Let's say you're having a bad day. You yelled at your spouse before work because they didn't pick up your dry cleaning (they never support you!) and because you were late, you didn't kiss your kid goodbye. It's not an unforgivable offense, but you feel like a jerk. Going to work, there's tons of traffic and you honk repeatedly at the "idiot" in front of you who doesn't know how to drive. Maybe, just maybe, you flipped them off. You got to work late and your boss gave you a nasty look. You sat down at your desk and there are hundreds of emails to deal with, phone messages that must be returned, and frankly you don't like what you do anyway. The office coffee is cold, you woke up with a stiff neck, and your spouse is texting your cell upset because you yelled at them. And that's the good part of your day. By the time you settle down to sleep that night, after a day of snapping at everyone in your path, your whole body hurts under the weight of your negativity. You wonder why you can't get a break, why the world has to be so hard, and why you'll never be able to afford to retire. You fall asleep grumbling to yourself, wishing you felt better about your life. Sound like you or someone you know? Even for the most spiritually aware among us, there are times when bad thoughts creep into our minds. Many sages and great masters have taught us that the goal of our personal development isn't to remove the bad thoughts and isn't to never have the moments when we think everything is stupid or that we just aren't good at anything and never will be. In fact, the masters say, what we must strive to do is not to remove the thought, but to remove the negative reaction to the thought. It can be difficult to control the mind once it gets on a downward spiral. One negative thought, like a virus, spreads and creates hundreds more in its wake. Affirmations are useful to try to throw in a positive thought and trip up the mechanism of thinking, but for the big jobs, for the times when your negativity is spinning out of control and the weight of your own karma fells like rocks tied to your ankles, you pull out the big guns. Or the big sword, rather. The mantra "Jai Te Gang", written by the Sikh Warrior Saint Guru Gobind Singh, is an incredibly powerful tool to cut through the darkness around you, whether created by your own mind or created by the minds of those around you. It channels the power of the cosmic sword, like the Sword of Archangel Michael in Judeo-Christian belief, the energy of which slices through negativity and darkness, leaving only light in its path. The mantra speaks of a great sword which will remove all demons from our mind and body. Yogi Bhajan said that this mantra was to be experienced. He recommended a person chant it while lying down, chant it while sitting, and then chant it while standing, to experience the power of this mantra in different ways. Once this mantra becomes a part of you, Yogi Bhajan also said it would echo in your ears when negativity crept into your life, making a sort of failsafe against the darkness within. If you feel your home has a negative energy within it, play this mantra to stop it in its tracks and bring in the light of the Divine. Mantra for Removing Negativity: Jai Te Gang Khag khand bihandan khal dal khandan at ran mandan bar bandan Bhuj dandh akhandan tej parchandan jot amandan bhaan prabhan Sukh santaa karnang durman darning kilbikh harnang as sarnang Jai jai jag kaaran srist ubaaran mam pratipaaran jai tegang (Editor's Note: There are two incredible versions of Jai Te Gang, both with very different energies, but extremely powerful. I recommend having them both and keeping them playing in your home when you are out to remove negativity and clear the way for your own strength and prosperity to flower.)

They say the economy is hurting, but the last I checked, the economy didn't have feelings. We're the ones hurting. It does us no good to dwell on the negative, on the housing crisis, on unemployment numbers...even if the more practical would lecture that its just "reality". We have the power to create a new reality for ourselves, with positive thinking, conscious action and a little tool in our mantra belt called Har Har Har Har Gobinday. According to Yogi Bhajan, this mantra brings wealth in the form of money. Not just generalized abundance, but good old money. It also brings new opportunities. It's not superstition...this mantra has a measurable effect on changing the mental pattern. By chanting these words, the tongue is hitting the upper palate, which is chock full of meridian points which affect the hormone secreting glands (pituitary, hypothalamus) and create a release of the good-guy hormones. These in turn help you to think more positively and get a handle on your mental projection. Then you can project a better world and attract it to you. It's an ancient version of the now-popular Law of Attraction concept. Set the intention for yourself of attracting money and new opportunities and use this mantra to seal the deal. Let us know what amazing things happen as a result! Har Har Har Har Gobinday "Har" is a name for God that symbolizes creative power and prosperity. The words were written by the 10th Sikh Guru, the soldier saint Guru Gobind Singh. Translations never really do mantras justice, as there is a power and meaning within the ancient words that just isn't quite repeated in a translation, but a simple translation of the words of this mantra is: Har-InfiniteDivinity Gobinday- Sustainer Mukunday- Liberator Udaaray- Enlightener Apaaray- Infinite Hariang- Destroyer Kariang- Creator Nirnaamay- Nameless Akaamay- Desireless

