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(Editor's Note: Dev Suroop Kaur is one of the most beloved Kundalini Yoga sacred chant artists. She is a wise teacher and a prolific musician. Click HERE to listen to her albums and learn more about Dev Suroop Kaur.) (Originally published as ‘Shabd Guru’ in Aquarian Times, Fall 2003, republished on Dev Suroop Kaur's blog devsuroopkaur.wordpress.com) For nearly 30 years, Yogi Bhajan has invited women from all over the world to join together each summer in New Mexico and develop their inner strength, talent and grace at Women’s Camp. Those of us who have been blessed to attend these courses have many fond memories of gathering for summer evening lectures under a huge big top situated in a grove of cottonwood trees. We spent many precious hours at the feet of the Master as he would share innumerable gems and jewels about how to live fulfilling, satisfying and more self-realized lives. In these cherished lectures, Yogi Bhajan would often repeat the same concepts over and over again and in different ways in an effort to penetrate our years of habits, conditioning and preconceived notions about ourselves. He would tell stories, invite women to share their life experiences to the group, answer questions from the crowd or simply provide straight-on lectures. Of the many penetrating concepts he would teach and share, he often discussed the pitfalls of the human tendency to ‘go out and get’ what we believe we want. He repeatedly stressed that the way to success was not in seeking anything outside of ourselves—be it wealth, status, power, possessions or approval. Rather, through meditation and developing a deep relationship with the divine within, the key to victory is to train yourself to be still and allow things to come to you. To become truly ‘attractive’. He summed up this concept with the simple and penetrating line “Go inside and be a Master, go outside and be a victim”. Stated differently: Go deeply inside, touch your soul and vibrate at the frequency of the Divine. There you will find your victory and satisfaction—your self-mastery. On the other hand, succumbing to the seduction and illusion that answers lie outside of yourself, you will become a victim of your own expectations and illusions. True satisfaction will be fleeting. Look around you. Look at yourself. Many of us have a tendency to look for solace ‘outside’. Our active mind is ever creating schemes and machinations to gain material goods, status, affirmation, sympathy and empathy. Even though we do it all the time, we often find that there is something empty in seeking for solutions outside. Self-mastery comes from a deep relationship with the self. The Shabd Guru is a powerful tool to develop that rare relationship between the finite you and Infinite You. When you have trouble, go to the Shabd Guru. Choose a verse or chant…any one will do…to sing or recite. By reciting the words, connect with your soul. Go inside. By so doing, you will find a deep and rich state of being where lie the permanent, true answers and solutions to your troubles. The sound current of the Shabd Guru produces a pure vibratory frequency, much like a tone emitted from a tuning fork when it is struck. The essence of the sound current of the Shabd Guru is the deep, rich reality of Truth. There is no difference between that reality and the affect one achieves when they recite the Shabd Guru. Yogi Bhajan states that this technique is very powerful. The words of the Shabd Guru ‘train the brain’—the memory and the neurons—and create the means through which the brain directs the entire body.[1] Sochai Soch Na Hova-ee is the first verse or pauree of Japji Sahib following the Mool Mantra.[2] In this verse, Guru Nanak describes this very concept—that searching outside of you is illusory. In Sochai Soch Na Hova-ee, Guru Nanak lays out the secrets of how to live well. He says that you can attempt to think and think one hundred thousand times; yet thinking won’t accomplish a thing. You may try to pile up worldly goods and possessions, but that does not provide true, lasting satisfaction. And of all your wise and fantastic schemes, none of them will go with you in the end. So given that, time and time again, we experience that our thinking, acquiring, searching and maneuvering do not really work, how do we become truthful? How does the wall of falsehood fall apart? Guru Nanak says the answer lies in walking with the very command of God that is with us and within us. It is said that the total knowledge of God and ecstasy is contained in this pauree. It is an antidote to depression. It will lift you from the deepest depression, insecurity, nightmares and loss. Use the power of the Shabd Guru to go inside of yourself, touch your deepest Self, touch God and find Mastery. The First Pauree (Verse) of Japji Sahib —Guru Nanak The language of the Shabd Guru is Gurmukhi, a language similar to Sanskrit in its power to transform. The Siri Guru Granth Sahib was written in Gurmukhi script and has been translated into English. Here we provide both the transliteration and the translation. Sochai soch na hova-ee Jay sochee lakh vaar Chupai chup na hova-ee Jay laa -I rahaa liv taar Bhukhi-aa bhukh na utree Jay banana puree-aa bhaar Sehs si-aanpaa lakh ho-eh Ta ik no chalai naal Kiv sachi-aaraa ho-ee-ai Kiv Koorai tutai paal Hukum rajaa-ee chalnaa Naanak likhi-aa naal English Translation You think and think Ten-thousand thoughts,But not one thought Will give you What you seek. You sit in silence To find the silence But silence never comes.Your spirit always sings The song of the Divine. And all your troubles,And all your cares,These will never fade away Though you may hoard Every treasure in the world. And all the clever tricks You use,The countless little tricks- Not even one Will go along with you. How can we find The House of Truth? How can we break This wall of lies? Surrender yourself And walk to Way Of Spirit’s Will. Nanak,Be with what Is already written. English Translation by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa. Go to www.alibris.com to purchase a beautiful and inspiring complete translation of ‘Japji Sahib – The Song of the Soul’. How-tos: A Shabd should be recited 11 times a day for a minimum of 40 days to experience its power. Recite in English or in Gurmukhi transliteration, both are beneficial. However, reciting in Gurmukhi allows you to better access the power of the mantra, and as the words are recited in proper Naad or sound current, the tongue hits the meridian points on the upper palate, effecting a change in consciousness. Work carefully to pronounce the words properly. 
