Yoga Music Review: Tina Malia and Shimshai on "Jaya Bhagavan"

Besides being an accomplished English devotional songwriter, Tina Malia makes a wonderful contribution to the yoga music scene with her album Jaya Bhagavan. Malia began singing Sanskrit mantras with Jai Uttal, as part of the Pagan Love Orchestra about a decade ago. With encouragement from Jai, Tina eventually began to incorporate mantra practice into her daily life with positive results. Inspired by her love of Sanskrit mantra, Tina Malia was inspired to record Jaya Bhagavan, an album of wonderful Sanskrit tracks. She is joined by Shimshai, an accomplished instrumentalist and vocalist, who brings his own unique sound to the album. The result is a really cool yoga music album that would go well in anyone’s collection.

Jaya Bhagavan opens with “Gayatri.” Rather than having the fiery, peppy energy that many versions of the gayatri mantra often present, Tina and Shimshai allow the mantra to gently build. It reminds me of the rising sun, peeking out and gradually lightening the sky. It’s a nice way to start the album, easing the listener into the experience. “Gayatri” is followed by “ Hara Mahadeva,” another track with a fairly gentle vibe. I’ve heard this chant done really forcefully on other albums, but Tina and Shimshai chose to tone it down a bit. The result is cool and very relaxed.

In the middle of Jaya Bhagavan is a three track set devoted to the feminine Goddess energy. There is some really fun vocal work happening on “Sarva Mangala,” on top of a musical track that takes me on a jungle cruise. This chant is in praise of the divine feminine, seeking the blessing of the feminine energy. All of the vocal layers make this track really vibrant and exciting to listen to. “Hey Amba” is another track with some really kicking vocals. Take note of the interplay between Shimshai and Tina’s voices; the harmonizing they do is awesome. The music has a very Spanish feel, which made me feel as though I should start dancing, especially during the drum interlude. The third track in the Devi sequence is “Om Mata.” You can really feel the reggae influence Shimshai brings, there’s great movement in this track which works its way into the listener, making it nearly impossible not to dance along.

“Jaya Bhagavan” is the longest track on the album. It has a substantial, meditative instrumental intro, which really helps to create a wonderful mood for the rest of the track. Tina Malia’s wonderful voice soars, and as an added treat she is joined by Jai Uttal. Together they pierce the heart and make you forget everything else but this beautiful track. The album closes with “Shine,” a sweet English duet between Shimshai and Tina. The simple lyrics and acoustic accompaniment gently take you out of the album and back into the world, hopefully feeling a little more relaxed and peaceful.

The tracks Shimshai leads are really groovy and funky. Tina’s lean a little more towards the sweet side of things. Put together you have a funky, sweet album. The instrumentals and vocals are fresh and exciting, giving Jaya Bhagavan a wonderful energy. It’s a great album for yoga, for chanting along, or just listening in the background. Find out more about Tina Malia’s music and her tour with GuruGanesha Singh on www.spiritvoyage.com .

Mantra for a Struggling Business: Aap Sahaee Hoa

Is your business struggling in this economy? Holding on by your fingernails? Yogi Bhajan gave this mantra to bring prosperity to a business hurting in a down-turned economy.

Play the mantra "Aap Sahaee Hoa Sachay Daa Sacha Doaa Har Har Har" in the office 24/7. Leave it on overnight when you close up, leave it on softly while you are working throughout the day. Allow it to permeate the space. There are many stories of people, such as Guru Singh, who did this and thrived during the hardest financial times.

Even if your business isn't struggling, increasing your prosperity is never a bad thing!

To bring yourself some additional prosperity during this time, since in easy pose and cross your hands over your heart (left over right). Chant for 11-31 minutes.

Have faith! Prosperity is on the way!

Share your success with us! If you use this mantra, let us know how it helps your life and your business!

Mantra for Safe Driving: Aad guray nameh

If you’ve ever been in the car with a Kundalini yogi, you might have been startled to hear them chant a mantra before turning the car on. What is it that they chant and why?

Kundalini yogis often chant " Aad guray nameh, jugaad guray nameh, sat guray nameh, siri guru devay nameh” before they put the keys in the ignition for protection. It’s a yogic “secret” said to provide a buffer around the car for protection from an accident. It creates a safety perimeter of about nine feet around the car, which in a critical moment of an accident can be very meaningful.

