Question:
I am a beginner here. please tell me the difference between meditation n japa also how both benefit us?
Sri Prabhuji:
Atmajyothi Deepaji, let us understand why we do japa or meditation ? What is the purpose of japa and meditation ? It is said that japa and meditation will help to calm our mind, reduce stress and bring peace. This is the basic objective in spiritual practice. Reduces stress, find peace within. This inner Peace is called God. It is the ultimate experience for being born as human beings. Is finding peace easy ? We need to interact in the world. Need to work for our daily bread. We need to face struggles in life. All these interactions leave samskaras (impressions in the mind). These impressions keep creating constant thoughts. We have about 70,000 thoughts per day whether we like it or not. These thoughts will constantly churn our mind and cause disturbance. Japa and meditation is activity which we undertake to make our mind calm and silent and experience inner peace.
Let me tell story of Bhagavan Buddha. He was travelling to another village with his disciple Ananda. On the way they saw a pond. Both stopped there and told Ananda – ” I am thirsty. Get me some water to drink from the pond”. Ananda – chief disciple of Buddha hesitated for a moment. He told -“Bhagavan, the water in the lake is dirty. Some bullock cart has passed through the lake”. Buddha told Ananda to wait for some time. By that time the mud in the lake had settled and water had become clear. Buddha told Ananda to get water and drank the clean water. Bhagavan Buddha – a great teacher took the opportunity to teach Ananda about meditation using example of the lake. Bhagavan Buddha told Ananda -” Ananda, mind is like a lake. Sense organs are like bullock carts. When the sense organs roam in the world, mind gets agitated and polluted. It becomes dirty. Allow the mind to settle down. After some time mind becomes clear like pure water”. This is the principle of meditation.
Purpose of Japa : Our mind is constantly bombarded with about 50,000 thoughts per day. If you observe your mind closely, thoughts are random in nature. You cannot predict what thought comes next. Purpose of japa is to focus the mind. Reduce the number of thoughts in the mind from 50,000 to one thought. Thought of God. Say God’s Name – “Rama”. By chanting japa, 50,000 random thoughts in mind gets reduced to one thought – “Divine Name”. This is the purpose of Japa. By focusing constantly on Divine name using one thought, the Divine qualities represented by that name start manifesting in us. We become what we think. If we think we are stupid, we become stupid. If we think we are happy, we become happy. We become what we think. Constantly thinking of Gods name we develop Divine qualities of that God and become a reflection of that Divinity on the earth. For example “Sri Rama” is known as embodiment of Dharma. By constant japa on Shri Ram, our mind will be filled with Divine quality of Dharma. Mind gets purified. 50,000 thoughts become one thought. This is the purpose of Japa.
Purpose of Meditation: Meditation is to make the mind thought free. From 70000 thoughts to one thought is called japa. From one thought to no thought is called meditation. In meditation mind becomes silent and thought free. Meditation is like waking deep sleep. In deep sleep we are unaware but thought free. That thought free state of mind in deep sleep gives rest to the body and peace is experienced. Same thing happens in meditation. In meditation you are fully aware but experience deep peace and bliss.