Japa Joe(rev. 130611)

Mantra Meditation in the Age of Iron

Table of ContentsPreface ……………….. Slide 3Japa Technique 1 … Slide 29Japa Technique 2 … Slide 39Japa Technique 3 … Slide 54

We are writ’n this ‘cause we owe it to our Professor, Donald T. Campbell.He was President of the American Psychological Association and our mentor for the Ph.D. at Northwestern University. He asked us to go to India and if we found someth’n to come back and tell him about it.

So we did.And here it is.

OM

OM

OM

OM

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate

Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate

Vasudevaya

The MindIs

The Matter!

Fix the MindAnd

Nothing Matters

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on Thee.

Isaiah 26:3

bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitahanātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatru-vat

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 6.6

Hamlet (II, 2)

O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.

Sanskrit “man” means “mind”

And “tra” means to “attract”

We want to use the Mantra to lead the mind away from mischief.

When a Mantrais chanted in

call and responseit is called Sankirtan.

When it is chanted for personal meditation on beads it is called Japa.

JapaHare KrsnaHare KrsnaKrsna KrsnaHare HareHare RamaHare RamaRama RamaHare Hare

Hare KrsnaHare KrsnaKrsna KrsnaHare HareHare RamaHare RamaRama RamaHare Hare

In neuro-physiology we learned of the Homunculous,The representation of the bodily nerves on the Cerebral Cortex.

So many nerves for the mouth and fingers.

Chanting on beads, Rotating, dancing the beads,And chanting with the tongue, lips and jaw:

Japa appears to be a very natural way to engage the brain, cerebral cortex.

At least for the present let us take as a hypothesis that the mind is like the person speaking and the brain is like the cell-phone.No amount of cell-phone smashing will reveal much about the source of the conversation. That is being projected from a different place.In a much larger companion essay we will present this Sankhya: Oriental Philosophy of Nature in detail.

Mind Brain Fact

JapaTechniques

professorOf course, this chanting really needs guidance by a teacher,

guru, but this essay will certainly help one get a good preliminary

experience of the chanting.Although you may already have

a preceptor, if you permit, we can also recommend our own

esteemed professor, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada.You might start with his book,

The Light of the Bhagavata which is available at:

http://vedabase.com/en/lob

After that a brief but systematic summary of the whole philosophy:http://vedabase.com/en/noi

Then anecdotal biographical notes:http://vedabase.com/en/spu

A technician is someone who never makes the smallest mistake as he carefully proceeds toward the grand illusion.

Professor Bumble-brighton’s School of Basic Finger-

forms.

Japa Technique 1 Finger Forms

We, like many schools, traditionally chant on a garland of 108-beads.

Hold the beads between the thumb and ring finger of the right hand.

Chant one Mantra while fingering one bead, and then advance to the next bead and next Mantra.

Chanting all 108 beads is 108 mantras or “one-round”. Disciples vow to chant at least 16-rounds/day.

Different traditions use different Mantras. One mantra: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya is known as the dvādaśākṣara-mantra.

This mantra is chanted by Vaiṣṇava devotees, and it begins with praṇava, or oṁkāra

We chant this Mantra and many other prayers, and recite many philosophical classics but for the 16-rounds and as the main Mantra

we chant Hare Krsna/Rama.

sa hovaca hiranyagarbah hare krishna hare krishna, krishna krishna hare hare.hare rama hare rama, rama rama hare hare; [5]

iti shodashakam namnam, kali-kalmasha-nashanam;natah parataropayah, sarva-vedeshu drishyate. [6]

Lord Brahma replied, “The sixteen words-Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare-are especially meant for completely destroying all the contamination of this Age of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination of Kali-yuga, there is no alternative in all the Vedas except the chanting of this sixteen-word mantra. Kali Santarana Upanishad

We can present many other aspects to this Mantra-meditation, but this is enough for one day, no?

Srila Prabhupada, how can I chant better rounds?

By chanting better

rounds!

So this is the fact. The best way to investigate, Japa, Mantra-meditation, is to do it.

Then why not start and just chant one round on some beads and then tomorrow we can offer other observations.

Thank you.

Japa Technique 2 Meaningful

Mantras

We can present innumerable transcendental, though material, tricks for controlling the mind, but first let us talk about the more

fundamental topic of

The Meaning of the Mantra.

Once there was an Englishman.

He saw three different men working.

They were all doing the same thing, but he asked each one, “What are you doing?”

Are you blind! Can’t you see!I’m laying bricks. Leave me

alone.

Excuse me!

I earning money. I’m working to maintain

my family.

Thank you!

Oh, it’s interesting!

We’re building a Cathedral.

Today we are putting up the wall that goes behind the main altar.

Next the marble masons will come and hang the marble.

My children are little now, but when they are bigger I’m going to bring them here and show them how I helped to build this great Cathedral.

! ? ! !

MORAL

You can chant the Mantra with your tongue and jaw. They should move. That is nice, progressive, but in the mean time your mind can be thinking about all kinds of chicken-feather things.

We must chant with the tongue and make the mind think about the Mantra also.

TongueMind Intellect

They must all be engaged. What do you mean when you chant the Mantra?

“Oh, God, please give an amiable wife, wealth and social respectability”.

Three gnarly dudes were seated by the side of the road sharing an ill gotten bottle wine as they were often want to do.Just then …

A party of Christian carolers came by with drums and flutes singing about the glories of God, Christ and Mary.

You know, I like it very much when these carolers go by chanting the

name of Mary!

Why is that? You’re not a religious person.

Yeah, but the barber’s wife is named, “Mary”, and I’m always

thinking about when I can have a little time with her!

MORAL Always be sure that you arechanting with meaning.

“Oh compassionate Mother please pray to Krsna and Rama, Jehovah and Christ to engage us in Their

auspicious service!

Or, “Oh, please give me a red bicycle for Christmas!”

Be pleased to chant two rounds, with meaning, and we hope to be graced with your association tomorrow.

Japa Technique 3 First Conclusion

Looking at the vedabase.com suggestions, and your own jayarama.us, we are quite

impressed.

After 40-years of following Swami Prabhupada, what do see as the

essence of all his Oriental wisdom?

Get up early and get your rounds done!

GET UP EARLY TANTRA

In the evening say your prayers and put a glass of water across the room by the light-switch.

Also put your alarm-clock there and tell your mind that you cannot turn off the alarm until the light is on.

Make sure that there is a clear path from your bed to the light-switch !

Bl l luuuuu! 1:18 A M!

The alarm goes off in the dark. You have almost no intelligence, but your mind says that you must turn off the alarm before it wakes-up the neighbors and they come to chastise you with shovels and hoses.

You stagger across the room.

Your mind and body demand that you go back to bed,

But you turn on the light.

You see the glass of water.

Your mind whines, "I don't want to drink it!"

But your intelligence says, "Drink it! Drink it all in one breath”.

Then, go to the bathroom; urinate; wash your hands, feet and face; come back to your bed, platform, and sit properly and chant.

Your mind whines, "I want to lie down". Your intelligence says, "No, sit up”, an easy thing to do no matter how bad you feel.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS AND MOUTH MOVING.

After a few minutes you can feel your body hydrating. The intelligence starts to work. Breath, sit properly. Cry for Krsna.

Get Up Early and Get Your Rounds Done

(Eight Magic Words)

If you work hard from 2AM – 10AM, by 10AM your day is finished.

The rest of the day is just play and recreation.

Brahman2AM-10AM

King10AM-6PM

Fool6PM-2AM

And yet again, thank you.

Six to sixteen rounds?

Final Conclusion

The “Japa-Joe” Word document in your Archives is fine. Leave it as it

is, but now…

… you should just start to write. Do about 151 pages a day if you can.Just do free-writing and then give copies to about five or six copies interested people.

‘cuzz I happy!

Can we call what we write, “The Tavistock Aftermass”? Srila Prabhupada said that amongst all the Western thinkers you seemed to have the most sense.

If you have read the Lectures, I can see no harm. Just get to work.

Thank you!

Here we go!

www.jayarama.us/archives/tavi-after.docx