Waheguru simran

The word Sikhs repeat in simran. Written in Gurmukhi as ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, it is the gurmantar — the word given by the Guru.

The word

Wāhi is an expression of wonder — closer to wondrous than to any noun — and gurū is the Guru. It is usually read as an exclamation rather than a sentence: wonder at the Guru, or the Guru who is wonder. It is not a request, and it does not name a deity in the way a Sanskrit mantra with a dative ending does.

Simran, not japa

Sikh practice generally speaks of simran — remembrance — rather than japa. The distinction is not merely vocabulary: simran is described in the Guru Granth Sahib as continuous remembrance carried through ordinary activity, not only as a seated count. Many Sikhs would say the counting is a support for the remembering, and not the thing itself.

Amrit vela — the hours before dawn — is the time traditionally kept for it.

How it is counted

Some count on a mala of 108, and Sikh malas exist; others count on the fingers, or on the breath, or not at all. Counting is common practice but is not required by the tradition, and there is a strand of Sikh thought that regards counting as beside the point.

If you do count, one repetition per bead is the usual arrangement.

Counting it here

Root Jaap shows ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ in Gurmukhi and counts quietly. Nothing you record leaves the device, and no account is asked for.

Opens the counter with this mantra chosen. No account, works offline.