Tonge tastes Sound - Nama Japa

 When you chant japa, the tongue sits at a fascinating crossroads. In ordinary life, it functions as an indriya. As an indriya, it is powerful. It seeks taste, speaks impulsively, expresses preference, argues, enjoys, criticizes. It has force. It pulls consciousness outward through flavor and speech. This is the indriya-dimension, the power aspect.

But during japa, something subtle shifts.

The same tongue becomes a hṛṣīka. Remember, hṛṣīka comes from √hṛṣ, to become stimulated or thrilled. The tongue is no longer chasing taste. It becomes vibrationally engaged in nāma. Instead of being excited by rasa of food, it becomes spiritually stimulated by nāma-rasa. The excitatory circuit is not suppressed. It is redirected.

In neurological terms, the reward pathways that normally activate through sensory gratification begin to associate pleasure with sacred sound repetition. Gradually, chanting itself becomes the stimulus. The thrill relocates.

This is precisely what “hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam” implies. The senses are not annihilated. They are reoriented toward their source.

At first in japa, the tongue is indriya. It resists, wanders, prefers other tastes. Through abhyāsa, repetition stabilizes it. Through anuśīlana, cultivation transforms it. Over time, the tongue becomes a hṛṣīka serving Hṛṣīkeśa. Speech purifies. Taste refines. The thrill of gossip weakens. The thrill of mantra strengthens.

Then something deeper happens.

The mind begins to follow the tongue.

The ear listens to the sound it produces. The auditory loop closes. The senses form a devotional circuit. Excitation becomes absorption.

In that moment, japa is no longer discipline alone. It becomes nearness. The sensory system, once scattered, now converges toward a single luminous center.

The tongue that once chased flavor now tastes sound. And that sound tastes like home.