19. Love of God and Man

We studied karma yoga, the yoga of dynamic selfless service, or what I have called 'contemplative dynamism' at some length, for the simple but important reason that it is the best approach suited to the present age. For, partly on account of the total extroversion of man's consciousness, and partly as a reaction to the idle pretenders of holiness living a parasitic life, there is a world-wide revolt against life-and-world-negating forms of asceticism and cloistered mystery. Whilst all the masters of divine wisdom - from Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Prophet Muhammed, and Lord Krishna, down to our own Masters in the present age - have acclaimed with one voice that we should love God with all our heart and soul, they have almost equated this love with the love of man. One without the other is incomplete. Love of God without the love of man may amount to deception. Love of man without love of God may lead to worldliness and bondage, however well-meant it is. We need an integration of the two - that is yoga.

In fact, that is what we learn from the Christian symbol of the holy cross. It represents the message of yoga, and the vital teachings of Lord Jesus and Lord Krishna. Almost all the major religions of the world have symbols to embody this truth. I look at the two arms of the holy cross - the vertical and the horizontal. The vertical arm seems to say to me: 'O man! Love thy God with all thy being.' The two ends of this vertical arm point one above, and the other below. In other words, God is above, far beyond the reach of your mind and intellect - transcendental, and he is below, in the innermost core of your being, in the depth of your own heart.

I look at the horizontal arm of the holy cross. The outstretched arms of Lord Jesus command me: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' Lord Jesus Himself clearly stated who that neighbor is, in the parable of the good Samaritan. Here, it is good to remember that this horizontal arm points both to the right and to the left. In other words: 'Love thy neighbor who is on your right - whom you regard as righteous and lovable, and also the neighbor whom you have left behind you - regarding him as wicked, uncivilized, undesirable and therefore your enemy, as your own self.'

These two are not isolated and distinct activities. The two arms of the holy cross are joined together, to indicate that the two aspects are in fact one. For, God dwells in your neighbor, and your love of your neighbor is 'not indeed for the sake of your neighbor, but for the sake of the self in him' - in the words of sage Yajnavalkya in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad. The one God appears before us in these four directions: (a) above, as the transcendental reality, (b) below, as the immanent reality in our own heart, (c) all that is good and glorious in this world, and (d) all that we, in our state of ignorance, have come to regard as evil and undesirable. Perhaps, it is in order to further underline and emphasize the last aspect that Lord Jesus specifically added: "Love thine enemy!"

All saints and prophets have exalted love above all other virtues. They have at the same time warned us that this love should be pure and divine. That is, the love should not be directed towards the personality of the neighbor, but to the deeper inner reality - God. Thus, love of God must flow through our limbs as love of man, and that love of man is for the sake of the omnipresent being - God. You will love all - and not love some and hate others - only if you see the common unity in all. That is God.

It is easy to see, therefore, that karma yoga does not and cannot stand independent of other branches of yoga. It should either be based on the knowledge: "All activities spring from God's nature and not from me" - or on love of God: "I, an instrument in the hands of God, serve God in my neighbor, for God's sake." The former knowledge-approach - jnana yoga - is rare nowadays. The latter is within our reach. But it has its own discipline.

 20. The Yoga of Devotion

We have seen how love of God and love of man are identical, two sides of the same coin. One without the other is sham and nonsense. This is very important to bear in mind. In loving man, we should not forget the God in him. In loving God, we should not forget that He is in all!

That is the wonderful message that Lord Krishna has for us in the Bhagavad Gita. He asks us to think of God constantly, and be united with him constantly - but never to neglect our duty! When we are puzzled if this is possible, he turns round and points out to us that he is in all. It is possible to love and serve him in all. It should be practiced; but let us not minimize its difficulty, either.

He who does not know what it is to love one, does not know how to love any. He who has not felt the presence of God at all, how do you expect him to feel the presence of God in all?

To solve this problem, our ancients instituted the devotional practices, together called 'bhakti' in Sanskrit. Bhakti means 'to resort to', 'to go to', 'to surrender oneself to', 'to take refuge in'. Please bear this in mind, and you will realize how wrong it is to take this wonderful yoga to mean mere emotionalism. Yet, that is what has happened. Crying, jumping, dancing, fainting, and such other abnormal practices, have often been mistaken for true emotion, but all emotion is not devotion.

