(
Had posted this a while ago, but deleted it having second thoughts. Re-posting at the gentle insistence of my dear friend Parallax... )
Mantra sadhana or japa has been a constant in my path. Sharing here some of the incredible benefits noted over the years..
Memorizing complex Sanskrit hymns is something I enjoy tremendously. Thus, although I grew up with commonly chanted mantras accompanying worship and rituals, it was in high school that I discovered my innate love for chanting. My math teacher, a Sanskrit scholar and jnani, insisted on teaching me Bhagavad Gita chanting for local competitions. Although at the time I didn't grasp the meaning of the verses I was memorizing, I discovered that Sanskrit enunciation came quite effortlessly and there was deep peace in losing myself in the rhythm and intonation of the verses.
In college, I discovered the Hanuman Chalisa, being intensely drawn to Hanuman. For several years thereafter, Hanuman was my sole Ishta (and continues to be one of two now). I'd chant the chalisa day and night, and it would go on in the back of my mind automatically during daily activities as well as in dreams. I'd feel his powerful presence everywhere, never feeling alone. In my twenties, I went through the most difficult hardship, experiencing hunger, heartbreak and desperation. However, looking back, there is only one pair of footsteps in the sand - Hanuman's, as he carried me. This is the first chant I taught my kids; easy to learn and very powerful.
The Vishnu sahasranama - the thousand names of Vishnu, was the next long hymn that drew me. It took about a year to perfect it. Once again, I'd chant it daily (takes about 25 minutes at a good pace), finding that doors would open in all aspects of my life. Recently, I was trying to recall the source of all the goodness that has come my way the last 20 years or so - realizing that it was definitively after I began chanting this supreme hymn that everything shifted drastically, including meeting gurus and being guided from everywhere.
After discovering Eknath Easwaran's teachings about 5 years ago, I was drawn to pick a "permanent" mantra to chant repeatedly. "Om Namo Narayanaya" became my chosen one. In the years that I've used this, it has been interesting to notice how japa "settles" into one's being. At first a conscious effort that is noticed at the brain/thinking mind level, it settles gradually into the throat chakra and finally into the heart. Once at the heart level, the dynamic changes completely - at this point, the mantra moves by itself, arising in conscious and subconscious levels of its own accord (known as ajapa japa). It is the first thing that arises between sleep and waking and the last thing that is noticed before deep sleep, arising automatically in dreams, turning them lucid. This mantra has become integrated into the very fiber of my being, and seems like it is being embedded into the deepest recesses at a primordial, cellular level.
Three years ago, I was drawn to learn hymns from the Rig Veda (the oldest of the four Vedas) - Purusha Suktam, Narayana Suktam, Sri Suktam and Ganapathy atharvashirsha (from a later Upanishad dedicated to Lord Ganesha). It was with Sri Suktam, a hymn dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi that ecstatic energetic movements first began along with visions of the radiant mother, resplendent in her shimmering form, showering me with abundance beyond anything I could have asked for (although that was not my intent to learn it).
There are several other mantras I have worked with over the years. Will describe in other posts.
Would love to hear about experiences with japa/mantra sadhana..
![Namaste (guru in you) [/\]](http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/Smileys/akyhne/namaste.gif)