Changes

===Spontaneous Repetition===

.. it [mantra]must become a conscious but spontaneous thing repeating itself in the very substance of the consciousness itself, no longer needing any effort of the mind. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p74</ref>

When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, “Glory to You, O Lord,” into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolini’s help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was there… . But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and that’s the japa I do now—I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time. And that’s how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your being—there is no need of effort or concentration: it’s your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within…. No guru can give you that. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/may-11-1963#p5</ref>

Nobody can give you the true mantra. It's not something that is given: it's something that wells up from within. It must spring from within all of a sudden, spontaneously, like a profound, intense need of your being—then it has power, because it's not something that comes from outside, it's your very own cry. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/may-11-1963#p2</ref>

You choose your mantra; or rather, one day it comes to you spontaneously in a moment of difficulty. At a time when things are very difficult, when you have a sort of anguish, anxiety, when you don't know what is going to happen, suddenly this springs up in you, the word springs up in you. For each one it may be different. But if you mark this and each time you face a difficulty you repeat it, it becomes irresistible. For instance, if you feel you are about to fall ill, if you feel you are doing badly what you are doing, if you feel something evil is going to attack you, then.... But it must be a spontaneity in the being, it must spring up from you without your needing to think about it: you choose your mantra because it is a spontaneous expression of your aspiration; it may be one word, two or three words, a sentence, that depends on each one, but it must be a sound which awakens in you a certain condition. Then, when you have that, I assure you that you can pass through everything without difficulty. Even in the face of a real, veritable danger, an attack, for instance, by someone who wants to kill you, if, without getting excited, without being perturbed, you quietly repeat your mantra, one can do nothing to you. Naturally, you must truly be master of yourself; one part of the being must not be trembling there like a leaf; no, you must do it entirely, sincerely, then it is all-powerful. The best is when the word comes to you spontaneously: you call in a moment of great difficulty (mental, vital, physical, emotional, whatever it may be) and suddenly that springs up in you, two or three words, like magical words. You must remember these and form the habit of repeating them in moments when difficulties come. If you form the habit, one day it will come to you spontaneously: when the difficulty comes, at the same time the mantra will come. Then you will see that the results are wonderful. But it must not be an artificial thing or something you arbitrarily decide: "I shall use those words"; nor should somebody else tell you, "Oh! You know, this is very good"—it is perhaps very good for him but not for everyone. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/5-may-1951#p12</ref>

=Dealing With Obstacles In Japa=

….The fear, anger, depression etc. which used to rise when making the japa of the names came from a vital resistance in the nature (this resistance exists in everyone) which threw up these things because of the pressure on the vital part to change which is implied in sadhana. These resistances rise and then, if one takes the right attitude, slowly or quickly clear away. One has to observe them and separate oneself from them, persisting in the concentration and sadhana till the vital becomes quiet and clear.<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/inner-experiences-in-the-state-of-samadhi#p32</ref>