How to Use a Mālā?
When chanting or meditating using the mālā, hold the beads in your right hand. Let the beads drape over your middle finger, ring finger and little finger. We want to keep the index finger (ego) away from the mālā as it is believed that using it to rotate the beads is unlucky in mantra meditation. We use the thumb of the right hand to rotate the mālā from one bead to the next. The thumb represents the divine spirit or God Himself.
We start with the first bead to the right after the meru, Say your first mantra. Then using the thumb, rotate the next bead and say the mantra again and so on, until you have repeated the mantra on all 108 beads. The direction of the mālā as you work through the beads is towards the palm.
Once you have finished 108 and you wish to do another round, turn the mālā beads and start rotating them in the other direction. We avoid saying a mantra on the meru bead or cross over it.
After your practice, you can either wear your mālā around your neck or place it on your shrine or altar if you have one. Respect it with sacredness, and do not let other people touch it.
Attaining Sadhana | Cultivating Self-Discipline
“You are not your body neither your senses. You are not the breath. You are not the mind. You are the energy, the spirit, separate and unique, boundless and timeless”.
Sadhana is the process of attaining a deep spiritual practice through meditation, chanting mantras, and prayer. The physical elements of asanas and even pranayamas (breath regulation) are not as important as the spiritual observances in the practice of Sadhana.
One of the goals of Sadhana to cultivate Self-discipline. This shall require a change of your mindset, discipline in speech and mindful actions. Meditation requires energy and it comes from having a healthy body. Our diets, physical fitness, and overall lifestyle management would have to be considered too. When the body is weak and always sick, then sustaining a rigorous meditation practice would not be possible.
On top of them all, you need to exercise strong willpower, dedication, sense-control and determination. This is not easy, especially for a beginner, thus the guidance of a teacher is essential. The teacher shall give you a progressive programme which you need to follow strictly. Your teacher knows what you are capable of doing. He trusts you and will not give you something which is impossible to attain given your level and personal circumstances.
It is important to pay attention not only to your teacher’s instruction but to your daily experiences, tasks and obligations - the amount of time you spend thinking and doing something, planning, evaluating, managing your tasks and scheduling them properly. If we know when and how a particular task is to be accomplished given the time we have on our hands, then our minds become more focused on accomplishing something productive. It is not healthy for the body and the mind to be doing many tasks all at once. At first, it would be helpful to have a list of the things you intend to accomplish for a given day. Then, put the most important tasks on top of the list. Assign a time for each task and try your best to follow your plan.
As time passes, you will be able to determine which is essential and which is not, then you will likely to accomplish the important ones first. As your mind becomes less distracted, your day becomes more productive. As you see more positive results, you are likely to keep it going and growing.
It does not mean adding more tasks on the list. Actually, you are cutting the list down to only important ones. You will be surprised by how much time you spend in doing less important things. Some of them might not be important at all. Then, contentment arises because you are accomplishing more in less time. And you will have more time to spend for yourself, for your meditation, for your practice, and for your loved ones.
The thought of change could give us the fright. A lot of times, our minds sabotage the process of change by suddenly becoming ill. Our minds do not like to be commanded or restricted. The road to attaining Sadhana is rough and not always straight. There will be many obstacles which may seem impossible to overcome at first. We need to make sacrifices for a higher purpose which is not material at all.
With consistent practice, you will gain the inner strength to overcome each obstacle as it arises. Start stacking the building blocks and make that first important step, right now. It may be as simple as cutting the time you spend in social media interaction, and channel the time you save reading about meditation instead.
Whatever your goal is, you need to work through it slowly, mindfully and willingly. We make gradual changes with perseverance, determination and consistency. However, we do not want to force ourselves to do something which we are not ready and capable of sustaining, given the many aspects surrounding our lives. If the practice feels heavy and burdensome, then, it might mean giving it more time to grow organically by going to group meditation sessions instead or simply by listening to recorded mantras (songs or chants).
SO HAM - I AM THAT / I AM THE SPIRIT
General Principles and Guidelines for Mantras | Kriyas | Japa
For this exercise, let us use the SO HAM mantra (pronounced as ‘So-Hum’).
The awareness of the natural flow of the breath is integrated with the mantra. ‘So’ means ‘I am’ and ‘Ham’ means ‘That’ (‘That’ meaning Spirit, Divine Consciousness).
The following practice of the SO HAM increases awareness and concentration and is one of the most powerful of all the mantras. Most bij (seed) mantras are high-energy producing ones, the So Ham, on the other hand, is not as dynamic but so effective in stilling the mind. We could achieve pratyāhāra (sense-withdrawal) by mastering the practice of this technique:
1. Sit comfortably upright on a chair, or cross-legged on the floor with a cushion, and adjust your spine so that your pelvis, chest and head are vertically aligned. This structural alignment is applicable not only for the So Ham Mantra but for all the other mantras we do in the practice. There are differences in the positioning of the legs for some other Kriyas, such as the Sat Kriya, where the knees are in the Virasana (kneeling), but the observances for the hips and the spine remain the same.
Inhale deeply and extend the arms overhead. Palms of the hands are facing forward with the fingers spread widely apart to energise the palms and the surrounding joints of fingers and the wrists. Alert the spine. At the top of the inhalation, hold the breath and fully stretch the side body long. Lightly, tense all the parts of your body. Retain the inhalation using the eight-beat retention pattern (thousand one, thousand two thousand three…)
Then exhaling with long, ‘haaa’ sound through the lips. Loosen the jaw and relax the mouth. Release all tension and completely relax your body. Repeat tensing and relaxing your body two more times.
Scan your body. If you must adjust do so gently so that we keep the mind inwardly focused. Close your eyes and lift your eyes inside the mind to your Spiritual Eye (at the midpoint between the eyebrows). Feel your breath go back to its natural rhythm, feeling its subtle and slow flow through the inner realms of your whole being, physically, mentally and spiritually.
With a long and steady inhalation, draw your breath from the base of the spine (mūladhāra chakra) to the tops of the back of the neck (medulla oblongata). The breath here is an experience and not just the gaseous element. Feel it rise!
This is easily achieved by lightly folding the chin close to the throat until you feel the breath pierce through the hollow space between the collar bones. There should be no tension though. You may relax the throat once the sensation becomes organic.
This mantra, especially if you chant it has an energetic effect to the brain. The 'so' allows the pathway in the neck leading to the brain open up. The 'hum' seals it back while the energy is lightly confined inside to stimulate the inner brain.
On the other hand if you chhose to breathe through process, the rising inhalation brings the energy upwards through your spine from the base of the hips to the top of neck (medulla oblongata). You may confine it up a bit inside before exhaling the breath out (as your mind says 'hum). This vibration is the mantra so’ham.
If you are playing a musical guide, keep the volume down just enough that you can lightly hear the music. Over a period of time, we need to do this meditation ourselves alone without any external distractions. Now, as you inhale, hear the mantric sound So. Then, exhaling down the spine from the tip of the neck (medulla) to the mūladhāra chakra, hear the sound ham.
Continue the technique with total concentration and awareness, listening inwardly to the sound of the mantra and follow the movement of breath (subtle sensation) up and down the inner passage within your spine. Allow your breath to flow naturally and smoothly in an unbroken flow of inner sound – so’ham so’ham so’ham – so that one repetition of the mantra weaves smoothly into the next. The mind becomes one with the mantra and the breath transforms so lightly that the body becomes still and silent.
Later on, as the Bandhas become more involved in your meditation, you may utilise them so gently that a light clip at the top of the inhalation (Jalandhara Bandha)) is done to keep the spine alert and open. Then, as you exhale let the Uddiyana Bandha (Core Lock) regulate the release of the exhalation so that only the gaseous air exits the body. A slight pause at the bottom of the exhalation to access the root lock (Muladhara Bandha) is also applied. The collective work of the Bandhas shall confine the pranic energy in the inner body as you meditate.
As you practise, become more focused and one-pointed. Focusing on the breath is the best way to develop this skill of deep concentration. You will be surprised that your mind surrenders later on, without the support of the breath already. It would be so eaasy to drift back once this happens, that is why, we need to keep the spine alert throughout the practice.
A beginner’s practice is 27 repetitions which is around 5 minutes. Increase to 54 repetitions after 2 weeks and so on until al the 108 beads are meditated upon. This is about 20 minutes which is very doable. If you are not using the mālā, set a timer. This is very helpful to keep track of your progress. Then bit by bit, let go of your external tools until you can practise in full solitude.
To finish your practice, use your natural breath to slowly return your awareness back to your physical body. Applying gentle pressure, start rubbing your arms, then the face, the neck and the legs. Do gentle stretches to release the stagnation of the hips and lower back. Lightly shake the arms to release stagnation. You may lay down on your back for a few more minutes. Become aware of the environment around you, then sit quietly and slowly get up.
For silent practice, you may say it inside the mind, inhaling to the So and exhaling to the Hum. Pause after each line to reflect on the spiritual meaning of the lines and the words in it.