On a flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Paro, Bhutan, I found myself sitting next to David Silverberg. A geologist expert on the Himalayan region, David had been contracted by National Geographic to lead a group of travellers on a trip of Bhutan. A founding White House staff member for AmeriCorps under the Clinton administration and teacher at several universities, David told me that the modern state of Bhutan is an amazing amalgam of modernity and tradition.

The government has emphasised modernisation efforts in education, health and economic development, along with synchronic efforts in ecological and cultural preservation. In contrast to an emphasis on Gross Domestic Product as a measure of national performance, in 1972 the King of Bhutan declared an official policy objective of increasing the nation’s Gross National Happiness by building an economy that serves, rather than supersedes, the country’s spiritual values.

As our flight landed it appeared as if the wings of the plane could clip the mountains on either side of the valley where the airport is nestled. A few hours after clearing customs, we drove into Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. Our first stop was a stupa surrounded by about 80 people of all ages, engaged in chanting the Buddhist mantra ‘om mani padme hum’, in a variety of ways.

Many were circumambulating the stupa while quietly chanting on breads made from bodhi seeds. Others were chanting on their beads while sitting with their eyes closed. Some walked with their beads in one hand, while in the other hand they rotated a cylinder shaped ‘prayer wheel’ with the mantra engraved on it. People were also turning cylinder shaped ‘prayer wheels’ mounted on spindles. The Bhutanese people believe that with each turning of the wheel, it is as if a mantra is “chanted”. Some of these wheels are several metres high and required a person’s full body weight to move them. The smaller ones could be moved by hand with a minor movement of the wrist.

The chant culture I encountered on my first evening in Bhutan gave me a greater appreciation for the mantraculture in my own bhakti yoga tradition, which I have practised since childhood. Bhakti yoga emphasisesmantra meditation both as kirtan, congregational singing with musical instruments, and as japa, private meditation with beads. The benefits of chanting described in the bhakti tradition include awakening the eternal spiritual happiness of the soul, and most importantly, re-establishing our eternal yoga or connection with the Supreme Soul.

Over the 14 days of my travels across Bhutan, I encountered other ways that people engage with mantra. Some of these ways were familiar: For example, the monks chanting mantrasto the accompaniment of drums, bugles, gongs and bells in monasteries, reminded me of the kirtan tradition in bhakti yoga. Similarly, the many times I saw people chanting on beads, even while sitting in the grass on the side of the road as we drove by, reminded me of my own japa practice. But there were other aspects of their mantra practice that for me were new and unique: They print mantras on flags so the wind can blow the mantra into the universe. Similarly, they also position larger engraved prayer wheels in smallstructures over a stream, where the water current turns the cylinder. The people believe that as water touches the wheel it becomes blessed, carrying auspiciousness to the world as it feeds into lakes, rivers, and ocean. Coming from the yoga tradition that emphasises the importance of conscious awareness when chanting, these autopilot mantra practices brought an appreciative smile to my face.

The Bhutanese people are determined to protect and preserve these traditions as they modernise their country. For they know this deeper spiritual culture to be ultimately more important than economic prosperity in preserving and increasing the individual and collective Gross National Happiness. And it works; whenever I met other Western travellers over the two-week period that I was in Bhutan, they all marvelled at the peace, contentedness and happiness of the Bhutanese people.