Guiding Thought

We go deep within our inner stillness, and feel Divine Mind’s presence within. We hold out our empty hands, symbolic of leaving preconceptions behind; symbolic of seeking True answers, and ask, “What is the essence of healing?” These words resonate within us, as though in a vast cavern.  The word essence reverberates with these thoughts, “For what do we care most deeply?”; “What is our  essence?”; “What is our Truth?”; “Where is our deepest hurt, pain, and sorrow, that all may be healed?”

Reflection

Mantras are most powerful when energetically spoken silently within your Diamond Crystal Sacred Heart. ~Joseph Barry Martin

Meditation teachers generally say there are three ways to repeat mantras:

1. Out loud (known as Vaikhari Japa). This way accustoms a person to the pronunciation and tones, and serves to calm the mind. In this method, the sound becomes externalized. For many people, especially beginners, this makes it easier to focus on the sound and its energy.
2. Whispered inaudibly, with the breath merely passing over the lips (known as Upamsu Japa). The sound remains internal, yet the brain and body are engaged in the motion of making words. This requires a bit more concentration and focus, since there is no actual sound to bring the brain back when it starts to wander. The mind must be responsible for the brain, and keep it focused.
3. Silently (known as Manasika Japa). This is generally understood as a mental practice; the mantra is simply repeated silently, which is said to require much focus, attention, and concentration.

Please note that this summary is not advocating that one way is “more powerful” than another way. You will find writings that say the first is most powerful, and the third the least powerful (as in the Chaitanya Bhagavata story, which says Vaikhari is 100 times superior to Manasika), and you will find writings that say Manasika is more powerful than Vaikhari (as in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa). I suggest you try them for yourself, and see what works for you, depending on your own goals and intentions. (Also, another form of japa that is not relevant here, but worth mentioning is Likhita Japa. This is when a person writes a mantra repeatedly.)

I have tried all three.  Personally, I like Manasika Japa the best. When I am doing japa, I focus my attention between my eyebrows, where I hold a picture of the energetic representation of the mantra. So, for example, if I am doing Om Namah Shivaya japa, I hold a picture of either Shiva or Babaji at my forehead; if I am doing Om hang Hanumate Rudratmakaye hung phat mantra, I have a picture of Hanuman in my imagination between my eyebrows.

This morning, I was reading a book by Joseph Barry Martin and came across the quote at the top. Today, while doing my japa, I changed my style. Instead of using my mind/brain to imagine an energetic representation while focusing on the words, I moved my focus to my heart area and concentrated on “hearing” the energy through my heart.

It was intense. I would like to officially add a fourth method of doing japa. I call it Dicrysahe- Diamond Crystal Sacred Heart 😉  -and it means feeling the energy of the words through the heart.

Why does this matter for the Journey today?

1. Because when doing japa via Dicrysahe, I found there to be this resonance (as though in a vast cavern). It felt literally like a magnified pulse emanating from my chest.
2. It felt like it was a very direct experience of the sound, without the sound. After all, sound is simply vibration; if I can feel the vibration in my body instead of hearing it, it’s the same energy but a different experience of it–visceral and without a brain-interpretation.
3. I felt like I had a new grasp of my inner stillness, and could feel Divine Mind’s presence within. I admit, I have a hard time with stillness (until now…). Stillness, traditionally means something like “calming the monkey mind”. In order to get to stillness, one must pass through the mind, which is always in chaos–that’s why there’s meditation–to calm the mind and get to stillness. But Dicrysahe completely bypasses the mind. Instead of having a battle in the brain between what to focus on (the chaotic thoughts, or the calming ones), Dicrysahe changes fields, where no battle exists, because there is no mind, because everything happens in the heart.
4. When I did the Guiding Thought with Dicrysahe, there was a similar more direct experience of the Guiding Thought. It was more difficult than with a mantra, because with a mantra there is repetition of sound and syllables, and with the Guiding Thought I really had to focus on the energy, rather than the words. But it felt solid and pervading.

This is all new. Pretty cool, huh? Try it. Let me know what you think.