“The Mantra, recited out loud or mentally, elevates us to a telephathic state and beyond that to one which is transcendental.” (Swami Vhisnu-devananda)

There are four kinds of Japa Meditation: reciting the Mantra aloud is known as Vaikhari Japa, whispering or humming it is Upamsu Japa, the mental repetition of the Mantra is Manasika Japa, and when written it is Likhita Japa.

As a rule the practitioner receives a Mantra from a guru. If that is not possible, then a Mantra of one’s own choosing may be used. It is important to adhere to one Mantra for as long as possible.

Japa Meditation is an exact science. It is important to precisely record the number of repetitions. For this purpose one can use a mala, a string of prayer beads not unlike a rosary. It consists of 108 beads.

A Purascharana is accomplished by the concentrated Japa meditation to one Mantra over a long period of time. It signifies the 100,000-fold repetition per syllable of a Mantra. A monosyllabic Mantra like OM is repeated 100,000 times, a five-syllable Mantra like the Siva Mantra is repeated 500,000 times. The 24-syllable Gayatri Mantra is repeated 2,400,000 times.

See complete table of Mantras.