Page 36 - Ecstasy and Agony in the Journey to Infinity

Japa. Then comes the question how many times? Is it a 1000, 100000, 108? There will be a count. If you do no service to God - service to God is what was done by the squirrel. If you don’t do any service, then austerity and penance are inevitable. If you don’t get into a state of service to Master early (as mentioned in the story of Squirrel), then you will have to do severe practices of Japa (austerity).
What is Japamu? Japamu is part of austerity. What is austerity? We say austere practices. What does it mean? It means reduction of wants. Practicing severe restraints on food. The main point is, they are severe practices. Instead of eating two times, you eat only once. Stomach should not be full. Instead of being full, it should be half full. These are some of the austere practices. We observe fast on certain auspicious days. All these come under austerity. Severely restricting the intake of food and other comforts. Sleeping on hard floors is another way of observing austerity, sleeping less for a maximum of 5 to 6 hours.
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