The Stages of Japa by Papaji
Papaji is a modern enlightened master who practiced devotional japa to Krishna for 25 years. According to Papaji, there are stages to using japa as a spiritual practice. In the beginning, you repeat a mantra using the voice. In the second stage, you repeat the mantra in the mind without saying it out loud. During the third stage, you learn to synchronize the mantra with the breath. And eventually the mantra and the breath become one. The mantra is repeated automatically, without your conscious attention. In the last stage, you become aware that the mantra is arising from the Heart—the formless unity from which the “I” arises. And the sound of the mantra subsides into the silence of the formless… Read more