They said 'ask a Garuda'tiagolps wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:54 pmThe snake thingies didn't tell you to ask your teacher?Mantrik wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:44 pmJust tried it, but some snake thingies hurled it back out of the pan at me and told me to do something like Snag a Poo Jar and stop pissing them off. Sometimes, the advice we get on this forum..............Grigoris wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:02 pm Sure, once you have trained to the level of the Mahasiddha Virupa I am sure you can pull off the feat.
Seriously, 'ask your teacher' IS the answer. Again!
As with so many aspects of practice, Lamas differ in their advice.
People can tell you what their own Lamas recommend but that doesn't mean your own Lama will agree, and since they gave you the mantra, it makes sense to ask them.
Using a mala in public is a matter of 'working with circumstances'. If you use a mala in full view then just be aware of where you are and how others may react - which can be positive or negative.
You may see a Hindu using a mala bag to hide the mala, but you can see they are using one. It was really funny when I saw a monk at Delhi airport using his mala in his lap under his zen - he drew some very strange looks from Westerners who were obviously convinced that he was masturbating!