In the present times, Chanting Naam, that is, the repeated utterance of a name with faith, reverence and devotion is considered important by all the religions in the world. The Name is usually that of God, a deity, a saint or your Guru. For such chanting to be truly effective, it should also have melody and rhythm so that one's mind can get engrossed in it and enjoy it.

The vibrations and the resonance produced by such chanting prove to be beneficial for both the body and the mind. For those who chant a name in such a manner, that very name turns out to be a blessing. Even by listening attentively to such chants, a disturbed mind can become serene and peaceful.

You will find alongside links to the audio clips of the chants of various religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Hinduism, each of which is equally effective.

At this juncture, you might be tempted to interrupt and ask whether chanting can benefit a person who doesn't have faith in any religion and doesn't believe in God. Yes, even such a person can benefit by chanting a secular word like peace, love, bliss and so on or the name of some person whom he or she likes or loves.

There are primarily three types of chanting namely, group-chanting, chanting meditation and round-the-clock chanting, each with a different objective.

Group-Chanting (Naam Sankeertan)
                                                        A group of aspirants gather and chant a naam or a variety of naam together, usually accompanied by suitable musical instruments like tabla, harmonium etc. This type of chanting helps in many ways. An aspirant gets enough practice of chanting and also becomes familiar with a variety of naam, may be from different localities, different languages or even different religions. An exposure to others, makes an aspirant’s vision, broader. The biggest advantage of group chanting is that an aspirant starts realizing and experiencing that he is a part of a huge human gathering, all enjoying their stay on this planet in perfect harmony, quite similar to a honeycomb, where honey-bees work in tandem and collect large amount of honey, always remaining obedient to their Queen. In group chanting, everyone is contributing to a bucketful of bliss, all having Faith in the God or the Guru. On the practical side, imagine what this group of aspirants would be doing, if not chanting. They would have certainly idled away their precious time in meaningless gossiping and nothing else. Tempo of such group-chanting is usually fast enough to keep everybody engrossed and also to keep the chanting going.

Chanting meditation (Naam Sadhana)
                                                  Here the objective is to attain a state of meditation i.e. a thought-free state of relaxed awareness. Such chanting has a much slower tempo to facilitate a smooth transition into a relaxed, thought-free state of mind where one eventually loses even body consciousness and is merely aware of one's existence. This is called the shoonyavastha or zero-state. If this state of mind continues uninterruptedly, one can also move into samadhi or a state of superconsciousness. Since this is, in fact, meditation through chanting it is preferably done in a quiet place in one's home or some other secluded place where one is not likely to be disturbed during the period of meditation.

Round-the-clock chanting (Akhand Naam)
                                                  Is it possible for a common man to keep chanting 24 hours, even while he / she is working or sleeping? Yes. If one practices the way as shown by H.H.Bhanudas firmly established after his research of many years. This is the desired state of mind, that forms the foundation stone of one’s spiritual empire. In order to reach to this state of mind, initially one has take special efforts to keep chanting, whenever possible. As the very name suggests, this chanting is recommended during that part of our waking hours when we are not engaged in any constructive activity. So the objective is to divert our mind from futile, stressful thoughts which constitute 80-85% of our total thoughts during the day. Such chanting can be done when we are engaged in our routine work at home, when we are travelling to office and back or during other errands and even in office during breaks.

In the beginning, conscious efforts will be required to resume the chanting after the break. Once, practiced thoroughly, it will be noticed by the aspirant to his / her pleasant surprise that the chanting is going on inside the mind, even without any effort. H.H. Bhanudas has advised to the beginners to focus on practicing the chanting, particularly before bedtime. Chanting for about 10 – 15 minutes before going to bed will help a lot. With the dedicated practice of a few days, rather nights, one fine day the aspirant will realize that the chanting continues even after he/she wakes up.

Round-the-clock chanting or Akhand Naam is a significant milestone in the spiritual journey of an aspirant. The trick, the simplest of many, as shown by H.H.Bhanudas is a great boon gifted by Him to mankind.

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