Employee on public transport repeated phrase in meditation (7)

I believe the answer is:

mantram

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'repeated phrase in meditation' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'employee on public transport' is the wordplay.
'employee' becomes 'man'.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'public transport' becomes 'tram' (type of public transport).
'man'+'tram'='MANTRAM'

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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