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      On the face of it, human life appears to have become happy due to the progress of science and technology but in actual practice, the entire mankind is becoming a victim of mental stress. Consequently, more and more people are becoming a prey to psychosomatic, mental and physical illnesses and disorders. The World Health Organization survey has concluded that 92% of the illnesses and disorders are due to mental stress. During my research on mind, I realized that such mental stress is caused only by our thinking. The more we think the more is the stress. No problem gets solved merely by thinking. On the contrary, our decision-making ability is severely affected. To overcome or solve a problem, proper action is necessary. Mere thinking adds to our mental stress and such increasing stress affects physical health to a large extent. Our body is made up of innumerable cells such as the red blood cells, white blood cells and the cells of different organs in the body. Different types of cells function according to their own in-built programs and there is a natural order in their functioning. Mental stress disrupts this order as a result of which they are unable to function properly. Initially, this affects our organs, then our body and eventually our mind too in the form of various ailments, illnesses and disorders.

      To prevent psychosomatic ailments, illnesses and disorders, the harmony and order in which our body cells function has to be maintained. If such ailments are already there, they have to be controlled and the orderliness of the functioning of the body cells has to be restored. During my research on mind, I realized that chanting does help to restore such orderly functioning of our body cells. I carried out further research to confirm my conclusion. I studied in depth the chants of different religions, the manner of chanting the same and their effect on the state of one's mind. It is from this study that I became aware of the sentience or liveliness in chanting. In the book Naamchaitanya, I have discussed at length my entire research on chanting, its benefits and its importance.

      Our mind is habituated to non-stop thinking and we have to get rid of this habit. Our mind becomes more and more relaxed as our thoughts become less and less. This reduces our mental stress and automatically has a beneficial effect on our body. Our red blood cells count increases. The orderliness of the functioning of our body cells is gradually restored. As a result, all the organs begin to function in their natural, orderly manner. We are naturally freed from our ailments, illnesses and disorders and again enjoy physical and mental health. Our physical and mental capability increases and the consequent positive changes in our life prove to be beneficial from all angles.

       Continuous chanting has invaluable benefits. The name that we chant can be of any deity and of any religion! Chanting can be done anywhere, any time without considering whether the place and time are auspicious or not. What is, however, most important is that chanting should be sincere and with unlimited faith in the deity whose name we chant. Such chanting should be infused with feelings. Our faith is a deep-seated feeling and it gets manifested through devotion, worship and religious observances. Our feelings become even more deep-seated when there is a melding of our mind with the deity. Chanting becomes even more powerful and effective when it is done melodiously and rhythmically together with faith, reverence and devotion. The trinity of syllables, melody and rhythm gives rise to the sentience or liveliness of any chant. It is this sentience that has a beneficial, healing effect on our body cells and restores their harmonious functioning. We should, therefore, recognize the tremendous healing power of chanting.

       The importance of chanting is indescribable. Once our mind gets engrossed in chanting, we even forget our own existence. Chanting becomes spontaneous and we tend to become oblivious of the external world. We develop a great liking for chanting. Chanting with feelings of faith, reverence and devotion bestows us with the grace of God and our Guru. The grace of our Guru is, indeed, our eternal wealth which remains with us permanently not only in this life but even in the life after death, that is, in the spirit world.

       Our saints exhort us to get engrossed in chanting and it has assumed importance in every religion. Rosary beads are used while chanting and we see such rosary beads in the hands of saints and holy persons from every religion. The practice of chanting will continue for a long time. We have also acknowledged it for generation after generation. However, I understood the science of chanting only after my research which enabled me to arrive at several definitive conclusions. The book Naamchaitanya has detailed information in this regard. A book is after all just a collection of words which helps to convey the purpose and purport of the subject matter but it cannot demonstrate how chanting can be infused with feelings. And for this purpose, we have to take recourse to melody and rhythm. We intend to bring out a CD with several examples to convey the importance and greatness of the sentience of chanting and Anjaneya Dhavale of Dhavale Publications has assured to help us in this regard.

      After explaining the importance of chanting, His Holiness Shri Bhau chanted the chants from different religions showing that spirituality encompasses and transcends all religions. The sadhaks felt very much blessed in listening to these chants and experiencing the feelings evoked. They were convinced about the importance of chanting and understood how chanting should be done with feelings.

       This captivating and enlightening discourse from H.H.Bhanudas was followed by few bhajans and with the chanting of 'Om Shree Swami Samarth'. The function concluded with all the sadhaks paying obeisance to H.H.Bhanudas one by one and receiving blessings and prasadam from Him.