The Power of Japa and Affirmations

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Some of us doubt the power of a Japa or affirmation, or repetition of any name or phrase or mantra or sentence. But then we can question ourselves, ‘Am I not doing a Japa all the time?’ I am repeating my storylines in my mind, judgements and opinions about people and myself, my narratives of what happened in the past or present. I am doing that all the time! Is that not a Japa? Is that not an affirmation of something or other? When all this unconscious repetition, mostly of negativity, can lead to manifestation of an illness or give stress, headache, or make me dysfunctional, then using the same power of affirmation on words that are healing, soothing and changing the narrative of my life, I can also think of recreating my life; once I have done enough damage and become tired of damaging myself and others all the time. The article explores the power of affirmations and Japa in this light.

We are always doing a japa …

For those of us who have doubts and question the power of Japa, affirmations, we can very easily see that we all are doing a Japa all the time! Aren’t we? We are ruminating and regurgitating our thoughts, our feelings, repeating our narratives, our storylines, the commentary and interpretation on the happenings of life. It is just that we never question the content of it all. I take all that content for granted, as a natural way of my life. I never wonder, why am I saying the same story in my head repeatedly? Why am I feeling the same thing about myself, or a happening, or a person again and again? Why this mechanical repetition of things, interpretations and commentaries? Why do I have such a solid, concrete belief in them? Why am I so sure that whatever goes on in my head is right and true?

Some people think that doing a Japa of a Divine name or any affirmation is just whitewash or fooling around, it is as if I am handing myself a toy to play with, but the point here is — I can see that the toy of a Divine Name, or loftier thoughts full of certitude and goodwill, are a much better toy than negative and rigid loopy thoughts! Aren’t they?

Getting our power back

For me, the first breakthrough came when I realised that, if my thoughts and emotions and inner state can create an illness (1), then using the power of thoughts and feelings I can also create something else in place of that illness.

“People always need to make their mind run, run, run, but then make it run on the right lines, you will see that it has an effect. For instance, let it go like this: that I shall learn better and better, shall know better and better, become healthier and healthier, and all difficulties will vanish, and wicked people will become sweet and good, and ill people will be cured, and houses which should be built will be built, and those things which should disappear will disappear, but giving place to better things, and the world will move in a constant progress, and at the end of that progress there will be a total harmony, and so on, and continue thus…. You can go on endlessly. But then you will have around you and around your head all kinds of pretty things (2).”

All I have to do is to leave the stubbornness of thinking and feeling in one particular set rigid pattern, as it comes naturally to me according to my past conditioning, which of course I am unconscious of. I have to let go of my limiting constricting beliefs, and mental formations, which I can see clearly are doing me no good really; and in fact, are responsible for bringing me down and down. I have to become unsure of my distorted perceptions of looking at myself and everything in this world.

If my thoughts and feelings about the happenings and people in this life can bring me down, then they are the ones, which when used properly can also bring me up. I just have to cultivate mindfulness of my thoughts and feelings, becoming conscious of what I am thinking or feeling; I need to bring forward the witnessing aspect in me, that part in me which is observing all the movements, and is aware of the movements at all times. And when I am conscious of the inner movements, then I am also empowered to change and transform them. It gives me back my lost power.

“There is in us a region which is above space and time, immobile, immutable, at first; it does not participate in the waves of emotions and thoughts. The first step is to centre one’s consciousness in this region and keep it there: this is mukti. In us, beyond our personality, the Purusha is seen, with many attributes which are successively unveiled.

First of all, he appears as the witness of actions and sensations, untouched, unalterable.

Then he manifests as the giver of sanctions: he approves or refuses his consent to a movement of Prakriti: desire or thought or even action. When such an order is given, as for instance, the refusal to take part in a certain emotion, though the past is yet strong, the being turns away from that emotion (3).”

Awareness or being conscious of my inner movements of — thinking, content of thoughts, my interpretations of things and happenings, and feelings, etc. — gives me the power to be responsible for my inner space. When I see harmful and negative affirmations in loops going on in my head, and I become conscious of those default affirmations (which look like just some random thoughts), I can ask myself — Do I want to continue affirming the same or do I want to affirm something else which is beneficial and uplifting?