We often forget that though sages may behave like mad men, mad men are not sages. We should know the genuine from the spurious. Otherwise, we shall regard bhakti as a mere riot of emotion. It is not. Such a misunderstanding also provides a safe cover for all sorts of misdemeanor and undesirable behavior.

We should take refuge in God. We should constantly go to God. We should constantly feel his presence - which is the same as his omnipresence. But, if we have never been in love, if we have never felt that presence in someone, something, somewhere, how shall we experience it in all?

Compassionate sages have provided us with a ladder with convenient rungs with easy steps to God-realization. These are worship of an image of God in a specially erected holy place, singing of hymns, repetition of the divine name, etc. All these external 'aids' provoke the inner feelings of the presence of God, which is most important. They all have their place in our approach to God. We use them as a child uses a doll, though there is a vital difference. The doll is not a baby; but the girl learns how to hold a baby. It is a vital part of training for eventual motherhood.

The child does not 'imagine' that the doll is a doll - you have seen how it is heart-broken when something happens to her 'child'. In all our spiritual devotional practices, it is good to bear this great factor in mind. We shall not forget that the goal is realization, not imagination. We should see 'God' in the image. However, we have been conditioned to reject as superstition that which offends our rational intellect! In our devotional practice, therefore, we resort to imagination, which the rational intellect accepts as a necessary focal point. In the practice of yoga, this imagination is soon substituted by 'visualization'. Behind all forms is the formless. In every atom of matter is the spirit. The doll can never become a baby; the baby is not in it at all. But God's presence is omnipresent. That is the difference. The image does not 'contain' God, but is part of his omnipresence, anyway. To limit him is sin, blasphemy, spiritual tragedy - we shall not call a pot of ocean-water the 'ocean'. But, to approach him through the image, because of our subjective limitation, is sensible. Knowing that air is universal, we do not demand that we shall only breathe the whole air or nothing, but sensibly breathe in a little, still asserting "I am breathing air".

God, being infinite, is all. God being the center of everyone - which fact is symbolically expressed as 'God dwells in the hearts of all' - is close to everyone, and can be approached in infinite ways. The center is equi-distant from every point on the circumference. Every man thus has direct and independent access to God. Hence, proselytization is ignorant, if not disastrous.

The Bhagavad Gita bestows on us (a) total freedom of worship, and (b) freedom from interference. A man-of-God proclaims the dangers of disturbing the faith on which a man's life is based, and merely reveals the center; and, in the light of his teaching, every man sees his own path and marches on it. If the blessings of God - sunlight, rain, air, food and life - are bestowed by him on all, who are we to say that, unless they followed 'me', they will all go to hell? It is the worst blasphemy.

Even in regard to the individual's adoration of the one God, he is given total freedom of choice as to the form and the mode. The Bhagavad Gita specifically mentions this. The Hindu has taken advantage of this freedom, and provided the devotee with innumerable 'images' of God. These act as (a) a focal point for the devotee's concentration and meditation; (b) a kind of shorthand for sublime philosophical concepts, and an unchanging pictorial language in which they are preserved; and (c) a consoling presence to which the devotee could resort in times of stress, trials and tribulations.

Of all spiritual practices, bhakti or devotion or love of God is one which involves the greatest amount of symbolism. The symbolism is not to be intellectualized but realized. First comes faith, which generates love; love slips past the intellect, and throws open the heart's doors; and hence, there is intuitive realization of the symbolism. It is not an understanding of the symbolism, nor its rationalization - but actualization, revelation.

 21. From Ritual to Realisation

Bhakti yoga - love of God - is basic to all religions that encourage their adherents to use icons and rituals in their spiritual practices. It is one of the main features of the indian approach to God. This was regarded by ancient spiritual teachers as so vital that they wove it into the fabric of the Indian's daily life. In addition to a temple which is found in every village, every house has its own altar, at which full-scale ritualistic worship is offered every day.

It is unfortunate that the common man clings to the icon and the ritual, and forgets the spirit underlying their use. Worship of God-in-the-idol degenerates into idolatry, which has nothing to do with religion, but which is just another trade. However, whenever this has happened in India, it has immediately been arrested by saintly religious reformers who have restored to religion its pristine purity.

