आगमे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Before studying japa, one must first see how this term is to be translated. In other words, what does it mean for us? An answer – if an answer is possible – must take into account the descriptions and definitions of japa given in Sanskrit texts as well as the nature of the ritual or religious uses of japa. But the uses and the definitions of japa have varied according to traditions, and, still more, have evolved in the course of centuries. A unique and generally valid translation of the term would be possible only if there were a unique and generally admitted conception and practice of japa, which is not the case. The only solution to our problem is thus not to translate the word whilst trying to show the various conceptions and practices of japa which have existed (and still exist now) in India.

Japa, is a masculine substantive, from the verbal root JAP which, according to Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit–English Dictionary, means ‘to utter in a low voice, whisper, mutter (especially prayers & incantations), to pray to anyone in a low voice; to invoke or call upon in a low voice’; japa itself being defined as ‘muttering, whispering … muttering prayers, repeating in a murmuring tone passages from scripture or charms or names of a deity, etc.; muttered prayer or spell’. Böhtlingk and Roth’s Sanskrit Wörterbuch gives for JAP: ‘halblaut, flüsternd hersagen, her-murmeln’ and for japa: ‘das flüsternde Aussagen eines Gebetes, Liedes, usw.; ein auf diese Weise hersagtes Gebet’. Hence the translation of japa by Murmelmeditation sometimes used in German (by J.W. Hauer, in Der Yoga, for instance), a translation which evokes rather well the double aspect – muttered recitation and mental concentration – of japa. The Sanskrit encyclopaedia Śabdakalpadruma describes japa as vidhānena mantroccaraṇam, ‘uttering a mantra according to rule or precept’, and then quotes several texts, especially from the Purāṇas, which set out the rules governing the ritual recitation of mantras.

These few indications – many others could be adduced – suffice to show japa as being a muttering or whispering of a text or of words of a religious or magical character, and particularly of mantras; a muttering or whispering (a prayer perhaps) to be accomplished according to certain rules – it is a ritual utterance to be delivered in a low voice. The main meaning of the word japa is indeed to mutter. (We shall see that japa can also be done aloud as well as silently or mentally.) Japa, finally, is never an isolated utterance. It is the repeated utterance of a formula which is, to quote the Sanskrit expression, repeated ‘again and again’ (bhūyo bhūyah), even sometimes, as we shall see, an enormous number of times.

The term japa is ancient. One finds it in the Śrautasūtra and Gr̥hyasūtra where it refers to a muttered prayer or, in a more technical sense, to the recitation of the vyāhr̥tis bhur bhuvaḥ svar oṃ. In that case japa is the muttered recitation of stanzas or ritual formulas by the officiating priests or by the yajamāna at specific moments of the Vedic cult. The most important form of japa in the Vedic domain is in the svādhyāya, the personal recitation of the Vedic text, which is, it is said, a japayajña, a sacrifice consisting of a reciting, an offering of the word. The svādhyāya is the brahmayajña, the sacrifice to the brahman, the highest of the five Great Sacrifices, the mahāyajñas, prescribed by the tradition.2 As japa is an utterance consisting of speech, it is performed with what is the most high, since the transcendent brahman is speech: brahma vai vāk (AitBr 4.21,1). We see here proclaimed an idea that we shall find later on, repeated in many ways all of which tend to underline the very high capacity for salvation of japa and its fundamental function in many rites. The paramount importance traditionally ascribed to japa appears also in the Bhagavad Gītā when Kr̥ṣṇa says (BhG 10.25) yajñānāṃ japa- yajño ‘smi, ‘Among the sacrifices, I am the sacrifice of the muttered word’. Manu also says (2.85) that ‘the sacrifice consisting in japa is ten times higher than the one consisting in performing a prescribed ritual action’, vidhiyajñāj japayajño visiṣṭo daśabhir guṇaiḥ. Manu adds: ‘the japa done in a low voice is a hundred times higher, and the one done mentally a thousand times’ (upāmśuḥ syācchataguṇaḥ sāhasro mānasaḥ smr̥taḥ). This hierarchy is ever present and will be especially made use of in various Tantric forms of japa, of which those considered as the highest are not vocal utterances but purely mental or spiritual practices. The higher value given to word over action and, among speech acts, to silent over audible utterance is, from the earliest period down to modern times, a generally admitted notion. The word, vāc, originally, insofar as identified with the brahman, with the (non)utterance of the Brahmin Vedic priest, is silence.3 The Absolute is silent. The word is manifested by issuing forth from this primal Silence – into which it is eventually to dissolve – a dissolution which is sometimes accomplished by some forms of japa. Of those, the general rule is that the lowest form is the vocal (vācika) one, which can be heard by somebody else. Then there is the upāṃśu japa where the performer articulates the words or sounds in such a way that they cannot be heard. This is the middling sort of japa. The highest and best one is mental, mānasa (which does not exclude the articulation of the mantra, provided it is done mentally).4

We are not concerned here by the history of japa, but only by its Tantric practice. We may, however, mention, among the older references to japa, a passage of the Mokṣadharmaparvan of the Mahābhārata (12.189–193) where japa is defined as the recitation of a useful Vedic text (japet vai saṃhitaṃ hitam), without explaining what sort of text. Japa appears there as a practice derived from the svādhyāya and thus considered like the latter as being of an exalted nature since it is an offering of the all-powerful and divine Vedic word. (This reminds one of BhG 10.25.) This practice (japavidhi) is meant for the man in the world as well as for the renunciant. It includes such observances as control of the senses, truthfulness and so forth, and either a sacrifice, or, on the contrary, the renunciation to all sacrifices and to the senses. This japa bestows supernatural powers to the man in the world, and it will lead the renunciant to dhyāna, then to samādhi and further to fusion with the ātman. The jāpaka is thus equal to the yogin (and even superior). Japa appears therefore as a way to salvation parallel to that of the Sāṃkhya and Yoga. It is possible that in this passage the MBh wanted to affirm the superiority of japa, as a tradition going back directly to the Veda, over that of the Yoga-Sāṃkhya, considered as somewhat inferior:5 two currents which will converge later in Tantric japa. Note that this japa can confer supernatural powers to the performer. (We may note too in passing that to prove that the jāpaka is equal – even superior – to the yogin, the MBh tells the story of the jāpaka Kauśika Paippalada, that is, of a sage from an Avestan tradition which can be related to Kashmir.)

We may note also, among the notions either explicit or underlying the Tantric japa practices or speculations, two ancient notions, namely the identification of the emission of words in japa with that of the semen and – connected with the notion of the superiority of silence over uttered word – the pre-eminence of the brief condensed utterance over the explicit, long one. AitBr 2.38 says thus: ‘the hotar mutters the japa: he emits there the semen. The japa is inaudibly uttered; inaudible too is the emission of semen.’6 The enunciation of the Vedic word is thus homologous with the emission of semen, and just as semen is not to be squandered, so the Vedic word must be kept, stored as it were, for retention generates strength, whilst squandering weakens.7 This persisting ideology which extols the brief over the long, the concentrated over the diffuse, the retained over the emitted, the silent over the audible and the unexpressed over the expressed, results inevitably in giving pride of place to the techniques for preserving (notably sexual) energy, but it also results in placing short or monosyllabic mantras (the bījas, those concentrations of phonic energy) over long ones and, for japa, in placing the mental, externally unexpressed one over the vocal audible one.

Let us underline, to conclude these few remarks, the extreme importance always given in japa to its phonetic aspect: all traditions underline the absolute necessity of an absolutely exact and precise utterance. This trait constantly insisted upon in mantraśāstra is probably to be traced back to the importance given in Vedic times to the exact pronunciation of the Veda and in particular of the svādhyāya which later became the japa, where what is important is the phonetic content, not the meaning: mantravid evāsmi nātmavit, says Nārada in CHU 7.1, 3).

One naturally cannot review in an article all the cases where a japa is prescribed, nor can one even merely mention all categories of uses of japa that have existed. One can, however, consider the main cases where this meditated ritual, repetitive enunciation, is prescribed in tantras, āgamas, ritual manuals or other Tantric texts, and describe the forms it appears to have most often taken. The instances quoted here will come mainly from the Śaiva-śākta field, for it is the larger and richer Tantric domain. Some will come too from the Vaiṣṇaiva domain of the Pāñcarātra, but Pāñcarātra was very largely influenced by śaivism: the Tantric period was in fact a ‘Śaiva age’.8 A few Buddhist practices may be alluded to in passing. As has already been noted in chapter 2 and will be in chapter 4, practices and notions vary according to sects or traditions, and even within the same tradition. But within this diversity there still exists a unity of vision and theory and even in the pattern of the practices,9 so that such a general approach as our one is, I believe, possible. We shall thus see first the ritual practices, the technique as it were, of japa. Then will be seen the mental, or somato-psychic and spiritual aspect of japa as a way towards liberation as well as a devotional practice. We shall end by looking at a few popular forms of japa.

Admittedly, this threefold division of the subject made for clarity’s sake is artificial since, in actual practice, ritual technique and mental effort are both always present in japa (it is a ‘Murmelmeditation’ to use the very evocative German expression), being also often associated with devotion and the quest for liberation, as we shall see.

japavidhi

Ritual practices, the japa techniques: japavidhi

Japa is currently used by Hindus as a common religious practice,10 a time of concentration, of devotion, of mental or vocal prayer. It is also – and, if one refers to texts, one could say that it is statistically mainly – an essential element of a large number of ritual practices. It is one of the domains where there appears most evidently the ritual minutia and superabundance or redundancy characteristic of Tantric Hinduism. It is, of course, a domain where bhakti plays a prominent role, but where it seems, for one who relies on normative works (but perhaps we misread them?), that the ritual manipulation of the power of the word – mantras being the efficiently usable form of the deity – has there the pride of place; devotion and ritualism being of course not incompatible – many rites are prescribed as having to be done ‘with devotion’, bhaktyā. There are, too, Tantric texts which extol the transcending of rites. Such is the case of the Kaulas, as appears for instance in Abhinavagupta’s TĀ, or in the KT, which says: ‘silence is the supreme japa’ (maunam eva paro japaḥ– KT 9.38). But in most cases japa is a ritual action.

A japa, the ritual formalised repetition of a mantra, is thus prescribed in the mantrasādhana where it is part of the puraścaraṇa; in the cult of deities which always include one or several japas; or in kāmya rites, especially for those of a ‘magical’ sort such as the so-called ṣaṭkarmāṇi, etc.; finally in daily rites, whether the private sandhya or the pūjā, a field where the prescription of japa is very ancient (see Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, vol. 5, p. 685), in the initiation (dīkṣā) rituals, in those of atonement and reparation (prāyaścitta), for the installation of temples and images, etc., all occasions where a deity is invoked or where some formula of praise or homage is repeated so as to benefit from the deity’s grace or favour, or in view of some mundane or other-wordly benefit.11

Japa may consist in different utterances. We have seen that of bhur bhuvaḥ svar, which is Vedic. In Tantric practice, what is recited is usually the mantra of the deity (or of an aspect of the deity) that is aimed at by the rite, and, in such cases, all sorts of mantras may be used, going from a short or long formula to mere ritual syllables – bījas – either isolated (ḤRĪṂ, HSAUḤ, KLĪṂ, etc.) or in a group, as for instance the fifteen syllables of the śrīvidyā (HA SA KA LA HRĪṂ, etc.). Or, more often it is a (often much longer) enunciation where bījas and words are associated.12 Considering the extent of the Tantric pantheons and the quasi-infinite number of supernatural beings, powers or elements that can be invoked for a variety of ends, the number of ritual formulas that can be uttered in japa is enormous, this in spite of a great monotony of forms and pattern.

