‘Japa’ synchronized chanting, is a pre-meditative discipline. Japa is usually undertaken with a japa mala made of stringed beads. Japa involves pegging your mind with the chant of chosen Mantra and synchronizing each chant to rotation of a bead in the Japa Mala. An extroverted mind wanders, runs helter-skelter. It cannot focus on Japa due to its preoccupations with desire, attachment and the unrest due to 6 modifications arising therefrom. The Veda prescribe preliminary ‘samskara’ purificatory disciplines in order to cleanse your mind and render it sufficiently introvert.
‘Japa Yajna’ examines the indispensable role played by ‘Samskara’, often dismissed as rituals, to cleanse the mind. An unprepared mind engaging in ‘Japa’ chanting or ‘Dhyana’ meditation is not only futile but could prove fatal to mental health. However, the sequential practice of spiritual disciplines, matures into ‘Japa’, culminating in ‘Dhyana’ meditation. With such meditation alone, the residual mind merges and dissolves into the ever present Consciousness Atman.