Simran or Repetition includes all types of Recitation

Some do it with the help of the fingers, others with their tongue, and many others with their throat, heart, or even the navel.

Simran is highly beneficial if it is done with the attention of the surat (soul). Therefore, if one has beads in his hands while the tongue moves in his mouth, and the mind wanders, it is not a useful type of Simran.

Kabir Sahib has said in one of his verses:

The beads rotate in the hand. The tongue moves in the mouth. The mind runs in all directions. This is not Simran. Why are you counting your fingers, with your mind rambling in all four directions? The mind, by rotating (in Simran¹) which, you would have realized Him, has been reduced to nothing better than a mere block of wood.

The support of external things for doing Simran, like the counting of beads, is an inferior type of Simran. Simran by the tongue, by the throat, by the heart, or from the navel center is respectively more efficacious.

Amongst the Muslims also, Simran is done in various ways:

1. By the tongue.

2. By pressure over the heart.

3. By fixing the attention at the eye centre.

4. By application of the mind.

5. By a secret method to be imparted orally by an Adept to his disciple.

These five methods can be learned individually by one person from another. These types of Simran are beneficial to some extent, when they are done with attention. But the Simran with the aid of beads or by the tongue is ineffective. It may be stated, however, that the Simran done by the tongue with the attention fixed at the eye center is resorted to by spiritually advanced persons and can be learned from them.

But the Saints have chosen the Simran which is done with the tongue of the soul, as best, because the soul gives energy and life to the body, the mind and the senses; and by doing Simran with the soul, the mind concentrates.

Of course, all types of Simran purify the heart to a certain extent and result in some happiness and the longing for the Lord. In fact, one is even able to control and exercise certain supernatural powers by means of Simran. But complete concentration of the soul and the opening of the inner gate to enable one to listen to the Anahad Shabd will not be possible by any means other than that of Simran taught by the Saints.

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Footnote: 1) What is meant here is the correct Simran, which is carried out with the tongue of thought and is described at the end of this section.