By: Sri Swami Sivananda
The repetition of a Mantra ‘Om Sairam’ with rigid spiritual observances a fixed number of times to obtain quick spiritual progress is known as Mantra Purascharana. It can be performed for material progress too. Sai Baba has not prescribed practitioners should observe specific rules and undergo strict dietetic discipline to ensure quick Mantra Siddhi.
During the Purascharana take only fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, roots, barley, and Havis-Anna (rice cooked with ghee, sugar, and milk). A Sadhaka can live on pure Bhiksha (alms) also. If you can live on milk alone during the period of Purascharana it is highly laudable. You can have Mantra Siddhi even by repeating the Mantra a lakh times.
Select any holy place or a quiet place in your residence or a place of pilgrimage like the banks of the sacred Ganga, confluence of rivers, mountain valleys of charming scenery, temples, or Tulasi gardens, below Asvattha. Keep a picture of Sai Baba, burning incense, and suitable decorations. Purascharana done in holy places has more benefits. Select ‘Om Sairam’ or Santha Namo or Sai Gayatri for Purascharana. Your Guru Mantra or Ishta Mantra is the best. Sandhya time, sunrise, sunset, and midday are all recommended for Japa. Repeat the Mantra as many lakhs of times as there are letters in the Mantra. You can do half of that number. In no case, the number should be less than a lakh.
Sit facing East or North during Japa. Select Siddha, Padma, Svastika or Virasana for Japa. Never sit for Japa with a loaded stomach. Have fixed timings for Japa. Take a bath before you start, if possible, or at least wash your hands and feet. Perform Achamana or sipping of Sanctified Mantra water. Deerskin, cloth, blanket, Kusa grass, or tiger skin can be used as seats while doing Japa. Spatika, Tulasi, or Rudraksha Malas can be used for counting the number of Japa. Have a Mala with 108 beads or half or one-fourth of that number.
Abstracting the mind from all worldly objects, merged in the inner meaning of the Mantra, thinking of the Lord, the Mantra should be repeated with a uniform speed. The full concentration of the mind on the meaning and divinity of the Mantra brings quick Mantra Siddhi. Continue Purascharana till you attain Mantra Siddhi. Do not stop with one Purascharana. Due to the Doshas of the mind, you may not get Mantra Siddhi at once. Madhusudana Sarasvati did 18 Purascharanas of Gayatri before he attained Siddhi.
Sleeping on a coarse bed (strictly avoiding cushions and the like), observing strict celibacy, worshipping Sai Baba three times a day, bathing thrice daily, abandoning oil baths, meat, fish, onion, garlic, tea, coffee, chilies, tamarind, observing silence or restricting the speech to a minimum, observing Ahimsa, speaking Truth, shunning all luxuries, one should perform the Purascharana. You should avoid as far as possible absent-mindedness, laziness, spitting during Japa, relaxation of hands and legs, sleeping during the day, mixing with undesirable persons, contact with women, receiving gifts, looking at obscene pictures, speaking lies, the company of passionate men, chewing of betels, smoking, drinking, too much talk, speaking ill of others, finding fault in others, harming others in thought, word or deed, during the period of Purascharana. You should not dissipate your energy during Japa by looking hither and thither unnecessarily by shaking the body, by laughter, etc.
Do the same number of Japa every day without variation. Homa or Havan should be performed after every lakh of Japa or at the end of the Purascharana. After completing the Purascharana perform Homa th the number of Japa, Tarpana (water libations) th the number of Homa, Marjana (sprinkling) th the number of Tarpana and feeding of Brahmins th the number of Tarpana. You can do feeding and charity according to your capacity if you cannot adhere to the above strictly.
Mantra Purascharana has incalculable benefits. Brightness, clearness, or tranquillity of the mind, contentment, dispassion towards worldly enjoyments, Darshan of your Ishta Devata, Sai Baba, success in all undertakings, attainment of purity of the mind-all these will ensue. Give your best attention and earnestness to the performance of Purascharana.
May you attain Moksha or Immortality through the performance of a series of Sai Baba Mantra Purascharanas! (From a lecture at All India Sai Samaj, Madras – 1950)
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