You can use this mantra when you start your car, invoking with it your own powerful consciousness, directing your mind and intention towards thoughts of safety. You can also use it any other time you need a little boost of protection, such as when walking down a street at night or using it with your kids who might be afraid of the dark.

Playing it while you drive adds extra protection and playing it in your home creates a beautiful environment of safety.

Safe travels!

Mantra for a Broken Heart: Guru Ram Das

We've all felt it. That searing feeling in your chest when your heart breaks. The air rushes out of you. Your stomach tightens. Your mind and heart stop for a moment, suspended, until at last they start again, but now with a heaviness and pain.

We can't avoid heartbreak in this life. Many masters suggest we shouldn't try to avoid it, but instead should sit with the pain within us and truly feel it. Then from that place of honoring the now, we should begin to usher in a sense of peace and well-being as we consciously connect with our timeless Divine Truth. But sometimes we aren't masters. Sometimes it's all we can do to just get out of bed, and when that's too much, opening our eyes can sometimes be a victory.

There is a beauty in heartbreak. For one thing, it proves your heart still feels, still moves and lives and has its being. It proves that you are searching for more and that your heart hasn't crusted over beyond repair.

But we cannot let scar tissue develop during times of heartbreak by closing ourselves off to the pain. That is where real danger lies. We must feel our heartbreak, leaving our heart wide open, sometimes drowning with hurt, and offer our wounds to the Divine and ask for healing. There's a beautiful line in Harnam Singh's song I Don't Mind" that says "Your heart will break from time to time and hurt will creep inside, but a heart that breaks is open wide, whatever happens I don't mind."

May your broken heart be filled with healing. May you resist the urge to close yourself off forever by using asana like Camel Pose to keep your heart open. May you use the mantra calling upon the divine energy of Guru Ram Das, Lord of Miracles and healer of hearts, to lift you up in your times of trouble.

Try the mantra: "Guru Guru Waheguru Guru Ram Das Guru." Cry your heart out while you are singing if you need to, start in a little whisper if you cannot even speak, but eventually sing your heart out. Let the bold and bright sound of your voice be the funnel that removes the hurt from inside you. Hear a strength in your voice even if you don't feel it in your heart. Sing for 31 minutes a day...while you shower, while you cook, while you drive, while you lay in bed hiding under the covers. Sing. Bring the healing presence of Guru Ram Das to you, like an angel of light.

There will be a day when the pain lessens and your heart begins to heal. And then one day, out on horizon, you will see the rising sun again and feel it rise in your heart, too. This too shall pass. Guru Guru Waheguru Guru Ram Das Guru.

Mantra for Fear of Change: Chattr Chakkr Vartee

Everybody is feeling it nowadays. You are either going through it or can see it on the horizon. You know what I'm talking about. The "C" word. Change.

Humankind is undergoing a period of incredible change. Many traditions believe we are shifting from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, and that change is bringing a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for us as a planet and a species. Right now we're in the cusp between the two ages...and the cusp can be a period of tremendous change, anxiety, and discomfort.

Change can be uncomfortable for the best of us. Think of the snake, as it is molting and undergoing a period of tremendous transformation, its eyes become clouded over and the snake can no longer see. It is blind. It lashes out in anger and rage, snapping at anything that comes close. Then as its skin sheds, it emerges from its old self with calm and poise, slithering out of its uncomfortable transition period into a more comfortable, expanded self.

Humans are like snakes in that during periods of transition and change, we become irritable, snappish and edgy. We lash out at our loved ones, behave in irrational ways, and worry. But we don't have to be this way. Change can be a beautiful and exciting time. We can look to an uncertain future with courage and a spirit of adventure.

There is a mantra to help us move from fear of change to boldness and courage. It removes feeling of anxiety, depression and phobias, leaving in its place courage and victory. Just like the snake leaves behind its old skin.

Try this mantra for fear of change:

Chattr chakkr vartee, chattr chakkr bhugatay

Suyumbhav subhang sarab daa sarab jugtay

Dukaalang pranaasee dayaalang saroopay

Sadaa ung sungay abhangang bibhootay

These words were written by the warrior saint Guru Gobind Singh and bring victory during changing times! Chant along with a recording or keep it playing in your house!

