Mantra and Japa

This lesson exists to make one distinction. Before it can be made, the two words have to be taken out of the atmosphere that surrounds them in English.

The lexicon opens the entry with the word's formation: "instrument of thought". Then the senses, in order.

Speech; sacred text or speech; a prayer or song of praise — cited to the Ṛgveda, the Atharvaveda and the Taittirīya Saṃhitā.

A Vedic hymn or sacrificial formula — and specifically that portion of the Veda which contains the ṛc, yajus and sāman texts, as opposed to the Brāhmaṇa and Upaniṣad portions. So "mantra" is first a name for a layer of the Veda.

A sacred formula addressed to an individual deity, with an example given: oṃ śivāya namaḥ.