Nisargadatta on mantra recitation

In the Navanth Sampradaya, the tradition in which Nisargadatta was taught vedanta by his Guru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, spiritual aspirants were initiated with a mantra. A mantra is a word or phrase that is repeated in order to calm the mind or bring about some other spiritual effects. Here is what Nisargadatta says about mantra repetition.

“I was taught to give attention to my sense of ‘I am’ and I found it
supremely effective. Therefore, I can speak of it with full
confidence. But often people come with bodies, brains and minds
so mishandled, perverted and weak that the state of formless
attention is beyond them. In such cases some simpler token of
earnestness (like repeating a ‘mantra’) is appropriate. After all
it is the earnestness that is indispensable, the crucial factor. ‘Sadhana’
is only a vessel and it must be filled to be brim with earnestness,
which is but love in action. For nothing can be done without love.”

“Repetition of ‘Mantra’ takes one to the pure ‘I am’ state or ‘Sattva
Guna’ and from there one merges into the source of all bliss, and
then, all knowledge that you possess is laid down or surrendered
and you merge with the Absolute beyond all name and form.”

When specifically asked about how useful a mantra would be to a modern-day Westerner seeking self-knowledge, he answered “none”:

Questioner: In Europe there is no tradition of a mantra, except*
in some contemplative orders. Of what use is it to a modern day
young Westerner?

Nisargadatta: None, unless he is very much attracted. For him
the right procedure is to adhere to the thought that he is the ground
of all knowledge, the immutable and perennial awareness of all that
happens to the senses and mind. If he keeps it in mind all the
time, aware and alert, he is bound to break the boundsof non-awareness
and emerge into pure life, light and love.*

The idea - ‘I am the witness only’ will purify the body and the mind
and open the eye of wisdom. Then man goes beyond illusion and his
heart is free of all desires.

Just like ice turns to water and water to vapour, and vapour dissolves in
air and disappears into space, so does the body dissolve into pure
awareness (chidakash), then into pure being (paramakash), which is
beyond all existence and non-existence.