Japa practice centers on repeating a chosen mantra, sacred name or syllable a fixed or open-ended number of times, most often while moving a bead of a mala between thumb and finger for each repetition, a physical count that helps sustain attention and mark progress through a session. Hindu tradition commonly distinguishes several grades of japa by voice: vaikhari, recited fully aloud; upamshu, recited in a bare whisper or only moving the lips; and manasa, performed silently in the mind alone, generally regarded as the most refined and difficult, though traditions differ on which is most appropriate for a given practitioner or stage.
Widely known mantras, such as the syllable Om or well-known deity names, are freely taught and recited by anyone, while many traditions reserve a specific personal mantra for formal initiation, given individually by a guru to a disciple and traditionally kept private rather than shared, on the understanding that a mantra received this way carries the teacher's own transmission and is suited specifically to the student who receives it. Beyond Hindu tradition, comparable counted recitation appears as Buddhist nembutsu, the repeated invocation of Amitabha Buddha's name central to Pure Land practice, and as Sikh naam simran, remembrance of God's name, treated by Sikh scripture as a central daily discipline rather than an occasional devotion.