Japa may consist, too, of the mere repetition of the phonemes of the Sanskrit alphabet. Many texts prescribe the japa of the ‘garland of letters’ (varṇamālā) from A to KṢA, which in that case appears more or less as a phonetic variant of the rosary (akṣamālā).13 Its fifty phonemes are sometimes to be enunciated with the bindu, that is from AṂ ĀṂ, etc. to KṢAṂ. I have not seen any case of japa of the other order of the alphabet, the ṇādiphāntakrama of the Mālinī. But the forty-two phonemes of the bhūtalipi (the ‘writing of the elements’), from A to ŚA, are sometimes used for japa, notably as an ‘encapsulation’ (saṃpuṭa) of a mantra so as to increase its power.14 In all these cases the aim is, for the jāpaka, to master or at least to invoke the power, the śakti, of these phonetic groupings. He also invokes this power when doing the japa of a mantra since all mantras are made up of phonemes.15

Whatever its phonetic substance, the japa must always be done following the very strict rules governing the utterance of mantras, these rules being usually specially stringent for kāmya rites. Such rules, however, vary according to traditions as well as to circumstances. They are, as is usually the case in India, numerous and very detailed – details into which we cannot enter here. We shall limit ourselves to those which are more frequent and usual, and to those that are more characteristic both of the usual form of japa and of the meaning and scope generally attributed to this practice in the Hindu world.

TIME. The prescriptions concerning the time when a japa is to be done will not detain us much since this is usually the time for the performance of the ritual ensemble of which japa is a part. The rules on time for japa are therefore those governing the daily, occasional or optional Hindu rites (sandhya, pūjā, puraścaraṇa, etc.). We may, however, note that some Tantric rites are to be performed during the night (see, for instance, Gandharvatantra (GT) 29 on the kulayāga of the vidyā of Tripurasundarī). On the matter of time, the observing Hindu will follow the rules of his social group.16 The proper time is also the one prescribed for the deity of the mantra to be particularly worshipped.17 The rules may vary according to the result one is looking for. The length of the japa is also prescribed. It depends upon the number of repetitions – we will come back to the subject later (pp. 31–32). There are also rules of a general sort to be followed in all cases where special rules do not apply; this happens in particular when japa is used as a prayer or a spiritual exercise, not as a portion of a particular rite – see on this, for instance, LT 28 where the daily obligations of the adept are prescribed: he is, the tantra says, to unite spiritually (yoga) with the supreme deity, then, ‘when tired with yoga, he must do a japa, when tired of this, he will again practice yoga’ (ibid. p. 48). Japa, as we shall see further on, is among the practices prescribed in the various forms of yoga.18

PLACE. The place to practise japa is the subject of meticulously detailed prescriptions, which take into account so many different possibilities that following the rules is made easier. Though varied, these rules always aim at determining a favourable place, that is, a peaceful one, pure, far from all natural and (still more) supernatural danger: the peace and mental concentration of the person who repeats a mantra must not be troubled, for it is only when at peace that he/she can hope to gain the merit, or obtain the favourable mundane or spiritual advantage he/she expects to result from the process. Such a place is often called a puṇyakṣetra, an auspicious place, a term that is also used to refer to a sacred spot or a pilgrimage site, generally to all places where one performs a pious action or where one acquires merit: all elements denoted by the word puṇya.

The choice of the puṇyakṣetra is specially important in the mantrasādhana, the ascetic practice which gives the sādhaka the mastery over his mantra (a rite also called puraścaraṇa19), for it is a long and complex process which can only be pursued in an appropriate and carefully chosen place.20 Once the mantra is mastered, its japa can be performed whenever the ritual during which it occurs is to take place. Here, for instance, is a quotation from the KT (15.22–24) on the subject: ‘The auspicious places [can be] a riverside, a cavern, a pilgrimage place, the meeting of two rivers, a sacred grove, solitary parks, the foot of a bilva tree, a mountainside, a temple, the seaside, one’s own house. Such are the places prescribed for the sādhana of mantras.’ The KT then adds: ‘Or [the adept] will stay where his spirit rejoices’: a remarkably generous prescription! Thereafter the KT quotes some other favourable spots, as well as those to be avoided, among which are those where one may meet kings and their retinue.21 Rules evidently vary according to texts and traditions. For some Tantric systems, and especially for some rites where the officiant is possessed by a wrathful deity or where power results from impurity and transgression,22 the most impure and inauspicious places are, on the contrary, preferably chosen, these being usually cremation grounds (śmaśāna), where dark powers lurk and where the horror and impurity of death is often associated with the transgression of orthodox rules of conduct, those notably concerning sexual purity.23

Chosen according to the result wished for, the puṇyakṣetra must also (except in such cases as just mentioned) be cleaned and purified. Sometimes, a maṇḋala is to be drawn. It is, in particular, necessary to protect it from all possible bad and dangerous powers by mantras and mudrās, and/or by invoking and worshipping the guardians of the quarters of the sky (dikpāla) and by offering them a bali.24

In this context of choosing a stable, peaceful and auspicious spot, the texts also say on what the jāpaka is to sit (the āsana), what bodily attitude (karaṇa) he is to assume,25 and what direction he must face. The clothes to be worn are also sometimes mentioned, especially their colour, which is often to be the same as that of the deity being invoked.26 If a rosary is used, the texts say how to hold the hand, which is often wearing a pavitra27 (apavitrakaro … na japet); they say too in which direction one must look, etc.28 In addition to these external observances, mental composure, peace, silence, self-control, inner purity, and so forth are also prescribed, since they are necessary: there is no japa without mental concentration on the mantra and on the deity. All these rules evidently do not apply in the case of transgressive rites; the Brahmayāmalatantra, chapter 21, for instance, in a passage describing the vidyāvrata observance, says that the yogin, covered with ashes, contracting his brow (bhrūkuṭī), is to do japa while laughing boisterously (aṭṭahāsa).29 The Siddhayogeśvarīmata,30 27.23ff. contains analogous prescriptions for the japa of the Heart of Bhairava mantra: in a cremation ground, at night, among vampires, Yoginīs, etc.

Even when japa is merely a portion of a larger ritual ensemble – and some texts say that japa must necessarily be part of a cult: saṃpūjyaiva japaṃ kuryān na mantra kevalaṃ japet (TBhS p. 323, in a passage on puraścaraṇa) – it should nevertheless begin in principle by a preliminary rite consisting mainly of nyāsas on the body. First the nyāsa of the r̥ṣi, etc. and of the main mantra (mūlamantra) which is to be recited, then of its aṇgas (hr̥daya, śiras, śikhā, etc.) on the hand and on the body (karāṅganyāsa).31 Next, the reciter will place on his head a vidyā called kullūkā, which varies according to the mantra recited, then, on his heart and neck he places two other mantras, called mahāsetu and setu.32 The japa itself is then to be performed (sometimes after other preliminary rites33) according to prescription. For the daily domestic worship, the ritual can be very limited, but even then some ritual action is always to take place.34

Texts also describe cases when no japa is to be performed; or what is to be done in case it is interrupted or disturbed by some external element (seeing certain animals, for instance), or by a bodily incident, such as sneezing, yawning, etc., and then how to take it up again so that it does not lose its efficacy. Atonement rites (prāyaścitta) are prescribed for the purpose.35 There is no need to go into the details of such prescriptions. We mention some of them here because they underline the technical or the ritual manipulation aspect of japa – one might say its aspect of magical use of the power of the word – and also because such details underline the typically Hindu constant attention given to the rules protecting a ritual action from dangers and impurities.

All these preliminary conditions and prescribed rules being respected, the japa itself can now be performed.

We have already seen that, following an ancient rule, a japa can be of three sorts: it can be voiced (vācika), done audibly (nigadena) uttered in a very low voice (upāṃśu); or done mentally (mānasa). These different forms of japa are used for different ends: see thus LT 29.35, Mr̥g Kp 4, or Cp 1.67 and their commentary, or JS 14.3–4, etc. – vācikaṃ kṣudrakarmabhya upāmśuṃ siddhikarmāṇī mānasaṃmokṣakarmārthaṃ For the GT. 18.434, mental japa is prescribed only for Tripurā’s mantra, while other mantras can be repeated otherwise.36 Other works, especially modern ones, refine these distinctions by distinguishing between up to twelve (and even more) different sorts of japa, notably according to the way the utterance is associated to the movement of breath.37

Of a general and traditional sort is the rule, too, that the mantra recited is to be clearly uttered, neither too slowly nor too fast: *na drutaṃ nāpi vilambitaṃ japen *mantram.38 This prescription also applies to the silent and the mental japas since, even when silently uttered or mentally evoked, words or syllables are to be articulated. The prescribed number of repetitions is also carefully to be taken care of: na nyūnaṃ nātiriktaṃ va japaṃ huryāt dine dine (TBhS, p. 326 quoting the Muṇḋamālātantra). This is an essential prescription in kāmya rites where the result wished for depends on the exact observance of the prescribed rules.

It goes without saying, finally, that japa presupposes not only the repetition of the mantra but also a careful attention paid to this recitation: on the phonic content and on the import of the formula being recited, which is to say to the deity that is thus invoked or worshipped. This implies, to various degrees, singleness of mind, mental concentration or spiritual effort (dhyāna, dhāraṇa, bhāvanā) – something already prescribed in Yogasūtra 28.39 Japa also presupposes devotion (bhakti). As we shall see later on, this mental/spiritual aspect of japa can in some cases be the most important one. It may even be, in the most complex and subtle japa practices, those in which the whole japa consists. But even in ‘ordinary’ cases it is always somehow there (this bears out the German translation of japa by ‘Murmelmeditation’): the mere mechanical repetition of a mantra without paying attention to it does not suffice. This agrees with the conception of mantras found in many Tantric works, which is that mantras, though deemed to act by their own power (mantravīrya), function only together with the mind of the mantrin (or worshipper, as the SpK 2.11 says: sahārādhakacittena). Japa is thus associated with dhyāna in the two meanings of that word: meditation and visualisation of the deity. Many texts clearly say that while doing japa one is to meditate and mentally evoke the aspect of the devatā as described in dhyānaślokas: dhyānaṃ kurvan japet vidvān, says the Śeṣaṃhitā 21 (p. 111). Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇakaṇṭha’s commentary on MR̥g Cp 7.70 on the calling to mind (smr̥ti) of the deity describes this act as a mental representation (anusmaraṇa), which is twofold: dhyāna, the visualisation of the aspect of the god, and japa (ibid. p. 106, transl. p. 178). The mantra being the phonic form of the deity, its recitation is a means for fastening on the deity the performer’s attention, a phonetic way to bring about a sensuously perceptible awareness of a real divine presence.40 This is what we shall see when describing complex forms of japa. It is implicit, for instance, in the prescriptions of LT 28 (see above p. 28) where the japa prolongs the yogic meditation. This is also what one finds – in a very different way – in the devotional, ‘popular’, ancient or modern forms of repetition of the deity’s Name (bhajan, nāmasaṃkīrtan), which are also ways not only to worship the deity, but also to strive towards a mystical union (see infra, p. 45).

