[dattaseva]

I used to chant for many years as well; it is indeed beneficial but has its limitations. Sometime back, I've been told by my Satguru that chanting is just like the beginning.

He gave me a very simple analogy - If you continuously repeat a person's name, you don't really get any sort of benefit apart from reminding yourself that the person exists. However, when you constantly think about the person's qualities that you like, you become intensely attracted to him/her.

It's the same case with God. If you constantly chant His name, you're doing nothing but reminding yourself that He exists. However, when you contemplate incessantly upon His divine qualities, you develop an immense attraction towards Him. This in turn will lead you to practically serve Him. Knowing the associated qualities of God is Jnana, contemplating upon these divine qualities and developing attraction to Him is Bhakti and when this happens, you serve Him practically and this is Karma Yoga.

That's why my suggestion would be that you meditate upon Datta's divine qualities rather than just chanting His name. God is associated with 4 divine qualities - Infinite compassion, boundless bliss, unimaginable power and illusion-destroying knowledge.