Mantra for Family Karma: Ant Na Siphatee

Spending the holidays with your family? Take a long look at your relatives. Are there family patterns or karmas that are playing themselves out?

Look at a cycle of abuse. Often it repeats for many generations, until one individual is strong enough to break the pattern. Or perhaps you can see this when you think of the bad relationships you've been in, and whether other people in your family have made similar choices.

This is family karma. Some cultures have a more strongly developed sense of family karma than other. In India, although its grip over modern society is loosening, the caste system determines everything from whom you can marry to what jobs you can hold. Monarchies all over the globe are seen to have a family karma of power and wealth. In many South American tribes, shamans perform ceremony to remove the karma of seven generations in order to break cycles of misfortune.

Codes within our cells are written by our family's history and determine more than what we look like and to what diseases we are prone. These codes of happiness or distress become programmed and patterns of thought (whether positive or negative) are both taught as a child and encoded within the genes of our ancestors. Even when we are vastly different that the rest of our family, certain tendencies toward discontent or misfortune can be present in our unconscious and subconscious from childhood.

This holiday season, if you are surrounded by family, there is a mantra that you can keep playing in your Ipod, or singing to yourself in sadhana. This mantra breaks family karma. It is said to shatter misfortune with the power of a thunderbolt and affect generations.

It is the 24th Pauri of Japji, written by Guru Nanak, the first guru of the Sikhs. "Ant Na Siftee" or "Ant Na Siphatee" is a powerful mantra of change and transformation for you and your whole family.

Ant Na Siftee Kehn na ant

Ant na karnai dayn na ant

Ant na vaykhan sunan na ant

Ant na jaapai kiaa man mant

Ant na jaapai keetaa aakaar

Ant na jaapai paaraaavaar

Ant kaaran kaytay bilalaa-he

Taa kay ant na paa-ay jaa-ay

Ayho ant na jaanai ko-i

Bahutaa keheeai Bahutaa ho-i

Vadaa saahib oochaa thaao

Oochay oopar oochaa naao

Ayvad oochaa hovai ko-i

Tis Oochay kau jaanai so-i

Jayvad aap jaanai aap aap

Naanak nadaree karamee daat

Chant or recite these words 11 times (optimally for 40 days), or just leave playing in the environment to shift the energy of a space.

Bring this amazing mantra into your family's holiday season and pave the way for future generations to flourish and grow beyond any limitations!

Mantra for Removing Negativity: Jai Te Gang

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.)

Mantra for Attracting Money and New Opportunities: Har Har Har Har Gobinday

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

Mantra for Moving Traffic: Aad Such

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...)

Mantra for Awakening Kundalini: Laya Mantra

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.

Mantra for Protection Against Psychic Attack: Baba Siri Chand

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!)

Mantra for Prosperity: Bahota Karam (25th Pauri)

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.

Mantra for Chaos: Ang Sang Wahe Guru

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!)

Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals by MC Yogi

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.

Elephant Powered Remixes and Omstrumentals by MC Yogi

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.

Mantra for Knowing God: Dev Suroop Kaur on Sochai Soch

(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.

Top 5 Yoga DVDs by Shiva Rea

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.

Mantra for Overcoming Adversity: Sa Re Sa Sa

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.

Mantra for Self-Reflection: Gobinda Hari

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.

Mantra for Self-Esteem: Bountiful, Blissful and Beautiful

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.

Mantra for Letting Go: Ardas Bhaee

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.

Mantra for Finding Happiness and Peace Within

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!

Healing Anger with Mantra

Feeling Angry? Boss, husband, kids, the guy who cut you off really got your goat? Need some quick yoga for anger? Yogi Bhajan gave this simple remedy for healing anger.

Remember a time when you were very angry (or now!) and connect with that feeling of anger and wanting to lash out. Consciously feel angry and then sit down for 11 minutes and chant Waheguru, Waheguru, Waheguru, Wahejio.

Your tongue hitting the upper palate will stimulate meridian points that will affect the thalamus. You will calm down. The sacred power of the words will alter your emotional state. This quick yoga for anger tool works wonders! Try it!

