Chanting from mala

[Sumit]

Recently I read in some books that while chanting mala one should not cross sumaru [the first beed]. The mala should be chanted from forward to backward and than backward to forward. However I always chanted forward to back. How do you chant??

 

[Poeticus]

Recently I read in some books that while chanting mala one should not cross sumaru [the first beed]. The mala should be chanted from forward to backward and than backward to forward. However I always chanted forward to back. How do you chant??

Sadly, I don't use mala-s and thus I am unable to answer your question. I basically recite hymns after hymns. You should join me, the vibration one gets from verbal mantra recitation is one of the highest sattvic things for a Hindu.

 

[Sumit]

Sadly, I don't use mala-s and thus I am unable to answer your question. I basically recite hymns after hymns. You should join me, the vibration one gets from verbal mantra recitation is one of the highest sattvic things for a Hindu.

I don't use mala normally. I simply chant mantras but for some anusthans malas are necessary.

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram sumit ji :namaste

Recently I read in some books that while chanting mala one should not cross sumaru [the first beed]. The mala should be chanted from forward to backward and than backward to forward. However I always chanted forward to back. How do you chant??

I turn at the sumeru bead , as you have described :namaste

 

[Poeticus]

I don't use mala normally. I simply chant mantras but for some anusthans malas are necessary.

Like reciting the Gayatri mantra 24 times?

 

[ratikala]

I don't use mala normally. I simply chant mantras but for some anusthans malas are necessary.

yes this is perfectly correct :namaste
some mantra needs to be chanted with a mala . very much relys upon the mantra and its purpose , if it is recitation for dedication , praise or offering , or if it is ones own personal sadhana .:namaste

 

[Sumit]

namaskaram sumit ji :namaste


I turn at the sumeru bead , as you have described :namaste

:namaste
Thanks. I think it's the right method.

Like reciting the Gayatri mantra 24 times?

No, It's easy to count 24 times. But when reciting a mantra 5000 times, it's difficult to count without mala.

 

[Poeticus]

No, It's easy to count 24 times. But when reciting a mantra 5000 times, it's difficult to count without mala.

Yeah, this is where me and many Hindus differ. I don't believe in huge counts of repetitions. It has become a weapon by some Hindus though to use against other Hindus:

"M.V., you are not a Hindu if you do NOT recite a mantra 5000 times!"

I am like, what??!?!?! I bet I can recite the verses that come before and after the mantra being recited repeatedly... I use this trick with the Gayatri Mantra - and when people say that I have to do the Gayatri Mantras many times, I am like, b**** please....I can recite the whole hymn from memory in which the Gayatri Mantra is found in

Click on Me and Scroll Down to Number 62

 

[ratikala]

:namaste
Thanks. I think it's the right method.

chanting on a mala also helps one to focus or absorb oneself in the nama .

have you been given a mala by a guru or teacher ?

 

[Sumit]

Yeah, this is where me and many Hindus differ. I don't believe in huge counts of repetitions.

But it always works for me.

It has become a weapon by some Hindus though to use against other Hindus:

"M.V., you are not a Hindu if you do NOT recite a mantra 5000 times!"

I definitely want to meet those people.

 

[Poeticus]

I definitely want to meet those people.

You can meet them for me and protect me!! muahahaha!!

 

[Sumit]

chanting on a mala also helps one to focus or absorb oneself in the nama .

have you been given a mala by a guru or teacher ?

No, I am an unlucky guy searching for guru. I purchase mala from market and than energize them and use them in rituals. But after the completion of rituals mala is either drowned in river or can be used for same ritual again but useless for others.

 

[ratikala]

Yeah, this is where me and many Hindus differ. I don't believe in huge counts of repetitions. It has become a weapon by some Hindus though to use against other Hindus:

"M.V., you are not a Hindu if you do NOT recite a mantra 5000 times!"

better some one recites once with a pure heart than 500,000,000,....times simply to prove a point ,

these hindus are ahamkarites that live in hindustan ,

we are sanatan dharmin :namaste

I am like, what??!?!?! I bet I can recite the verses that come before and after the mantra being recited repeatedly... I use this trick with the Gayatri Mantra - and when people say that I have to do the Gayatri Mantras many times, I am like, b**** please....I can recite the whole hymn from memory in which the Gayatri Mantra is found in

Click on Me and Scroll Down to Number 62

come back to this later , ....:namaste

 

[Sumit]

You can meet them for me and protect me!! muahahaha!!

Who knows if they even call me non Hindu. I also follow Arya Samaj so some people tell me that you don't know about Hinduism or if you do this you will not be hindu.

 

[Vinayaka]

I was taught to use the mala by rolling it over the middle finger of your right hand by gently pushing it with your thumb, and not going past the Guru bead, but reversing it at that point. The pointer finger should hardly touch the mala. Personally I use a 54 bead one and do rounds of 108.

Malas don't generally come with instructions, so you see people using them in a large variety of ways, like both hands, etc.

 

[Sumit]

I was taught to use the mala by rolling it over the middle finger of your right hand by gently pushing it with your thumb, and not going past the Guru bead, but reversing it at that point. The pointer finger should hardly touch the mala. Personally I use a 54 bead one and do rounds of 108.

Also one friend of mine said that we should hold mala below our navel and use mala bag while chanting [except chanting gayatri and some other mantras], however not sure if it is true because I never read it in any book.

 

[Vinayaka]

Also one friend of mine said that we should hold mala below our navel and use mala bag while chanting [except chanting gayatri and some other mantras], however not sure if it is true because I never read it in any book.

The mala bag is more a Vaishnava thing, I think. You see pictures of sadhus using malas with the wooden arm rest, and that would be above the waist I think. In the end, I'm sure it varies from school to school. things always do.

 

[Jainarayan]

If you're not initiated, you can but don't have to use a mala. There's nothing against using one if you want to, for your own vow of x-number repetitions, or your own convenience. If you're initiated, you have to use a mala. This is according to Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya. I have several of them (I'm non-initiated) but I find them to be a distraction. I would rather just get the melody of a particular chant in my head and run with it, no matter what the mantra is... they all refer to God... whether I'm sitting somewhere quietly, or grocery shopping.

 

[Yogi1054]

I tend to have different male depending on the nature of the mantra that I am using.

I always hold it in the right hand and when I get to the guru bead turn it using my fingers and then start the other way around.

One of my friends who is a Buddhist uses their left hand - but I have always been shown to use my right

 

[Jainarayan]

Buddhists do use the left hand. A Hindu would be horrified [note melodrama ] because the left hand is supposed to be used for personal hygiene, if you get my drift.