Sama Yoga, understood as a devotional, music-centered approach, does not rely on a single fixed canon, but draws from a broad spectrum of mantras, hymns, and scriptural verses within the Hindu tradition. Practitioners commonly chant both short and longer mantras, including seed sounds such as Om, as well as mantras drawn from the Vedas, Upanishads, and other traditional sources. The Gayatri Mantra is frequently given a melodic form, and other well-known mantras like the Mahā Mṛtyuñjaya Mantra or simple invocations such as Om Namaḥ Śivāya may also be used. What unites these choices is less a rigid scriptural prescription and more an emphasis on devotional intent and the transformative power of sacred sound.

A central stream within this practice is nāma-saṅkīrtana and bhakti-oriented kirtan: the repetitive singing of divine names and simple devotional phrases. Chants such as the Hare Krishna Mahāmantra, Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya, or refrains like Govinda Jaya Jaya and Gopāla Jaya Jaya are often sung in call-and-response, allowing participants to enter a shared field of devotion. Alongside these, various bhajans—devotional songs in Sanskrit, Hindi, or other regional languages—may be included, whether traditional or composed by modern devotees, as long as they praise the Divine in some form. The guiding principle is that the lyrics open the heart and sustain meditative absorption through repetition and musicality.

Verses from revered texts are also woven into Sama Yoga practice in a musical, accessible manner rather than in a strictly liturgical style. Selected passages from the Bhagavad Gītā, invocations from the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, and well-known stotras such as the Guru Stotram or hymns to deities like Lakṣmī or Śiva may be set to simple melodies. These are typically sung in Sanskrit, though regional languages can appear in bhajans, always with an eye to preserving the devotional and vibrational quality of the chant. Across these diverse sources, the emphasis remains on simplicity, repetition, and singability, allowing the sacred words to become a living, shared practice rather than a purely textual recitation.