Re: Likhita japa
namaste shrI Smith and others.
Here is my opinion about likhita japa:
• When you recite a mantra, orally or mentally, you do it only once. When you write it down, you recite it twice, because you would first say the words mentally as you write them down.
• During mental/oral recitation, it would be very difficult to control the mind. If I am to recite a mantra, say the gAyatrI japa, for 108 times, although I do it slowly with proper intotation in mind and it takes me around 23 minutes, I still find my mind to wander in between, so I discard that specific count and chant the mantra again mentally.
Such problem of wandering mind is better controlled when you write down a mantra.
• In likhita japa, you should not scribble for the sake of a target count. Instead, you should write each letter slowly and as perfectly as you can, thinking about the deity or philosophical concept the mantra is about. This would give a much better concentration. Further, a mantra written in Sanskrit DevanAgari script, IMO, is more valuable than one in another language or script, if the original mantra is in Sanskrit.
• likhita japa is better done in ink, because the very idea of writing down is to record and preserve it. It is not a good idea, IMO, to write on the blackboard and then rub it. It should not also be typed, either with a typewriter or a computer keyboard, because no karaNa--device, other than one's hand should be used for the purpose. The wise say that our every spoken and written word and thought is stored in subtle space as AkAshic records, not just in our physical brain, which is why we are able to recall them verbatim at times.
• I would prefer the likhita japa journals to be stored in a sacred place, like the puja room. When they accumulate sufficiently and can't be kept personally, they can be donated to a temple which would take them.
• One should never write down the dIkSha mantra given to one by the guru.
There is this story about a sage who had the capability to appear as a person's iShTa devata. A devotee of his vowed to write down shrI rAmajayam 1,00,000 times and sought a darshan of shrI RAmA with all glory and clarity in his mind. The sage as shrI RAmA promptly gave darshan when the devotee completed 50,000 counts and said that writing is after saying it, so the devotee had completed his target count!
Another story is that Saint ThyAgarAja, an ardent devotee of shrI RAmA would chant RAmA's name with every grain of rice as he washed them and put in the cooking vessel. Such was his concentration and patience!
You are doing an excellent job. Kudos and all the best in your sAdhana!
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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Originally Posted by c.smith
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