Tuesday, May 15, 2012

MALA & ROSARY

The rosary is an ancient spiritual tool. Throughout the Far East, rosaries are called malas and consist of 108 beads. For spiritual disciplines, rosaries are used the same way regardless of the religious tradition: primarily to count the number of repetitions (japa) of the mantra or prayer. While 108 beads had been used in Vedic malas for thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, the Catholic Church adopted fifty-four beads, one-half mala, plus a pendant consisting of five beads. (While this five-decade version is the most familiar, the “full” rosary consists of fifteen decades of beads plus the pendant.) One might say, for example, that one has performed twenty rosaries or ten malas of a specific prayer or mantra. As any practicing Roman Catholic can tell you, saying the rosary is a powerful experience”.

HEALING MANTRAS, by Thomas Ashley Farrand

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