When I was a young child, Sri Swami Satyananda gave me a mantra. He said, “Niranjan, sit here and repeat this mantra five times after me.” That was my mantra initiation. I asked him, “How many malas do I need to practice?”
He said, “If you do one, it is an achievement.” I thought to myself, “This aspiring sannyasin can do at least five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten malas!” and I started doing it with great gusto.
One day Sri Swamiji asked me, “Are you doing your mantra?” I said, “Yes, Swamiji, I practice nine or ten malas.” He said, “Really? I’ll teach you the way to practice mantra. Hold your mala in your hand. Breathe in and out, move one bead and say a mantra once. These three activities along with awareness of the symbol make four activities, which have to be simultaneous. Do it.”
I sat down. I was able to do four, five beads, and since that time, I am still trying to complete my one mala. I have not gone beyond one mala, like Sri Swamiji told me, and many times I can’t complete one mala.
The mantra must be chanted in such a way that it becomes the sound of the breath and mind, and then that awareness must be held for twenty-four hours.
We sit for half an hour of meditation and we have to bring ourselves back six times, maybe sixty times. It is not easy to have that intensity and depth of concentration. However, Sri Swamiji was a person who did it, and then spoke about it.
When clouds cover the sky, the colour of the earth changes. In the same manner, when mantras cover the skies of the mind, the mental experience is different.
That is ajapa dharana: fine-tuning the annamaya and pranamaya koshas, to fine-tuning and harmonizing the manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas, and experiencing the peace and bliss, shanti and ananda, of anandamaya kosha. This happens in ajapa dharana. Therefore, it is a universally accepted sadhana, but the most difficult to practice and perfect.
Ganga Darshan, Munger, October 2009
From the book “On the Wings of the Swan, Vol. 5”, pg. 140,141,142, Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati