The universe moves with us
Like a hand gliding in water.
There is no resistance really,
Just a waiting for the movement,
The direction
The guidance,
That comes from
a breath
and a feeling in,
to the heart.
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One of the most powerful ways of feeling in, to the heart, is through mantra. The word mantra comes from a very beautiful experience; that of the sound waves moving the mind. Tra comes from tarang, which is the wave of sound. Man is the mind. When we chant sacred mantras, we are creating a sound wave that the mind feels safe to embark upon. This sound wave takes us out of our limited individual mind into our Infinite universal mind. We can see and experience beyond our limitations and the circumstance of the day into the greater cosmic experience, which is at the end of the day, simply a reflection of our inner experience whose origin is Love.
There are many powerful mantras that work well in this regard from many sacred traditions. There is one particular mantra from the Kundalini Yoga and Sikh tradition that is super uplifting.
Har Har Har Har Gobinday God God God God Lord of the World
Har Har Har Har Mukanday God God God God Liberator
Har Har Har Har Udaaray God God God God The Great Giver
Har Har Har Har Apaaray God God God God Infinite
Har Har Har Har Haree-ang God God God God Destroyer
Har Har Har Har Karee-ang God God God God Creator
Har Har Har Har Nirnaamay God God God God Without Name
Har Har Har Har Akaamay God God God God Beyond Desire
Essentially, this mantra is the Guru Gaitri mantra (Gobinday Mukanday which you can read about here) with four recitations of Har in front of each word.
In the Guru Gaitri mantra, there are eight words, each of which celebrates a different aspect of God. Some of these aspects of God are comforting and nourishing, while others may challenging to relate to, as life is in itself. By pulsating four times with Har before each word, which is called the Shakti Yog Mantra, we are given the extra energy to accept the gifts and face the challenges of each of these eight aspects and find healing and victory.
Let’s experience each word. I invite you to take a moment and chant each word, and I will guide you into a series of sensations to help you relate to the meaning.
Gobinday: God the Lord of this world: the Divine who created this world and takes care of it. “Go”;earth, the world. “Bind”: drop, information, knowledge, semen. Tune into this Divine energy that created you and this world, as a means of receiving help in terms of how to operate within the world.
Mukanday: God liberates us. Feel yourself being released from the weight of the world. You are Spirit first, free to live in your truth.
Udaaray: God gives to me. “Udaar” bounteous, infinite. Feel all of the blessings and gifts that God has given you in this life.
Apaaray: God is infinite. “Paar” to the other side, often used in terms of being carried across to the other side. Apaaray is the Divine One who is so infinite that there is not even another side. Allow yourself to be connected to this infinite energy.
Haree-ang: God destroys. Let’s say, for example, that everything is falling apart in your life, and you are being torn apart by that experience. This is the energy of haree-ang. When we come into alignment with our Soul, through the power of breath and practice, we begin to see that what’s being destroyed is actually not in alignment with our Soul’s destiny. Instead of a destruction that we resist, it becomes a destruction that allows us to shed our old ways and start fresh. Really, in each moment, as sure as we exhale, there is an elemental destruction occurring in the universe.
Karee-ang: God creates. As soon as something is destroyed, by law of the universe, another thing is created. New blessings come into our lives constantly. Take a moment to feel all of the blessings created for you on this day. And also feel your own creativity as the Divine flows through you, trusting that your inner knowing voice is guiding you. Nirnaamay: God is without Name. So, here we are as human beings with our minds, trying to define and name everything. That is the power and the job of the mind. It’s good. We need names to anchor into our knowledge and awareness. God also has many names from many traditions, and when we chant those names, we are uplifted. However, here in this mantra, we are going to let go of all of that and go into the unknown. Like a baby being born who does not have a language, and like an old man who breathes his last breath wordlessly, we are brought back into the essential nature of existence. We are asked to let go of our knowledge and just be in the flow of Spirit. Try it out for a moment.
Akaamay: God is beyond desire. This is asking us to let go of the quality or experience of desire, because it only causes pain to be desiring something outside of yourself. The experience that will fulfill us most deeply is already happening within. Being in touch with this inner space will help you to give more fully to your loved ones in a way that feels joyful and true. I invite you to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and go into your interior space, and feel what is within you.
When you chant this mantra, I invite you to chant from the navel point with each stroke of Har. It has the capacity to blast through super heavy energy and bring joy when the navel is engaged. It is also helpful to chant with awareness, as the tongue touches the roof of the mouth. For me this awareness of the tongue tapping the roof of the mouth brings me back to the delicate dance of the mantra, which is with each syllable sending out positive vibrations into my system.
Over the next few weeks we will explore a number of meditations that can be practiced with this mantra in our online classes here.
Here’s the first one:
Meditation For Self-Elevation
Original YB Lecture Date: December 9, 1989
Posture: Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine.
Mudra: Bring your hands into Prayer Pose with the right thumb crossed over the left thumb. The mudra is at the heart center with the elbows stretched to the sides so that the forearms are parallel to the ground creating a “single magnetic line with the earth.”
Eyes: Eyes are focused at the tip of the nose.
Practice: Chant the mantra (Har Har Har Har Gobinday) from the navel, and with awareness to the tip of the tongue.
Time: 11 minutes.
To practice along with a video and also do a nice yoga set before the meditation see this link.
To listen to this mantra check out the following tracks: