Can we have a vision of 'any' god with 13 crore nama japa?

Question

It is well known that the Rama Nama Japa is capable of giving moksha and the number is also given by Ramdas to be exactly 13 crores.

Sri Samarth Ramdas assures the aspirant that if he takes ―Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram‖ 13 crores of times, he will have the vision of Sri Rama. The Mantra mentioned by Samarth Ramdas is without 'OM'. The Mantra Ramdas gives you is ―Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram‖. 'OM' has untold spiritual power. Hence Ramdas, from his own experience, tells you that by repeating this Mantra with `OM‘ six crores of times, you will attain salvation. Repeat the Mantra at all times, until the target is reached. You need not keep count of the Mantra. When it reaches six crores you will automati-cally realize Ram—the Supreme Self. Chanting His name is the way to make Him manifest Himself in you.

[18, THE AIM OF LIFE, THUS SPEAKS RAMDAS]

Although Swami Sivananda uses the word 'Ishta', he immediately mentions the name of Rama.

Form a strong habit of repeating the Name of the Lord. Then only it will be easy for you to remember Him at the moment of death also.

If you do Japa of a Mantra 13 crores of times, you will have Darshan of your Ishta in physical form. If you are sincere and earnest, you can do this within 4 years.

In 14 hours, you can do 2000 Malas of Hari Om Japa. In 7 hours you can do Japa of one lakh of Sri Rama Mantra. In half an hour you can do 10,000 Sri Rama Japa.

[Constant Japa With Bhava Needed, Japa Yoga]

Swami Sivananda might just use the Rama Nama to calculate the time that takes to complete 13 crore recitations. The same might hold for all other deities like Parvathi, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Hanuman, Vinayaka, etc. I am in search of more references.

Most people discuss the Rama mantra only. So, I want to know the references for the general statement "Any diety is visible physically after the recitation of name for 13 crore times", Or for the reference that is particular to any other deity other than Rama.

Answer 1

Quoting from Swami Sivananda's Mantra Yoga Sadhana:

METHOD OF MANTRA PURASCHARANA

The repetition of a Mantra with rigid spiritual observances a fixed number of times to obtain quick spiritual progress is known as Mantra Purascharana. It can be performed for material progress too. The practitioner should observe certain rules and undergo strict dietetic discipline to ensure quick Mantra Siddhi.

During the Purascharana take only fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, roots, barley and Havis-Anna (rice cooked with ghee, sugar, milk). A Sadhaka can live on pure Bhiksha (alms) also. If you can live on milk alone during the period of Purascharana it is highly laudable. You can have Mantra Siddhi even by repeating the Mantra a lakh of times.

Select any holy place of pilgrimage on the banks of sacred Ganga, confluence of rivers, mountain valleys of charming scenery, temples, Tulasi gardens, below Asvattha trees or convert a portion of your house into a temple by keeping the picture of the Lord, burning incense etc., and by suitable decorations. Purascharana done in holy places has a benefit hundred times superior to that done in one's own house.

You can select any Mantra for Purascharana. Your Guru Mantra or Ishta Mantra is the best. Sandhya time, sunrise, sunset, midday are all recommended for Japa. Repeat the Mantra as many lakhs of times as there are letters in the Mantra. You can do half of that number. In no case the number should be less than a lakh.

Sit facing East or North during Japa. Select Siddha, Padma, Svastika or Virasana for Japa. Never sit for Japa with a loaded stomach. Have fixed timings for Japa. Take a bath before you start, if possible, or at least wash hands and feet. Perform Achamana or sipping of Sanctified Mantra water. Deer skin, cloth, blanket, Kusa grass or tiger skin can be used as seats while doing Japa. Spatika, Tulasi, Rudraksha Malas can be used for counting the number of Japa. Have a Mala with 108 beads or half or one-fourth that number.

So, Purascharana for all Mantras is not achieved by 13 lakhs of Japa. For example, for Panchadashi mantra (comprised of 15 letters), at least 15 lakh Japa is required. As correctly pointed out by Tezz, the mantra being talked in the question has 13 letters hence 13 lakh repetitions for that particular case.

Achieving success in Purascharana depends on various factors and is quite difficult to achieve (some saints/aspirants have attained success only after as many as 7 tries). But if it is a success then Devata Darshana (vision of the deity of whose mantra is being repeated) is one of it's fruits as shown in this answer.

Some more related posts:

1. https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/42593/4732

2. https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/17177/4732

Answer 2

The answer to this question is yes. One can have a vision of God after such a marathon effort. One can have the vision of a deity by repeating a mantra even once in some exceptional cases. The catch is that the japa must be done with fervent devotion.

Followers of the devotional schools, especially the Vaishnavas, feel that if real love comes and a taste for the sweetness of His Name develops, taking the Name once is enough. Sri Shankara also supports this idea, saying that for a qualified aspirant, hearing the mahavakya, the four great non-dualistic mantras identifying the individual soul with Brahman, only once is enough, but for ordinary aspirants repetition is necessary.

Meditation and Other Spiritual Disciplines, Chapter 2, Japa or Repetition of Holy Words, by Swami Swahananda

To be the most fruitful in its effect, God's Name must be repeated with fervent devotion. If the Name is thus repeated perfectly even once, it has the capacity to burn away all sins.

Meditation and Other Spiritual Disciplines, Chapter 4, The Divine Name, by Swami Swahananda

What is the purpose of Japa? It is to purify the mind. What happens when purity of mind or chittasuddhi is attained? Truth or God dawns in such a mind. So burning of all sins is an equivalent way of saying that God is seen.

It has been suggested in a comment that the link between freedom from sins and seeing God is not correct since people who bathe in the Ganges become free of sins and still don't see God. Does bathing in the river Ganga really free oneself from all sins?

Adhering to eternal Truth, one should bathe in the Tirtha called Manasa (Atman), which is unfathomable (for its depth), stainless, and pure, and which has Truth for its waters and the understanding for its lake. The fruits in the form of cleansing, that one acquires in that Tirtha, are freedoms from cupidity, sincerity, truthfulness, mildness (of behavior), compassion, abstention from injuring any creature, self-restraint, and tranquility. Those men that are freed from attachments, that are divested of pride, that transcend all pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain, praise, and blame, heat and cold, etc.), that have no spouses and children and houses and gardens, etc. that are endued with purity, and that subsist upon the alms given to them by others, are regarded as Tirthas. He who is acquainted with the truth of all things and who is freed from the idea of meum (self), is said to be the highest Tirtha. In searching the indications of purity, the gaze should ever be directed towards these attributes. Those persons from whose souls the attributes of Sattwa and Rajas and Tamas have been washed off, they who, regardless of (external) purity and impurity pursue the ends they have proposed to themselves, they who have renounced everything, they who are possessed of omniscience and endued with universal sight, and they who are of pure conduct, are regarded as Tirthas possessing the power of cleansing. That man whose limbs only are wet with water is not regarded as one that is washed. He, on the other hand, is regarded as washed who has washed himself by self-denial. Even such a person is said to be pure both inwardly and outwardly. They who never concern themselves with what is past, they who feel no attachment to acquisitions that are present, indeed, they who are free from desire, are said to be possessed of the highest purity. Knowledge is said to constitute the especial purity of the body. So also freedom from desire, and cheerfulness of mind. Purity of conduct constitutes the purity of the mind. The purity that one attains by ablutions in sacred waters is regarded as inferior. Verily, that purity which arises from knowledge, is regarded as the best. Those ablutions, which one performs with a blazing mind in the waters of the knowledge of Brahma in the Tirtha called Manasa (Atman), are the true ablutions of those that are conversant with Truth. That man who is possessed of true purity of conduct and who is always devoted to the preservation of a proper attitude towards all, indeed, he who is possessed of (pure) attributes and merit, is regarded as truly pure.

Mahabharata Anusasana Parva Section CVIII

It is true that many scriptures talk of getting rid of sins by bathing in Ganga. In the light of the above passage one comes to the conclusions that the real Ganga is not the river seen in the Earth plane but the waters of the Atman.

Is purity of mind equivalent to seeing God?

"The Pure Mind and the Pure Atman are one and the same thing. Whatever comes up in the Pure Mind is the voice of God. God alone is the 'mahut Narayana'."

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chapter 44, The Master on Himself and His experiences

One who has attained pure mind has become Brahman since pure mind is the same as the pure Atman.