Though being always a mental or spiritual activity, japa nevertheless remains, from another point of view, essentially a technique for using or manipulating to certain ends the power enclosed in the phonic substance of mantras. It is often performed in ways which remind us of the vikr̥ti of Vedic recitation where the order of words and even that of syllables is modified, inverted, so that the sound aspect only, the combination of words and sound, not the meaning, plays a role. (This insofar, of course, as there is no human utterance without a meaning or value; insofar too that all ritual actions since the Veda imply an intention, saṃkalpa, explicit or implicit, which orientates and gives a meaning to that ritual act, which cannot be purely automatic and without meaning for the performer.41) These technical manipulations of the phonetic substance of mantras are named yoga, pallava, saṃpuṭa, and so forth: we need not expatiate on them here since they are described in this volume in chapter 7. They are also to be found in Buddhism, in the Sādhanamālā, for instance.

Since it consists in repeating a formula, japa always lasts for some time, the length of which varies greatly. When it is a mantrayoga practice associated with the ascent of kuṇḋalinī, there may be no repetition at all. The act may even be, at least in theory, of the most extreme brevity, less than a second, and still be considered as a japa.42 It can also be limited, in the course of a ritual, to very few utterances, or to one utterance only: the case is frequent. When repetitions are prescribed, their number is often 108, a number of religious symbolic value, or, still better, 1008. But tens or hundreds of thousands, even millions of repetitions are also prescribed. Such prescriptions seem, in fact, often to be rather theoretical, their raison d’être seeming to be more to set a correspondence between, on the one hand, the number of repetitions and, on the other, the cosmic and human context of the utterance and the result aimed at, this without much regard for practical feasibility. Of course, the texts, prescribing these japas being revealed and considered as instructions given by a deity to another deity, express themselves sub specie aeternitatis, leaving it to others (the human master who teaches and the ritual manuals which comment the texts) to see to it that divine principles agree somehow with practical human necessities. Hinduism, one well knows, is as precise in its principles as it is flexible in their application. In temple rituals, on important festival days, the number of japa repetitions voiced by a number of officiants, may, adding all those who recite, reach incredibly large numbers.43 In private practice, a complete japa may last months and even years.

A relationship is sometimes postulated between the length of the japa and the cosmic cycles (yuga), or the four varṇas (or the different types of adepts). Thus the Tārārṇavatantra quoted in the TBhS (pp. 315–316), says that the japa is to last twice longer in the Tretayuga than in the Satyayuga, thrice more in the Dvāpara, and four times more in the Kaliyuga; and in those four cases (three of which are purely theoretical), japa will go from one lakh for the vīras to four for the paśus, in Satyayuga; then from four for the first category and sixteen for the second one in the present cosmic age. It appears too – this is a more useful point – that the number of repetitions is smaller for obligatory (nitya) rites than for kāmya ones, which is reasonable since the efficacy (or the belief in the efficacy, which comes to the same) of a japa increases with the number of repetitions, and since kāmya rites are those done for a specific and specially wished for end. The harder the aim is to reach, the greater the number of repetitions will be. In the puraścaraṇa of a mantra, the japa will also be very long since the aim is to master the power of the mantra. In the prāyaścittas, the duration of the japa will naturally depend on the seriousness of the fault, mistake or omission to be atoned for (or on the importance of the event or circumstance to be prevented or ‘appeased’). We may mention here the case of the ajapājapa, the japa of haṃsa. The number of repetitions, in this case, cannot to be counted; but since it is associated with breathing it is supposed to be repeated 21,600 times in twenty-four hours; if it is performed during several months (as can well be the case), repetitions can easily run into millions. We will come back to this practice later (see pp. 43–44). It seems also that japa can sometimes be done without counting. The texts I have seen seem, however, to condemn this practice. The Br̥hatkalottarāgama quoted in the Īśp, vol. 3, p. 122, says that an uncounted (asaṃkhyātam) japa or homa will be seized by demons (gr̥nantyāsurarākṣasāh. – information H. Brunner).

There are of course many prescriptions concerning the bodily postures, the clothes to be worn, the mental attitude, etc., necessary during japa. Normally it is to be done seated in a particular posture (padmāsana, siddhāsana, etc.). Sometimes one must remain motionless, without even moving the head or neck.44 Japa can also be practised while walking, lying or during some activity, provided it is pure (except in transgressive rites). Cases where rules are relaxed are to be found more in the context of devotion (bhakti), where feeling and emotion is more important than ritual. On the contrary, the minute ritual precisions aim at ensuring the rigorous respect of the bodily or mental attitudes deemed necessary for securing the result aimed at.45 Beyond (or rather below) the, one could say, technical necessity of the scrupulous respect of ritual rules, all the prescriptions we have seen are there to make sure that all conditions exist that permit the reciter to concentrate on the japa without any distraction or disturbance.

It also happens, especially when japa is part of a pūjā, that mudrās are to be shown whilst reciting, the gesture underlining or reinforcing in some way the inner attitude of the performer, or expressing respect to the deity. The main hand gesture in japa is, first of all, that of the hand counting the number of repetitions. Here, too, prescriptions are meticulous. We cannot describe them all. Here are merely a few indications.

To count the number of repetitions of the mantra one uses either one’s fingers or a rosary (akṣamālā). In the first case, the hand is considered as a rosary whose grains would be made up by the phalanxes, hence the term karamālā. We know that Indians currently count on their fingers, touching each phalanx with the thumb. For japa one does this going from the ring-finger to the little finger, ending on the index, thus counting ten; this of course on the right hand. (The left hand may also be used in the same way to count each ten repetition, cowries, etc, being used for counting hundreds.46)

More important than the karamālā is the akṣamālā or aksasūtra, the rosary. Its use and all related ritual details, from its preparation to its destruction, as they are described in the fourteenth chapter of the Jayākhyasaṃhitā of the Pāñcarātra, are the subject of chapter 5 of this book. We therefore need not expatiate on the subject here. Suffice it to say that the rules set down by the JayS apply generally in all Tantric traditions, with naturally a number of variants. Rules concerning the material of the beads, the number of their ‘faces’, how to use the rosary, and so forth, are to be found in several āgamas or tantras, such as the SvT, the GT, the Kir, the MatP, etc., or in the TBhS, the Īśp, etc. The rules all aim at giving the greatest possible efficiency to the japa when done with a rosary – which is never considered as a mere material help but as a ritual instrument used to invoke or coerce supernatural forces. Thus, the rosary can be used only after it has been purified, consecrated, ritually impregnated with divine power (śakti or prāṇa) which has been placed in it by a particular ritual process. Most rosaries have 108 beads. They include one more additional bead placed on the knot joining the ends of the string, named Meru, which is not only used for counting the repetitions but also must never be ‘overstepped’.47 The rosary therefore is used by counting the grains, not round, but back and forth. This is done holding it in the right hand on which it rests on the middle, the ring and the little fingers,48 the thumb being used for moving it. The general rule is that no one is to see the japa being thus practised, the hand is usually hidden under a cloth, or, better, is kept in a small bag called gaumukhi.49 Sometimes, the place where to hold one’s hand whilst doing japa is also prescribed; this varies according to the aim for which, or to the time when, the japa is performed.

Except for the longest japas, the repetition must be done continuously, without any interruption. If it is interrupted, it must be taken up again, or an atonement rite (prāyaścitta) is to be performed. One must be careful not to release, or, worse, to let drop the rosary during japa – nor, in fact, at any other time: ‘a rosary one has let fall must be washed with perfumed water and [purified] by reciting a hundred gāyatrīs’, says the SP, prāyaścittavidhiḥ, śl. 49 (SP2, p. 262).

The japa must end ritually by paying homage to the rosary, to which one will pay respect by joining hands or by holding it to one’s head. It will then be carefully put away while uttering Oṃ or some other mantra. When the japa is to be done in the course of a pūjā, it must, when finished, be offered to the deity that is being worshipped.50 There are also rules concerning how to dispose of a worn rosary (which must not be used since it could break during japa, which would be very inauspicious):51 one must not leave it aside, but throw it ritually in water after having knotted it together with a stone while uttering the Viśvakṣena mantra,52 doing a libation and invoking Hari by reciting seven times the mūlamantra (so the JS 14.34–35). One can also (this is better) cut it and unwind the string which is then thrown in deep water, the beads being used again for the new rosary that is to replace the old one.

The rules we have just seen are those generally to be followed when japa is performed as a devotional act, or for some other reason, or as part of a ritual action: pūjā, puraścaraṇa, and so forth. It is in those last cases that the prescriptions are most complex and are to be most carefully followed since these are the cases when japa is most clearly a manipulation of the power of the word, this being more specially the case in rites aiming at mastering the power of a mantra or in kāmya rites, in initiation, etc. But even in the daily mandatory (nitya) cult, japa is part of the ritual and must be performed according to rules.

