In this Yoga of japa, all the other aspects of Yoga also will be found to commingle in some way or other. Inasmuch as there is a god in front of the japa sadhaka, bhakti Yoga comes in, even in japa sadhana. You love your god of the japa mantra, your divinity; you pray, and you are deeply in affection of that god. This is the bhakti aspect of japa sadhana.

And you concentrate with the power of your will on this divinity, on the rishi (sage) and on the mantra itself. This is the raja Yoga aspect of japa sadhana. You understand the immanence of this divinity everywhere, not that it is in one place only. The concentration on the immanent aspect of this divinity is the jnana Yoga aspect of japa sadhana. So, bhakti Yoga, raja Yoga, and jnana Yoga - all these are in japa sadhana. Bhagavan Sri Krishna has rightly said that nothing is equal to japa as a sadhana.

Whether you have to take a bath or not - sometimes this question will arise. These factors are irrelevant for Yoga sadhana. If you feel that the bath before japa is very good, take a bath; and you feel refreshed at that time. But if you are ill and you are not permitted by the doctor to take a bath, or you have some reason that you should not take a bath at that time, then there is no objection to your taking to japa sadhana even without your bath.

What about travelling in a railway train at that time? Let the train move - what does it matter? But you are not moving; you are in the same place, so forget the movement of the train. As you forget the movement of the earth and think you are stationary, like that you forget this also. Let the movement be there. It will not disturb you in any way. Thus, any time is good, and any manner conducive to concentration also is good in japa sadhana.

The mala (rosary) that you use is also very important. The mala has a twofold effect. Because of the continuous touching of the beads with the chanting of the mantra, the beads also get charged with a force, so the mala is very holy. You cannot just keep it on the ground or throw it somewhere. Many people put it on their neck, or keep it in a little bag secretly, so that it may not be soiled. Sometimes they tie it on the wrist, which is not proper because your hand does all kinds of things when you take food and wash yourself, etc. You touch all sorts of things, so it is not a good practice to tie the japa mala on the hand. It should be on the neck, or in your pocket.

Now, this japa mala is a reminder to you that you have to do the japa. Whenever you see the mala on your neck or in your pocket, you are reminded of a noble thing. When you see money in your pocket, you are suddenly reminded of some value; or if you have a pistol in your pocket, you are reminded of another idea altogether. But if you have a japa mala, a noble thought arises in the mind.

Generally, I would advise you to keep two things always in your pocket: one japa mala, and a small edition of the Bhagavad Gita. These will protect you also - not merely act as reminders. They are wonderful things. They are protective forces. They will guard you, like a guardian angel. Do not be under the impression that this is a silly matter. There is a great value here. Some people have praised rudraksha beads also to that extent: as long as you have a genuine rudraksha with you, it will guard you.

There is a report that I read in a paper once. There were two gentlemen travelling in a railway train. One of them was a foreigner; another was an Indian from the south. This South Indian was praising the value of japa through a rudraksha bead and he was mentioning the varieties of rudrakshas. He said that it is wonderful: as long as you have it with you, you will be guarded from even great dangers and catastrophes. The foreigner was listening to all this.

This person who was listening to the glory of the rudraksha bead read a report in the paper as to what happened at that time: "There was a sudden bursting noise, as if everything was getting shattered. I knew nothing else after that. When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital. There was a derailment of the train, a great tragedy, and many people were injured seriously. One person only was free from injury - some gentleman from the south. Somehow he escaped. Everyone else was injured in this calamity." It was the newspaper report which the injured one read while in hospital. Till then he was unconscious.

So, everything is wonderful in this world; all things are valuable and holy, and you should not scoff in a modernistic manner, which is very unfortunate for us, at things which are sacred, and regarded as sacred and protective forces by the ancient masters.

The japa mala is not only a reminder that you should do the japa; it is also a protective angel in your pocket. Keep it always with you. You tie a wristwatch always, but the wristwatch cannot protect you; the japa mala will protect you. You hang a mini-radio in your pocket; this is our modern culture. These are of no utility for you, finally. They are ultimate distractions. We have to live in this world beautifully, and not as tragic victims of dark forces. Take, then, to japa sadhana as a potent method of communion with divine forces.

Sankirtana also is a great Yoga. Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Chaitanya Deva, was an ardent promulgator of sankirtana bhakti: Chant the divine name to the ecstasy of your spirit; loudly call God, Come! In your own language you can have a bhajan of this kind. And because you feel that He is coming and He is charging you with His presence, you feel sometimes like dancing with the sankirtana mantras. The people who dance in sankirtana are not foolish people. They feel a new energy in themselves, and that is what makes them jump as children jump in pure enthusiasm.

