I've been meditating using the NSR manual for some time now with minimal success. I don't hear the syllable when meditating. I don't try to hear it and I don't try to think it. I just wait for it. Sometimes it occurs in the vaguest form, not sound, or visual,just aware that I had the thought of the syllable. After meditating like this, stress is lessened, but not to the degree that I need to be able perform well in my daily life.
When I have had a good meditation session, I notice that I have been in a good, relaxed mood to begin with and that I have tried to hear the syllable, especially as it sounded on the MP3. Then I have the vibrational effects of the sound throughout my body and blissful feelings emerge as if from within. But that is a rare experience, and one that I had only during the first months of practice.
I think maybe the problem is that I'm not innocent when I meditate. I don't know how one would remedy that.
Thanks,
Erik