Puraścaraṇa. Japa is a part of the puraścaraṇa ritual (also called pūrvasevā), a preliminary ritual action (puraśkriyā) to be performed before the cult of every deity so as to master this deity’s mantra, a ritual specially important in kāmya rites. It is generally considered as being made up of ‘five members’ (pañcāṅga) usually mentioned in the order: japa, tarpana, abhiṣeka, homa, brahmabhukti: recitation of the mantra, ‘satisfaction’ of the deity, consecration, oblation in the fire, offerings to the Brahmins,53 japa being naturally mentioned first since the aim of the rite is to master a form of the power of the word. The puraścaraṇa is sometimes described somewhat differently. Thus, for the KT, it comprises pūjā, japa, tarpana, homa and brahmabhukti;54 but it always includes a japa, and may even consist merely of it, either alone, or accompanied by oblations in the fire (homa). Thus Mr̥g Cp. 76: ‘[Every day,] after having ritually worshipped Śiva, he will worship the mantra to be propitiated and perform the japa. Then, he shall perform a homa.’55 In such cases the number of repetitions is usually very great,56 the japa then lasts a long time. Thus, for the TĀ 23.31ff., after his consecration (abhiṣeka), the ācārya is to meditate and recite (dhyāyej japet) during six months all the mantras that have been revealed to him, and is to identify himself with them and thus participate in their power (yadaiva tanmayībhūtas tadā vīryam upāgataḥ). That a japa can bestow such mastery is explained by the pervasion of the consciousness of the reciter resulting from the very duration of the repetition. This is an opportunity to say again here that, for Tantric texts, nothing is higher than mantras, and therefore nothing surpasses the value, the merit and the efficacy of japa. The KT says thus that in comparison with the sacrifice of japa, no other rite can be greater, nor superior, for by japa one can attain all the four aims of mankind:

japayajñāt paro yajño ‘stīha kaścana /

tasmāj japena dharmārthakāmamohṣāṃśca sādhayet //

The japa done during puraścaraṇa is among those where the prescriptions we have seen (place, time, clothing, etc.) are especially important since this is a very strictly organised ritual aiming at harnessing the powers of the word, a harnessing which may have all kinds of results, saving as well as ‘magical’, since in the Tantric context it is possible for any ritual action to aim at conferring supernatural powers as well as liberation.57

Normally the japa is followed by oblations in the fire (homa) which appear thus as a complement or achievement of the japa since the fire carries upward the whole sacrifice as an offering to the deity.58 The number of oblations is always less than the number of repetitions and proportionate to it, the usual ratio is one homa to ten japas, but it can be different; this rule applies notably in the case of the pūjā. Like all rites, the puraścaraṇa ritual varies according to traditions. It can be part of the most extreme Tantric practices.59 Its role remains, however, always the same, and it is an essential one for, in theory, it is the ritual which gives the adept the mastery over a mantra which will be used in all the rites he will accomplish to all possible ends – rewards (mundane or celestial) as well as liberation.

Sandhyā pūjā. Japa is also to be performed as part of the daily cult of the deity, be it private or public (in a temple), done for oneself or for others, obligatory (nitya) or optional (kāmya).

In the daily brahmanical sandhyā, to be performed theoretically three times a day (morning, midday, evening), the essential element of the ritual is the recitation of the gāyatrī: ‘This is the absolutely necessary portion of a Hindu prayer and this silent muttering is called japa’, ‘japa or prayer has been said to be the principal part of gāyatrī’, says the author of the classical Daily Practice of the Hindus (pp. 33, 39). This gāyatrī, with OṂ and the vyāhr̥tis, is to be repeated ten, twentyeight or 108 times, say the texts, which underline the social and cosmic import of this act, which not only confirms the caste status of the performer but also ensures the cosmic movement of the sun.

This is for Brahmanism. But in the ritual Hindu worship of deities, the pūjā japa is equally mandatory. It is usually one of the last items of the pūjā. In the daily domestic Tantric cult as described, for instance, in the SP (SP 1, sect. III, 93–100, pp. 216–225), Śiva’s cult ends with the japa of the god’s mūlamantra, repeated 108 times (śl. 93) using a rosary. According to the SP, the japa is ‘consecrated by the [mantra] HR̥D, enveloped by the cuirass [mantra] and protected by the sword [mantra]’ (hr̥dabhimantritaṃ varma veṣitaṃ khaḋgarakṣitam), then it is offered to Śiva with a mudrā.60 This means, as H. Brunner explains, that one recites the mūlamantra 108 times with a rosary on which one has recited the mantra HR̥D while holding in the other hand a flower which one ‘envelopes and protects’ with the two other mantras. These are then considered to be the receptacle for the japa which along with the flower and consecrated water (arghya) will be offered to Śiva. For this offering, the officiant puts it in the hand of the god asking him to accept it and to grant him full success (siddhir me bhavatu – śl. 95), that is, obtaining the spiritual or mundane advantages he is looking for. This is an interesting ritual whether one takes it as being essentially a symbolic (self-interested) gift to the deity of the prayer (considered as something one can theoretically either give or keep after it has been uttered), or as an inflow of power transmitted by an object61 (with the transfer of the japa to the image of the deity by means of a flower). These are two conceptions of the word and its powers of which other instances are found in the mantraśāstra.

On the same rite, this is what the Mr̥g, Kp. 3.29–30, says:

Who wishes liberation must offer his japa while uttering the Heart [mantra] at its beginning and at the end; this he does bowing down without wishing for anything [in counterpart] and by using the dative case: “To You I offer [this japa].” The sādhaka offers it while keeping in mind what he wishes [to obtain], and declaring the number [of japas he has done]: “O Bhagavan ! keep [this japa for me.]” This is to be done everyday.

Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇakaṇṭha, in his Vr̥tti, adds that the mumukṣu offers the japa ‘bowing down without any desire’ and the bubhukṣu ‘keeping in mind what he desires’ (ibid. p. 55, note 2). Here again are two uses of japa.

Other ritual treatises, in a non-dualistic context, underline the unity of the mantra and of the deity (of which it is the vācaka, ‘what expresses’ it, its phonic aspect) and the fact that the repeated utterance of the mantra identifies the officiant with the deity (this in spite of the fact that this identification is already acquired from the start according to the rule nādevo devam arcayet).62 This identification will be reinforced before the japa begins by the placing (nyāsa) on the body of the ritual actor of the mantra, of its kullūkā, setu, mahāsetu, of its r̥ṣi, chandas, etc., of its aṇgas and other parts (avayava).63 In the same non-dualistic perspective, the giving over of the japa in the hand of the deity can also be felt as symbolising the fusion in the deity. The GT (18. 51), for instance, explains that by offering his japa, the officiant (of the puraścaraṇa, in this case) is to consider that the ‘luminous fruit’ resulting from it is absorbed by the god: tejorūpaṃ japaphalaṃ śivayā svīktaṃ smaret. In a similar fashion, Āmr̥tānanda, in his commentary on YH 3.192 which prescribes this offering in the left hand of the goddess64 (this being done symbolically since the cult is made on a śrīcakra without any icon), interprets this mental rite as a symbolic fusion of the mind of the officiant with the divine Consciousness.65 We may note that the offering of the mantra to the deity (japanivedana or japasamarpana) is not specially Tantric: it is a prescribed item of the daily obligatory cult, the sandhyā, the process of which remains very largely Brahmanic-Vedic. The Hindu domestic sandhyā, however, is more or less Tantric according to traditions: more Tantric when Śaiva, less when Vaiśnava.66 The cult in the temples, when described in the āgamas or tantras, however, is Tantric. It includes japa, since it does not differ in principle from the domestic ritual; one nevertheless feels, when reading the texts, that japa is less important in temple than in domestic cults.

The way according to which japa is done when it is a part of the pūjā varies according to each tradition, the rules being generally those we have seen before.67

Ṣaṭkarmāṇi Japa plays evidently a fundamental role in all magical rites, for in all such rites the expected mundane effect is always to be achieved by mantras, which are usually to be repeated. The magical act consists in a manipulation of the powers of the word. If kāmya rites are performed in view of a mundane or supramundane (but interested) result, this aspect can also be found in Tantric obligatory (nitya) rites. For instance, in the śrīcakra cult as described in the YH, which is mandatory for all adepts, the pūjā accomplished in each of the constituent parts of this diagram gives a particular supernatural ‘great power’ (mahāsiddhi).68 One knows, of course, that the sādhaka who performs this ritual is more often a bubhukṣu than a mumukṣu, and that in a Tantric context liberation-oriented practices also give supernatural powers. More specifically magical appear to be the ritual actions done exclusively for mundane ends, and especially those aiming at sending evil harmful spells (abhicāra), rites sometimes called ‘cruel’ (krūra). Such is the case of the so-called ‘six [magical] actions’ (ṣaṭkarmāṇi) described in a number of Tantric texts. These are generally given as being: śānti, vaśikaraṇa, stambhana, vidveṣaṇa, uccāṭana and māraṇa, that is, appeasing, dominating, enchanting, immobilisation, hostility and killing.69 To these are sometimes added fascination (mohana), attraction (ākarṣaṇa) and puṣṭi, which gives prosperity, thus a total of nine actions.

During these rituals (which we will not describe here), there is always a moment when the japa of a mantra is prescribed, be it to invoke a deity, to ask for help, or for some other reason, the mantra being usually made up of several bījas and some other words, together with the name of the person or of the entity aimed at by the rite. It is mostly in such cases that the interpolations or ‘encapsulations’ of syllables named yoga, pallava, saṃpuṭa (which we shall see in chapter 7) usually occur, each being used for aiming at a particular result. Thus the TBhS (p. 369) prescribes the use of pallava for maraṇa, uccāṭana and vidveśana, for expelling poisons and fighting against evil spirits and bhūtas, the yoga practice being used for puṣṭi, śānti and vaśyakaraṇa rites, and so forth. The strictest respect of all rules of utterance is evidently necessary in such cases since they are manipulations of the power of the word.70 Particular mantras are to be used in such rites, where the same text prescribes the audible form of utterance, this being explained by the lower nature of such practices (see above, p. 25). The inflection (jāti) placed at the end of the mantra varies according to the rite.71 Sometimes where to look is also prescribed: in different directions for different rites; or different substances for the beads of the rosary (rudrākṣa for vaśya, shell for śānti, etc.). The number of repetitions is also prescribed, as well as how to hold the hand or which fingers to use to count the beads – for instance, thumb and index for vidveṣa and uccāṭana etc.72 All such rules do not apply merely to the ṣaṭkarmāṇi: in all kāmya rites, the japa is long and plays an essential role.73

Prāyaścitta. In the rites of appeasement, protection and atonement (śānti and prāyaścitta) – rites analogous in some respects to those we have just seen – japa also often plays an important role. The rites of appeasement and atonement for faults in personal conduct or in the performance of domestic private rites consist mostly in a japa, sometimes brief (108 gāyatrīs, for instance), sometimes very long – thus, for instance, 100,000 Aghoramantras (according to the SP2, pp. 240–241) for the Śaiva initiate whose personal liṅga has been lost, burnt or taken away. Such recitations are sometimes accompanied by other acts or rites of atonement. In temple rituals, on the contrary, japa does not appear essential: homa and snapana are more important.

It is, however, present, and necessary if only because there is no rite without the utterance of mantras. In prāyaścitta as in other rites, the phonic content and the accompanying rites are strictly codified (in SP, for instance, 117 ślokas are on this subject: SP2 pp. 224–329). They are to be most carefully executed. The spirit of these rites – which aim at repairing/compensating the dire effects of errors or omissions – is in effect not one of devotion, regret or penance: they are technical actions74 – this even though creative mental concentration (bhāvanā) plays a noticeable role, especially when deities are invoked (but bhāvana too is a technique). Japa intervenes in prāyaścitta because this ritual, like most others, brings into play the efficacy of the ritual word.

Dīkṣā. Japa intervenes also in initiation – dīkṣā – the rite through which the disciple receives a mantra from his guru. It also takes place in the consecration (abhiṣeka) of the ācārya and of the sādhaka. However, it appears there more as part of the cult that accompanies the dīkṣā than of the initiatory rite itself. It may thus take place only towards the end of the ritual: the mantra, once bestowed to the initiand and thereafter ‘satisfied’ by oblations in the fire, is then to be repeated by the newly initiated in a first japa which prefaces, as it were, the longer one he will have to perform during his mantrasādhana.75 The initiating master, too, according to the SP (SP3, p. 496–497), must everyday do some japa (svalpam ahni japaṃ kuryāt). The TĀ (23. 31–40) says that the ācārya who has been consecrated must, during six months, identify himself by bhāvanā with the mantra. But there are many different initiations, their ritual varying considerably.