Traffic. It's the pits. You're stuck. You can't get out. God forbid it's summer and your car doesn't have air conditioning. Slowly the fumes get to you, gifting you with a headache and tight muscles. Heavens to Betsy you're trying to actually get somewhere on time. Somewhere important. Like NOW! There's a mantra for everything. There's even a mantra for traffic. Well, really it's a mantra for moving obstacles out of your way and for moving you when you are stuck. Which sounds like traffic to me. When recently at a dead standstill on a bridge in New York City for a half an hour, I started to chant this mantra and in a few minutes traffic was moving again. Coincidence? Possibly. But chanting sure beats cursing. Try it for yourself and see if it moves the cars, or your spirit, into a better place. Mantra for Moving Traffic: Aad Such Jugaad Such Hai Bhai Such Nanak Hosee Bhai Such (Translation: True in the beginning, true throughout the ages, true even now, Nanak, truth shall ever be.) (Editor's Note: Try these great recordings of this powerful mantra, written by Guru Nanak's son Baba Siri Chand...)

Constant creativity. Non-reaction to normal annoyances. Awareness of the link between you and the one Creator. Perception of the Subtle Body, or Aura. This is the state that earnest and dedicated practice of the Laya Mantra will bring you to. The Laya Mantra, which is used to raise the Kundalini energy up the spine and place the serious practitioner into a state of suspension from the ordinary world, was a carefully guarded yogic secret until shared with the West by Yogi Bhajan. Its one of the most mystical of mantras, and the degree to which you practice it honestly is the degree to which it will effect you and connect you to the sensation of your own soul. Laya Mantra Practicing the Laya Mantra as a form of mediation everyday for 40-120 days allows the subconscious mind time to etch the experience into its memory. If you pull the abdomen in on the "uh" sound in the correct way, visualize yourself also pulling Kundalini energy up the spine and out of your crown chakra. After 31 minutes of earnest practice you will feel the expansion of your Kundalini energy.

Some cultures call it the Evil Eye. Other cultures speak of curses. Most have stories of the dark forces and negative spirits. Whatever you call psychic attack, it is not fun. We are all energetic beings and our thoughts are a form of energy. One person’s negative thoughts, directed consistently and strongly in the direction of the another, form the basis for psychic attack, and they may weaken our energetic field. Even the guy in your office that wishes you would get fired so he could get promoted could be unwittingly harming your field. People who are stressed, sick, using inebriants or lacking in a strong spiritual practice, are particularly vulnerable to this type of energetic attack. Yogi Bhajan taught a simple but powerful mantra to reflect any psychic attack back onto the person or spirit from which it originates. This is mantra should only be said ONCE PER DAY. No more than that. You say it once powerfully and then you let it go. Do not chant this mantra over and over again. Alak Baba Siri Chand Di Rakh. This calls upon the assistance of Baba Siri Chand, who was the son of Guru Nanak, the first Guru of the Sikhs. Baba Siri Chand was a devoted yogi who renounced the world in favor of spiritual practice. He was a highly evolved consciousness, but he could not become the Guru after his father because a very important principle of Sikhism is being on the householder’s path. Sikhs are encouraged to live in the world, have jobs, marry, but still focus their attention on God. Back during the old days in India, there were many “bad yogis” running around. These yogis had developed siddhi powers, or psychic skills, from their years of meditation and yoga. Some could materialize wealth by stealing it from another without a trace, some put people under spells to do their bidding, and on and on. Guru Nanak trusted Baba Siri Chand with the task of approaching these dark yogis and teaching them the error of their ways. Baba Siri Chand was a master of deflecting psychic attack from these yogis and staying constantly connected to Source Energy. In Western terms, Baba Siri Chand is similar to Archangel Michael. You call him in when you need protection from anything that is not pure light. The next time you find yourself frightened or feeling attacked by negative energies, try this powerful mantra and see how strong and protected you feel. (Editor's Note: You can find this mantra, recited with clear and correct pronunciation on the following album. Just press the picture to be taken to the album for listening and purchasing options!)

Struggling financially? Feel like you're walking in sand when it comes to your own prosperity? There’s a mantra for that.

Our projection is responsible for creating an energy around us, which operates as a point of attraction. It’s the Law of Attraction, but in yogic terms. Yogi Bhajan was very clear about prosperity: it comes from God. The very nature of God is abundant and prosperous. (Imagine counting the number of cells in all living creatures, molecules of hydrogen throughout the Universe, or seconds of time since the Big Bang….lots, in other words.) In order to create abundance in your own life, all you need to do is connection your own little self with the abundance of the Divine. In other words, you must know and experience God in its own absolute perfection and let that be your projection.

