Rama Nama Likhita Japa
April 2, 2022Hindu Significance and Symbolism, RamayanaHinduism, Ramanavami, Ramayana
[Excerpts from letters & articles by Swami Chinmayananda]
JAPA is a training of the mind to fix itself to one line of thinking. We cannot say a word without a thought-form rising immediately; nor can we have a thought-form without its corresponding name. Try! In this close connection between ‘name’ and ‘form’ lies the underlying principle in the technique of Japa. Japa is a training of the mind to fix itself to one ‘name’ and ‘form’.
MAHAMANTRA is the “invocation of the Rama” in us!….Start today LIKHIT JAPA of “OM SRI RAMA JAYA RAMA JAYA JAYA RAMA”. Devotedly write “Om Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama”, one or two pages a day, in any script. With steady concentration, let the hand write, the eyes watch, in murmurs the mouth repeat, and the ears listen to the sound of the mantra. Thus, more than one sense-organ is brought into one and the same act. See that your heart is empty of any personal desire. Attention should be given for the cleanliness of the page, the symmetry of the letters, and the sanctity of the book. Let there be a Rama picture on your table and an incense stick burning in your room.
….From this day onwards write your Mantra in a note book for half an hour daily. This is to be done as though it is a great Yagna. No talking in between; no looking either to your right or left. Eyes glued to the page, in slow steady hand, write your chosen Mantra; repeat it loud enough for you to hear. That is, let the eyes see the Mantra; the ears hear it; the mouth utter it. Thus the mind is full of it! There is no greater practice to hasten the growth of DHARANA (concentration). This is one of the most effective exercises to develop concentration and devotion to the Spiritual Essence in life.
“Nama Smarana” (Japa) assists you in preventing the entry into your mind of various thoughts about the objects of the world around and helps to eradicate the flutterings of the mind. LIKHIT JAPA is very good for the early beginner — wherein at once the individual’s hand, eyes, ears and mouth are made to concentrate upon what is written in the Japa book. This brings about a certain amount of concentration in the students. While writing until the page is over keep “vow of silence.” Whisper the mantra as you write — this is a sacred Yagna. Try to do the Likhit Japa. Follow all the instructions. Write the Sri Rama Mantra a page-a-day and watch how the mind quietens by the end of the page! Watch for and experience a welling-up joy when you come to the last line of the page. Try to be regular all the days of Likhit Japa Yagna.
Write Likhit Japa: the SRI RAMA MANTRA – WRITING YAGNA! Experience the texture of exploding silence and peace that happen in the mind on days when the page is completed. Just experience it — no questioning of why, how etc. Just BE in it for a moment before you close the note book. Invoke Him and learn to rest your mind on Him: SRI RAMA, who is the One Auspiciousness (Sri), that revels in all (Rama). Likhit Japa is either placed at the foundation of Temples built or offered to Mother Ganga.
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