Man swings from one extreme to the other! People misinterpret the reformers' utterances, and use them to their own advantage. The words of Lord Krishna, the biblical prophets, Lord Jesus, Lord Buddha, and Prophet Muhammed, sprang from their realization or direct experience. It is good to hold them as 'lamps unto our feet', in order that we, too, may reach that experience. But, when we assume the role of their representatives here, and quote their words, in order to run the followers of the other faiths down, then we present a grotesque picture thus described by a Tamil poet: 'An ugly bird saw a peacock dance; and, feeling equally important, spread its own plumes, and began to dance!' The mischief is completed by the atheistic, materialistic, and worldly man, who uses all this to shake the faith of the devout.

We go to a temple, synagogue, church, or mosque, not in obedience to what the priest says, but to commune with God. We should not stop going there on account of what the priest says within it, nor what the reformer says outside it. To judge God and to make our devotion to him dependent on the thoughts, words, deeds of any man, is to blaspheme against God - you are the loser.

Understood and applied rightly, idol worship gradually leads the devotee to the realization of the absolute. My Master, Swami Sivananda, was devoted to idol worship till the end of His life, though He was a monistic philosopher. He was regular in His daily ritualistic worship of His deity. Thus He set an example for all of us to emulate. But He, as lord Krishna before Him, reminded us that we should not stop there. We should practice constant remembrance of God. We should feel his 'omni'-presence everywhere, in all.

It is easy to say so, but quite another thing to do so. Two factors are involved in this: (a) we should know what it is to feel the presence of God - a 'salesman's sample' of it; and (b) we should have a method by which we can remember him.

The first is provided by the ritual of idol worship. The icon enables us to feel his presence, and at the same time to look within and sample the feeling. Without it, it is possible that the novitiate may never experience the wonderful feeling of God's omnipresence.

The second is provided in the Bhagavad Gita, the tenth chapter. The technique is this: let everything that we see remind us of God - the light of the sun, the moon, the stars, fire, and the electric lamp; the vast blue sky or the ocean; the beautiful flower and the innocent face of a child; the gigantic tree and the strong arm of a gymnast; the image of God on the altar and the radiant face of a saint. All these remind us of the existence of God in them. Our master wanted us to practice constant nama-smaran - repetition of a mantra or the name of God. One helps the other. When they are combined, we grow God-conscious rapidly.

How does idol worship fit into this? What is an idol but a piece of matter, from the point of view of an ignorant man - whatever may be his wealth, position or titles? Yet, the devotee feels the presence of God within that material substance - clay, stone, metal, or wood. The wise sage allows him to 'play' - pray - with it, as a child plays with a doll. The child gets its training in mothercraft; the devotee gets to know that God indeed does dwell within that piece of matter. Then, he turns around and sees the sun, moon, etc., and realizes that even as god is the indweller of the idol, he is the indweller of the sun, the moon, etc. This looks apparently simple; but, in practice, it is difficult.

Why does not the sage advocate such a practice of the presence of God, without prescribing idol worship as a preliminary? For the simple reason that the human mind is more ready to associate divinity with the idol - on account of tradition - than to see God in the face of a child. In the case of the latter, immediately your eyes behold it your mind says, "It is my child, etc.," and you have to overcome a good deal of thoughts and counter-thoughts before arriving at the ideal thought, "God is shining through its eyes". But, in the case of an idol, this difficulty does not arise, on account of the age-old association of ideas. And, with a little practice, it becomes easy to extend the practice of the presence of God to everything in this world.

There is another important angle to this spiritual exercise. Idol worship should lead us on to meditation on the absolute. Without the first step of idol worship, meditation on the absolute is almost impossible; and, if we do not extend the frontiers of divinity beyond the idol, we may get stuck there. Hence, even in the method of worshiping idols, our ancient seers introduced elements of adoration of the nameless and the formless being - in fact, they emphasized that we should superimpose the qualities of the absolute on the idol. In the mantras, they provide for the worship, they wove expressions like "I bow to the all-pervading", "I bow to the eternal", which are obviously irrelevant to the personalized forms of God - e.g. Rama and Krishna, who are historical personalities - which the devotee worships. Again, they declare that mental worship of the chosen deity is superior - when we are ready for it, of course - to gross external worship, and that para puja - a way of adoring the omnipresent God through all our thoughts, words, and deeds - is superior to all other forms of worship.

The sincere spiritual aspirant realizes that he cannot get anywhere on this path without the help of an image to fix his mind on. The idol provides a concrete form of God, on which he can pour out the devotion of his heart, to which he can pray, and on which he can lean in times of stress and strain, trials and difficulties. He finds great relief from tension, worries, and anxieties, when he has a 'tangible God' to whom he can talk! The omnipresent divinity, which is of course present in the idol too, hears his prayers.