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Shiva Rea is one of the top Vinyasa teachers in the world and one yoga DVD class with her and you’ll see why! These top 5 yoga dvds by Shiva Rea will have you saluting the sun and your Self. 1) Flow Yoga for Beginners There’s no place like the beginning to start! This video features the beautiful scenery of Kauai, taking you on a mini-vacation with Shiva Rea. Seated meditation, pranayam and classic flow sequences make this ideal for someone new to Vinyasa flow. 
2) Radiant Heart Yoga It’s all about the heart. Opening your heart through movement and meditation will relieve shoulder and back pain in addition to smoothing out the ruffles of your personality. Bring a little more love to your body and your life. 
3) Yoga Shakti Transport yourself to India! This incredible video allows you to customize your yoga workout. Choose from a menu of options to personalize your experience. It’s like having Shiva Rea teach you in your living room! It features a great yoga music soundtrack. 
4) Sun Salutations Master this fundamental yet dynamic part of yoga…the sun salutation. Combined with mantra, this yoga dvd by Shiva Rea will teach you everything you need to know, from Ashtanga style, to Vinyasa flow, to variations on the theme. It also includes moon salutations, for balancing your energies. 
5) Prenatal Yoga with Shiva rea Specifically designed for pregnancy, with modifications for each trimester, Shiva Rea designed this flow class to help you improve strength, open the hips and prepare for the most important moment in your baby’s life. 
Challenges are a part of life. Struggles help us to become stronger and solidify our focus and resolve. It can become overwhelming though, when it feels like all of life's problems are heaped onto you at once. That's when mantra can help. By chanting a mantra you allow yourself refuge into a sacred space where problems can't touch you. The energy of the individual mantra itself can then work its particular vibratory energy into your energetic field and out into the cosmos. Things change. Obstacles lift. When you are surrounded by challenges and you feel like no one is hearing you, when you need greater wisdom and a sense of peace, reach for this mantra: Sa Re Sa Sa, Sa Re Sa Sa, Sa Re Sa Sa, Sa Rung Har Re Har Har, Har Re Har Har, Har Re Har Har, Har Rung Also called the Antar Naad Mantra, it's simple to pick up and chant, so learning this mantra won't become just another one of life's challenges. Translation? "That Infinite Totality is here, everywhere. That creativity of God is here, everywhere." Sa is the Infinite, God. It connect with the element of ether. Har is the manifestation and creativity of God. It connects with the element of Earth. "Ung" is a sound the projects outward into infinity. Adversity is said to melt before this mantra and it also connects you with your own capability for powerful communication. You will become wiser and peace and prosperity will enter into your field. Life got you down? Lift yourself up with this simple, but powerful mantra.