The japa may sometimes take place as a preliminary purifying or perfecting action for the candidate to initiation. Thus, the ṢāṭS, chapter 16, prescribes 400 recitations of the Vasudevamantra during four days so as to be purified (see too JRY, 2.10 – ref. Sanderson). In chapter 17 of this saṃhitā, a mantra is to be repeated 700,000 times as a preliminary to the nārasiṃhadīkṣā,76 but this has probably more to do with appeasement or atonement rites than properly speaking with initiation. During the initiation ritual mantras are continuously to be uttered and especially placed by nyāsa on the body of the initiand. They may be recited to him by the initiating master,77 who is also to do japas for other reasons.78 Often the repetition is accompanied by oblations in the fire, so that the ritual is more a homa than a japa, which appears here as of limited importance in the initiation process since this repetition is nothing more than making use of a mantra already given, taking place therefore after the dīkṣā rather than being part of it.

There are many other rites where a japa takes place, but which we shall not see here.79 We mentioned earlier the role of japa in yoga, where it is a means for focusing the attention on the praṇava OṂ. It can also be prescribed in other very different contexts where the repeated word can be considered as effective or where it may have a psychological usefulness. This is the case when japa is used in medicine or in alchemy for preparing drugs or for curing a disease. Caraka, for instance, prescribes japa for a rejuvenation cure where it is supposed to have the highest purificatory efficiency (japasaucaparam). As we have seen, japa may also have curative effects in non-medical contexts of all sorts (puraṣcaraṇa, etc.).

Mental, somato-psychic or spiritual practices

All the ritual meticulousness we have just seen (albeit not exhaustively) is essential to japa. It is not merely its outer aspect. It expresses its nature and spirit. Japa, indeed, is a practice both vocal (or at least linked to a particular plane of the word) and ritual. It is a highly ritualised way of putting into action the powers of the word. But, as we have already noted in passing, this vocal practice is also a mental one. It always implies and requires the full attention of the practitioner. This mental aspect is essential. Moreover, in japa as in all rites, the mere respect of formal rules, the mere mental and bodily conduct of the practitioner does not cover all the possibilities of this ritual action – and still less its meaning. This meaning, too, is a constitutive element of japa as it is of all word-action, for there is no word or speech, ritual or otherwise, without an intention to say – vivakṣa – without intentionality, without an orientation towards a goal one wishes to reach through what is being uttered, murmured or mentally formulated. This is the aspect of *japa *we will now address while looking at practices that are very largely interiorised, where japa is not really the repetition of a mantra, nor even a murmured meditation – ‘Murmelmeditation’ – but a spiritual and yogic practice.

Japa, of course, is always in some respect a religious action and may even be a spiritual exercise. Insofar, too, as japa can be a request or an invocation, it necessarily implies an attention focused on a deity: the creative form of meditation called bhāvanā, or the loving, devotional, participation in the deity of bhakti. This is seen in many texts. The religious aspect of japa is banal, and can be seen everyday in the life of Hindus. In such cases, japa is a prayer and may justly be so called. It is very likely that this devotional aspect increased in the course of centuries. Perhaps was it always there. Nowadays it is certainly the most visible aspect, its formal ritual aspect diminishing, without disappearing.80

What, on the other hand, has always been there, much before the first traces of bhakti, is yoga, with all the somato-psychic practices it implies, that have been especially developed in Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism. In the Tantric world, the utterance or recitation of mantras is nearly always associated with such practices. Japa becomes thus not a mere ritual repetition, but a mantrayoga practice where the utterance (uccāra) of the mantra is associated with the movement of prāṇa, that is to say with the bodily and cosmic energy, kuṇḋalinī, and becomes thus a corporal–mental, even spiritual, exercise, often very intense and complex. We shall look at such practices now. For clarity’s sake, I will distinguish (somewhat artificially) between japas of a more yogic type, where the techniques of mental concentration, or the visualisations play a greater role, and others, which one may call more spiritual or metaphysical, where mystical experience, fusion in the Absolute, the experience of brahman are in the foreground, with often a minimal technical aspect; japas, therefore, where sometimes metaphysical gnosis (jñāna) dominate, sometimes bhakti. Of these different sorts of japas we shall see only a very few typical instances, briefly described without entering into details.

One of the most complex forms of japa and furthest from the mere murmured repetition of a mantra is probably the one described in the third paṭala, śl. 171–192, of the YH. One can find it (with the Sanskrit text) described and explained in its French translation with Amr̥tānanda’s commentary.81 I need not therefore describe it here. Suffice it to say that it comprises four different practices: the japa of the three parts of the śrīvidyā, then of six ‘voids’ (śūnyaṣaṭkam), of five conditions or states of consciousness (avasthā), wakefulness (jāgrat), etc., then of seven ‘equalisations’ (viṣuvat).82 In this japa, one is not to repeat (even mentally) a mantra or a bīja, but to create and to follow mentally a complex ensemble of imagined inner-bodily representations through which the constituent elements of the śrīvidyā are perceived as abiding in certain points of the yogic body seen as present in the physical body, and to move therein upwards together with the ascent of kunḋalinī. This ascending visionary intra-corporal thrust of the mantra is at the same time an ascent towards ever higher planes of consciousness: the phonic plane of the utterance of the mantra being ever more subtle as it goes from the constituting phonemes of the vidyā to the also ever subtler phonic subdivisions of the utterance, the kalās, from nāda to unmanā, the ‘non-mental’ phonic energy identical with the pure divine Consciousness, the Brahman, with which the yogin is finally identified.

It is to be noted that in such a japa, the adept is to visualise mentally as present in his body not only the pattern of centres and nāḋīs of his yogic body, in all their details, but also, in the centres, he is to ‘see’ the phonemes of the vidyā and especially the kalās from bindu to unmanā, which crown each of the three HRĪṂ, visualising also the ascending movement that animates them. He also visualises the nine constituent sections of the śrīcakra which he is to perceive mentally as being tiered in his body, and which the kuṇḋakinī, raising together with the subtle vibration of the three HRĪṂ, will pierce, going from the outer square (in the mūlādhāra) to the central bindu where Śiva and Śakti unite (in the dvādaśānta cakra, twelve fingerbreadths over his head).

For the adept who follows with his mind’s eye the ascent of the subtle vibration of the nāda which is, as it were, the ‘fine pointe’ – the subtle summit – of the mantra, but which is also its essence and substrate, this practice is a japa in that it presupposes the continuous and pregnant presence, in the mind of the performer of this nāda, of this quintessence of the mantra which continuously vibrates inside his mind–body. He is to recite (japet) it, not in repeating and uttering it, but by fastening and focusing on it (and of course on the whole imagined inner pattern of the yogic body, which is the stage where the whole inner play takes place) an intense and unwavering attention. This really is an extreme form of mental practice, but still a japa. Indeed as we shall see,83 some Tantric texts say that an attention intensely focused inwardly on the nāda is the real and most eminent form of japa.

Such a japa is, in fact, a bhāvanā,84 an intense meditation which creates in the mind of the adept and superimposes on his body image the imaginary structure of the yogic body with the ascent of kuṇḋalinī which takes place in it, with the kalās of the mantra and/or the coalescence of these kalās and of the śūnyas and viṣuvats, which are also levels or aspects of the yogic body. The power of the bhāvanā both creates this mental representation and identifies the adept with it and with the nāda. Thus, following the nāda till it disappears in the silence of the ‘transmental’, the adept fuses also with the supreme level of the word, which is Śiva. All such mental practices in their highest aspect always bring the performer to transcend all forms of word and fuse into the silence the Absolute – we shall come back to this later.85

Instances of japas consisting in the upward movement of a mantra together with kuṇḋalinī are found in a number of Śaiva texts. Thus, in JRY 2.10, where the japa of the Siṃhavāhanakālasaṃkarṣiṇī mantra, preliminary to the dīkṣā, consists in having the mantra passing the sixteen ādhāras.86 There are similar practices in Tantric Buddhism. For instance, in the japa made ‘while dwelling on the shape of syllables’ as described by Mkas Grub Rje87 when the adept creates mentally in front of him the form of a deity and, while reciting the mantra, imagines that its syllables, seen as a garland of letters, are on a moon-shaped disk placed in the heart of the deity. With his inhaling breath, he then transfers the disk and the syllables into his own heart where he keeps, repeats and contemplates them whilst retaining his breath. Then, breathing out, he places the disk and the mantra in the heart of the deity. The process is to be repeated several times. We see thus that visualisations of divine entities felt as present in the body, and the association of the recitation with the movement of breath (that is, with prāṇāyāma, therefore with the mastering of the cosmic energy of prāṇa) are Buddhist as well as Hindu Tantric practices.

The link between breath (prāṇa) as both respiratory breath and the bodily aspect of cosmic energy is underlined in many Tantric works, especially Śaiva ones. Breathing and speech are, of course, associated by their very nature and, in India, as is well known, the subject has been abundantly tackled.88 Japa is shown in many cases as linked to prāṇa as the power circulating in the human body and linking it to the cosmos and to the godhead. Thus, when SvT 2.139–140 says: japaḥ prāṇasamaḥ kuryāt, ‘japa is to be done in harmony with breath’, Kṣemarāja explains in his commentary (vol. 1(2), p. 78) that this is ‘the breath moving in the centre’ (madhyavāhi prāṇaḥ), that is to say the suṣumnā, the japa being performed by conjoining one by one the elements of the mantra with the energy of breath (prāṇaśaktau), this going on together with a peaceful fusion of the consciousness of the adept into that energy of the mantra (mantraparāmarśa). Similarly, Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha, commenting Mr̥g CP. 7.70, describes japa as a ‘repetition directed by the energy of breath’ (prāṇaśaktyanusāreṇāvartanam).

In the seventh āhnika of the TĀ, which deals notably with the devouring of time (kālagrāsa), that is, its domination by the yogin, Abhinavagupta says that the rule of japa is that it is to be performed in harmony with breath (prāṇasāmya). Referring to two ancient tantras, the Yogiśvarīmata and the Yoginīkaula,89 Jayaratha, explains in his commentary that this only ensures success,90 and it is so because mantras are external manifestations of the energy of the supreme goddess Varṇakuṇḋalī, that is, of the energy of the phonemes constituting the mantra, as it goes up along the suṣumnā with the uccāra, being thus none other than kuṇḋalinī.91 This energy, awakened by the harmony of japa and prāṇa, rises up and, on the transmental plane of unmanā, unites, blazing, with Śiva. One finds here what we have already seen for the japa of YH: the same mental visions are active there, identifying word and energy, showing that the utterance of the mantra and the ascent of kuṇḋalinī are the same, leading the yogin to mystically fuse with the Supreme.

In Vaiṣṇava texts, we also see japa being used to fuse with the divine energy or with some aspects of the deity. Thus, in a passage of the Sātvatasaṃhitā (6.204ff.) where the yogin, meditating in his heart through the japa the four Vyūha, Aniruddha, etc. issuing from Viṣṇu, fuses them mentally into one another (and at the same time fuses together the states of consciousness, waking, etc.) and thus attains samādhi and unites with the brahman (ibid., pp. 119ff.).

This spiritual aspect of japa and its use to realise intuitively the supreme Reality is underlined in the passage quoted previously of Kṣemarāja’s commentary on SvT. In it he explains japam ārabhet by bhūyo bhūyaḥ mantram. vimr̥ṣet, ‘one becomes conscious repeatedly of the [essential nature] of the mantra’, and quotes śl. 145 of the VBh which describes japa as a bhāvanā, an identifying meditation of the Supreme. I shall come back later to this last aspect of japa. With regard to the link between japa and prāṇa, I would first like to mention here the very often prescribed practice of the ajapājapa, ‘the recitation of the not-recited’ (if it may be translated thus), and describe it briefly, for it is an interesting form of japa, specially in that it underlines one of its main aspects – that of the respiratory breath.

In this practice, in effect, the breath is what is actually ‘recited’ or rather ‘not recited’ since there is no word to be uttered. This does not mean that there is no mantra, for if there were none, there would be no japa. One considers in fact that, with the breath, the haṃsa (ha when inhaling, sa when breathing out, or conversely, according to some texts, the Dhyānabindu Up. 61 for instance) is being enunciated; there is therefore actually a mantric utterance.

Haṃsa is the swan,92 the symbol since Vedic times of the supreme Reality as well as of the transmigrating soul identical in essence with this Reality. Practising the japa of haṃsa is therefore uttering the Name of the Supreme and, due to the cosmic nature of the word, it is also identifying oneself with the world play of the Deity and thus tending towards a fusion with its divine Origin. Ajapājapa being in fact the movement of breath, it is, like it, uninterrupted: it is deemed to be repeated 21,000 times in twenty-four hours, this being traditionally the number of breath cycles during that time.93 Despite its physiological basis, ajapājapa is not devoid of the usual ritual strappings of all japas: it is in fact this very ritual, together with the will to perform and with the utterance of ham and of sa, that makes it a japa. Mere breathing is not a japa – except (if one is to believe the ŚS 3.27 and Ksemaraja) in the particular case of an advanced yogin fused with the deity, whose every act is a worship of, or a participation in, the Supreme (see below, pp. 46–47).

A number of texts, notably Śaiva ones, prescribe ajapājapa.94 Here is how it is described in the Dakṣiṇamūrtisaṃhitā, a Śākta work on the cult of goddesses:

I will tell you the ajapājapa the knowledge of which suffices for the adept to be identified with the supreme brahman. Who performs everyday the pūjā of the word haṃsa will be freed of illusion and will gain liberation. Having learnt it through the grace of a master, he will then recite it and, by this movement of in and out-breathing, he will be freed from all fetters. The two syllables of haṃsa are [respectively] in the in-breathing and in the out-breathing. This is why breath is called haṃsa [the Swan], o Goddess! that moves in the body as the self 21,600 times in a day and night. This is how this supreme [not-recited], made of the bliss of the vibration of prāṇa, is to be recited every day. Birth is the beginning of the japa, death is its offering. The recitation is thus there in the mantrin, o Goddess, though there is nothing to be recited.

The DMS seems here to identify the natural movement of breath and japa. This, however, is not so. It prescribes in effect how (śl. 8) to evoke (saṃsmaret) the visualisation of phonemes which the adept is to see mentally with their different colours in each of the cakras (mūlādhāra, etc.) of his body. This japa is therefore a yogic practice. In addition, nyāsas are to be done aiming at perfecting the body (dehasya siddhaye); then, the mantrin is to meditate the Lord and to utter the haṃsagāyatrī.95 Thereafter, the DMS adds:

the mantrin will do a prāṇāyāma carefully and completely, as prescribed, with the mūlamantra [the hamsa, that is], o Goddess! filling his body [with air] by the left nostril, keeping it during three times [the time of aspiration], and rejecting it by the right nostril, closing alternatively each nostril with his little finger and his ring finger, without ever using the index nor the middle finger. The two wings of this hamsa, o Goddess, are the twofold movement [of breath]. Agni and Soma are these two wings, the Tāra [mantra OṂ ] is its head, the threefold bindu his crest and his eyes; in its mouth is the nāda. Śiva and Śakti are its two legs, Kāla and Agni its two sides. This supreme swan, omnipresent, dazzling like ten million suns, shines by itself. It is cosmic resorption, this haṃsa, which gives discrimination (viveka): whoever practises ceaselessly the ajapājapa will not know any new birth.

(DMS 7.24–30)

Concerning ajapājapa, we may quote also a stanza from another Śaiva text, the Śivayogaratna of Jayaprakāśa96 according to which among the elements which can stop the movement of the mind during ajapājapa is ‘the immobilisation of the breath due to the bindu, which is in the centre of the ajapāmantra’ (ajapāmantra-madhyasthabinduna kr̥takumbhaka). This bindu is the ṃ of the syllable haṃ of the haṃsa. It is the japa’s central point in the sense that it is the last phoneme of the haṃ (of the in-breathing or out-breathing, that is), after which, with sa, begins the other respiratory movement. The bindu is thus, as it were, in the interstitial time between these two moments of the respiration: at the junction of the breaths, thus metaphysically at their central point (madhye) in the interstitial void where breath stops imperceptibly and where the Absolute may be experienced. Such a notion can be found in other texts, notably those of the Kashmirian non-dualist Śaiva systems. Reaching this central point would thus be the ultimate highest goal of the utterance of the haṃsa in the ajapājapa. This is underlined by Kṣemarāja in his Uddyota on SvT 56–59, where he quotes VBh 155–156.97 But, in the present case, haṃsa is understood as the essence of the phonemes, as a symbol of the Absolute, as the sound ‘that nobody emits and to which there is no obstacle, the Swan which arises spontaneously, present in the breast of all living creatures’, to quote the well-known formula applied to the ‘unstruck’ (anāhata) sound which is the very essence of the word, the animating power of the mantras, and therefore a divine cosmic entity, not a mere respiratory breath, even if controlled by yoga. The case is therefore that of a mystical experience of the Word-absolute, very far from the usual ritual context of japa. But this is also one of the possible aspects of this ritual practice, as we shall see later.

Let us note too, concerning the ritual recitation of mantras, that ajapājapa is also mentioned in the works of (or attributed to) Gorakṣanātha, a practice still found nowadays among Nāthas and Gorakhnāthi yogins.98

In Vajrāyāna Buddhism, such practices are also to be found, linked with breath, not done with haṃsa but with the word evam, the first word of all the Sermons of the Buddha: ‘So I have heard’ (evaṃ mayā śrutam). These two syllables, sometimes taken as symbols of prajñā and upāya, are generally considered as associated with the ascending (prāṇa) and the descending (apāna) breaths which circulate in the iḋa and piṅgala (or lalana and rasaṇa) canals, the process being deemed to result, with the suspension of breath, in the junction and immobilisation of these two breaths in the suṣumnā (or avadhūti), and thus, in the realisation of the highest bliss, mahāsukha. Such a practice, though not an ajapājapa, is very near to it since it brings into play the same mental representations.99

With or without such yogic aspects, ajapājapa appears in other cases as being chiefly a spiritual and mystical practice aiming at the union of the practitioner (or rather the devotee) with the deity he/she worships. Of course, all japas aim to a certain extent at some fusion with a deity. This appears in the passage from the TRT quoted above, apropos of the Yoginī cult. But there are also more particular cases where japa is not a japa in the normal sense of the word since there is no mantra repetition. It even happens, as we shall see, that the very mental or spiritual state of the adept, without any mantric practice, is considered as being a japa.

The YH 3.6–7, about what it calls the supreme worship (parā pūjā), prescribes the adept to concentrate in his heart on the Supreme, turning away from differentiated murmuring connected with dualistic notions (vikalparūpasaṃjal-pavimukhaḥ). Amr̥tānanda explains in his commentary (Dī, p. 195–196) that this is not an ‘external’ japa (bāhyajapa) when one whispers (actually or mentally) the syllables of the mantra with all the particularities inherent to the linguistic activity of speech and therefore of discursive thought, but an ‘inner’ (āntaram) japa. This consists in fixing one’s attention on the nāda, the subtle phonic vibration (āntaraṃnādānusaṃdhānalakṣanaṃ japam) which is perceived in the heart, the mystical centre of the human creature. Amr̥tānanda then quotes two stanzas, the first of which describes this nāda as the aspect assumed by the deity on the inner plane of the ‘unstruck’ (anāhata) sound. The other stanza says ‘One must, mastering the movement of the senses, enunciate the inner nāda. This indeed is what is called japa: the external japa is not a [real] japa.’100 In this case, therefore, japa is not in anyway the repetition of a mantra, but the mystical realisation, in the ‘heart’, of the immaterial phonic vibration of nāda.101 So as to make his meaning clearer, Amr̥tānanda ends by quoting sūtra 145 of the VBh which can be translated approximately as follows: ‘This creative meditation which is meditated again and again on the supreme Reality, this, here, is a japa. In this way, what is recited is the spontaneous nāda consisting of a mantra.’102 For the VBh, what is really a japa (japaḥ so’tra), what is deemed to be ‘recited’ and which in this case is considered as being a mantra (mantrātmā), is the spontaneous subtle phonic (svayaṃ nādaḥ) aspect of the deity.

In his short commentary of this śloka, Śivopādhyāya quotes the SvT 4.399, aham eva paro śivaḥ, which would make this practice close to ajapājapa. Aham, however, in the Kashmirian Śaiva schools, is the absolute I, the supreme transcendent Śiva as holding in Himself the whole cosmos.103 As Ksemarāja says in a well-known formula: ‘What is called the condition of the absolute I is the resting of the Light’ – prakāśasyātmaviśrāntir ahambhāvo hi kīrtitaḥ. For the VBh, japa appears as consisting of repeated (bhuyo bhūhaḥ) plunges or immersions in this luminous phonic essence of the Self. According to Śivopadhyāya, these immersions could be related to the play of haṃsa understood as the subtle ‘breath’, not different from nāda, of the absolute, which the yogin can mystically feel within himself as an infinitely subtle resonance perceived in the heart.