When the concentration - which is love - grows intense, the power latent in the idol is revealed; and thus, we have stories of the great mystics who could 'see' God in and through the idols. Let us not forget that God, who is omnipresent, is in the idol too; and, he who is omnipotent, can reveal himself in any form to the devotee. It is in this respect that the idol is different from the child's doll. Whereas the doll remains forever a doll - because it is lifeless, the idol reveals the hidden godhead in response to the devotee's loving prayer and concentration. The concentrated beam of the devotee's consciousness will one day be powerful enough to burn the gross matter of the idol, and liberate and reveal the hidden God in it; even as the rays of sunlight, when focused through a lens, are able to bum a piece of cotton, and make it burst into flame. But, let us not forget that it was not the idol that they saw in the vision, but the divinity in the idol - the divinity that is in all, for that matter. When asked if he saw the goddess Kali with 'physical' eyes, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa explained that "God cannot be seen with these physical eyes. In the course of spiritual discipline, one gets a love body, endowed with love eyes, love ears, and so on. One sees God with those love eyes".

Without correctly understanding this principle, people unwisely shout: "We do not want to worship a stone". Of course, they should not. But, first answer these questions: Who is worshiping the stone? - I. What idea have you of this 'I'? The first one is of the body. It is the body that actually performs the worship. The body is predominantly water, with some other chemical elements. What harm is there in water and matter worshiping a stone? How is it ignorance or superstition? Of course, you exclaim, I am not only the body, but I have a soul. Then, let the body worship the stone, let the heart, mind, and soul in you realize the lord in the stone.

Secondly, will you worship all stones? No. Only a particular stone, which has been given a shape. Who worships it? - I. If this 'I' is also chiseled and sculptured into a divine shape, it is divine. The stone-image of God reminds you of this. When this was stone, you stood upon it. When those chips of the stone which did not belong to this divine form were chiseled away, and the stone assumed the divine form, you worship it. In the same way, there is a lot of undivine element in you. Chisel it away. You will become a divinity on earth, adored by mankind. That, incidentally, is the argument underlying the adoration of the guru or the spiritual preceptor.

If idol worship thus leads us step by step to God-realization, through the worshipful service and recognition of the omnipresence of God, it is ideal worship. Else, it degenerates into idle worship.

 22. Conquest of the Conqueror

As we have seen, it is the concentrated mind that is able to pierce 'matter' and perceive the spirit. Its dissipated rays are powerless. We do have periods of one-pointed mind, but they are determined by external forces. For instance, when we are witnessing an exciting movie film, the mind seems to be one-pointed; but, then, it is not in our control, and it is extrovert. On the other hand, when we wish deliberately to control it, it is more restless than the wind.

The mind, moving with the speed and power of the wind itself, is the conqueror of the whole world. Everything in this world has been achieved by the mind. Every great action and achievement in this world has had the mind - thought - behind it. Mind has conquered matter; mind governs matter. Who is to conquer the conqueror? The yogis have a simple answer - japa - repetition of a mantra or name of God. Unfortunately, in this world of complexities, the very simplicity of the answer makes people disbelieve in it. In all our spiritual practices, japa plays a vital role. This was our Master's forte. It is a solution to all our problems. It does not merely solve the problems, it dissolves the creator of problems, viz., the mind! All our problems are created by the impure mind. Repetition of a mantra is the best purifier of the mind, and tranquillizer, too. The effect is best illustrated in the following story.

A yogi spent some time in the house of a devotee, and the young son of the poor family served him devotedly. While departing from the place, the yogi volunteered to fulfill any of the boy's wishes, as he had control over an invisible spirit. The boy, however, wanted the spirit to be loaned to him for some time, as he had many 'wants'. Reluctantly, the yogi gave the young man command over the spirit, with the warning that, if he found any difficulty in dealing with it, he should think of the yogi. The latter then went his way, and the young man called up the spirit. The spirit agreed to do anything for him, provided he would keep it busy always - failing which it would eat him up. The young man had all his desires fulfilled in a few hours - had a palace built and furnished, a car made, etc. - and he was at a loss to know how to keep the spirit busy any more, as otherwise his life was in danger. In keeping the spirit busy, he could not even enjoy the wonderful things it had provided for him. Here is an exact parallel for the situation in which the modern millionaire finds himself - he has all the good things in the world, but has neither the time nor the tranquillity to enjoy them, as the ghost of ambition keeps him working all the time. The young man thought of the yogi, who appeared and gave him some secret advice. As soon as the spirit appeared after the last mission, the young man asked it to erect a big pillar in front of the house, and to climb up and down till he asked it to stop. That was the yogi's solution; and that defeated the restless spirit.

