Mantra-Japa is affirmed by the sages as a powerful mechanism for intensifying the willpower and self-determination. It can thus be regarded as a procedure for strengthening self-control and psychological improvement along with the development of vigorous and virtuous personality.
The human mind at the conscious and the subconscious levels is an ensemble of unaccountably many thoughts and emotions of varied quality, stability and impact. Those generated by internal desire or mental resolution or existing because of assimilated samskaras are more intense and cannot be waned out or refined easily. These rather stable thoughts and emotions, if belonging to the evil (or not suitable to the human- dignity) category, cause maximum disturbances and obstructions during meditation. Japa helps controlling such perturbations because japa is an activity that engages the major faculties of mind with a natural harmony and ‘tunes’ them coherently with the rhythm and vibrations of the mantra being enunciated or chanted.
The faith and sraddha in the mantra add to the positive effects of japa, as they provide a moral support, an emotional linkage and hence an inner courage and subliminal energy to enable the sadhaka struggle and diminish the evil instincts and thoughts. It is a principle of psychology that – if a certain thought, lesson or imagination is often repeated before one’s mind, the latter begins to grasp and assimilate the same in the deeper layers of its memory. These thoughts, imaginations or feelings then appear to be ‘true’ to the learner’s mind and may eventually become a part of his nature and belief.
The small mantras like – Oam Hari Oam; or, Hari Oam Tat Sat; or, Soahm… etc, or the thy – names such as – Sri Ram or Allaha….., etc, are like compact formulae or symbols in short-hand scripts to represent and remind of divinity and divine principles and disciplines. The repeated japa of such mantras or names would naturally (according to the psychological theories of stimulus response), intensify the divine faith and serene, moral characteristics in the sadhaka’s mind. ‘How fast such effects would be realized?’ – This largely depends upon the desire (purpose), the willpower and the intrinsic urge with which the japa is being performed.
The same principle is seen working in ‘mob-psychology’ when the repeated shouting of certain motto or slogan – in grand processions, or revolutionary movements, etc – is found to stimulate public mind and motivate the masses towards the associated purpose…. The difference between such responses and the effects of mantra-japa should however be well understood here. Mantrajapa is an spiritual exercise aimed at the main purpose of the spiritual elevation of the sadhaka. This also has subtle effects on the inner self along with the aforesaid psychological effects of recalling and retention…These results may appear meek initially and seem to occur at a slow pace but are definite, gradually augmenting and everlasting if the japa is performed sincerely and regularly.
Japa has been uniformly regarded in almost all the religions or schools of philosophy across the globe as an important spiritual activity or an essential requirement for spiritual enlightenment. The scriptures on Indian philosophy and spiritual sciences focus a great deal on the psychological significance of mantra-japa as well. The Gayatri Mantra is described in all the scriptures of Indian philosophy and the science of spirituality and yoga as unique, original and preeminent in this respect too.
Subtle Effects on Human Body and Mind:
The human body is the most complex but complete example of a self-organizing (bio) physical system. Despite significant advancement of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering in the present era, a lot about the structure- function relationships and the interactions of the macro and micro components of this wonderful machine and its brain still remains to be deciphered by the modern researchers.
The risis by their expertise in the ancient sciences of yoga and spirituality had ‘visualized’ the human body as a miniature model of the universe and hence declared that – ‘Yat Brahmañde Tat Piñde’. The extrasensory energy nuclei and streams of the subtle currents of consciousness – namely, the sat cakras, panca kosas, tri granthis, the seventy-two thousands nadis and the fifty four uptyikas …. etc, inside the human body, as experienced and identified by the risis – are as vast and phenomenal as the expansion of the planets, stars and the galaxies in the universal ‘sphere’ of ever increasing ‘diameter’ above 13 X 107 light years. As discussed earlier, the science of mantras deals with the activation – by the sonic waves of Sabda and Nada, and specific use of these hidden centers and channels exiting in the human body.
The spiritual experts of yore had described the Gayatri Mantra as the mother (origin) of all mantras. The spiritual saints, eminent scholars and noted great personalities – including Swami Vivekanand, Mahatma Gandhi, Thakur Ravindra Nath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, of the modern era have also revered this great mantra as the eternal source of righteous intellect and inspirations – for the foundation of a world religion and culture of high human values. Cultural and psychological evolution of the masses is essential for a glorious future of the globe and the dignity of mankind. This mantra is also special in terms of its unique sonic pattern, the sublime flow of Sabda and astonishing physical, psychological and spiritual impacts.
The process of mantra-japa smoothly encompasses the following four aspects of training and improvement of the mind as described the modern psychologists. Namely – (i) memorizing by repetition; (ii) retention and recalling; (iii) learning by experience and (iv) believing by conviction. In terms of spiritual philosophy, the training of mind and its emotional cores focuses upon – (i) self-observation; (ii) self-analysis; (iii) self-refinement and (iv) self-development. These are the gradual steps during the enlightened march of the individual self towards the realization of thy-self.
In each experiment of mantra sadhana by japa – the retention and repeated enunciation of the mantra coupled with meditation and emotional faith effectuates all the above mentioned psychological and spiritual processes at a steadily increasing pace. The japa–sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra is again of fundamental importance here because it eventually leads to the collective illumination of the human-intellect towards the righteous path of divine evolution of mind.
The japa sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra has become all the more important today in view of the fact that the root-cause – of all the misdeeds of the medieval era and the short-sights of the modern times – is the maligning and perversion of the human-instincts and intellect from their true path. The effect of a thorough japa of this mantra eradicates the untoward thoughts and cravings. It also cultivates healthy seeds of eminence and moral dignity of thoughts and sentiments in sadhaka’s mind and heart and enlightens all dimensions of his life with truth, sincerity, creative talents, strength and courage, and above all, with the righteous intelligence and divine sentiments.
The Gayatri Mantra enfolds the basic principles of all the religions of mankind in a compact compilation of just twenty-four special syllables/words of Sanskrit. That is why this mantra is also described as the shortest and the most ancient religious scripture, which can guide the entire human society towards a life full of everlasting, global peace, progress and happiness if its japas adhana is performed as a scientific experiment collectively by more and more people under adept disciplines and with unperturbed perseverance and sincere faith.
Source: Eternity of Sound and the Science of Mantra