Answer 3

Always remember one thing that there is no difference between name and God.Lord's presence becomes there as soon as the name is chanted.That thing is different that your eyes are not capable enough to see God now.That's why chant the name continuously to see the God. I am telling you the simplest mantra which was told by Lord Krishna himself to Arjuna.

अथ श्रीपद्मपुराण वर्णित रामनामामृत स्त्रोत श्रीकृष्ण अर्जुन संवाद~

अर्जुन उवाच~

१) भुक्तिमुक्तिप्रदातृणां सर्वकामफलप्रदं । सर्वसिद्धिकरानन्त नमस्तुभ्यं जनार्दन ॥

अर्थ:~ सभी भोग और मुक्ति के फल दाता, सभी कर्मों का फल देने वाले, सभी कार्य को सिद्ध करने वाले जनार्दन मैं आपको नमन करता हूं।

२) यं कृत्वा श्री जगन्नाथ मानवा यान्ति सद्गतिम् । ममोपरि कृपां कृत्वा तत्त्वं ब्रहिमुखालयम्।।

अर्थ:~हे श्रीजगन्नाथ! मनुष्य ऐसा क्या करें कि उसे अंत में सद्गति हो? वह तत्व क्या है? मेरे पर कृपा करके अपने ब्रह्ममुख से बताइए।

श्रीकृष्ण उवाच~

१) यदि पृच्छसि कौन्तेय सत्यं सत्यं वदाम्यहम् । लोकानान्तु हितातार्थाय इह लोके परत्र च ॥

अर्थ:~ हे कुंती पुत्र! यदि तुम मुझसे पूछते हो तो मैं सत्य सत्य बताता हूं, इस लोक और परलोक में हित करने वाला क्या है।

२) रामनाम सदा पुण्यं नित्यं पठति यो नरः । अपुत्रो लभते पुत्रं सर्वकामफलप्रदम् ॥

अर्थ:~श्रीराम का नाम सदा पुण्य करने वाला नाम है, जो मनुष्य इसका नित्य पाठ करता है उसे पुत्र लाभ मिलता है और सभी कामनाएं पूर्ण होती है।

३) मङ्गलानि गृहे तस्य सर्वसौख्यानि भारत। अहोरात्रं च येनोक्तं राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम्।।

अर्थ:~हे भारत! उसके घर में सभी प्रकार के सुख और मंगल विराजित हो जाते हैं, जिसने दिन-रात श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षरों का उच्चारण कर लिया।

४) गङ्गा सरस्वती रेवा यमुना सिन्धु पुष्करे। केदारेतूदकं पीतं राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम् ॥

अर्थ~जिसने श्रीरामनाम के इन दो अक्षरों का उच्चारण कर लिया उसने श्रीगंगा, सरस्वती, रेवा, यमुना, सिंधु, पुष्कर, केदारनाथ आदि सभी तीर्थों का स्नान, जलपान कर लिया।

५) अतिथेः पोषणं चैव सर्व तीर्थावगाहनम् । सर्वपुण्यं समाप्नोति रामनाम प्रसादतः ।।

अर्थ:~उसने अतिथियों का पोषण कर लिया, सभी तीर्थों में स्नान आदि कर लिया, उसने सभी पुण्य कर्म कर लिए जिसने श्रीराम नाम का उच्चारण कर लिया।

६) सूर्यपर्व कुरुक्षेत्रे कार्तिक्यां स्वामि दर्शने। कृपापात्रेण वै लब्धं येनोक्तमक्षरद्वयम्।।

अर्थ:~उसने सूर्य ग्रहण के समय कुरुक्षेत्र में स्नान कर लिया और कार्तिक पूर्णिमा में कार्तिक जी का दर्शन करके कृपा प्राप्त कर ली जिसने श्रीराम नाम का उच्चारण कर लिया।

७) न गंङ्गा न गया काशी नर्मदा चैव पुष्करम् । सदृशं रामनाम्नस्तु न भवन्ति कदाचन।।

अर्थ:~ ना तो गंगा, गया, काशी, प्रयाग, पुष्कर, नर्मदादिक इन सब में कोई भी श्रीराम नाम की महिमा के समक्ष नहीं हो सकते।

८) येन दत्तं हुतं तप्तं सदा विष्णुः समर्चितः। जिह्वाग्रे वर्तते यस्य राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम्।।

