Krishna talks about another kind of Yajna which is Japa-Yajna or the ritual of chanting. The secret of Japa is the same as that of knowledge. Japa at first burns all our thoughts, and then it burns itself- the thought of Japa or chanting. For this reason it is called Yajna, because it works like fire. Our mind is stuffed with thoughts, all kinds of junk. So we use a word for chanting, and with the help of this chanting we banish from our mind all other thoughts- except the one thought which is our word for chanting. However, when all other thoughts disappear, then this last thought- the thought of chanting- becomes unnecessary and it drops on its own. It is followed by a state of utter silence which is called ‘Ajapa’ or wordless chanting or non-chanting. So Ajapa too, is a kind of fire, which first burns the fuel and then burns itself.
But there is a danger with chanting, just as with knowledge. In fact, there is danger in with every kind of spiritual discipline. There is no path from which one is not going to deviate. Every path leading to a destination has its by-paths of deviation, and we can/may use them to deviate from our journey. The truth is that we use paths more to digress from them than to reach. For example, Krishna talks about the path of knowledge. For most knowledge is scholarship, information, concepts, ideas, doctrines. If we mistake knowledge-ability for knowledge, we are on a wrong path, we are going astray. Now we cannot attain to truth, to knowledge, even if we claim our head full of all the scriptures there are in the world. And we must remember, ignorance is not as harmful as false knowledge. False knowledge is harmful, pernicious. It is lifeless, it lacks fire altogether. Pseudo knowledge is like ashes left after the fire has been extinguished. We can collect tons, but they are not going to change us. So if someone mistakes scholarship for knowledge he is already off the track.
It is the same with Japa or chanting. If someone thinks he will reach the truth through chanting the name (just chanting) of Rama or Ave Maria. Chanting is like a thorn- one uses it to take out another thorn sticking in his fresh and throws away the two together. At the end both the thorns are equally useless. If we leave the second thorn in the place of first, thinking it is something valuable, and then we will continue to suffer. And we are for sure a stupid people. But there is no dearth of such stupid people in our present day world. Buddha said a story once. There where a group of scholars and they had to cross a flooded river & they made a boat & crossed the river. Then they carried it all along their journey on head over the land. When the common people laughed at it, they said, “It seems you all are ungrateful people. This boat helped us crossing the river & we are repaying the dept by carrying it over our head. It will stay on our head for ever.” Buddha says many of us turn means into ends and cling to them for the rest of our lives. A boat is useful for crossing a river. But we are not supposed to carry it on our heads after it has served our purpose.
Wishing you good health & happiness,
Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation-the stress management people
No comments:
Post a Comment