Once a person is committed to mentally repeating a given chant, his or her mind automatically goes to japa whenever it is free. Just as water draining from the mountains creates new ravines, a new track is created towards which the mind repeatedly goes. In this way, japa becomes a way of keeping the mind meaningfully occupied. As well as being a useful activity, it is also a prayerful one.
Eventually, a time comes when the mind enjoys a certain composure. Because you apperciate that any distraction or agitation is transitory, you do not come under its spell. A mind that knows this has a certain depth, a certain tranquility, even before such agitation begins. In conjunction with the vision of the teaching that you are the whole, japa is very effective.Even without any exposure to vedanta, japa is beneficial in that it keeps the mind meaningfully occupied.

BEING AWARE OF THE SILENCE
Japa is a tool that enables you to negate any distracting or improper thought by replacing it with the chosen chant. It gives you an occasion to eliminate chain thinking and to be aware of the interval, the silence, between thoughts. This is why I refer to japa as a discipline.

SOUND AS A TECHNIQUE
A common practice among many meditators, in the west is to chant invocatory syllables, called bijaksaras [Srim, Hrim, etc.] traditionally used to invoke pariticular deities for purposes of meditation. When these sounds or any other single syllable words, such as Ram and Syam are chanted, the mind is naturally going to have a pariticular occupation. Because the chant is repetitive, chain thinking is eliminated.

That any sound will work as a technique was demonstrated by one scientist using a meaningless sound and recording changes in various human functions. While the subject chanted this sound his thought processes and metabolism slowed down significantly. His blood pressure also came down and his heart beat rhythmically.

Since the person was sitting quietly, his mind occupied with the repetition of the meaningless sound, these findings are not surprising. Had he thought of some problem he was having, he would have began to fume and his heartbeat would naturally have increased. Based on the results of his study, the scientist wrote a paper in which he concluded that a special chant or mantra is not required and that repetition of any sound, even a meaningless sound, could produce the benefits he had recorded.

As a technique, any sound that is repeated will work in the same way as any other sound. But in what way will it work? For some time, no doubt, the body and the mind will be quietier. But, then, you may become amused that you are sitting and chanting a meaningless sound. Is it not amusing to set aside a time each day to chant gring.....gring..... gring so seriously?

I know I would be amused. Something would tell me, "Idiot! What are you doing?'' Then I would say , " Be quiet. You are always criticzing. You don't believe in anything. Keep chanting." Again, gring.....gring.....gring. "What is this gring?" someone would ask from inside. "It 's a meaningless sound," would come the reply. Then," A meaningless sound? Why are you chanting a meaningless sound?" It's calles...Be quiet. I told you not to criticize." Gring....gring.....gring.....gring. Then again from inside, "Did you pay for this? Why don't you change gring into zring or some other sound?" Why not?" "Be quiet! This sound was specially chosen for me." Gring....gring.....gring. It would be very difficult for me to chant this meaningless sound.

Anything you do should be meaningful. It is very difficult, therefore, to seriously sit and chant,a meaningless sound.You may not know the proper meaning of a chant, but you need to know that it is meaningful. If it is the Lord's name, you may not understand its full meaning, but because you know it means the Lord, you have enough understanding to chant it seriously.

GAYATRI MANTRA
In India, it is quiet common for a child to be initiated into a mantra, called Gayathri. The person who initiated me into Gayatri did not teach me its entire meaning. He only said that it was a prayer asking the Lord to give me a bright mind and that if I repeated it in this manner, I would have a bright mind.

Gayatri is a sanskrit prayer to Lord Surya, the sun, who stands for the all-knowing Lord who makes your mind brilliant. This is what I was told. And although I was not given its entire meaning, it was meaningful to me because it was a prayer. Later, of course, I gained an apperciation of its meaning.

In this way, this mantra and others serve as a technique, enabling a young child to learn how to use his or her mind. It works because, when the child chants the mantra, the mind will wander. The child then directs it back to the chant, thereby learning how to use the mind.

Therefore, at a young age a child gets an insight into his or her mind, which is not an ordinary thing. To know how the mind works is a great blessing. Even if we do not understand Gayatri or any other mantra completely, still we know it is a prayer whose meaning we can come to understand.

A MEANINGFUL CHANT
If a sound that has no meaning is chanted, it can serve as a technique. And, for the purposes I have mentioned, it looks as though any chant will work. But all sounds you repeat will not work because you cannot give meaning to a chant that is meaningless and, therefore, you cannot be serious about it.

Suppose, however, you chant a word that does not have a meaning, like carror:....carrot.....carrot......carrot......carrot. Or, zucchini....zucchini.....zucchini. We have varieties of meaningful words, even the word cookie: cookie...cookie....cookie. Why not? Any meaningful word is definitely a step ahead of a meaningless word, but something more is required for it to work as a japa. A meaningless word will not bring anything to your mind and a meaningful word will cause your mind to be full of carrots, zucchinis, cookies, or whatever. Therefore, neither of these kinds of words will work.