Mantra for Love: Sopurkh

There is a beautiful practice in the tradition of Kundalini Yoga called the So Purkh or Sopurkh that involves the recitation of a certain mantra 11 times a day. The So Purkh was given by Guru Ram Das, the 4th guru of the Sikhs, to women as a way of helping women to raise the vibration of the men in their lives. A woman can say the So Purkh for a particular man in her life such as her husband, to help him live up to his full potential, or she can say it even to attract into her life her perfect mate if she has not met him yet. The So Purkh, if said for a minimum of 40 straight days, is said to manifest God in physical male form in front of a woman.

I had been reciting Sopurkh for 39 days for the men in my life. It was a beautiful, healing process that I could feel was releasing my own karma around men. Many nights I had dreams where I met old boyfriends for tea and we had conversations about our present day lives and said goodbye. I could feel karma lifting and ties being cut. I could also see positive changes happening in the lives of the men for whom I was saying the prayer.


On the 40th day of my half an hour recitation of the Sopurkh, I met the Dalai Lama. He came to Parmarth Niketan to speak and stayed in a room just down the hall from mine. He shook my hand and looked kindly into my eyes. Ladies and gentleman, the Sopurkh works. God in male physical form was manifested in front of me on the 40th day. One week previously I had not even an idea that the Dalai Lama would be coming to Rishikesh and on the 40th day of my meditation, I received the blessing of the one who many consider to be the holiest man alive.


I’m still reeling from the meeting. His energy was graceful and peaceful, self confident and humble. I certainly can’t stop my meditation now…if that happens at day 40, what can happen at day 90 or even day 1,000?

A beautiful recording of the Sopurkh was done by the lovely Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa (Sopurkh That Primal God). View the complete mantra on Mantra-pedia.

(originally posted on Ramdesh's blog, No Ordinary Light)

Mantra for Success and Prosperity

With the pressures of the economy stressing out many people, many Kundalini yoga teachers are choosing to lead special classes dedicated to generating success and prosperity. After one such class with a lively Subagh Kriya and a meditation for prosperity, as well as music that was filled with mantras for abundance, the students left happy but exhausted. The next week, the students came back, one by one, with stories of manifested success. One had sold her house the very next day, after having it languish on the market for years. Another had finally received a check for hundreds of dollars that she had given up on, but sorely needed. One woman got a new job. One man found $20 in his pocket. The amount varied, but the results were consistent. Success and prosperity were indeed attracted into their lives by the power of Kundalini Yoga.

If you want to use Yogi Bhajan’s techniques to bring a great abundance to your life, consider investing in a good Kundalini Yoga manual, such as Yoga for Prosperity by Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa. This will give you a good foundation in Kundalini yoga, showing you the appropriate prosperity kriyas (such as Subagh Kriya) and providing a good reference for the mantras and shabads that you can use to chant your way to success.

Remember that money is green for a reason. Green in the energy of the heart chakra, and when our hearts are open to giving and receiving, that green energy can flow to us more easily. Open your heart in whatever way possible. Try the kriya Opportunity and Green Energy Set from Transitions to a Heart-Centered World by Guru Rattana and watch your heart open wider than ever before. When your heart is open and your chakras balanced, the mantras can have a greater impact on your energetic field.

Armed with reference manuals, you can begin to use the power of mantra to bring financial abundance into your life. You can chant the mantra, repeat it silently, or listen to it. Play it on your Ipod while you run. Chant it out loud while you drive. Repeat it silently while waiting for your doctor’s appointment. Play it softly as ambient noise while you sleep, accessing your subconscious. Make mantra a habit in your normal, daily life. It will quickly become automatic and you will train your brain to have a habit of success. Why not leave the mantra playing in your home all day while you are out working or doing errands? The energy of the sacred words will reverberate and fill your space, making it a money-attracting vortex.

Some mantra meditations are very simple and even in English. Try this beautiful and short mantra for Prosperity and Self Esteem given to us by Yogi Bhajan:

Sit in easy pose. You can hold your hands in gyan mudra or just rest them on your knees. Shut your eyes. Inhale and hold the breath in. Repeat, “I am beautiful, I am blissful, I am bountiful.” Exhale and hold the breath out. Repeat, “Excel, excel, fearless.” Repeat this sequence for 3 minutes.

Sometimes the simplest meditation can bring the most powerful result.