Why do children run here and there, and when you are keeping quiet are not keeping quiet? Something or other they are doing always because of the overabundance of energy in their body. This overabundance of energy in sankirtana also is a divine gift. Thus, this is one of the methods you can adopt if other methods are not suitable for any reason. Namadev, Ekanath, Kabir, Mirabai, Surdas, Tulasidas - all took to this path as the sole means. There is no other way in Kali Yuga, say the scriptures.

All these instructions and admonitions are to bring you to a focusing point that you have to lead a spiritual life in the true sense of the term, and not as an isolated factor of your life. Spirituality is not something that is carried in your pocket that you take out whenever necessary. It is the vital breath of your life. It is the very skin of your personality. You carry it wherever you go. The spirit with which you live in this world, and act, speak and work, is your spirituality. Your attitude generally to anything is the spirituality thereof. It is not the scripture, it is what you think and feel throughout the day. That is your spirituality.

Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was a great embodiment of this kind of inclusiveness of the powers of nature and of people in one single individuality. He was a lover of God; he was a lover of human beings, of nature, of the Himalayas, of the Ganga, of holy places like Varanasi, Badrinath, Kanyakumari, Rameshwaram. There is nothing that he did not love, and he could summon their presence into himself.

This is another interesting thing to hear. You have to summon things into yourself; it is not always necessary to go to things. It is possible that if you finally want a thing, it will come. It is a psychological secret that if you strictly believe that what you want has come, it should come and it has to come, because your resolution touches the object that you need and it gravitates towards you immediately.

There is a story of the power that was exercised by Sage Bharadvaja, which we have to read in the Valmiki Ramayana. Bharata went to the forest in search of Rama. On the way he passed through the hermitage of Bharadvaja, somewhere near modern Allahabad, as we are told. Bharata went with a large army - elephants, horses and soldiers. When he found that he was nearing the sage's ashram, he removed his royal dress, removed his shoes, put on a dhoti and an upper cloth, and went alone to the holy ashram. The sage saw him and queried: "You are Bharata, coming from Ayodhya? What for have you come here?"

"I am in search of my brother who has left the palace and gone into the forest," said Bharata.

"He is staying somewhere near here. You can see him tomorrow. There is no objection. You have come alone, all the way from Ayodhya, like this?" asked the sage.

"No, Maharaj, I have a large army and retinue, and I did not want to disturb the sanctity of this place; therefore, I asked them to stay far away," said Bharata.

"No, call all of them here. You will all have supper. I will feed you," said the sage.

Bharata had a difficulty in his mind: "Is the sage testing me? He has nothing with him. He has only a water-pot, a walking stick and a yajnashala, and he is going to feed all these people?" Feeling thus in the heart, Bharata said, "Maharaj, I am very grateful for your kind words, but we do not require any dinner. I am going back."

The sage was omniscient. He knew all things in the minds of people. He thought, "This fellow is thinking that I have no power at all, that I am a beggar. Let me show my power to him."

"Call all of them," he said. When the sage thus ordered, Bharata brought the entire army, some thousands of them, with elephants and horses. This great master went to the yajnashala and poured a little ghee with mantras and all the divinities he summoned below. "Come Indra, come Varuna, come Ganga, come Yamuna, come Sarasvati, everybody come!" Immediately rivers started flowing in front. Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati were flowing around and angels descended from heaven with golden plates filled with delicious dishes. Thousands and thousands of them started descending with brilliant bodies. Each soldier and official had a residence and palace in which to stay, with bathing ghats, gardens, and people to massage their tired bodies. The people wondered if they were dreaming. Food was served. Nothing of the kind ever was tasted by any human being,such a celestial, grand dish was served! All were given beautiful beds in different palaces.

The soldiers began to mumble: "Let Bharata go in search of Rama; we will stay here only. Why should we go unnecessarily? This is a nice place. Let Bharata do his work. What does it matter?" They all slept very well. The next morning when they awoke, there was nothing to be seen. Only the jungle was there and one brahmana sage was sitting alone with a stick and a water-pot. All the celestials had vanished. What do you think of all this?

The power of summoning - you have only to want it intensely and it is there. If you want the grace of Swami Sivananda, it is here. It will come now, not tomorrow or the day after, but your heart should be prepared for it. Oh it may come or not, I am a foolish man. I don't know. He is very far away. If you think like that, he will be far away only. He will never come. Nay, nothing can come.

"It is near, it is all-pervading, everything is here; if I touch, everything comes," - assert thus deeply from the heart. It will come. As everything is everywhere, you will receive also everything everywhere. You need not move from your seat. Everywhere you will find everything, in the very place where you are sitting. Such is the power of the summoning that you can exercise by the Yoga of Universal Attunement.