God is worshipped in numerous ways. He is invoked in an imago, or in any attractive natural object, and is adorned with the feeling that He is present before the worshipper. The worshipping devotee looks upon Him as his invisible father, mother, king, protector and friend. Attention is paid to the object of worship with fervor and tenderness of feeling. The worshipper is careful in offering to the worshipped all the details of divine honour and hospitality. The best articles that could be procured are consecrated to Him. In return, the devotee gets divine grace and protection. This is the usual form of external worship.
There are aspirants who like to worship God in a more interior way. They too may adopt some kind of external worship as long as they feel need for it. But their chief means of worship is thought and word. Some of them may completely give up outward rituals of worship and concentrate their mind entirely on divine thoughts. These worshippers need support for their practice. Divine names, holy formulas, hymns from the scriptures and devotional songs supply them with the necessary support for their God-ward thoughts and feelings. They may combine the performance of external worship and the practice of japa of Divine Names for some time. Then they may devote themselves exclusively to mental and oral worship when they attain maturity for it.
A still higher form of worship comprises in pure contemplation on God. Usually this is a stage which can be reached by an aspirant only after long training. Advanced religious seekers also find that the chanting of devotional songs and the repetition of God's Names are immensely helpful; for they alone give purity and concentration of mind necessary for the life of uniform meditation. Only through divine grace a person comes to feel attraction towards God and the obstacles in his path to God are removed. Therefore sages and saints who prescribe for persons who desire to cultivate love of God say that they should continuously resort to the Divine Name in order to bring about purity of mind, depth in contemplation, removal of obstacles and fitness for receiving divine grace.
Taking the Divine Name is called japa. A person may utter a Name of God or a formula containing some divine thought, or a passage describing God's qualities. He may remember them, or may utter them in a manner just audible, to himself. When this process is repeated continuously and daily, at fixed hours, it becomes the practice of japa. Complete attention to the words of the mantra is the essence of japa. Portions of the Vedas, texts like the Bhagavadgita and passages from the Puranas, or a Divine Name taught by the guru sup-ply the theme for japa. A single Name of God may be repeated without break.
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