There is a wonderful website devoted to the Sikh principle of Dasvandh or giving back. It includes pages of Kundalini mantras and meditations all devoted to your greater success and prosperity. Looking to start the new career of your dreams? Check out this meditation to bring you success in becoming anything you want to be:http://www.dasvandh.org/meditations/meditation-succeed-anything-you-want-be

Here are more powerful mantras that you can use to activate greater prosperity today! There are many recorded versions of each, so search around until you find one that really resonates with you.

(Check Spirit Voyage’s Mantra-pedia and Meditation Home for translations and additional information on how to properly do each specific mantra.)

Aap sahaaee hoa for Relief from Financial Pressures

Aap Sahaaee Hoaa, Sachay Daa Sachaa Doaa, Har, Har, Har

Ajai Alai for a Prosperous Existence

Ajai Alai

Abhai Abai

Abhoo Ajoo

Anaas Akaas

Aganj Abhanj

Alakkh Abhakkh

Akaal Dyaal

Alaykh Abhaykh

Anaam Akaam

Agaaha Adhaaha

Anaathay Pramaathay

Ajonee Amonee

Na Raagay Na Rangay

Na Roopay Na Raykhay

Akarmang Abharmang

Aganjay Alaykhay

Ardas Bhaee for Answered Prayers

Ardas Bhaee Amar Das Guru, Amar Das Guru, Ardas Bhaee, Ram Das Guru, Ram Das Guru, Ram Das Guru, Sachee Sahee

Har for Prosperity

Har, Har, Har…

Har, Har, Har, Har, Gobinday for a Shield of Good Luck and Prosperity

Har Har Har Har Gobinday

Har Har Har Har Mukunday

Har Har Har Har Udaaray

Har Har Har Har Apaaray

Har Har Har Har Hariang

Har Har Har Har Kariang

Har Har Har Har Nirmaanay

Har Har Har Har Akaamay

25th Pauri for Prosperity

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.

Mantra for Ego: Aakhan Jor

The ego is a slippery creature.  It is usually easy to spot out in the open in others, but hides under the shade of the Twisted Logic Tree in the forest of our own minds.  Some egos are loud and arrogant, drunk with their own beauty, while others sneak and scurry in the darkness, ashamed to show their own light.

They ride of the coattails of self-esteem and can, when you least suspect it, jump out in a costume designed to fool you into thinking they are their own healthy cousin...self-respect.  They also, however, and this is sometimes even more tricky, can ride on the boat of despair and water-log your ship into a feeling of hopelessness.

Ego is basically that which feels separation from the whole.  It is a consciousness of self rather than Self.  They do have a plus side (for everything in the universe has balance), in that they allow you to experience your life as an individual and have a sense of separate identity.  However, they never evolved a sense of moderation, and for the vast majority of us, can build momentum and become steam locomotives of self-aggrandizement or deprecation.

Luckily, there is a mantra that is the ego's kryptonite.  The 33rd Pauri of Japji, written by Guru Nanak, the first Guru of the Sikhs and an enlightened master, is a poem of total surrender to the Greater Consciousness and is a mantra for ego.  The last line, "Nanak utam neech na ko-i" refers to the concept that all creation is equal in the eyes of God.  A small field mouse is beloved.  A great king is beloved, too.  It is a mantra of a level playing field, and reminds the subconscious that any power we have is an extension of the power of the Divine.  We are not the source of the flame, but we are all candles.

This pauri, or stanza, of Japji is said to remove negativity, smooth the ruffled feathers of your ego, prevent harm to another by your hand, and bring you into a greater sense of your own divinity.

You repeat this mantra 11 times for effect, and I often find myself singing it as a bedtime lullaby for my ego.  "Go take a nap," I tell it, while I find something better to do with my energy than follow its wild goose chases.

Try it.  Sing it soothingly to yourself.  It is like taking a shower in light.  Not that my light is any better than your light, nor your light any better than mine.  Both glimmering. Both shining. Nanak utam neech na ko-i.

Aakhan Jor

Aakhan jor, Chupai neh jor,

Jor na mangan dayn na jor

Jor na jeevan maran neh jor

Jor na raaj maal man sor

Jor na surtee giaan vechaar

Jor na jugatee chutai sansaar

Jis hath jor kar vekhai so-i

Nanak utam neech na ko-i