oldchakra.com

Japa Beads Versus Clicker:
The Method Srila Prabhupada Gave Us
by Ananta Sesa Naga das

In my original posting, I stated that many of the early London UK devotees were without japa mala for a long time. Whilst this was true, we nevertheless counted our completed rounds done on our fingers as individual rounds. That is, we never just chanted and chanted, we kept count of individual rounds.

It may be my ignorance, but I went out and purchased a counter and used it instead of my japa mala. Several things occured to me whilst I was in the process of chanting: How will I know when I have completed my second and third and fourth rounds, etc? His Divine Grace instructed us that each round consists of 108 Maha mantras. Each round was to be proceeded by certain mantras Namah Om... Sri Krsna ... Namaste... etc.

It concerned me that, In my chanting (and not being math-minded), did I just chant and chant with a view to chanting Maha mantra 1728 times, thus completing my 16 rounds, or should I continually check to see that I have chanted multiples of 108 and then chant the prescribed mantras that should precede each round?

All these thoughts were taking place whilst I was chanting and it concerned me that I was committing an offence of not concentrating on the Lord's name.

Maybe I am not understanding how it works. Until some one can explain it to me, I will, as Sankarshan das advises, stick to the method that Srila Prabhupada gave us in the early days.

Your servant by His grace

Ananta Sesa Naga das

© CHAKRA 19 January 2002