We have such a restless spirit in us, and it is the impure desire-filled mind. If we do not keep it busy with some good activity continuously, it will create impure desires and thoughts, and destroy us. The best way to keep it constantly busy, without obstructing our daily work, is japa of God's name or a mantra. This will not only keep evil thoughts, emotions, and desires away, but it will enable us to enjoy righteous pleasures, as only a peaceful mind can.

What is a mantra? This word has several meanings. It has been defined as 'anything that protects when the whole mind is saturated with it'. It may even mean 'a wholesome advice' - like the one the yogi gave the boy in the story. Popularly, it is a formula, a phrase, or a word, which has mystical if not magical properties. Usually, the name or a word-symbol of a deity is woven into it. Many of the mantras have an interesting and significant feature - as in the mantra Om Namah Shivaya - salutation to Shiva, there is no 'I'.

Here are a few popular mantras: Om, Om Tat Sat, Soham, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram, Hari Om, Kyrie Eleison Christe Eleison, Om Jesus, Ya Allah, Allah-U Akbar, Adonai Elehaino Adonai Ekhad, Om Mani Padme Hum, La Ilahi Ill-Allah-U. Select any you like, according to your taste, temperament and tradition.

As soon as you wake up in the morning, start repeating the mantra, even in bed. Then, after having a quick wash, sit down and repeat the mantra for half an hour. During the day, every hour or so, close your eyes for just a few minutes, and repeat the mantra.

The greatest secret in mantra-repetition is to associate the mantra with the breath. If yours is a short mantra, repeat it once while you breathe in, and once while you breathe out. If it is a long one, repeat half while you breathe in, and half while you breathe out, but without 'breaking' into two. If you do this deliberately for a little while, a conditioned reflex will be formed, and the mind will enjoy the habit of mantra-repetition. You will soon create a habit this way, and ultimately the mind will go on repeating the mantra along with your daily activities, as a sort of undercurrent. Even during sleep, the mind will involuntarily go on repeating the mantra. This purifies and steadies the mind, and enables you to enjoy great peace and happiness. Before going to bed, repeat the mantra for about half an hour. You will have sound sleep, and the 'current' will be kept up during the sleep too!

There are at least three ways in which japa is done. (1) The mantra is repeated audibly. (2) It is uttered silently, but with a slight lip-movement. (3) It is repeated mentally. The masters declare that mental repetition is the most powerful, obviously because it leads to deep concentration of the mind.

All these mantras can also be sung aloud. Then it is known as kirtan or sankirtan, especially when several devotees sing in chorus. Kirtan also includes singing the praise of the lord, singing the psalms and hymns, and not necessarily mantras only. Many holy men are great votaries of this mode of devotion. Some of them sing and dance themselves into rapturous ecstasy.

My Master Swami Sivananda lays the greatest emphasis on the repetition of the Lord's Names. This is also a great blessing to all who experience the stress and strain in the modem world. The strain is built up as we carry it over from one activity to another, from one piece of work to another. My Master did not do that. As soon as one task came to an end, He withdrew Himself into this background of japa, and rested in it for a few seconds before turning to another task. Thus the carry-over is cut off, we do not suffer the least strain, and we do not have a nervous breakdown. When the limbs are worked out after a period of activity, they naturally ask for sleep and rest; and, since the mind has been trained to withdraw into the background of mantra, the moment the last task of the day is done, it immediately slips into the background, and we enjoy sound sleep.

Three - Bhakti Yoga 23. From Mantra to Meditation

The mental japa protects the devotee from his own ego-sense, and saves him from assuming that the ego-sense - which is a shadow - is substance or reality. How does it do that? By leading to meditation.

While you repeat the mantra mentally, inquire within yourself, "What is the meaning of the expression - I am mentally repeating the mantra?" You know what verbally uttering the mantra means; but, what is 'mental' repetition, how is the sound of the mantra produced?