“ ‘We are always surrounded by the things of which we think.’ ”

“This is very important.

“If you think of nasty things, you will be surrounded by nasty things (4).”

The evergreen dusting-cloth given to us

All of us human beings have this Light of Consciousness with us, all the time. It is our dusting-cloth, only if we wish to use it. Our consciousness is what makes us conscious of the contents of consciousness, because of its presence. I know what am I thinking right now, what am I feeling right now, etc. It is functional all the time; without it I would not be able to navigate at all in this world. And yet, most often this consciousness is masked behind the content of consciousness which is our thoughts, feelings, sense-perceptions.

When we become conscious of this presence of consciousness, then we can see that it is a Light given to us, to clean and sort and organise our being, I can become conscious of the garbage within, and keep constantly cleaning it, just like I clean my house regularly. The only catch here is, most often, the garbage doesn’t say ‘I am garbage’, it holds promises for us, and hence we have to use this Light of discernment (Prajñā/Wisdom), which goes along with consciousness, which will tell me what is garbage and what is not.

Like our material houses, our inner house also requires regular dusting and cleaning and organising. We are, therefore, forever employed, and we always have some or other dusting to do within. In the beginning, when there are empty pockets of time, I can keep a check of the inner sanctuary, and keep rejecting, cleaning, and constantly observing the inner space. If I am unconscious of the inner space, then by default only my old patterns have a free play and I am not really free, but a puppet of those blind patterns.

“The unremembering hours repeat the old acts,
Our dead past round our future’s ankles clings
And drags back the new nature’s glorious stride,
Or from its buried corpse old ghosts arise,
Old thoughts, old longings, dead passions live again…. (5)”

“You must keep the temple clean if you wish to install there the living Presence (6).”

Cultivating a good time pass

When we begin to become, in relative degrees, more conscious of our inner space, we take charge of that inner space, we can now develop a loftier time-pass for ourselves, something that is uplifting and expanding. If I see myself affirming something or the other in my head, I can choose — what do I want to affirm right now?

I am believing in all the images in my head about myself and situations, and others — what good are they serving me? Can I choose to let them go? Can I choose to do a Japa instead, of any form or name of the Divine that resonates with me? Or to think as the Mother says, that the world will be a better place, and people will be good, etc. and to pray and visualise that there is peace and happiness, and progress everywhere?

Using our power well

I am affirming all the time. Can I use my power of affirmation to do some good for myself and the whole existence? We are all affirming, all the time, and whatever we affirm, we begin to shape ourselves into! What am I affirming right now? Is it expanding, liberating? Or is it suffocating and limiting? I can choose to cultivate expansion and openness of heart and mind. I exercise a choice every moment. If we consciously make a choice every time possible, then, we can make this very world a better place for ourselves and others.

“But, also, the law of right action is a choice, the preference of that which expresses the godhead to that which conceals it. And the choice entails a battle, a struggle. It is not easily made, it is not easily enforced (7).”

Right now, if the world doesn’t appear to be a better place, then we have to know that each one of us, including me, is responsible for that manifestation. Let us manifest something better, in us, and around us. Let us have a simple, uncomplicated good heart, and an open, supple and vast mind.

Dr. Monica Gulati – https://www.namahjournal.com/doc/Actual/The-Power-of-Japa-and-Affirmations-vol-32-issue-2.html

References

1. [Online] Available from:https://thegiftofcancer.wordpress.com/blog/ [Accessed 29th April 2024].

2. The Mother. The Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 5. 2nd ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 1998, p. 386-87.

3. Conversations with Sri Aurobindo by Pavitra (Auro e-books); conversation of 20th December,1925.

4. The Mother. The Collected Works, Volume 5, p. 382.

5. Sri Aurobindo. The Complete Works, Volume 33-34; 1997, p. 483.

6. Sri Aurobindo. Complete Works, Volume 32; 2012, p. 4.

7. Sri Aurobindo. Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 13, p. 442.