The same interpretation of japa as a spiritual practice is also to be found in Kṣemarāja (whose interpretation of the Pratyabhijñā has certainly influenced Amr̥tānanda) and in Abhinavagupta. Commenting on sūtra 1.27 of ŚS, Kṣemarāja also quotes SvT 4. 399 as well as sūtras 145 and 155–156 of VBh. Abhinavagupta, in TĀ 1.89–90, has the same position, quoting the Triśirobhairavatantra104 which, describing the behaviour of the yogin who has attained fusion (aikātmya) with Śiva, says:

One whose spirit is free from all impurity, and who, stopping his memory, meditates the Supremely Meditable, present in all that moves or does not move, reaches also by means of japa the supreme Śiva named Bhairava. One says indeed that japa is the very nature of this [God] which is above the planes of being and non-being.105

For Abhinavagupta, thus, it is not merely meditation of Śiva, the ‘supremely Meditable’, that leads to fusion with him, but also the japa, if it is practised in complete purity of spirit, forgetting everything that has to do with ordinary life. This japa, he adds, is an intense and repeated synthetic awareness (bhūyo bhūyaḥ parāmarśanaṃ japaḥ)106 of the essential nature of Śiva, of the Self which is the supreme Word (tasya śivasya svarūpaṃ paravāksvabhāvaṃ ātmarūpam). In essence, this japa is nothing else than the direct intense total awareness of the consciousness that shines in the very centre of being and non-being, or, to render madhya otherwise, in the interstitial [void] between being and non-being (tanmadh-yasphuratsaṃvitparāmarśamātrasāraḥ). The direct intuitive apprehension of the absolute that underlies the manifested world in the interval between two moments of consciousness is, as one knows, an important notion of that school. The conception of japa as a way towards union with the deity is, however, not proper to Abhinavagupta’s Trika, or to the Pratyabhijñā. Thus Maheśvarānanda in the Parimala on his Mahārthamañjarī, a Krama work, writes that what one calls japa is nothing else than the intense awareness of the essence of the mantra given by the spiritual master (kevalam upapāditamantrasvarūpa-parāmarśo japa ityucyate). This notion is much earlier than these texts since it is found in such tantras as the Triśirobhairava, or in the VBh.

A cosmic and metaphysical dimension is given to japa in the Paramārthasāra, 78 and its commentary by Abhinavagupta: the japa, associated with the vibration of the prāṇa, is an inner vision by the yogin of the expansion of the cosmos, the constituent elements of which are seen by him as revolving in eternal succession like the beads of a rosary used by a devotee. An analogous conception is in the PTV, p. 75, commenting sūtra 35 of the PT.

A most mystic and metaphysical conception of japa is found in the nineth (perhaps even eighth) century ŚS of Vasugupta, a basic text of the non-dualistic śaivism of Kashmir. Describing the condition of the liberated in life who lives in constant union with Śiva since he is identified with Him. Sūtra 3.27 of the ŚS states: kathā japaḥ, ‘[His] conversation is a japa.’ The whole being of such a yogin, Kṣemarāja explains in his Vimarśinī, is nothing else than an intense identifying meditation of the supreme I (aham). Referring to a passage of the SvT (4.399) already mentioned (p. 46), Kṣemarāja quotes the Kālīkrama:107 ‘The consciousness that this God – who transcends all the gods and whose nature is the highest awakening – has of Himself is the supreme Śakti, totally omniscient.’ He adds: ‘whoever, therefore, remains in the awareness of the absolute unborn I, whose essence is the great Mantra, his conversation, etc. becomes a japa – a ceaseless repetition of the intuitive consciousness he has of the godhead who is his own self.’108

In this perspective, japa not only ceases completely to be a ritual repetition: it is not even the utterance of a mantra, insofar at least as a mantra is a particular formal ritual utterance. The texts we have seen speak of mantras in such a context – which permits them to say that it is a japa – merely because, in the metaphysical conception of the word, of vāc, developed in non-dualist śaivism, the four planes of the word – parā, paśyantī, madhyamā and vaikharī – are always present in the cosmos as in the human being. But also because, in this metaphysical perspective, the supreme word, insofar as it enunciates the cosmos, as it is the godhead ever present in the cosmos, is the absolute I, which is the great Mantra (paramahāmantra). This is the mantra that the liberated in life, identified with the supreme Śiva, necessarily enunciates as does the godhead. Whatever he says, being on the level of paravāc, is the great Mantra. This means that in practice his speech will always say the truth, will be completely efficacious and entirely liberating – not enslaving as the ordinary speech of human beings.

It is worth remarking that Kṣemarāja concludes his commentary on ŚS 3.27 by quoting sūtras 155b–156 of VBh on the japa of haṃsa109 which may appear as being somehow a transposition of ŚS 3.27 onto a more ordinary plane. In fact, these two conceptions are complementary ones in the sense that just as all that the liberated in this life says is a mantra and therefore a japa, all breathing, being identified with the godhead, is haṃsa, which is the affirmation of the oneness of the yogin’s self with the absolute – so’ham – or with the absolute I – aham. Such a yogin, therefore performs a japa even when he does not speak, which is all the more true since the japa, here, is a direct and repeated awareness of the divine, a fusion which, for this yogin, is always present.110

One finds the concept of japa of the ŚS in the fourth āhnika of the TĀ which deals with the ‘means of power’, śāktopāya, that is, the way to liberation by mystical fusion with the divine Energy. ‘Who is immersed in this uncreated Heart, Abhinavagupta says, whatever he does, breathes, or thinks, one considers that it is for him a japa.’111 Indeed, Jayaratha explains, in all mundane activity, such as talking and so forth, the spirit of the yogin never stops being immersed in the intense consciousness of the absolute uncreated I (akr̥takāhaṃparāmarśaviśrānto hi yogi), and therefore all this for him is japa (yat kiṃcid bāhyavyavahārayogaṃ vyāharet so’sya sarvo japaḥ); which means that for this yogin everything shines (= appears) as mantra: as what is by nature a return to the awareness of the godhead which is his own self (svātmadevatā). As Jayaratha notes, this can be related to Abhinavagupta’s conception of the efficacy of mantras (mantravīrya), which he considers to be the efficacy of the supreme Word. Jayaratha notes too that others, of different traditions, have also said that ‘conversation is japa’ (bāhyair api yo jalpaḥ sa japah. ity uktam).112

In a different, mystical perspective, Utpaladeva, the author of the ĪPK, says in his Śivastrotrāvalī 3.17: ‘Nothing is higher than Me, yet I practice japa. This is why, verily, japa [is being done] in unity [with myself] whichever rosary [is being used]. This is what You teach.’113 Here it is because the yogin conforms with a divine model, with what Śiva does (and perhaps we may here refer to the notion of the absolute I – aham – that Śiva enounces and that is shown to the devotee as a model for identification with the divine plenitude), that his japa is taken in its highest dimension: identity with the deity, a mystical union which the devotee who recites his rosary with the usual ritual would (or try to) experience.114 This stanza is especially interesting in that it gives japa a divine model. It is, however, not unique in doing so, for, in an emanative vision of the cosmos such as that of the Pratyabhijñā or of other systems where the whole universe appears through the descent of a divine archetype, or by the luminous appearance (ābhāsa) and reflection (pratibimba) of an archetype, everything that exists empirically must need have its original model, its archetype in the godhead.115

The devotional japa: popular aspects of japa

We have given until now the pride of place to the yogic, metaphysical or mystical aspects of japa because one finds there some of its most interesting aspects. They show indeed the extension that Tantric yoga can give to this ritual action, all the philosophical developments that accompany it and, related to it, the interpretations, meanings and range that can be given to it within the metaphysics of the word developed mainly in the Śaiva/Ṣākta non-dualistic traditions of Kashmirian origin. But such cases, which are interesting because they are very subtle or imaginative, are, for this very reason, comparatively rare. Like many things Tantric, they were probably always more present in texts than in actual practice – this is merely because many practices – the most complex ones especially – were meant for a small group of initiates, not for a larger social group. In the majority of cases, japa has probably always been, and it continues to be, the ritual recitation of mantras that we have seen in the first part of this study, a practice whose spirit is quite different from the other one, without, however, there being a clear cut distinction: we have seen thus that the Śivastotrāvalī, a mystical work if there ever was one, mentions the use of the rosary. A ritual recitation, too, can lead the practitioner to a mystical experience.

Japa, indeed, the repeated invocation of a deity, when not used for a specific, often a magical end,116 is a prayer, invocation, call for supernatural help; it can, like any prayer, lead to contemplation. We must note that in these last cases the metaphysical perspective usually differs from that of the non-dualistic Kashmirian Śaiva systems, their context being usually a dualistic or semi-dualistic (viśiṣṭadvaita) one, that of Rāmānuja, for instance, and of other śrīvaiṣṇava masters, or that of the Pañcarātra. One can hardly wish to take refuge in a deity, ask for its help, without there existing at least a measure of difference between the devotee and the deity being worshipped.117 In fact, the japa practices we shall see now are mostly Vaiṣṇava ones. They may have developed especially from a time – the thirteenth century perhaps – when bhakti, often in its most emotional forms, permeated more and more Hinduism. They went on developing down to our days where they are part of the everyday religious life of Hindus. Such practices are not those of the (so-called) mantraśāstra (especially when it is identified with tantraśāstra), but they often appeared first in Tantric milieus, or milieus influenced by tantricism, and they have kept, even in their present forms, Tantric traits. This is why one may mention them as a last part of this study. More than before, I shall limit myself to a few instances.

Going back first to what we saw previously about the japa of gāyatrī during sandhyā, where I referred to Ś. Ch. Vidyārṇava’s The Daily Practice of the Hindus, I will quote here K.C. Pandey’s definition of japa as ‘the constant repetition of a word or sentence’, to which he adds that this repetition ‘produces a state of consciousness bordering upon ecstasy’ through which ‘one enters in the fourth kośa or sheath called vijñānakośa or sheath of Buddhi or intuition’. He then illustrates his point by quoting the case of Tennyson, the poet, who could enter in a manner of hypnotic trance by merely repeating for a long time his Christian name.118 One may indeed consider that japa, like all repeated actions, lulls the attention and creates a manner of altered state of consciousness where thought looses contact, as it were, with recitation and shifts to something else. But we must not go too far in this direction: my point here concerns only the repetition of the name.119

For indeed japa, as a devotional repetition, as a form of contemplative or repetitive prayer, appears often – especially from a certain period onward – as the repetition of the name of the deity: nāmajapa (or its chanted repetition, nāmasaṃkīrtana) practices which, with the bhajans of our days, are the most frequent expressions of Hindu devotion. In these cases, even more than in those we saw previously, the origins of the practice is very ancient: its conceptual basis is the ever-present Indian belief in the power of the word. This goes back to the Veda, where the name is considered as embodying, comprising the essence (and the power) of what is being named: to utter it is to act upon it, make it present, favourable.120 Hence all the invocations, so frequent in ancient texts; hence notably the nāmastotras, the praises made up of names and attributes of a deity that are recited as a litany in that deity’s honour, or the very long repetitions of a divine Name.

