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[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:

> It is customary, when counting the number of times one chants a mantra,
> to start on the middle knuckle of the ring finger, and count to ten in a
> cyclic fashion. Human beings have opposable thumbs, which makes it
> possible for the thumb to touch all knuckles on all fingers.

In this regard, I briefly state what I picked up from discourses at the
kanchi madam.
 The counting of number of repetions of the japas we do with the
-knuckles- in our fingers is primarily meant for the Gayathri mantra
alone. All other mantra japas are to be counted using our fingers or beads
or any other convenient fashion.

 And as far as joining of fingers when meditating is conerned, scholars
have pointed that in several idol forms of Devi, the index finger and the
thumb are joined together, while the rest of the fingers are fully
extended. The joining of the index finger and the thumb is taken to mean
that we should first realise the Self; the index finger points at the
finger that represents our individuality. This is presumably the reason
for the thumb and its relation to the index finger to have such importance
in palmistry also.

 As to whether the actual practice of joining the fingers at their tips
actually makes a difference, I do not know. More often than not, the
actual act of counting the japas precludes the joinging of finger tips,
so ...

namaste.
vaidya.