Chant round-the-clock: In his discourses, you may have heard Guru Siyag exhort practitioners to chant his divine mantra round-the-clock. Now what exactly does this mean? How is it possible to chant something 24 hours a day? How do you sleep if you are chanting or how do you chant when asleep? The answer is, you chant as much as possible during waking hours while going about your daily chores and activities such as eating, bathing, driving, walking, exercising, commuting to work, and even when resting or lounging. If you chant sincerely and consistently during waking hours, after a few days or weeks, the mantra chanting becomes involuntary. Guru Siyag says, “When you relentlessly chant the mantra I have given, you will realise after 15-20 days that the chanting has become involuntary. Even when you wake up in the middle of the night, you will find that the mantra is being chanted within you. You will feel as if ‘someone’ within has taken the responsibility of chanting for you and freed you from the effort.
How to Chant While Working: The main problem that most practitioners seem to face is the difficulty of chanting while at work. The mind becomes occupied by the task at hand — working on the computer, writing a project, doing accounts, talking to people, teaching students etc — and forgets to chant. Since at least 8 hours a day are spent at work, college or school, and 8 hours in sleep, how can a practitioner chant effectively in the time left? In the 8 hours that the practitioner has on hand (when not working or sleeping), effort must be made to chant the mantra wholeheartedly without forgetting. When the mantra is chanted sincerely during free, waking hours, the chanting becomes, as Guru Siyag says above, involuntary. The disciple has to put in this kind of sustained effort for only about two weeks, after that chanting becomes effortless and goes on even when the practitioner is working. About this Guru Siyag says, “After 15-20 days the Japa becomes effortless. During the day check 5-7 times to see if you are chanting and you will find that it is going on of its own accord.”
Movement of Lips and Tongue: The mantra must be chanted silently and mentally without moving lips and tongue. When reading a book or newspaper silently, only the eyes move over the words but the lips and tongue remain unmoving. The mantra too should be chanted in a similar manner. It is perfectly normal to experience a slight vibration of the tongue; that is absolutely fine and allowed. Chant the mantra at a medium pace — not too fast or too slow. If you chant the mantra too fast, the words will be jumbled up and if you chant it too slow your mind may wander off.
The Guru’s Voice: Something Guru Siyag has said in one of his discourses has confused a number of disciples. He says “मेरी आवाज़ साथ रखो (always remember my voice).” A number of seekers have taken this to mean that the chanting has to be done in Guru Siyag’s voice; in other words a constant mental remembrance of Guru Siyag’s voice chanting the mantra. This interpretation is incorrect because it unnecessarily complicates a spiritual practice that is centered around being simple and effortless. Guru Siyag’s instruction merely means that when a new seeker wants to receive the mantra, it should be given only in Guru Siyag’s voice. Instead of the instructor saying the mantra out loud, an audio or video recording of Guru Siyag saying the mantra should be played.
