramakrishna used to give this illustration to show one end of this thread is God and the other end of the thread is name. Name and name of God and the name of God are one and the same. Why is it one and the same? I gave you just now, I spoke such a length. Name and form and qualities are invariably together. You can't have one without the other. If you wish you can make an experiment. Think of a name without thinking of the form. Let me see how many of you will be successful in that. You will not be there. So japa is the spiritual practice of repeating a sacred word that's an indicator of the divine. According to Vedanta tradition, japa usually it is a mantra, it is a sacred word given by a holy person. A guru imparts to the disciple. In rare cases one can just go on repeating the name of God. It has the same effect but it must be done with tremendous faith and sincerity. It will give the same but usually the practice is what we call mantra deeksha. Somebody gets an initiation from a guru or a teacher or a holy person or one's own parents for example brahmins they get initiation of the Gayatri mantra usually from their father or uncles. In every tradition it is there and japa is the easiest spiritual practice and that is why it is said that in this iron age japa is the most effective means of God realization. Easiest and also most effective way. That is why what did Shri Ramakrishna preach? Sing the name and glories of God all the time. What did holy mother say last week? I repeated japa siddhi. She is not saying from her own mouth. This is a the teaching of many many scriptures japa siddhi. There are so many scriptures are there which tell especially in this age. So a sacred word such a sacred word can be a verse, a short prayer, a phrase or a mystic syllable. It could be anything just om or Rama or om namah shivaya is called panchakshari mantra. Om namaha shivaya. Om namo narayanaya. Eight syllable mantra. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. 12 lettered mantra. Om namo bhagavate ramakrishnaya. Again 12 letters. I mentioned in my last classes that the hymn that we sing here Om Hreem Hritham it is based upon Swami Vivekananda's vision of Shri Ramakrishna in the form of a 12 lettered mantra. That is why the first let us if we go on adding it will come om namo bhagavate ramakrishnaya. It will come. Some of you may not know about it. It could be a prayer and some of you have read the way of a pilgrim by a Russian monk of the 19th century and there it is written he used to utter constantly without ceasing the Jesus Christ mantra Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner. There are variations are there. So in every religion the sacredness, the sanctity, the power of japa is very much very highly emphasized. Not only that there are varieties of japa. First let me talk about one particular type of japa. It is called ajapa japa. Japa means repetition of God's name. This automatically naturally from birth to death is going on through every inhalation and exhalation. The greatest mantra according to Upanishad says soham. So when we take breath in it is the sounds hissing sa sa and when we breathe out it comes as hum. Look so hum so hum so hum. This japa is going on from the moment we are conceived until this body goes away. This is going. You know the meaning of the word so aham saha aham. I am he. I am God. I am divine etc. Only that is that is our goal and whether we repeat Rama's name, Krishna's name, Christ's name, Buddha name, whatever name the goal is that we should we should have the our goal is to realize that we are that. Ultimately that is it. We are divine. Some people they do they cannot think. They dare not think. Am I God? So if when I go to God what will I will be his servant or I will be his slave or I will be his friend but now most of the people I cannot be he but according to Vedanta whether you like it or not whether you know it or not we are that but you don't worry about this you you have your own understanding but proceed with faith. So this ajapa japa is going on. What is the point? The point is if we can link this ajapa japa consciously with some syllable or mantra then 24 hours do you have do you does your breathing go to sleep at some point? He says oh man I have been working for you so hard for so much time. Let for seven or eight hours let me have some nice deep sleep. It only stops when this body falls down. In fact body falls down when it stops. It's called prana vital force. So so long as we are alive so long as we are breathing in and out why not link it with the associate it with the name of God so that automatically it goes on. This is the most wonderful thing. Any way you are breathing why not say om om om why not? Oh what is the connection with breath? Yes there is a lot of connection is there. That is why those who practice yoga one of the most important points of yoga is pranayama and they believe through pranayama means control of the breath control of the prana one can achieve the same goal but when can they achieve? Not simply breathing in and out like the bellows of a blacksmith. We can achieve that goal only when we consciously deliberately associate this mini mantra I am he I am he or I am a devotee of God I am a servant of God that's also good. Now let us talk three ways of performing japa. There are three ways of performing japa usually that is to say we can say loudly it is called vachika or loudly Rama Rama Jesus Jesus or if you don't if there are other people and you do not wish other people to know your mantra you do it upangshu. Upangshu means only the lips will move many of our lips also moving you know we go on muttering talking to ourselves we do a lot of things but that's not mantra there is mantra I am a stupid fellow I am a madcap I am useless fellow this mantra is going on that's why we become what we repeat why not repeat God's name but upangshu means only the lips will move no one can hear but one can see the lips moving the highest form of japa is called manasika that is the in the mind whatever we are doing this