History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.156

v5.c71.s1.156

*Japa* (muttering of Vedic passages as prayers) *Japa* is of three kinds, *vācika* (audibly uttered), *upāṁśu* (inaudibly uttered) and *mānasa* (mentally revolved), each succeeding one being ten times superior, acc to Laghu Hārīta IV. p 186, (Jīvānanda I.).¹⁰⁴ Śabara (on Jai. XII. 4. 1) distinguishes *japa* from *stuti*, the former being simply an utterance or recitation of a *mantra* or *mantras*¹⁰⁵. Inaudible *japa* is praised¹⁰⁶ in Śāṅkhāyana Br. 14. 1. The Āśv. Śr I. 1 20 provides that *japa*, anumantraṇa, āpyāyana and upasthāna are uttered *upāṁśu*. The Āp. Śr (24 1. 8-10) provides that mantras from the Ṛgveda and the Sāmaveda are uttered in sacrifices loudly and that passages of the Yajurveda are muttered upāṁśu and the Tai. Prātiśākhya 23. 6 states that upāṁśu recitation is made by means of the effort of speech organs but without sound (i. e. in a very low voice) and without the mind being directed (to utterance with udātta and other accents) i e. 'Karaṇavad-aśabdam-amanaḥ-prayogam-upāṁśu'. Gaut. 19. 12 (=Baud. Dh. S. III. 10 10=Vas 22 9) prescribes the following Vedic texts as purifiers: Upaniṣads, Vedānta texts, the Saṁhitā texts of all the Vedas (and not the *padapāṭha* or *kramapāṭha*), the *Yajus* texts in which the word 'madhu' occurs, the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn (Ṛg. X. 190 1-3), the Atharvaśiras, (the anuvākas called) Rudras, the Puruṣa hymn (Ṛg. X. 90), the two *sāmans* called Rājata and Rauhineya, the Bṛhat-sāma and the Rathantara, the Puruṣagati sāman, the Mahānāmnī verses, the Mahāvairāja (*sāman*), the Mahādivākīrtya (sāman), any of the Jyeṣṭha sāmans, the Bahiṣpavamāna (sāman), the Kūṣmāṇḍas, the Pāvamānīs (Ṛg. IX) and the Sāvitrī (Ṛg. III. 62 10).¹⁰⁷ The original idea of japa was highly spiritual. Deep knowledge of the Upanisads and other texts would have made the soul pure and enabled it to realize the supreme reality and induced in the mind love of all human beings as sparks of the one Divine Essence. Japa at the highest level was contemplation of God and endeavour to attain unity with God The habit of repeating the sacred texts should lead to maintaining the soul in the presence and thought of God Japa demands three things, purity of heart, detachment and placing oneself in the hands of God