To be prosperous, you must eliminate duality. Now duality is a funny thing. Thinking God is something outside of and separate from you is duality. Your mind can trick you into thinking things like “Jane is rich because Jane is smarter than I am.” Well Jane may be smarter than you, but duality comes in when you think that Jane’s intelligence comes from Jane. All of our qualities are manifestations from God. Jane’s intelligence is a part of Universal Intelligence. If you experience absolutely in your mind and body a unification with God and the Universal Intelligence, than you will experience that Universal Intelligence within you. This is what we mean by no duality: “Ek ong kar.” “The creator and the creation are One.” Everything is God. Eliminating duality unifies you with the Source, and when you are unified with the Source, all energy flows to you. Money and prosperity are forms of energy.

The 25th Pauri of Japji, written by the first Guru of the Sikhs Guru Nanak, is an incredible rhapsody of Joy and Bliss written by a fully enlightened being. Nanak sings of the abundant gifts of God. Reciting the 25th Pauri 11 times within a day, Yogi Bhajan taught, would elevate you into a space of tremendous achievement. Clearing the grey clouds from your consciousness brings out the shining sun, and with it comes a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Complete Mantra:

Bahota karam likhiaa na jaa-ay.

Vadaa dataa til na tamaay.

Kaytay mange jodh apaar.

Kaythaa ganat nahee veechaar.

Kaytay khap tuteh vikar.

Kaytay lai lai mukar paa-eh.

Kaytay moorakh khaahee khaa-eh.

Kaytiaa dookh bhookh sad maar.

Ay-eh bhe daat tayree daataar

Band khaalasee bhanai hoe.

Hor aakh na sakai koe.

Jay ko khaa-ik akhaan paae.

Oh jaanai jaytee-aa muh khaa-ay.

Aapay jaanay aapay day-eh.

Aakheh se bhe kay-ee kay-eh.

Jis no bakhsay siphat saalaah.

Naanak paatishaahee paatishaah.

What can you do when the world turns to shambles around you? Where do you go when chaos takes over your life, filling your days and nights with pressure, fear, tension, and stress? How can you survive a life of chaos, when you feel under attack and completely overwhelmed? Throw a wrench into the gears of your brain and stop it from spiraling further out of control. Use the mantra "Ang Sang Wahe Guru" (pronounced Ung Sung Wa hey guru). It creates a vibration that allows your psyche to readjust itself. When you feel like you've split into a thousand pieces in the chaos surrounding you, this mantra will gradually pull each part of you back into your center. It connects the limited consciousness of your human self with the limitless great Self and so lifts you out of the chaos of the world. The words Ang Sang Wahe Guru, written by Guru Amar Das, the third Sikh Guru, may be translated as "The dynamic, loving energy of the Infinite Source of All is dancing within my every cell, and is present in my every limb. My individual consciousness merges with the Universal consciousness." Not too shabby of an affirmation. To really connect with this mantra, sit in easy pose with a straight spine and place your hands in Gyan Mudra (thumb and forefinger touching). Take as much time as you need...try 11 minutes or 31 minutes. Feel your inner guidance, the Source Energy within each cell (the Ang Sang Waheguru), and you will know the appropriate amount of time for YOU to chant. And with time, you will feel the chaos subside within yourself. Then the magic happens. Once you are calm within, no external chaos will phase you. You will act with dignity and peace within the most chaotic of times. Chaos? What chaos? You'll eat chaos for breakfast. Ang sang waheguru! (Editor's Note: There are many beautiful versions of Ang Sang Waheguru. Here are just a few! Click on the image to listen to clips and purchase!)

MC Yogi won himself many fans with his innovative album Elephant Power, merging hip hop stylings with ancient mantras. But upbeat, lyrically heavy tracks are not always what the yoga teacher ordered. His newest release Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals is a great solution.

Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals is actually a two disc set. The first half, Remixes, offers 12 stunning new takes on MC Yogi classics, by renowned artists like the Bhakti Brothers and Cheb I Sabbah. Some remixes will sound familiar to those who love the original tracks, and some take MC Yogi’s tracks in new directions. The second half, Omstrumentals, removes the lyrics from MC Yogi’s tracks, leaving only the mantras and underlying music for a more mellow experience.

Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals is just the right combination of new and old, upbeat and mellow. To check out Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals or the original album Elephant Power go to www.spiritvoyage.com.