Roof-topa Japa
I’ll admit, I’ve been a bit lax on my japa meditation, chanting. It’s ironic that the guy who does sitproperly.com hasn’t really been chanting. Sure, I’ve done 16 rounds for years…
Hold a sec, I should probably explain what the hell it is that I’m talking about for the sake of those who are reading this and thinking “wha?!”
Japa meditation is mantra meditation. A mantra is a phrase that you repeat over and over, hopefully for some benefit. In this particular case, I am saying “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” over and over.
Like in many religions and philosophies, most of the folks who chant this Hare Krishna mantra do so on japa beads. Typically, there are 108 beads on a string and you chant one mantra on each bead. When you chant on all 108 beads, that is one round.
We chant with the beads and the right hand in a bead bag. It protects the beads and gives you a handy place to store them.
Inside the bag, we chant while holding or rolling each bead between our thumb and middle finger. Like this:
Except, in the bag.
We’re encouraged and fairly well expected to do 16 rounds. Some do more on Ekadasis (a holy day that comes about twice a month) and some even do 64 every day. Holy cow! Remember, one round is saying the mantra 108 times, so 16 rounds is saying it 1728 times. That task takes about two hours.
More info on that is at SitProperly.com. Check it out if you like.
I’m restarting small. Four rounds.
One of the things that encouraged me to start again (aside from some nice devotees nudging me in that general direction) was moving up to the rooftop. I not only live on the roof, but I have access to it as well. I’m not really sure that I’m “allowed” up on the roof, so I do my best to stay hidden and safe. Especially safe. I have a pretty intense fear of heights, so I’m not about to do anything dumb. And I’d get super freaking nervous if there were someone else out there with me.
Anyway, I’ve taken to chanting morning japa right here:
I catch the crisp spring morning air and it really enlivens me. Hooray for that!
Four rounds takes me about 30 minutes, and it’s a great half-hour. I’ve been waking up early (5:30am yesterday, 4:30am today – before that, no later than 6am). There is nothing to stop the sun from flooding the apartment at the first break of day. Though today, I beat the sun to the punch. Take THAT, sun!
Evening japa on the roof would be nice too, huh? If only it hadn’t rained…
