Let this episode land softly in your day, right where you are. We're Mark and Maria (Juicy MagiK On the Daily) and today we’re sharing a practice that holds us close when the world gets loud: Japa meditation. It’s all about the feeling of the beads, the sound, memories tied up in repetition, and the simple joys of walking and chanting under the trees or in a quiet room (or even a cemetery, but that’s a story you’ll have to hear inside). You’ll hear family tales, sweet mishaps, loving ribbing, and what it’s like to come from a different tradition and slowly find comfort with a new, living practice. There’s room in this for everyone, whatever name or language or way brings you calm. No pressure, just presence. Find a few minutes of peace with us, maybe pick up your beads (or not, you can just listen). Thanks for stopping in. Peace, Haribol, and see you tomorrow.

I must say I must say are you all and peace be with you

2

welcome I'm Mark

3

and I'm Maria and we do see magic on the daily

4

thanks for coming in

5

welcome and hope you're feeling well today

6

and if not

7

I hope that you feel better after today's podcast

8

um I hope this is a little bit of a breath of fresh air

9

soft warm and soothing voice in the

10

in the craziness of modern the modern world

11

you wanted to get me some beads today

12

well yeah

13

we thought that you know

14

if you can

15

part of our practice

16

which we love to share with others is

17

is Japa meditation these are really beautiful

18

yeah

19

I once gave these beads to my father in 2,001

20

and he had them by his bedside

21

and he used to pray on them

22

he used to say the Lord is my Shepherd prayer

23

I think it's Psalm 23

24

and after he passed away I was able to

25

to take them back you know

26

my mom said you could take them now

27

it's so nice

28

I carry them with me as I did before I gave them to him

29

and then literally like 20

30

21 years later there they are back in my pocket

31

though if I had to grab anything

32

out of the house out of the house

33

it's on fire it's on fire

34

I would definitely probably grab my beads

35

um I have an

36

another set of special beads that

37

a friend of mine actually made for me and

38

and he made them with fishing wire

39

ha ha they're so strong

40

but they've been with me through thick and thin

41

so thank you dear friend

42

for making me those beads all those years ago

43

I still have them in my bead bag

44

typically uh

45

a full set of beads is a hundred and eight

46

first to the hundred and eight Apache beads

47

and this is a 1/2 round it's fifty four

48

and Japa meditation

49

it engages another sense and when we're

50

when we're saying and singing

51

or repeating the names of god on

52

in garonga or when we do the Mahamantra in kirtan

53

we engage the sense of hearing and the sense of

54

of the voice and the and the vibration

55

uh and this really

56

the nice thing about Japa

57

and these Japa malabes

58

is that they engage the sense of touch

59

and everyone likes you know

60

part of the reason that

61

people have a hard time giving up addiction sometimes

62

is also because of the

63

there's all these rituals and habits around it

64

and also sort of the

65

the touching and flicking of a cigarette

66

you know or so this engages the touch

67

the sense of touch and I find it extremely comforting

68

uh you know

69

sometimes I'll be in looking around where are my beads

70

you know and I wanna have them with me

71

I put typically wrap them around my wrist

72

or you even pick on your fingers

73

and that's when I know you need your beads

74

and you need my beads yeah

75

they help me they've helped me immensely with

76

just focusing my mind

77

and putting my heart on transcendent subject matters

78

and very comforting to me

79

and they might be comforting to you too

80

so we'll just teach that you know

81

the headbeat you don't usually count on the headbeat

82

usually say goronga on the headbeat

83

we'll just teach you a little mantra

84

another mantra that we love to chant on our beads

85

it's Gopala Gobindarama Madanamohana

86

these are not sectarian words

87

these are these are just names of god

88

that they're in a particular language

89

but you can say whatever names you're attracted to

90

whether in Russian or Arabic or Chinese

91

or Hebrew or Aramaic Greek

92

you see a lot of people around the world carrying beads

93

some call it ziccar and others call it the Rosemary

94

oh not the Rosemary

95

the rosary ha ha ha

96

although we love Rosemary

97

we picked some wild Rosemary

98

oh that's right

99

that's right yeah

100

we picked some wild Rosemary the other day

101

we made some really nice Rosemary potatoes

102

but um yeah

103

those are good yeah

104

I you know

105

coming from a a practice of not moving

106

being silent

107

totally absorbed in yourself

108

for me that that was a little bit strange

109

so it took me a couple months actually

110

um and I

111

I had this thank you for

112

that was a friend in from Italy

113

I I left my beads at her house

114

and she sent the beads in a little bead bag

115

so sweet that was so sweet

116

that was actually

117

you should just take care of your beads

118

keep them in a nice place

119

you're like a good friend

120

you know and she

121

she was so kind that she she knew that those beads

122

those are also beads that I had given to my father

123

yeah

124

and then they came back to me and I had forgotten them

125

yes and I

126

although I was like okay

127

maybe you can keep them

128

she knew that they were very special to me

129

and she so kindly offered to send them back to me

130

she sent them in the mail

131

but she put them in a little bead bag

132

yeah so I said Maria

133

you take them and use them please

134

yeah and I

135

I couldn't use them

136

because I'm coming from a meditation practice

137