The most ancient nāmastotra is probably the Śatarudriya of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, a hymn still being recited by Śiva’s devotees notably during the Mahāśivarātri night, a hymn that the Mānavaśrautasūtra names rudrajapa. ‘By means of which japa does one gain immortality?” the novices ask in the Jābālopaniṣad (3), ‘By that of the Śatarudriya,’ Yājñāvalkya answers.121 The MBh (Mokṣadharmaparvan) mentions lists of nouns – ‘hymns of thousand names’ (sahasranāmastotra/stava) recited in praise of Śiva, Viṣṇu or Durgā so as to worship them and make them favourable. It is mainly in the Purāṇas that such stotras are to be found – for instance, the Devīmāhātmya (or Durgāsaptaśatī). Those, however, are all series of different names or attributes of the same deity, whose mere recitation is therefore not strictly speaking a japa, but it becomes one if it is repeated, the repetition numerous times of the same name being a nāmajapa. This last – the repetition of the divine Name to devotional ends – seems to be found for the first time in the Bhāgavatapurāṇa (6.2,7–12), the great text of Vaiṣṇava bhakti, the Āgastyasaṃhitā (7–71) of the Skanda Purāṇa doing the same for the Śaivas.122 These two are not ancient evidences of the practice: did it exist earlier? We do not know. It is certain, however, that it developed from that time (twelfth to thirteenth century) onwards in Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava milieus among devotees of various forms of the goddess;123 more recent periods show cases where the japa of a deity over-steps the limits of its ‘sect’. Thus the Nāthas, who are Śaivas and who practice mainly the ajapājapa, perform also the japa of Rāma’s name.124 One can also hear nowadays, in South India, bhajans of Radha-Krishna organised by Smārta Brahmins, who are Vedānta non-dualists, disciples of the Śaṅkarācāryas.125

In fact, even though the name of any deity may, in principle, be repeated in japa, in actual practice the name of Rāma is the one mostly used in this way, Rāma (or rather Rām), the name of one of Viṣṇu’s avatāras, coming to be considered, especially in the northern part of India, as the name of God. For Kabir, for instance, and for the Sants, rāmsumiran (rāmasmaraṇa) is synonymous with nāmsumiran, this being a consequence of the popularity in India of the Ramāyāna epic. The solitary or group, murmured or chanted, repetition of Rāma’s name is thus recommended as one of the best devotional practices by the Adhyātmarāmāyana (fourteenth to fifteenth century), the sacred Book of the Rāmānandins, highly valued in Rāmaist sects whose influence in north India has been very important. Those, this text says, who chant everyday ‘Rāma Rāma’ do not fear death; they will be saved even if they kill a Brahmin; the gods themselves seek happiness by chanting Rāma’s name.126 It may even suffice simply to remember this Name to be saved. Tulsidas, in the Ramcaritmanas, the Hindi Rāmāyāna, goes even further: for him, Rama’s Name is infinite (ananta), without equal (apara), revealed in the kali Age, it is in reality ever present, eternal; revealing Rāma under his two aspects, with and without qualities (saguṇa and nirguṇa), it transcends both. But the Name is also near, for it only transmits to the devotee the essence of the god he worships. To repeat the Name is therefore one of the ways to salvation.127

Another very popular practice, developed from the sixteenth century, is that of the nāmasaṃkīrtan, the repetition of the name of Kr̥ṣṇa associated with either Rādhā’s or with Hari’s (Viṣṇu’s) name. Akin to japa, it nevertheless differs from it since being a collective and sung, sometimes danced, repetition; its sequence and atmosphere are quite alien to that of japa which, in essence, is a solitary whispered repetition. It is mentioned here because there are cases – that of the Haripāṭh, for instance – where Harināmasaṃkīrtan and Harismaraṇa (with the ajapājapa) meet in some respects. Namasaṃkīrtan is practiced mainly in Krishna religious groups and especially in the Bengali gauḋīya tradition which goes back to Caitanya (1486–1532), for whom śravaṇa and kīrtana, the remembering and the chanting of the divine Name, are the two primary elements of bhakti. For Caitanya, the mere (even involuntary) utterance of the name of Kr̥ṣṇa can bestow liberation.128 Of all possible ways of worshipping Kr̥ṣṇa, he used to say, the best is nāmasaṃkīrtan, a perfect worship which fosters divine love.129 It is a collective very emotional action, very far from the ritual practices and speculations we have seen previously. Such devotional behaviour is to be found with Surdas and most of the Sants, the saint-poets of the Indian Middle Age. The Sikhs, too, recommend and practise the ‘proximity of the saints’, the satsang, which is often a form of saṃkīrtan, of common devotional singing of the name or names of the Lord, Rāma usually.

An interesting form of japa – a popular but also refined one – is that of the Haripāth, the ‘Invocation of Hari’, of Jñāndev/Dñyandev, the saint-poet of Maharashtra (end of thirteenth century). A devoted Vaiṣṇava, he nevertheless had links, through his master Nivr̥ttināth (or Nivr̥ttidev), with the Tantric tradition of the Nāthas, theoretically founded by Gorakhnāth, where, as we have seen (above, p. 44) ajapājapa was practised.130 The Haripāth is a short text which is to be rhythmically chanted with intervals and followed by the singing of devotional hymns. It is therefore not a japa properly so called. But the Haripāth prescribes several times to repeat ceaselessly the Name of Hari: ‘Repeat the Name of Hari, and all fetters are destroyed.’ The very name Haripāth designates such an invocation, pāth being understood in the traditional sense of recitation or study of a sacred text and having therefore the meaning of harināmakīrtana. Haripāth and harijapa appear thus as synonymous.131 In another, analogous, case, that of Jñāneśvar’s Jñāneśvarī, the Name is not to be merely uttered, it must be interiorised, for the japa must not be a mere mechanical repetition; it must become an ‘inner audition’ (śravana – hariśravana) of Hari’s Name, that is, a devotional meditation which unites the devotee with the deity. On this subject, the Jñāneśvarī says: ‘All that my devotee does is none other than the worship [of me]; all that he thinks is my japa; all that he is, is but absorption in me’.132 Such expressions of the greatest devotion, of a ‘participation’ in the deity, remind one of the Śivasūtras (3.27) and of Kṣemarāja’s Vimarśinī which we have seen before. It is likely that Śaiva non-dualistic notions transmitted by the Nāthas have played a role here – the yoga tradition of the Nāthas (and Tantric notions) being taken over in a bhakti context.

A similar influence of the Nāthayogins might probably also explain the presence of the ajapājapa in Kabir, who mixes or confuses it with the remembrance of the divine Name (smaran, sumiran), and the fact that he mentions the so’ham as well as the two letters Ra and Ma of Rāma.133 Probably another larger and more ancient tradition plays a role, insofar as for Kabir (as well as for other Sants of northern India) only the ‘sound’ (śabda), the word received from the mouth of the Master, or revealed by the satguru to the pious disciple, can bring to the latter a divine revelation;134 the satguru being the Supreme Being ‘without characteristics’ (alakṣaṇa), ‘without colour’ (nirañjana). For them, the name of Rāma (rāma rāma – Rām Rām) is the basic mantra, the mūlamantra of the godhead, which holds within itself the supreme Reality, the two syllables of Rāma (or the monosyllabic Rām) being sometimes conceived as equal to OṂ, the symbol of the Absolute.135 The infinite power of a revealed word or of the name of a deity, the harnessing for reaching salvation of this power by the utterance and repetition, are ancient Indian notions pervading mantraśāstra: they evolve, take on different aspects in the course of time, but, perhaps underlying, they are always there, solidly rooted.136

As most of the practices mentioned developed after the eleventh century (and especially since the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries), it is possible to speculate whether their development was influenced by the presence of Islam in India. One may indeed consider that such interiorised devotions were more easily practised out of the temples (which, in addition, were often destroyed by Muslim rulers) than those involving visible ritual action. On the other hand, it has also sometimes been thought that the nāmajapa, where the name of the deity is often to be repeated, associated with the control of the respiratory breath, and often in a group, which is contrary to the traditional conception of japa, may be due to an Islamic influence. In effect, the japa of the Name, insofar as it is a remembrance (smarana, sumiran) of the deity, and follows the rhythm of the breath, it is very reminiscent of the dhikr (a term that Henri Corbin used precisely to translate by ‘mémoration’ – remembrance – and which, like sumiran, is both remembering God and mentioning this remembrance). In both cases, starting with a repeated utterance, the pronunciation tends to fade, leaving only a presence felt in the heart.137 But likeness or similarity does not prove influence, and if there was actually influence, it could well have been that of japa on dhikr,138 if only because the existence of japa is proved long before that of dhikr. Contacts between Hindu and Muslim mystique in India were numerous and important. Many circumstances, translations and a number of texts testify to the fact. It seems, in fact, that Hinduism has more frequently marked Islam than the other way round. One could easily quote in this respect the names of many ‘saints’, mystics, or poets of different sects. The case of the Baùls is well known.139 The Nāthas, too, whom we have mentioned previously, seem to have played (especially in the case of japa) an important role in this exchange of ideas and practices.140 On the subject of the devotional repetition of the name of God, instances from the Western world could also be quoted. But this is not our subject here.141

To come back to the Indian domain or to neighbouring fields, we can mention before ending some Buddhist practices akin to the nāmajapa such as those found in Mantrāyāna texts, especially in the ones concerning the cult of the Amitābha and Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddhas. Amitābha’s cult spread in China where the invocation of his name (Amita) was recommended by the Pure Land School as the surest means to gain salvation. Repeating ‘Homage to Amita Buddha’ sufficed to ensure a good rebirth, by the sole effect of this buddha’s grace, without any necessity of any personal effort. Like the Hindu nāmajapa, this prayer could be practised alone or in common, be mentally repeated, chanted or sung. The method became quickly popular. In Japan can also be found Amidism which prescribes the repetition of the nembutsu ‘namo amida butsu’, a copy of the Sanskrit corresponding formula. This doctrine and practice appeared in Japan in the seventh century. They were popularised in the twelfth century by Honen. ‘So as to gain birth in the Pure Land, nothing is as effective as the repetition of the Name of the Buddha’, he used to say. (In that sect there is even a danced nembutsu, adori nembutsu, which is reminiscent of the Krishna saṃkīrtan.)

We will conclude these few observations on those trivialised, popular forms of the Buddhist japa, by referring to what is probably its most well-known form, namely the repetition of Oṃ mani padme huṃ, a mantra in devotional homage to Avalokiteśvara, which one meets everywhere in Tibetan Himalayan Buddhism, the human repetition of mantras being taken over by writing or engraving: it suffices then to look at such formulas piled up so as to form ‘maṇi walls’, or those which, written on banners, scatter their beneficial messages in space, or else those, inscribed by thousands on strips of some material, who are multiplied by the whirling of the prayer-wheels. All this is very far from the metaphysical speculations on the power of the word, or from the difficult practice of bhāvanā, which we have seen here. But in all these cases, popular or erudite, one remains in the domain of the belief in the power of the word and in the efficacy of ritual, both to be found in India from the most ancient times but also ever present elsewhere, since humans believe everywhere in this efficacy. This belief underlies all the mental constructions and actions we have seen in this chapter, even those where devotion dominates. This is why japa is not strictly speaking a prayer:142 it is also and mainly something else; this is why one cannot translate the term, why, too, japa is such a diverse, rich and interesting practice.