A NAME OF THE LORD
Instead , you choose one meaningful word that covers the whole creation, a word that is not one of the many objects in the world. A meaningless sound includes everything without indicating any one object. Since all objects are included in the form of the Lord, nothing is omitted when you repeat the Lord's name.

In this way, the meaningful chant becomes all- inclusive. All words are included in one chosen word. All names in all lanuages are also included. Traditionally, the word can vary. You can say Siva, Rama, Krsna, Jesus, or Allah, but in your mind the word chosen should stand for everything. Because the word does not stand for any onething, you will not be reminded of a given object when you chant it.

A MANTRA THAT IS TRADITIONALLY GIVEN
Also, you are related to the Lord whose name you repeat. As a devotee you are related, the relationship being between the devotee and the altar of your devotion alone. One recognizes the Lord in a given name or recognizing the Lord, a name is given. That name can be given traditionally or by education.

If it is traditionally given, the word and the Lord are already bridged in your psyche. This bridge is a blessing because the word immediately strikes in your mind as the Lord. Whether by tradition or by education, the word and its meaning must become connected in your mind.

To the meaning of a word hnown to you as the Lord, you are a devotee. The devotee is a fundamental person who assumes a variety of relative roles such as father, mother, wife, husband, brother and sister. If you are an individual, you are first related to the total and, only afterwards, are you related individually.

I AM RELATED TO THE TOTAL
Individuality is possible only when I carve myself out as an entity from the total. The one who identifies with a given physical body-mind-sense complex is an individual. The individual is naturally related to the total because, from this total alone, he or she is carved out as an entity, just as a tree has an individuality carved out from the total, the forest. The forest includes the tree, but the tree does not include the forest.

In this way, there is an individual and his or her Lord is the total. The Lord is a being and I am a being. The Lord is looked upon by as omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Thus, as an individual, my relationship with the total is fundamental, the total being the basis for the individual.

This individual entity is also related, but relatively, to all other individuals with whom he or she comes in contact - parents, aunts, uncles, husband or wife, children, neighbors, friends. And who is the person who is related? The person is fundamentally a devotee and this devotee is related to another person by assuming the role of son or daughter, sister or brother, niece or nephew, parent, and so on. Therefore, one becomes a devotee son or daughter, a devotee wife or husband, a devotee mother or father, a devotee friend, a devotee employee or employer, a devotee thinker, and a devotee seer.

INVOKING THE DEVOTEE
The devotee, then, becomes fundamental. It is the devotee that is invoked when one repeats the name of the Lord, the name being not separate from the meaning. When the word is repeated, the meaning naturally strikes.

Once you know the meaning of any word, you cannot separate the word from its meaning. For example, try repeating the word "car" without thinking of a car. It is impossible. A word and its meaning are inseparable.

Because I am related in this form to the meaning of the name of the Lord, the total, I naturally do not chant as a husband or wife, aunt or uncle, cousin, son or daughter. Thus, I am free from the distractions of these relative roles.

If a person chants as a father, he will have a lot of problems. Suppose, being a devotee of Siva, he named his son Subrahmanya, Subbu, for short. Subrahmanya is the name of Siva's son. Therefore, when the father repeats Lord Siva's name, what happens? Subbu comes into his mind, the one who does not study as he should. Because of this Siva - Subbu association all kinds of agitations will come. Thus if the father chants, Subbu will definitely come - along with all of the fatherly concerns.

Suppose, however, the devotee is invoked by the same person, then the Lord and the simple relationship between them is recognized. The devotee alone is there when the person chants, the role of father being relegated to a relative role assumed by the devotee. In the devotee - Lord relationship there will be none of the distractions attached to the relative roles assumed by the devotee.

CHANTS AND MANTRAS
There are words that are sometimes chanted that are not mantras at all - sivo'ham.. sivo'ham or so'ham.. so'ham, for example. So'ham means "He I am," "He" referring to the Lord. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that so'ham is a mantra. So'ham is a fact. It is a sentence to be understand. It means tat tvam asi, "You are that." If you are the Lord or if the Lord is you, there must be some non-differnece.

Because the differences are obvious to you, you need not inquire into them further. The non-difference is what you need to know and is the subject matter of the entire teaching of Vedanta. Therefore, sentences that are statements of facts are not mantras.

JAPA IS A MENTAL PRAYER
A japa is a word, sentence, or group of sentences, whose meaning is the Lord, wherein the individual invokes or salutes a particular deity as the Lord. It is neither a meaningless sound nor does it denote a particular object, like zucchini. Its meaning is the Lord, through which the devotee is invoked.

Therefore, japa not only serves as a technique but as a mental prayer. Only when the repition is a mental prayer it is called japa. Japa is recognized as an indirect means for gaining liberation because it destroys all obstructions and impurities, thereby preparing the mind for the knowledge that is liberation.

In the tenth chapter of the Bhagwadgita, Lord Krsna says, "There are many forms of rituals and many means through which I am invoked, bit among them I am japa. Japa, therefore, is something to be done and, as the Lord Himself, in the form of Krsna, has said, there is no activity more efficacious than japa.