where you don't move

138

the best practice is when you lose

139

you lose the

140

you know the

141

the the feeling of your body

142

you're somewhere else

143

you merge with something bigger that you can't grasp

144

the white light yeah

145

yeah the void drama

146

Joti or we'll talk about that yeah

147

there's lots to talk about

148

so I kept you know

149

merging with something and I didn't wanna move

150

so always when I moved or something was itching

151

and I gave in into that I got out of that state

152

so it was uh it was a bad thing to move for me and uh

153

um

154

you know no sound that

155

be completely quiet

156

because every sound gets you out of the state

157

you try that in the modern world

158

if you have a baby in the house or yeah

159

a roommate but that was my

160

that was my preferred practice

161

you know

162

no movement it was mine too

163

for a long time no style

164

I went through that process

165

yeah no nothing

166

you just nothing

167

I spent several years at the pastor centre

168

so yeah

169

so so when Mark gave me these beads I

170

I I

171

I just couldn't use them

172

so I was carrying them with me in my

173

in my bag or in my you know

174

and just and I just kept giving my hand inside

175

and playing with them

176

so I didn't sand on them for a couple months

177

many months cause I just couldn't

178

you know

179

this feeling of moving and getting into meditation

180

I had so many blockages from that

181

and I just had this restrictions

182

no no

183

no that's not the way

184

but slowly

185

it's getting

186

it's getting addicted to the feeling of the beach

187

and now I wake the last two nights

188

I woke up at exactly 4:00

189

beautiful time if you wake up at 4:00am

190

I know don't get stressed

191

pick up your beads and watch

192

it was exactly 4:00 twice now

193

and I got up and I got into the living room

194

and I just laid down and started chanting on my beans

195

so um

196

it could be that you have a lot of restrictions and

197

you know barriers to do something like that

198

because of many reasons

199

I won't dive into that right now

200

it's a very personal matter

201

but just give it a try and see how it feels

202

you might be surprised just like I was yeah

203

and I I've been practicing for over 25 years now and

204

and it's um

205

it's always fresh it always feels great

206

you know every time I sit down

207

you know if it's really noisy outside

208

I can plug one ear

209

and just really absorb myself in the sound

210

but also in the feeling of my beads

211

you know sometimes I'm furiously wiggling them

212

other times I'm just touching them lightly

213

I find if I need to slow down

214

I just sort of really slow on rolling them

215

there's no hard and fast rules

216

but we'll just teach you I'll just do

217

you know if you can pick up a set of beads

218

there's lots of places in local

219

you know

220

if you go down to a local place that sells crystals

221

you know incense and things like that

222

you usually can find beads oh oh

223

you remember those beads that I got

224

um I was in Glastonbury

225

and I went into the store

226

and they had this gorgeous beads

227

you know made out of crystals

228

ha ha

229

you know and all this

230

and I put them around my wrist

231

because it looked so nice

232

but they're very uncomfortable to chant on

233

yeah and you always

234

like they might break and it was really weird

235

so I what did I say to you

236

I said one of the best beads

237

the ones you use yeah

238

the ones you use they're not meant for

239

for fashion decoration decoration

240

although they they

241

you know I

242

I just love

243

I feel like I always have a friend coming with me

244

and I do in the in the transcendent sound

245

but also in the beats

246

so I always keep them in 1/2 set in my pocket

247

uh I never feel like I'm bored or have wasted time

248

if I'm online somewhere or walking somewhere

249

some people go out every morning and walk their dogs

250

faithfully and I

251

I try to walk my beats faithfully

252

and do you remember

253

when we were parking at these cemeteries

254

and we were traveling yeah

255

yeah yeah

256

yeah and Mike got up when the sun rose

257

I I'm not good at getting up early

258

but he was just walking through the cemetery

259

in the morning when the sun rose

260

and just walking his beads

261

and it was so nice to watch

262

and it's so nice and quiet

263

oh and cemeteries actually can be

264

most cemeteries are public

265

we found that they're great to park near

266

because there's usually a water

267

there's water there for the flowers

268

that people put on the gravesides

269

and so if you're respectful and it's public

270

cemeteries can be fantastically beautiful places

271

quiet places to take your beads for a walk

272

and also you're out in nature in the fresh air and uh

273

you know um

274

I've spent a lot of time in cemeteries in my lifetime

275

and I used to work in funeral

276

and cemetery for a period of time too

277

so it's also

278

it's humbling and sobering to just be reminded that

279

yeah one day all of this will be gone

280

and it's good to take stock of our life

281

and if you can do that even on a daily basis

282

it's great

283

but if you can find a nice place to walk your beads

284

in the morning even at night

285

we sometimes go for jappa walks

286

we'll just walk outside together

287

but we'll be chatting on our beads

288

and so we'll just I'll just quickly

289

you know the

290

the mantra we say on the head bead

291

you kind of go through the whole thing

292

and then instead of jumping over the head bead

293

you turn it around and just start again

294

uh

295

on the on the

296

the bead beside the head bead

297

and so I'll just demonstrate Goranga Goppa

298

