Chapter 5 - Details of Puraścaraṇa and Japa

This chapter deals with puraścaraṇa.

After receiving the Command of the Guru, a person of pure mind should start the puraścaraṇa with the intention to accomplish the mantra (mantrasiddhisamīhayā). As a body without a soul is unable to do any action, so it is the same with a mantra without having performed puraścaraṇa. For this a wise person should do it himself or should have his Guru perform it for him or, in his absence, a brahmin, one who is fond of benefiting every being, a dear one, a knower of mantra, a friend or a person endowed with various qualities (vv.1-4').

Then the favourable locations for the performance of the puraścaraṇa are given, such as in a holy place, on a bank of a river, in a cave, at the top of a mountain or a confluence of rivers, in a holy forest, in a solitary park, below a bilva tree, on the slope of a mountain, in a tulsī grove, in an empty area, in a Śiva temple, below an aśvattha (Ficus Religiosa) or amalakī (Pinus Webbiana) tree, in a cowshed, in the middle of a body of water, in a temple, on the seashore and in one's own home. The merits of puraścaraṇa increase a hundred-fold if it is performed in one's own house, a thousand-fold in a cowshed, one hundred thousand times in a temple and infinite times in the proximity of Śiva. One should avoid doing a puraścaraṇa in places where barbarians, corrupted people or wild animals reside, or where there is disease and death. One should practice in a place which is solitary, pure, without blame, devoted, one's own, religious, with an abundance of food, peaceful and surrounded by delightful devotes (vv.4"-13).

A performer of a puraścaraṇa ought to take heed of what should be eaten or not, lest he fail to accomplish (siddhihāni) the mantra; for this the text presents information about what food can and cannot be eaten while practing the puraścaraṇa (vv.4"-19').

One who performs a puraścaraṇa should bathe, purify himself with the five pure substances which come from the cow,^[1] regularly perform the three sandhyās^[2] and worship the deity. He should not eat any food prepared by another.

One who does the puraścaraṇa while naked or otherwise impure will obtain no fruit of the japa, even if he remains mentally engaged. The deity will burn the one who repeats the mantra with dirty clothes, with malodorous hair or breath, or the like. During the japa one should also avoid idleness, yawning, sleepiness, sneezing, crying, desire, fear, anger, and touching the lower limbs (vv.19"-34).

In order to accomplish the puraścaraṇa one should repeat the mantra as many times as he has promised with the understanding that the deity, the Guru and the mantra are one. Each day he should do the same number of repetitions, otherwise his vow will be broken. Twelve are the dharmas which are said to aid towards the accomplishment of the mantra: sleeping on the ground (bhūśayā), celibacy, silence, service to the master, daily worship, daily donation, praising the deity, chanting, worship during a particular festivity, faith in the Guru and the deity, and steadiness in reciting the japa (vv.35-41').

During puraścaraṇa one should not talk to women, to śudras, to vow-breakers, to atheists or to impure people; he should also avoid speaking any falsehood, concealing the truth or committing any dishonest deeds; he should avoid music, debate and dance; he should eschew adorning himself with flowers or perfumes, and shouldn't bath with hot water. He should stay in one place while performing the japa; he should do ācamana,^[3] prāṇāyāma, ṣaḍaṅganyāsa and complete his recitation of the mantra before sunrise (vv.41"-48).

Mental control, purity, silence, contemplating the meaning of the mantra, steadiness and self-reliance are the foundations for the accomplishment of the mantra, while impurity, dirtiness, nakedness, confusion and so on are considered to be obstacles. It is also said that if one sees a cat, a cock, a krauñca (curlew), a dog, a śudra or a monkey, he should perform ācamāna before starting the japa, and if he touches them, he should bathe (vv.49-54).

None of these rules apply to mental japa: a wise person should take refuge in a single mantra and should mentally repeat it incessantly, both in conditions of purity and impurity, while walking, standing or sleeping (vv.55-56').

The benefits of the puraścaraṇa are then discussed: a twice-born, excellent and devoted to the mantra, attains all the fruits of every sacrifice; the deity, satisfied by his japa, bestows upon him everything he desires, including the final liberation (vv.56"-62). But he should repeat the mantra thrice a day and at least once perform the pūjā of the deity appropriate to the mantra (vv.63-65).

Three kinds of japa are described: mental (mānasa), whispered (upāṃśu) and verbal (vācika)—among which the mental one is considered the most beneficial. It is also said that the verbal repetition of a mantra is useless, just as is chanting a hymn mentally (vv.66-74').

Only a mantra received by a Guru has power, otherwise it is merely a succession of letters; a mantra awakened by a qualified master should be uttered while concentrating on the sound that arises along the suśumna, feeling it to be inseparable from Cicchakti. If during the repetition of the mantra the mind wanders elsewhere, there will be no accomplishment (vv.74"-90). The mantra should be offered to the right hand of a male deity and to the left hand of the goddess (vv.91-92).

The last part of the chapter describes the five limbs (pañcāṅga) of the puraścaraṇa, i.e. japa, homa (fire sacrifice), tarpaṇa (libation of water), abhiṣeka (ablution) and brahmabhojana (feeding of brahmaṇas). At the end of the puraścaraṇa one should present dakṣiṇa (donation) to the Guru, because only by his grace one can obtain mantrasiddhi. Together there are also prescribed mahatīpūjā, the worship of the earth, and kumārīpūjā, worship of a maiden (vv.93-120). In particular, verses 110-116' describe the rules of puraścaraṇa during an eclipse.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The five products of the cow are milk, yogurt, clarified butter, urine and excrement.

[2]:

The saṃdhyās are the junctures of the three divisions of the day (sunrise, noon and sunset) during which the adept offers water to the deity and repeats the gayatrī.

[3]:

Ācamāna consists of sipping water for the purpose of purification.