Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

(120) AJAPA TATVAM (THE MEANING OF INVOLUNTARY JAPAM)

Prev Next 23rd May, 1947
This morning at 8 o’clock, an ochre-robed person asked,
“Swami, for controlling the mind, which of the two is better,
performing japa of the ajapa mantra or of Omkar? Please tell
me which is more useful?” Bhagavan replied as follows: “What
is your idea of ajapa? Will it be ajapa if you go on repeating
aloud ‘soham, soham’? Ajapa means to know that japa which
goes on involuntarily without being uttered through the
mouth. Without knowing the real meaning of that japa, people
think that it means repeating with the mouth the words
‘soham, soham’ lakhs of times, counting them on the fingers
or on a string of beads. Before beginning a japa, ‘pranayame
viniyogah’ is prescribed. That means, first do pranayama
(regulating of breath) and then begin repeating the mantra.

Pranayama means first closing the mouth, doesn’t it? If, by
stopping the breath, the five elements in the body are bound
down and controlled what remains is the real Self. That Self
will by itself be repeating always ‘aham, aham’. That is ajapa.

To know that aspect is ‘ajapa’. How could that which is
repeated by mouth be ajapa? The vision of the real Self which
performs japa of its own accord involuntarily and in a never
ending stream like the flowing down continuously of ghee is
ajapa, Gayatri and everything. At the time of the upanayanam
itself, pranayama is taught by anganyasa, karanyasa and other
methods of stopping the breathing, and people are asked to
understand that ajapa by practice with suitable
accompaniments. Without thinking of it, people talk of ajapa.

It is the same thing in regard to Omkar. Om is all pervading
and complete by itself. How can one do japa of that word
with the voice? The sutra is always there: ‘Omityekaksharam
brahma adviteeyam sanatanam’ (Om is the indivisible and
primordial Brahman). Without understanding that
elementary thing, big books have been written stating the
number of times each name should be repeated, such as so
many thousands for Ganapati in mooladhara and for other
chakras, so many thousands for Brahma, so many for Vishnu
and Sadasiva. If you know who it is that is doing japa you
will know what this japa is. If you search and try to find out
who it is that is doing japa, that japa itself becomes the Self.”
Another person asked, “Is there no benefit at all in doing
japa with the mouth?” “Who said no? That will be the means
for chitta suddhi (purifying the mind). As the japa is done
repeatedly the effort ripens and sooner or later leads to the
right path. Good or bad, whatever is done, never goes to
waste. Only the differences and the merits and demerits of
each will have to be told, looking to the stage of development
of the person concerned,” said Bhagavan. His “Upadesa
Saram” itself is an authority on the subject.