repeating God's name doesn't preclude our doing anything else you can do everything at the same time one part of the mind is constantly remembering God that is called practicing the presence of God you can cook you can garden you can go to the office you can drive part of the mind how is it Swami Brahmanandaji gives a very beautiful example if if you beat a dog on its head then it feels the pain constantly and yet it goes on moving here and there it goes on eating food and yet a part of its mind is on its pain also if when you have toothache or headache or stomachache we all know what is dental meditation that is when there is toothache we don't stop doing other things we go on doing everything but part of the mind is on that pain similarly a devotee of God most of his mind is on God only and part of the mind goes on doing his duties etc etc now very interesting question when we wish to constantly remember God how much how much of the mind should we devote to our normal day-to-day activities how much percentage of the mind and how much percentage of the mind can we safely allot for remembering God if you think what do you think you're 50 50 no you know you know one percent of the mind if it is directed towards the discharge of any duties as more than sufficient the most efficient person doesn't even use one percent of the mind for doing what he is doing just imagine in our case what a colossal waste of our human potentialities 99 99.9999 percent of our brain is completely unused you know the scientists have made some research purely from the brain's point of view they studied the brain the most intelligent or genius world genius they only their brain they only use six percent of the resources of the brain just imagine if world's geniuses use only six percent means 94 percent of their potentiality is completely unused if this is the case of a world's genius what about people like us how much percentage of our brain power we are using what is the point i am making it is everything can be accomplished by one percent of our brain power 99 we can keep on going that is the point so three ways of doing is loudly water when nobody is there when somebody is there and especially if they are likely to be disturbed you just go on doing it through movement of the lips but the best thing is to do japa mentally again let us remember always it japa doesn't mean mere parrot like repetition we must feel the presence of god what is watching me can i do this you know when someone is watching us especially police or some teacher or somebody we are all ladies and gentlemen when you are walking in the street and then suddenly you see some person in front of you his purse has slipped and you could see perhaps to see through purses that thousands of pounds are there and what do you do you are a greatest spiritual being at that time you pick up the purse and say excuse me sir you have left your purses why do we do that because all eyes are upon us but supposing no one is there what would be your reaction these are some of the things to be thought when we are alone we behave in another way but we must behave in such a way as though god has focused his telescope and microscope both upon us and watching us every step he is watching us if we can really feel that we become blessed and that's very difficult to do how much morally pure we should be how much civil civilized we must become real real gentleman interestingly there is a beautiful article came out several many years 50 60 years back so who is a gentleman you google who is a gentleman you will get a whole litany of such spiritual qualities that he is not a gentleman he is a spiritual soul it's a beautiful description of who is a real real gentleman we are all real gentlemen when everybody's attention is focused upon us but when we are left alone that's when our real character comes out so whether we are alone or in public we should always remember the name of god that's what is most important as i said there are certain methods of japa and it could be a prayer it could be a verse it could be a small syllable or it could be a passage in especially christians they emphasize on this meditation means take up from bible or some sacred scriptures some passage and meditate upon it that is their way of doing it similarly hindus also they have this called Mahavakya. Mahavakya means the ultimate sentence that comprises the real goal of life there are many Mahavakyas but of these four are very famous you know them aham brahmasmi tattvamasi prajnanam brahma i am atma brahma what it means is the whole universe is nothing but brahman you are brahman thou art that i am brahman everything is consciousness this is the meaning of those four these are called the greatest sentences Mahavakya why because you can discard everything else all these scriptures throw them into the sea but if you have this one then you are more than safe most safe because that it tells you are god what else can any knowledge be given to anybody else excepting saying you are god these are called Mahavakya take them and go on dwelling on their meaning that is japa for monks and nuns so methods of performing japa are many and they vary from tradition to tradition the methods generally considered to be orthodox are the following i already dealt with vachika means loudly uttering the name repeating the name of god upanksha means only the lips would be moving manasa means the mantra is constantly going in the mind only one thought there are also people who do another method especially in india it is very popular it is called likita japa you know for example there are some people who write this mantra sri ram jai ram jai jai ram they are also supplied with books where rules are there with columns where just you can write om sri ram jai ram jai jai ram so there is one ashram especially which promotes this that is called ananda ashram in south india and what they do they ask the devotees to donate donations do you know what donations can you contribute 1 million ramnam some there are many devotees who say yes we will