Govinda Rama Madana Mohana

299

and then move to the next beat

300

go Palla go Vinderrama Madana Mohana

301

and we can go a little faster

302

go Palla go Vinderrama Madana Mohana go Palla

303

go Vinderrama Madana Mohana copala

304

govinda Rama madana mohana copala

305

govinda Rama madana mohana copala govinda Rama

306

madana mohana so copala

307

govinda Rama madana mohana

308

can you translate that

309

these are

310

these are all different names of God

311

and there's no hard and fast rules

312

um

313

god there's only one supreme being

314

and as enumerated in scripture

315

there's as innumerable names

316

too many names to count

317

in

318

in every scripture in the world I've

319

I've read that God's names are to be praised

320

in the Bible it says from the sun up to the sun down

321

the lord's name is to be praised in

322

I've seen I've read in

323

in Arabic you know

324

they have the hundred

325

the 99 most beautiful names of Allah

326

Alahim and

327

and so many so many different

328

languages for every language

329

there's a name or names of

330

that refer to the Supreme Person

331

Watan Tanka

332

in many native groups refer to the Great Spirit or

333

I've heard so many different names

334

and these ones are the ones that I find most attractive

335

they were certainly taught to me

336

and there's no hard and fast rules

337

if you if you like a

338

a different what are other ones

339

oh we

340

we also chant the Maha mantra

341

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna

342

Krishna Harry

343

Harry Rama Harry

344

Rama Rama

345

Rama Harry Harry

346

this means it's a

347

it's a prayer which means Lord

348

oh Lord

349

oh energy of the Lord

350

please engage me in loving service to you

351

and Krishna means a person who's all attractive

352

who attracts all

353

and haray refers to the feminine aspect of God

354

Radha and then Rama

355

means he who gives spiritual bliss

356

to those engaged in loving service to him

357

it's of course

358

it's a very blissful activity to render loving service

359

and in this age of quarrel chaos confusion

360

it's said that this is the

361

prime benediction for humanity at large

362

so grab your beads we'll do some more japa

363

throughout the

364

throughout the days and years and decades

365

can you say the one with merari

366

just gonna yeah yeah

367

I'm thinking of the one that you're thinking of

368

it's beautiful

369

Madana Mohana Murari he who attracts 1,000 cupids

370

or the conqueror of Cupid

371

is so beautiful that even Cupid is attracted to him

372

Madana Mohana Murari Madana Mohana Murari

373

just three words

374

3 names yeah

375

absolutely there's no hard and fast rules

376

you can I really like the word Morari so much

377

yeah you might find that there are certain names of god

378

or qualities of god

379

or descriptions of god that you're really attracted to

380

and that's a great um

381

that's great indicator don't be shy

382

yeah dive in

383

I didn't wanna say my name in India

384

so when somebody asked me what's your name

385

I said Murari dasi das servant of

386

you know

387

servant of Murari

388

yeah so I really like the merari one

389

we we encourage you to you know

390

when we we get together with people

391

we often have a lot of

392

I buy beads and then give them out I

393

love giving out beads and giving out incense

394

and

395

we offer sometimes these lovely candies

396

and give them out and it's really nice

397

it's a nice way to even at a very short period of time

398

give something that's really

399

of great value and can really help people to

400

engage in

401

so we went a little over time today

402

yeah but I think it's important because uh

403

this is something you can do anywhere

404

anytime

405

you can't do impersonal meditation

406

where you need a quiet stark

407

not that you can't move spot

408

that's that's something you

409

you can only do in a really safe place

410

and then we found it in the comfort of beads yeah

411

so you can do anywhere so

412

when we drive in the car and we're waiting somewhere

413

or when we just go for walks

414

we have it in our hands and sometimes

415

I mean mostly in the last months I didn't chant

416

I just played with them get got familiar with them

417

remembered them ha ha yeah

418

they start to become like an old friend

419

you always wanna have them with you

420

I know so it takes a while it really took me many

421

many months to get close to them again

422

and sometimes we lean into

423

and sometimes we lean away from our practices

424

and that's yeah

425

we're not perfect and we're not uh

426

you know

427

we still have we're still practicing so it's so lovely

428

it's it's a car it's

429

there's no

430

end to the different levels of consciousness one can

431

yeah be in I'm sorry

432

going all the time but for me

433

this is really important

434

because it was a change of mind that took many

435

many months

436

but I think many

437

many people who who come from the impersonal

438

silent meditation yeah

439

um we're just in the same situation tomorrow

440

remind me remind me to say the story about Bo Gaia and

441

and people go shh

442

you know

443

people shushing people cause it said please be quiet

444

you know and everyone was shuffling

445

and there's hundreds of thousands of pilgrims

446

and tell a story tomorrow yeah

447

tomorrow tomorrow

448

so peace be with you

449

peace be with you and I must stay in Haribol

450

thanks for tuning in to Juicy Magic on the daily

451

I'm Mark and Maria and we thank you for your time

452

energy and being

453

and look forward to hanging out with you tomorrow

454

I go bye

455

yeah so do we get 3 in 3

456

I didn't press stop yet

457

do we get do we record three though

458

yes

459

you little shits

460

it's not stopping