अर्थ:~उसने भांति-भांति के हवन, दान, तप और विष्णु भगवान की आराधना कर ली, जिसकी जिह्वा के अग्रभाग पर श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षर विराजित हो गए।

९) माघस्नानं कृतं येन गयायां पिण्डपातनम् । सर्वकृत्यं कृतं तेन येनोक्तं रामनामकम्।।

अर्थ:~ उसने प्रयागजी में माघ का स्नान कर लिया, गयाजी में पिंडदान कर लिया उसने अपने सभी कार्यों को पूर्ण कर लिया जिसने श्रीराम नाम का उच्चारण कर लिया।

१०) प्रायश्चित्तं कृतं तेन महापातकनाशनम् । तपस्तप्तं च येनोक्तं राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम् ।।

अर्थ~उसने अपने सभी महापापों का नाश करके प्रायश्चित कर लिया और तपस्या पूर्ण कर ली जिसने श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षर का उच्चारण कर लिया।

११) चत्वारः पठिता वेदास्सर्वे यज्ञाश्च याजिताः । त्रिलोकी मोचिता तेन राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम् ।।

अर्थ~उसने चारों वेदों का सांगोपांग पाठ कर लिया सभी यज्ञ आदि कर्म कर लिए उसने तीनों लोगों को तार दिया जिसने श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षर का पाठ कर लिया।

१२) भूतले सर्व तीर्थानि आसमुद्रसरांसि च। सेवितानि च येनोक्तं राम इत्यक्षरद्वयम् ।।

अर्थ~उसने भूतल पर सभी तीर्थ, समुद्र, सरोवर आदि का सेवन कर लिया जिसने श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षरों का जाप कर लिया।

अर्जुन उवाच~

१) यदा म्लेच्छमयी पृथ्वी भविष्यति कलौयुगे । किं करिष्यति लोकोऽयं पतितो रौरवालये ।।

अर्थ~भविष्य में कलयुग आने पर पूरी पृथ्वी मलेच्छ मयी हो जाएगी इसका स्वरूप रौ-रौ नर्क की भांति हो जाएगा तब जीव कौन सा साधन करके परम पद पाएगा?

श्रीकृष्ण उवाच~

१) न सन्देहस्त्वया काय्र्यो न वक्तव्यं पुनः पुनः । पापी भवति धर्मात्मा रामनाम प्रभावतः ।।

अर्थ~यह संदेह करने योग्य नहीं है, जैसे संदेह व्यर्थ है वैसे बार-बार वक्तव्य देना भी व्यर्थ है। कैसा भी पापी हो श्रीराम नाम के प्रभाव से वह धर्मात्मा हो जाता है

२) न म्लेच्छस्पर्शनात्तस्य पापं भवति देहिनः । तस्मात्प्रमुच्यते जन्तुर्यस्मरेद्रामद्वचत्तरम् ।।

अर्थ~उसे मलेच्छ के स्पर्श का भी पाप नहीं होता, मलेच्छ संबंधित पाप भी छूट जाते हैं जो श्रीराम नाम के दो अक्षरों का जाप करते हैं।

३) रामस्तत्वमधीयानः श्रद्धाभक्तिसमन्वितः। कुलायुतं समुद्धृत्य रामलोके महीयते ।।

अर्थ~जो श्रीराम से संबंध रखने वाले स्त्रोत का पाठ करते हैं तथा जिनकी भक्ति, विश्वास और श्रद्धा श्रीराम में सुदृढ़ है। वह लोग अपने दस हज़ार पीढ़ियों का उद्धार करके श्रीराम के लोक में पूजित होते है।

४) रामनामामृतं स्तोत्रं सायं प्रातः पठेन्नरः । गोघ्नः स्त्रीबालघाती च सर्व पापैः प्रमुच्यते ।।

अर्थ~जो सुबह शाम इस रामनामामृत स्त्रोत का पाठ करते हैं वे गौ हत्या, स्त्री और बच्चों को हानि पहुंचाने वाले पाप से भी बच कर मुक्त हो जाते हैं।

(इति श्रीपद्मपुराणे रामनामामृत स्त्रोते श्रीकृष्ण अर्जुन संवादे संपूर्णम्)