subject: Japa Mala- Experience Spiritual Ways To Feel Calm And Happy [print this page] There are several spiritual ways to attain peace and contentment and chanting mantra is one among them. There are countless religions in the world and countless followers are there to believe in them. Though all the religions believe in different-different forms of supreme power, but there is a most common thing in all the religions and it is prayer to please the deities. History of religions shows that japa mala has been an important part of the collection of spiritual things which are used to pray of any deity or meditation.
Structure and Material
It is a string of beads made in set of 108 that is usually used by the followers of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is made up of wide variety of materials, such as basil wood, sandalwood, rudraksha seeds, crystals, semiprecious stones etc. Commonly, it is structured with 108 beads, but wrist mala of 27 beads can also be found in the market. The one who has wrist mala, it is required to repeat this four times while chanting.
How meditation is practiced with prayer beads?
Many of us use prayer beads for performing prayer or mantra meditation. Commonly, it is hold in right hand as the left hand is considered impure. Thumb is also used to touch the bead for counting each mantra during the recitation. After this, we move to next bead by lightly pulling the counted one.
The practice is used as a form of meditation by sitting in comfortable position on mat or rug with the closed eyes.
A quiet place is required to sit where one can peacefully meditate without any disturbance. The chanting is practiced silently by focusing the mind on the mantra, keeping the breath slow and deep.
If we talk about meditative position or posture, it can be chosen as per comfort so that one can focus without being bothered by the uncomfortable posture. Lotus position is widely known for meditation with malas.
Buying the right string for meditation is a very important thing. If you will take expert advice, he will advise you the right one out of wide variety available in the market. There is different effect of all the materials which are used to make malas, such as basil wood or tulsi wood is believed to use for clearing aura, sandalwood brings serenity, crystal beads are believed to have healing properties while rudraksha is effective for lower blood pressure and providing stability.
How to keep when not in use?
After meditation practice, you are advised to keep the japa mala in a neat, clean and sacred place. The most preferable place to store the prayer beads is either a small pouch (specially made to store prayer beads) or statue of any deity.