do it then they are sent these books so they will go on writing om sri ram jai ram jai jai ram and each book if you fill up those blanks then it will probably it will come ten thousand or i don't know exactly like that and then after that you take the next book go on writing and when you have completed it you send your donation to the ashram one day there will be a huge celebration and there in that ashram 24 hours the name of god is being sung ramnam is going on by turns every devotee who wants to stay there their contribution is two hours you sing the name of god after that somebody else will come after that somebody will come it is going on since the last several several years ever since papa ramdas had started that so this is called likita japa written japa right written japa not uttering japa but written japa then there is another type of japa akhanda japa unbroken repetition so usually unbroken means it is rare to find a person uttering the doing this japa until death there are some people but it is rare what generally people do say 24 hours akhanda japa okay 24 hours we sit and by turns go on repeating the name of god akhanda japa then japa at the six centers of consciousness you know according to tantra there are seven centers we do not need to talk about the seventh center because the seventh center is called sahasrara and that is when when a person's mind reaches there he has he is already realized so but barring that there are six centers so every person chooses one particular center of consciousness where he focuses his mind and goes on doing this japa and this is how some people progress in spiritual life then there is a seventh type this is called puras charana puras charana is a very interesting method very briefly i will describe it to you some devotee spiritual aspirant would like to do more intense japa he takes a vow from the indian point of view time is counted in 15 days you know every month is divided into 15 days and 15 days that is to say from the new moon to the full moon again next day from the full moon to the new moon so the process more or less is like that the devotee takes a vow i will do this puras charana puras charana means actually going on repeating the name of god in a particular way for a certain period of time so what what does this person do say next day to the new moon day if today is new moon day tomorrow he will start this is called prathama first day you know they count first second then 14th chatur dashi then mavasya or poornima it comes like that i will do 1000 japa 1000 repetitions and also i will take only one handful of food second day two handfuls of food and 2000 japa third day three handfuls and 3000 japa so when he reaches that full moon now it becomes 15 handfuls of food and 15,000 japa from next day 14 13 12 i count down so usually one month two month three months according to one's capacity this particular way of repeating god's name is called puras charana this is one way that people go on doing it regarding the qualifications for japa japa doesn't require any special preparations or formal observances you don't need to think of any no conditions you want to take bath take you don't want to take bath you do not need to take bath and you are sick that is fine anytime any place what about toilet can you repeat god's name suppose heart attack happens in the toilet what will you do will you repeat god's name or not will you ring 999 or not when you are in the toilet so what is our 999 god's name is our 999 so why only call emergency times because it takes time for him also to the telephone message to go go on calling 999 and then out of disgust he will come and save you and say the only way i can get rid of this problem is get rid of this problem that means the person should get liberation then there is no problem he will not bother me but there are there is there are certain special scriptures especially tantric scriptures and they give us certain types of conditions they put how japa should be done how interesting you know there are scriptures which are totally devoted to this kind of descriptions so they give us specific guidelines and such guidelines are nearly 12 very briefly environment if you want to be good at japa look at your environment for example you want to go to night club and then do japa can you do that it should be proper environment posture you know what is posture the way we sit or there is a rational why one should sit straight the rationality is our condition of the mind our breath is a close relationship so when we sit straight the backbone is straight our lungs are freed from any constraints so we are able to breathe deeply and properly and that is how pranayama also is very effective you cannot do pranayama in a lying posture or in a slouchy posture it must be done only with a straight whatever asana you do some there are so many yoga asanas but the the idea is the backbone would be as straight as possible this is with regard to posture place place means two things as i mentioned if it is a noisy place if it is a place full of mosquitoes if it is a place full of even bad vibrations negative vibrations that's why when you come and sit in the shrine you get more peace of mind than when you go and try to do japa somewhere else not only that place also means that the place where you sit it should not have any hard things underneath you and it should not be uneven you know if there is uneven your body will be disturbed that's why it should be even then everything will be all right then keeping a fixed time it's always we can do japa at any time god's name can be remembered every time anytime anywhere but then it's nice if we can keep a fixed place and also fixed time fixed time as well as fixed place what i mean is that if you are sitting in the shrine in one particular place that in type in course of time it helps these are all certain methods then way of articulation what does it mean many people come and ask me they have difficult mantras long mantras difficult mantras and some people have a lot of problems with regard