Illuminations - A Spiritual Self Help Newsletter
"God Helps Those Who Help Themselves"

Issue 43    December 17, 2008
  Published Monthly by Mahatma Das

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Japa Mini-Course Installment 1

Building Your Foundation
 
Website for Touchstone Training
www.tstrain.com
 
The site is full of useful information: articles, spiritual self-development principles, interactive exercises and back issues of Illuminations newsletters. It is intended to be a practical tool to aid your spiritual progress.
 
 
 
    
I was supposed to write this newsletter last month, but because I have been doing more Japa Weekends and Retreats than normal, I had to postpone writing until now. This work has brought me new realizations about japa and I will share them with you in this and the next few issues. These newsletters on japa will take the form of an electronic japa mini-course. If you apply the principles you learn, I guarantee you will see improvements in your japa.
 
Each newsletter will ask you to apply a specific principle to your japa. Therefore, I intend to send you these japa mini-courses two to four times a month.
 
May you always think of Krsna,
 
Mahatma das
 
  
Japa Mini-Course Installment 1
Building Your Foundation
 
This Mini-Course is interactive. It is designed to take a minimal amount of time yet create noticeable improvements in your japa.
  
It is recommended that you copy this into your word processor in order to do the exercises. (Click here to download the word file)

Rate Your Japa
Rate how your japa has been in the recent past on a scale of 1 to 10. If your japa has been steadily helping you become Krsna conscious, rate it a 5.1 or more. If your japa has only maintained (or barely maintained) your Krsna consciousness, rate it between a 4 and a 5. If you feel your japa is greatly in need of improvement, rate it a 3.9 or less. 
 
On a scale of 1 to 10, my japa has been around a _______ in the recent past.
 
Write down a few things that immediately come to mind that you could do to improve your japa (things you could do to raise your number). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What would be the one most important thing you could do to improve your japa? (If you feel you already listed this when answering the first question, go to the next question now.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
If you took the time, could you note more things you could do (or avoid doing) to improve your japa?
 
Yes _____
No _____ 
  
Unless you rated your japa close to 10, I assume you answered “yes.”
 
What other things could you do to improve your japa (this is optional)?
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Problem
We have seen that you really do know what you need to do to improve your chanting, but you are either not doing it, or not doing it enough. In this mini-course I am going to offer you additional things you can do to improve your chanting, but I am concerned I might simply be adding to your list of things you won't do. So before we go further, let’s deal with this potential problem by answering the following questions.
 
What has been preventing you from doing the things you identified would improve your japa? 
  
  
  
  
  
How can you overcome the obstacles you listed above?
  
  
  
  
  
  

Maya targets your japa because it’s your most potent weapon against her. To the degree you allow her to distract you from chanting well, you become malleable to her will. Answering the above questions is important for you because it engages you in a proactive effort against maya's intrusion into your world of japa. So if you haven't yet answered the questions, do it now (or come back to it when you have time).
  
Start Today
How you chanted today was probably similar to yesterday’s japa. Will your japa tomorrow be more or less the same?  Probably. That's because you have a japa blueprint, a standard that plays out daily when you chant. 
  
We'll discuss how to improve your japa blueprint in the next installment. But you don’t have to wait to start changing your blueprint. You already created several lists of things you can immediately do to improve your japa. Your list is extremely valuable to you. It can immediately help you improve your chanting. So work on the items on your list. 
  
Affirmations
It’s helpful to turn your list into affirmations. For example, if chanting your rounds between 5 am and 7 am is on you list, your affirmation might read something like, “I enthusiastically chant my rounds between 5 am and 7am,” (or “I feel fortunate to chant between 5 am and 7 am,” “I am excited to chant between 5 am and 7 am,” “I love to chant between 5 am and 7 am,” etc.).
  
If greater concentration is on your list, your affirmation might read, “I spend quality time with the holy name by focusing on the sound and meaning of the mantra,” (or “I relish listening to each word of the mantra,” I am grateful to be fully present with the mantra when chanting,” I relish chanting the holy names by focusing on one mantra at a time,” etc.).  
  
Write your affirmations (or what’s on your to do list) on a card and read them before you go to bead (ideally half an hour before going to sleep). This will set these intentions in your subconscious mind while you sleep. (You will be doing devotional service while you sleep!)  Also, read them in the morning before you chant.
  
And remember, it’s ultimately your choice whether or not you follow through.
  
Is There Anything More Important?
Chanting is the most powerful way to become Krsna conscious. In fact, we cannot become fully Krsna consciousness without chanting good japa daily. Despite this fact, we often don’t take our japa as seriously as we should. Therefore I am closing this installment with several statements to inspire you to take your japa more seriously.
 
In the Caitanya Caritamrita, Srila Prabhupada writes, “Of all the regulative principles given by the spiritual master, the instruction to chant 16 rounds is most essential.” In initiation letters it was common for Prabhuada to write that chanting sixteen rounds is your ticket back to Godhead. Prabhupada wrote Giriraj Swami saying, “Your beads are your link to Krsna.” And Prabhupada once told Trivikrama Maharaja, “This chanting is the essence of our philosophy.”
 
You can’t minimize the importance you give your japa (the essence of our philosophy, your link to Krsna, the most essential instruction of the spiritual master) without it having a negative effect on your spiritual life. And you can't maximize the importance you give your japa without it having a tremendously positive effect on your Krsna consciousness.
 
Have a great japa week.
 
This newsletter was brought to you by Touchstone Training, producer of seminars and workshops on applying Krsna consciousness to daily living. To access the archive of other newsletters containing practical advise on improving your devotional practices, visit http://www.tstrain.com/Newsletters.html.