Ambarsaria ji,
1. Disagree (with the answers). Jap is a verb and a noun.
(Chant is both a noun and a verb BTW)
2. Disagree. Shabad in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji always means God's Word.
3. Agree. Yes, all talk about contemplation. 1. 2. 3. are also present in repeating, in Naam Japna, in repetition.*
ਧਿਆਨ - is to concentrate. Hence why it is translated into meditation often. Obviously nothing can be done without concentration but more specifically Dhyan (meditation) means to go deeper into one's being (whether one is thinking or not).
*To think about about something often will naturally lead to repetition. You will think and rethink about a number of things over and over again, you are in repetition. If you are thinking about God alone then lots of repetition will take place.
Now it doesn't always happen. Only happens under the right conditions when you have gone really deep into contemplation, you eventually see your own repetitive thought process and find you have nothing more to think about as you have thought as far as human mind allows, and you have thought about every aspect of it that you could possibly think about. You exhaust your thoughts. You find that further thought is simply unnecessary (as you have "been there done that") and even compulsive, since you are so used to it, you want to do it more! You start thinking again. You find that at this point you cannot help but repeat those earlier thoughts, since you have already thought about everything. Progression through thought has becomes impossible. Your thoughts are not new anymore.
You either continue thinking, or you stop. At this point, again it does not always happen, and only happens under the right conditions, there is a realization and you stop thinking. This happens if you had been paying attention to the "Dhyan" undercurrent of your contemplation. The intellect realizes it is limited and shuts off (if only for a moment) and there is an/a experience/seeing of Oneness (darsan). One becomes immersed in the Oneness, God, (even if only for a moment) and this is know as Samadhi.
You realize thinking is the surface stuff, what is happening is deeper. Simran is about this depth. It is not really about thinking, contemplation, concentration or repetition (all of which happen simultaneously and naturally, all of which can lead to Simran). It is about that depth. There is no word for that. Gurbani sometimes uses the word, ਅਨਹਤ/ਅਨਹਦ, "Unstruck sound" (ਜੋ ਬਿਨਾ ਵਜਾਏ ਵੱਜੇ, ਇੱਕ-ਰਸ, ਲਗਾਤਾਰ) amongst others.
PS Try contemplating on Unstruck sound! Come to think of it, it sounds like this Zen Koan.
Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?
—Hakuin Ekaku
One who knows the Unstruck sound knows the answer to the Koan.