You will naturally realize that the mind or the intelligence in you utters the mantra; it reflects the mantra, it has identified itself with the mantra. You do not know what that intelligence is, and you realize that it is useless building an image of it, and then pretending to know what it is. But, when you do mental japa, the mantra and the mind become one, and by inquiring into the nature of the mantra - which is inwardly audible and therefore real - you are able to know what that inner intelligence really is. Be careful. For, if the mind produces a verbal answer, the inquiry is interrupted. Verbal answer is a description or a distraction; it is not the reality.

The inner intelligence produces the sound of the mantra, and the same intelligence is able to listen to it. When the attention is focused upon that aspect of this intelligence which repeats the mantra, you think 'I am repeating the mantra'. When the same attention is shifted to that aspect of the intelligence which listens to the mantra, you think 'I am listening to the mantra'. Then you hear the noise of feet moving on the floor, or such external noise. Watch very carefully now. If you are watching intently, you can almost see something jumping up and down within you. It is like when a movie camera is shaken - the figures suddenly become indistinct. This is the psychological moment at which the concentration is threatened. If you are not careful at that moment, you will wake up half an hour later, and wonder "Oh, what happened to my mantra?"

If this is to be prevented, one must learn to recognize when the mantra becomes indistinct. The moment of distraction is the most important and vital phenomenon. If you are able to recognize it, your attention will not be distracted.

We return to mental japa. You are repeating the mantra. You hear it. Are you one or two? Now you are trying to examine the phenomenon of space that divides the mental repetition of the mantra from the mental hearing. You are looking at the division with great intensity and concentration. Suddenly, the division disappears. The whole being repeats the mantra. You become one with the mantra. Your individual or separate personality is dissolved in the mantra.

Paramahamsa Muktananda describes the technique of doing japa in the four bodies, in His book, "Light on the Path":

"The four bodies of the soul are: the gross, the subtle, the causal, and the supra-causal bodies. The physical body, about five feet in size, composed of five elementary constituents, and red in color, is the soul's gross body. The subtle body is about the size of a thumb, white in color, and is located in the region of the throat. The causal body resides in the heart, is black in color, and about half the size of the joint of the thumb. The fourth one, situated in the navel region, is bluish in color, and about the size of a grain of lentil or a tiny spot.

When japa - repetition of a mantra - of the gross body, as recited by the tongue, enters further inside, and begins to be repeated in the throat, it is known as japa of the subtle body. When this happens, the sadhaka - practitioner - should understand that japa yoga has purified the gross body, and has now entered the subtle body. Here, the number of japa increases many times. During the japa in the throat, the sadhaka experiences a divine tandra. In this state, he experiences a spell of blissful sleep; and sometimes, in that spell he gets visions of God, Goddesses, the Guru, and other Siddhas and Saints. The japa of the throat goes on continuously day and night, without a break.

After this, when the subtle body is thoroughly purified, japa goes still deeper, and now it occurs in the heart. The place where japa continues is the sadhaka's third or causal body. This region is also known as the seat of deep sleep. The seeds of all the evils, which cause one to go round and round in the cycle of birth and death, are also there. The japa of the heart not only strengthens the body and adds luster to the eyes and the face, but also makes the sadhaka do adventurous things. Usually, one falls asleep during japa, yet the repetition of mantra maintains its continuity.

When the required number of japa of the third body is completed, it moves to the fourth or navel region. From the spiritual point of view, this region of the navel is of great importance. The bluish lustrous body is also perceived within. Japa in this fourth body gives the sadhaka varied visions of divine lights. The light is also the light of Brahman, sometimes described as the supreme light of japa.

During sadhana - practice - in the fourth body, the vibrations of japa are also felt in the head. By the power of japa in the navel region, all the hidden shaktis - powers - are awakened. At this stage, as a gift from the Guru, the sadhaka gets a sort of mantra in the form of continuous awareness of his own self. This mantra is a prize medal from the benign and gracious Guru. As an immediate consequence, the disciple is entirely transmuted.

Such transmutation is the real meaning of the word 'mantra'.

The ancient wisdom of the yogi has already given us these two powerful forces - prayer and repetition of the mantra - to help us deal with our own impure mind, and enrich our daily life with peace and happiness.

There have been great masters in the world who have exalted bhakti yoga, and particularly japa, above all other spiritual practices. They believe that japa alone is sufficient for attaining the highest end and aim of yoga. Yet, anyone who has tried to do japa, would know that a wandering mind is the worst enemy of japa, of bhakti, of yoga; and japa needs to be supported by other practices, which fall under the category of hatha yoga and raja yoga.