The leaves outside my window have begun their gentle transformation from brilliant emerald green to rich golden yellows and warm plum-toned reds. I regretfully close my window to the chilly air, taking a final whiff of the woody, pine scented breeze. The season is changing and our hearts undergo their own transformations. Too often we develop an idea of ourselves that we forget to update. We give ourselves and our lives labels…what we do, who we are…and treat them as if they are static and stable. But the leaves on the tree of our hearts, grown from the roots of our karma, change color and fall to the Earth in one last, glorious dance. Our hearts are microcosms of the beautiful world that surrounds us. Ek ong kar. The creator and the creation are one. The fall is a time of harvest, and we have an opportunity ourselves to take a moment, center ourselves into our breath and reflect. Hit the pause button. Take a deep breath. Be here now. What have we done this past season of action and growth? What have our lives become? Who is better off for our having been in this world? Often we don't want to reflect because we are afraid of our own answers, afraid that we won't measure up to the expectations of the world or of the little critic that lives inside of our own minds. But if we look with different eyes, determined to be our fan instead of our critic, we can also find moments of goodness and grace. We can find times where we lived up to our potential and smiled in the face of adversity. This world, for all its chaos and challenges, is a beautiful world. The leaves could fall off the trees with no real fanfare, but instead they change into a rainbow that circles the globe, each leaf falling at its own time, spinning and twirling to the ground in graceful tumble. Humans are like that, too. Our lives could just exist and end without any real trace left on the world, and often we feel like that is exactly what is happening. But we grow and expand, we change our colors from green to yellow and red, we sway in the wind, and then finally we dance home to arms of our Creator in our final flight. In this time of change, I can feel myself changing. I look at the leaves and feel my own transformations in my heart. I see the harvest brought in on the farm down the road, the glorious orange pumpkins, the blue gnarly squash, and the knobby and humorous yellow gourds. What have I created this year within me? I can feel the pulsating, warm pumpkin shaped joy inside me, created by chanting and mantra and yoga and most of all love. I can see a few blue gnarly squash created by moments of sadness and loss. And there are the funny little yellow squash from times of laughter so intense my sides might have split to reveal the seeds within! This season for me is contained within the mantra "Gobinda Hari" . Its words are simple, like falling leaves, Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari. Gobinda is the aspect of God that is the Sustainer that has kept us going all year. But it is also the aspect of God that is beautiful and lovely. Hari is the aspect of God that is the Creator, that is action, but it also the healing force within us. When we chant Gobinda Hari, we connect with the beautiful harvest within ourselves and we connect with the creative aspect that accomplished it. It's like saying, "Beautiful! Beautiful! I did that! I did that!" We connect to God in a way that allows God to experience His own creation through us and our lives, and allows us to connect to the beauty of our own experience. Gobinda Hari also allows us to heal ourselves and feel security in a deep place in ourselves through a connection with the knowing that God is a sustaining and healing force at the center of our own hearts. For 11 minutes, cross your hands over your chest at the wrist, right over left, palms resting near the shoulders. Close your eyes and chant "Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari" feeling the grace and the kindness of the One who lies in the center of your own Being. When you are finished, look outside with fresh eyes. See the bountiful harvest of the Universe. See the play of life in all its cycles and rhythms. Then look inside with fresh eyes, and see the beauty of God's harvest within You. See the miracle of every breath you take and every smile you give. See yourself as a leaf in God's forest -- unique, beautiful and bright. Happy to sway in the breeze until that day when we all fall into our last dance, embraced at last by the One. Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari.
Has it ever hurt you to look into your own eyes in the mirror? Is all you feel disappointment and shame when you look at the shape of your own body? When someone pays you a compliment, does it feel like a joke? Low self-esteem is painful. Whether you are 13 or 30, the pain you carry around from not feeling good enough or pretty enough or smart enough holds you back from feeling the peace and happiness that is your birthright. It doesn't matter why you have low self-esteem. Maybe you were bullied in school and the words of your peers cut so deeply you've never quite stitched the wound. Maybe your mother was rough and unkind and told you in no uncertain terms you were worthless. Maybe a lover told you that you were ugly and no good. Maybe no one else had to tell you anything; maybe your whole life you've thought you were pathetic and fat all on your own. In this age where bullying can lead to suicide and countless lives have been lost to eating disorders and addictions and other manifestations of low self esteem, it is imperative to have tools to lift ourselves up and out of despair. Low self-esteem is potentially lethal and must be pulled out at the roots. There are many ways to battle self-esteem issues. Therapy is a wonderful way and talking with a therapist you trust can be essential. Exercise causes the body to release endorphins, which helps one feel happier naturally. Yoga is an especially powerful form of exercise for this issue because it unifies the mind with the body. In cases of low self-esteem, so often the mind is the enemy of the body. Merging the two may help them build a more harmonious relationship. Affirmations are also a powerful tool to trick the mind into saying positive things rather than negative things. The Kundalini mantra for self-esteem, as given by Yogi Bhajan, packs a one-two punch using both affirmation and mantra. Called "Bountitful, Blissful and Beautiful", the Gurmukhi portion is this mantra is from Anand Sahib, the "Song of Bliss". It transports the soul into a state of bliss and helps you connect with the flow of Spirit. From this place of oneness and magic, you know your true Self, which is perfect, whole and complete. The true you has no business with low self-esteem. The real you is powerful beyond compare. This mantra helps you touch that place of faith and strength. If you are struggling with the hidden hurt of shame, self-loathing, or unkindess to yourself, sing this mantra to yourself. Sing it loud and proud. There is no such thing as a sound that is not good enough, or a singer that is not good enough. Sing it like you mean it....and someday, someday soon, you WILL. And that is a beautiful thing, almost...almost as beautiful as You. The Complete Mantra: I am bountiful, blissful, and beautiful. Bountiful, blissful and beautiful I am. Ek ong kar sat gur prasad Anand bhayaa mayree maa-ay satiguroo mai paa-yaa Satiguroo ta paa-yaa sehej saytee Man vajeeaa vaadhaaeeaa Raag ratan parvaar pareeaa shad gaavan aaeeaa Shabdo taa gaavho haree kayraa man jinee vasaa-yaa Kahai naanak anand hoaa satiguroo mai paa-yaa. The Translation: The Creator and the Creation are One. I kow this by the Grace of the Guru. Oh my mother, I am in Infinite bliss for I have obtained the True Guru (the Word, the Shabad Guru) I have met that True Guru easily, naturally Divine music bursts in my heart. The rhythmic beast are like cosmic jewels and bring all powers through Divine Songs. When God resides in you, the mind is filled by and echoes with divine praise. Nanak proclaimes I dwell in supreme bliss for I have merged with the True Guru.
