22/12/2022

Good morning, dear friends.

First is to turn in, and that is possible when you get fed up with the world and still you remain positive and call for god’s
intervention, that is seeing the futility and then the inner journey may begin. This I will call self-initiation, no need to
go to any master or under the wing of any religious establishment. There may be many other types of initiations, one
more sophisticated or prestigious than the other, but this kind of simple and self-initiation is at least necessary for
beginning your inner journey, without even this much all your efforts are only going to be outward oriented and to no
avail. Then you may begin your hit and trial. Just see if you can take out some time for yourself, half hour, one hour or
even two hours and when, the more important part, will it be possible early morning, and can you manage to wake up
well rested and fresh, if so then your status is already advanced, you must have come with a lot of past earnings. You
start to sit still and watch your breath, you can directly go for the second grade _ajapa jaap_, better you try to listen to
your breathing, your breathing can be heard, and this hearing skill has to be sharpened. For advancing to the third grade,
it is very essential, this skill is what the _sants_ call सुरति, it has various meanings but for the _sants_ it means listening,
hearing in order to pay attention, the way to become conscious. In the elementary grade, just _jaap_ no hearing is
involved, because it is obvious when chanting out loud you are going to hear it, but sometimes if you are not attentive,
your mind may still escape and mostly fall asleep while chanting, it may be observed in religious group chanting. Even
elementary grade _jaap_ will be of some help only when you are at least self-initiated. Just watching your breath, better
hearing your inhalation and exhalation, in very normal breathing becomes your second level practice, this level is beyond
the reach of worldly people, and only the ones turned in will be able to manage it…the Sufis describe it very beautifully
स ां सो की म ल पे तसमरु मै पी क न म |

Wish you all a meditative and celebrative day ahead.

21/12/2022
Good morning, dear friends.

Religion is practiced even in the world without even starting the inner journey, without initiation, but that has a reach
only till the elementary grade. The goal is never liberation, it has not yet been discovered, and so whatever little
religion is practiced happens in public with ostentatious display and becomes culture rather than actual religion, the
goal still remaining worldly gains. The _jaap_ then comes out in the open, with rosary in hand, often en masse, and it
takes even grosser forms like prostrations, the स ष् ां ग दां डवि प्रण म is nothing but doing _jaap_ with the whole body
instead of just your voice and lips. Of course they all qualify as elementary form of religious practice, but if you have
not yet turned in, then they do not serve any purpose, just results in cultural refinement. And sometimes even when
you have turned in and started your inner journey, you may have to resort to such gross elementary measures, due to
your status and karmic account, then it surely helps. Like if even normal _jaap_ does not appeal to you, or you are not
able to practice it, then your ego quotient is really high, you may have to resort to prostrations, the so called ego
busters. In Tibetan Buddhism prostrations are a compulsory preliminary practice, there is one particular _ngöndro_
practice of 1 lakh prostrations before you can get initiated into their meditation practices, but even before Buddhism
reached Tibet it was a common practice in the pre-Buddhism religion called Bon, whose few practitioners still exist in
Tibet, whom you can surprisingly find circumambulating the holy Kailash mountain doing स ष् ां ग दां डवि प्रण म full flat
body prostrations, taking them several months to complete the around 55 kms circuit, which normally you would do in
two days walking. The question is what appeals to you, anything that comes to you as an idea once you begin your
inner journey, you should be ready to do it, then you will progress grade by grade towards your own inner self.

Wish you all a meditative and celebrative day ahead.

20/12/2022
Good morning, dear friends.

So mantra can be used even when you do _saadhana_, if you are not able to hear your own breath, I mean if you do
not feel comfortable to sit just hearing your breath, if it does not sound melodious enough to keep your mind focussed
on your breathing then your mind is more agitated and gets distracted easily, you will surely need to do the elementary
grade _jaap_. Speaking aloud a mantra and chanting it repeatedly helps you arrest your mind, although it is purely by
your effort and appears forced, but if your status is such, I mean, if your mind remains distracted, then you should be
ready to do it even while doing _saadhana_ or while doing _simran_ when you are active then also _jaap_ alone helps.
Like while commuting to work, I spend about an hour in the bus, it is pretty noisy and shaky, I use _jaap_ just loud
enough so that nobody detects it, moreover I continue to use mask so it is better; it remains private. And it is
tremendously helpful, in fact I have tried it as an experiment, how anybody who is willing to do complete practice as a
householder and under today’s circumstances can find suitable ways to make _simran_ easy. Firstly which mantra to
choose, words are tremendously powerful and if you are going to repeat them daily and for hours then they have to be
properly selected. The mantra I use means _glory be to god_ in English, in Hindi it would mean परम त्म की जय हो or
भगव न की जय हो but I use it in its Japanese version 神に栄光あれ (kami ni eikou are). This mantra I have chosen has
the fragrance of completeness and I can use it forever.

Wish you all a meditative and celebrative day ahead.