mala
माला malaA rosary for counting japa, standardly 108 beads plus a larger meru or guru bead, which is turned back from rather than crossed.
Where this term appears
- The Gayatri Mantra Worship
At its centre sits japa , counted on a mala of 108 beads, and in the vowed disciplines of purashcharana , counted into the millions.
- What is a Mantra? Worship
To count the rounds, many use a mala , a string of beads, almost always 108 of them plus one larger "head" bead, the meru , that marks where a circuit closes.
- How the Vedas Were Preserved History
They have names like mala (garland), shikha (topknot), dhvaja (flag), ratha (chariot), and the two most famous, jata (braid) and ghana (dense).
- What are Mudras? Lineages
When a devotee turns a mala , a rosary of a hundred and eight beads, through the fingers in japa , the murmured repetition of a holy name, the strand is cradled on the middle finger and each bead is rolled past…
- What is Diksha? Lineages
For this school, the soul is bound by mala , impurity, and mala is not a mere mistake or a wrong idea.
- What is Shaktipat? Lineages
The second candidate is malaparipaka , the ripening of mala , the innate impurity that binds the soul, on the analogy of a fruit that must ripen before it falls.
- Who is Saraswati? Deities
In the last is a mala , a rosary, for the inner knowledge won in meditation, so that her gift runs from the arts through the sciences to the wisdom that has no object at all.
- Who is Shiva? Deities
It holds three eternal, real categories, Lord, soul, and bond, and teaches that the soul is veiled by three impurities, the malas : āṇava , primal finitude, karma , and māyā .