to this the advice that we are given is if japa becomes easy and pleasant and more effective if it is done articulated in a rhythmic way why music attracts us so much do you know what is the reason why music immediately has such an effect upon our mind because it is done a music can you imagine music without rhythm rhythmic i'll give a small example you know the famous mantra the hare krishna people that hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare it's a long mantra but it can be chanted very rhythmatically hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare you see it is very rhythmic that's why you go on doing it hours and hours and hours together they can sing without any strain let me also tell you that even walking if we do rhythmatically we can walk a longer time than unsystematically walking this is because when we start walking rhythmatically this rhythm of doing things also brings rhythm of the breathing and when the rhythm becomes breathing then the mind becomes peaceful prana flows evenly and that's why we get less of strain etc these are the secrets that is why do your mantra rhythmatically any mantra can be made into a rhythm just do this and it will come fall into rhythm and you do this you can do it long time without any problem in fact pranayama the whole pranayama is only because of this rhythm rhythm rhythm develop rhythm then prana becomes rhythmic nerves function rhythmically then lot of energy flows rhythmically and that is this way this pranayama has been taken as such a great aid okay this is a way of articulation another thing keeping count of the number of repetitions in the beginning we all need to have a goal and say today i will repeat ten thousand times you can increase them otherwise what happens we become slouchy that means one day we repeat ten thousand times next day only five hundred times third day five times fourth day it may stop altogether but if we take above oh lord i will repeat every day at least ten thousand or one thousand times or five hundred times whatever is convenient but keep it now this is also a way of strengthening the another muscle you know what is that muscle willpower you do anything even small things i have this is a wonderful subject all by itself but i will tell you something very interesting there are so many people and they come and tell me swami this book thousand pages i don't know when i am going to do it the best advice we can give to that person is forget how many pages the book every day you read two pages two pages only and in no time you would have completed the book now what is the advantage the person is completing the book that is only a least of the benefits the real benefit is i have decided to complete this book and i did i am a i am capable of doing it and that flows into every other area if we can succeed in having strong willpower in one aspect it doesn't stop there it flows into every field of life and it boosts us up so this is one way if whatever is possible no no need to strain yourself happily joyfully you have to do that's why here comes attitude what attitude you should do japam joyfully otherwise you know you are you are grumbling grouchy and you you have only depressed mood and then you go on repeating what happens you know your depression deepens because whatever you do japa that only strengthens that particular mood so even if you do for one minute do it joyfully so that your joy will increase yeah people don't understand this they think that they can repeat god's name any way they like no it doesn't work properly you must be having you are after all taking the name of god you are remembering satchitananda ananda there is no place for depression there so that is the keeping count it's very good then sit use the same seat we call it you know hindus they've got asana don't give it to anybody we believe in the power of vibrations what that means is that we believe every person is at a particular state of consciousness and whatever he wherever he is going he is constantly vibrating that particular state of consciousness so when he sits on a particular asana he's he's he's fixing his vibrations on that seat and if you go and sit there and likely you may be influenced by it it's i'm not talking only strangers i'm talking let nobody is between husband and wife let the husband use his own seat let the wife use her own seat in the beginning these are very very necessary thing later on when you are so strong it doesn't matter where you sit you will influence other people other others will not be able to influence you until that time we are very weak people we have to observe your own seat and exactly the same place because we are creatures of habit it brings to our mind the all the joy purity strength of god then pace of repetition this is again i spoke very briefly about rhythm pace of repetition pace means speed what does this mean suppose some devotee takes a vow i will repeat 1000 names of god usually it may take 45 minutes and then you one day you have got only five minutes but you have taken vow in front of god so you have to complete 1000 so that is no absolutely no use you are only doing it to complete is it better what you do is you bring one cassette recorder and run it in a very fast you know 100 times fast in one minute it will be finished buddhists have a wheel will mantra wheel and they believe that the faster it moves the more punya they get so pace what is that pace that pace which will not allow our mind to wander at the same time it will not be too fast that medium pace which brings peace joy to us and which also regulates our breathing that is the correct pace we have to find out each one of us then alertness of the mind very important when you are doing japa fix the mind on that japa only don't think of anything else if you are thinking of rama think only of rama if you are thinking of jesus think of jesus only that's very important then reflection on the meaning whenever we do japa let us think oh this is name of god say ramakrishna immediately let me remember ramakrishna let