Swami Sivananda
Japa is the repetition of any mantra or name of the Lord.
Mantra Yoga is an exact science. "Mananat trayate iti mantrah - by the manana (constant thinking or recollection) of which one is protected or is released from the round of births and deaths, is mantra." That is called mantra by the meditation (manana) on which the jiva or the individual soul attains freedom from sin, enjoyment in heaven and final liberation, and by the aid of which it attains in full the fourfold fruit (chaturvarga), i.e., dharma, artha, kama and moksha. A mantra is so called because it is achieved by the mental process. The first syllable of the word mantra comes from root 'man' meaning 'to think' and 'tra' from 'trai' meaning 'to protect' or 'free' from the bondage of samsara or the phenomenal world.
The mantra is a mass of radiant tejas or energy. Mantra awakens supernatural powers. A mantra is divinity. It is divine power or daiva sakti manifesting in a sound body. The mantra itself is devata (deity).
Sounds are vibrations. They give rise to definite forms. Each sound produces a form in the invisible world, and combinations of sound create complicated shapes. Thus repeated singing of the name of the Lord builds up gradually the form of the devata or the special manifestation of the deity whom you seek to worship, and this acts as a focus to concentrate the benign influence of the divine being, which radiating from the centre, penetrates the worshipper.
The repetition of the panchakshara mantra, 'Om Namah Sivaya' produces the form of Lord Siva. The repetition of 'Om Namo Narayanaya,' the ashtakshara mantra of Vishnu, produces the form of Vishnu.
There is the dictum of the Mimamsa philosophers that the gods do not exist apart from the mantras (Mantratmako devah). This really means that when a particular mantra appropriated to a particular god is properly recited, the vibrations so set up create in the higher planes a special form which that God en-souls for the time being.
The sacred mantra or the divine name is a vital symbol of the supreme divinity directly revealed in the innermost depths of divine communion to the sages of Self-realisation in the hoary Vedic and Upanishadic times.
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
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