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.  Even now, in this moment, is it hard to let these words go. When words hit the page, the author is revealed. You can see the inner working of my mind in an intimate way. I cannot pull them back once they are out there. It's not quite the fear that they won't be good enough; that would be too easy, too predictable. I haven't figured it out yet. It is a difficult thing for anyone...artist or not...to give all they are to the world and then let go. To deliver what they have to offer and trust it will be enough. Mothers who watch their children go off to school must feel similarly. She who was one body with that divine, young creature must trust that this now separate being will be safe without her. Letting go is part of life. Death is the only guarantee for each human, and so everyone must let someone else go. The seasons change, lives move on, the world is not the same. Our cultures do not stay stagnant, nor return to any golden days of yore despite political pressure. You cannot return to any value fashioned out of old...nothing will ever be the same. Life moves forward, never back. We let go of each breath, each heart beat. We let go of each birthday, each birth. We become very accomplished at letting go, and yet, it is so easy to fight nearly to the death to hold onto things. This does not make us weak. In fact, this is natural. We are eternal beings in bodies that die. This illusion of impermanence offends to the very core our endless nature. When we identify with the illusion, letting go wounds us. If we identify with our infinite nature, with the boundless creativity of the Universe, we begin to realize that letting go is a perfect part of constant expansion. We can't think our way into this peace. We can't reason our way into this knowing. We must experience a connection with the larger plan to know this gentle grace. We must reach out to the Infinite and ask "Are you sure?" in order for God himself to lean down and whisper in our ears "Yes!" Choose the pain you need to let go of. Choose the fear, the anger, the thing you did years ago that you can't forget. Choose the situation you are ready to leave behind. And chant this mantra: Ardas Bhaee, Amar Das Guru, Amar Das Guru, Ardas Bhaee, Ram Das Guru, Ram Das Guru, Ram Das Guru, Sachee Sahee. This is a way of calling upon Guru Amar Das and Guru Ram Das (who represent the Hope of the Hopeless and the Lord of Miracles). It begins by affirming that what you are saying is a prayer. You then connect with their powerful energies. And then "sachee sahee"....you release it and let it go. You know that your prayer is heard and it is done. This is the mantra of answered prayers, of moving beyond difficult situations, and gracefully letting go. Need to "Let Go and Let God"? There's a mantra for that. And an answered prayer waiting for you just around the bend. As for me, I let my words out into the world. See? It works.
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar. Need some extra happiness, a little inner peace? Who doesn't? Ask yourself today how happy you are...if you aren't groovin' and movin' with a smile on your face, then you could stand to do this little mantra meditation to find happiness and peace within. 
Sit in Easy Pose (cross-legged) with a straight spine. Start by chanting "Ong" at a pace of about 10 seconds per "Ong". You should be chanting more in your nose than your throat. Chant like this 5 times, then begin to chant "Ong" so that you are finishing one cycle every 3-5 seconds. Do up to 2 minutes of this rapid "Ong" chanting. Yogi Bhajan said that if you start to cough, no worries! Its just your thyroid adjusting itself. He also said that doing this chant promoted your power, beauty, and youth. (Anyone not want more of those?) More happiness, more peace in only two minutes! A quick fix for the modern world from the ancient yogi archives! More tips like this one are nestled in the pages of Praana, Praanee,Praanayam! Seek and ye shall find!
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