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Japa Joe (rev. 130611) Mantra Meditation in the Age of Iron. Table of Contents Preface ……………….. Slide 3 Japa Technique 1 … Slide 29 Japa Technique 2 … Slide 39 Japa Technique 3 … Slide 54. We are writ’n this ‘cause we owe it to our Professor, Donald T. Campbell.
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Japa Joe (rev. 130611) Mantra Meditation in the Age of Iron
Table of Contents Preface ……………….. Slide 3 Japa Technique 1 … Slide 29 Japa Technique 2 … Slide 39 Japa 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
The Mind Is The Matter!
Fix the Mind And Nothing Matters
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on Thee. Isaiah 26:3
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanājitaḥ anātmanastuśatrutve vartetātmaivaśatru-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 Mantra is chanted in call and response it is called Sankirtan.
When it is chanted for personal meditation on beads it is called Japa.
Japa Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare 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.
Mind Brain Fact 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.
Japa Techniques
professor Of 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.
Japa Technique 1 Finger Forms Professor Bumble-brighton’sSchool of Basic 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: Oṁnamobhagavatevāsudevāya 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. sahovacahiranyagarbahhare krishna hare krishna, krishnakrishna hare hare.hare rama hare rama, ramarama hare hare; [5]itishodashakamnamnam, kali-kalmasha-nashanam;natahparataropayah, sarva-vedeshudrishyate. [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?
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.
Tongue • Mind • 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!
Yeah, but the barber’s wife is named, “Mary”, and I’m always thinking about when I can have a little time with her!