Ajapa Japa is chanting from the heart. It is the spontaneous repetition of the Mantra Soham for developing awareness of the psychic breath in the psychic passages of the body. The meaning of psychic is spiritual in the Yogic sense and Ajapa Japa sadhana enables the flow of prana.
The best understanding of Ajapa Japa is in the words of my Guru, Swami Satyananda:
“When the awareness is absorbed in the breath, in its movement, in its sound, it becomes the vehicle for traversing the superficial layers of the mind and attaining higher experiences beyond the influence of the external senses. This is the definition of mantra or the explanation of the effect of mantra within the human personality. You have to become so absorbed in the mantra that you hear your breath sing it. When this happens for all the 21,600 breaths you take throughout the day, then Anahata, the inner vibration, the cosmic vibration which is within you become audible to sensory perception.”
In order to understand what Ajapa Japa is we must understand its context to awareness. Awareness means to know what is happening within us. It means to stand back and observe one’s mental and physical activities. Awareness of breath is the awareness of the flow of breath and awareness of its movement and its sound which is ‘So’ when inhaling and ‘Ham’ when exhaling. Then our breath becomes the means of piercing the external layers and going to our inner being. Awareness is the enchanted word to open your doors of self-realization.
Aim Hrim Klim
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