At which stage does the chanting occur automatically?

 

 

1. Methods of chanting - According to the organ

2. Methods of chanting - According to the mode of speech (vani)

2.1 Vaikhari

Chanting done aloud, with effort

2.2 Madhyama

The Madhyama mode refers to chanting which occurs automatically. It is so named as it is the intermediate stage between the Vaikhari and Pashyanti modes.

2.3 Pashyanti

Pashyanti is derived from the root word ‘pashya’ from Sanskrut which means ‘to see’. The chanting akin to that of the seers who have the knowledge of the past, present and future is called Pashyanti.

2.4 Para

This itself is referred to as Omkar or adibija (the primal seed). In the Para mode of speech chanting ceases as non-duality (advait) is achieved with chanting.

2.5 Comparison of chanting in the four modes of speech

* A tool means a particualar place, time, mala, seat, bath, insense, Sadguru’s photo, chanting loudly, company of seekers, silence, good health, no problems in worldly life, etc.
The four modes of speech and time: The Vaikhari mode of speech has the restrictions of the three dimensions of time (past, present and future). Later, this gradually reduces and recitations of the Pashyanti become unidimensional. Some evolved seekers in their usual state say that they performed the Mahagayatri purashcharan, (that is chanting 24 lakhs of the Gayatri mantra) in the morning. The listener may find this odd and label them as eccentric. The reason for this feeling, is that performing a purashcharan which normally takes 6 months at the rate of ten hours per day, in just six hours, is next to impossible. It is only natural that a seeker claiming to have performed a mahapurashcharan in 6 hours or in 6 minutes should be considered eccentric by an average person. However the very concept that these seekers could perform such a purashcharan in the Pashyanti or Para modes [there is non-duality (advait) in the Para mode of speech] is far beyond the imagination of the average individual. Of late, the concept of dimensions such as three dimensional, two dimensional, unidimensional and dimensionlessness are gradually unfolding before modern science. One routinely experiences the miracle when the mind in the three dimensional waking state enters the unidimensional dream state. For instance when one dozes even for half a minute during a spiritual discourse (kirtan) one has a reverie that one is being felicitated in a ceremony, by a crowd. These are common phenomena experienced in hardly thirty seconds. Had these events occurred in the waking state it would have taken a minimum of twelve hours or so. Such is the achievement of Pashyanti.
The more progressed the state the less is the proportion of dimensions. The proportion of dimensions of Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Mahadev is so infinitesimally reduced that thousands of our yugs (eras) elapse in a time which is equivalent to the blinking of Their eyelids.’⁽¹⁾

3. Methods of chanting - According to the types

* This mode (vani) is also used for a majority of negative acts such as abhichar (jaran, maran, etc.)
According to the quote, ‘उपांशु स्‍यात्‌ शतगुण: ।’ (from Manusmruti 2:86) with upanshu chanting one acquires results a hundred times more than those obtained with chanting in the verbal mode.The benefits from mental chanting are significantly more than those obtained with upanshu, as the more subtle the Name, the more is its effectiveness. The difference in the energy generated from audible chanting (Vaikhari or verbal) and that of inaudible sound will be understood from the following example. The radiance generated from chanting in the audible mode for thirty years will suffice to heat one glass of water upto its boiling point. As against this, a mere thirty seconds of inaudible chanting gives the same results.
Reference:
‘Path of Chanting The Lord’s Name (Namasankirtanyoga) and Path of Mantra (Mantrayoga)’, published by Sanatan Sanstha.
Shastra Ase Sangate. First edition, fifth reprint - October 94, Vedavani Publications, Kolhapur 416 010.
1. Pg. 30, 31