me meditate upon his life let me remember all the incidents associated with his life and if i have any difficult problem how he would have dealt with those problems let me think of it but let us be focusing reflect on the meaning loyalty to the sacred world loyality have you heard about this loyalty to the sacred world means what does it mean it means a guru spiritual teacher can give different mantras to different people if god has given a guru has given you some other month that's fine go ahead you go ahead that's for you not for me each one of our mantras is the greatest mantra so far as we are concerned we must have that absolute faith this is the best mantra that is given we all ramakrishna devotees we all get only short mantras not a huge mantra by that time you finish that one can go to london and come back also no but if guru has given that's you have to be a theater you do it only once that's fine this competition should not be there i must have that faith and say see this is not coming from my from any human being after all a guru is only a conduit of god let us not let us never forget this is a subject which i have dealt again and again what is the purpose of bowing down to a guru accepting a guru many purposes but one purpose is to reduce our ego why do we bow down to another human being in the name of guru holy man it is not to glorify him it is to reduce our ego and my humility must grow it is no good will come to the guru no benefit will come to the guru but if we bow down to somebody then our egotism comes down if guru scolds me that is also for my own good the more guru scolds me better for us because that shows he is paying attention to me and he is not scolding you that means he doesn't care for you now next time onwards when your guru scolds you be very happy about it so the point is that we have to consider the guru as god himself because hindu is vedanta never tells us that a guru gives the mantra to us no guru doesn't give the mantra the mantra comes from god but guru is the medium through which the mantra comes we must have that kind of faith that it is god only who is giving me this mantra then that loyalty will be there otherwise no and then adherence to a fixed center of consciousness i already mentioned we can choose where to focus our mind among the six centers of consciousness we must not flit about from minute to minute one minute on muladhara another minute usually ramakrishna order recommends only the heart center not even the head center let me briefly tell you why there was an incident holy mother initiated swami virajanandaji and swami virajananda one of our past presidents he used to do one hundred thousand japa every day it used to take him 14 to 16 hours and throughout his life he continued most of the time he used to meditate once he was out in himalayas for several years he came down with a severe severe unbearable headache then he came to belur mat he asked swami brahmanandaji who was the president and swami brahmanandaji said i don't know you better ask your guru about it he knew but he wanted to reinforce his faith in in holy mother so swami virajananda came to holy mother he just entered the room where holy mother was sitting the moment she saw him said baba baba means my son where have you been focusing your mind before asking any other question and then he said mother i am focusing on the forehead said my son who asked you to focus it on the forehead never do that then she told him few days do not meditate at all simply stay here eat and drink eat drink and be merry don't meditate because that old habit has to go then she instructed never never focus on the head center only on the heart center and within few days like a miracle all the headaches severe migraine everything disappeared and these are some of the secrets of spiritual practice we usually recommend the heart center that is the center of consciousness so if we observe these rules the power of the name of god japa after all what is japa repeating the name of god is so great like a steamship all that you need to do is hang on to it and it will take us to the other shore so many i think millions of people by repeating god's name they have gone crossed this ocean of transmigration there are so many examples i'll give you mention two names one name is the way of a pilgrim what was his main spiritual practice only repeating the sacred name of jesus christ lord jesus christ have mercy upon me a sinner through this he attained illumination but in sriram krishna's life there is one lady who attained this highest realization only through japa and her name is gopala's mother wonderful story i would not go into it in this talk but devotees know about it so the power of japa is wonderful we have discussed how japa should be done where it should be done in what manner what pace etc but the essence is when we are thinking of god repeating god's name let us feel the presence of god and slowly that will take us to our highest state this is how we should do japa what benefits do we get if we do this japa is what patanjali is going to tell us in our next class and that is he says that you will have self-realization and it the repetition of god's name destroys every obstacle that can arise in your path this is what he is going to tell the result of repeating with faith and also with meaning it will take us to god what else we want after all we want god realization and nothing else and what is stopping us from realizing god a certain obstacles our attachments and those attachments will be destroyed like fire burns everything seeds and the japa can burn everything and incidentally whether you take sri ramakrishna or holy mother or swami vekananda their main teaching is take god's name with wholeheartedly joyfully surrender yourself to him and he will take you to the highest goal that is why every single day in our shrine we sing that last hymn i surrender myself to you and by surrendering you will remove all my distresses and bestow the highest position and that highest position is you are me the word that you