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Har Har Waheguru: Uplift and Restore Equilibrium
After the presidential election of 2017, I found the energy was quite heavy in my heart. I felt how separated we were as a country; divided in many ways, including religion, culture, and politics. I knew that I needed to come from a place of love with whatever actions and words I chose to use, and that my own capacity to judge others was quite present. At this time, I gravitated toward the following mantra, which later became the fourth track on our new album Beloved.
har har waaheguru
God, God, the ecstatic experience of bliss of chanting that One’s Name, brings us into a clear state of awareness.
In the cold winter months that followed the election, we composed the tune for this mantra. I felt that it would clear out negative energy and hoped that the melody would support that goal. Indeed, I experienced this to be true in the recording process. However, I would understand something deeper about this beautiful mantra a full year later, when I came across a certain lecture from Yogi Bhajan, my spiritual teacher.
He relayed that within us there are three basic energies: our animalistic nature, our human nature, and our angelic nature. (1) In our animalistic nature, we live at each other, eating and living for survival. In our human nature, we live with each other. In our angelic nature, we live for each other. If you watch people, you can see expressions of all three of these natures.
Ok, let’s take an example to see how this could play out. For the person living in an animalistic nature, let’s say he acquires a loaf of bread. He either eats it all on the spot or hides it in a safe place to have it later. For the person living in a human nature, his neighbor tells him that he’s hungry, and so he decides to share this loaf of bread with him. For the person living in an angelic nature, he actually goes out and looks for someone who is hungry and will feed that person.
After reading this, I then shared these teachings with my daughter. As I was doing so, I realized that I would very much like to be living more in my angelic nature. I felt this prayer seed into my heart, and the next morning, for the purposes of this blog, I set out to practice a meditation with the mantra "Har Har Waaheguru."
As I chanted “har har,” this powerful Name of God twice, it felt as if the earth and the heaven elements within me were being recharged and balanced. Then, as I chanted “waaheguru,” the necessary transformation within my being began to occur. I began to let go of emotions and energy that were no longer serving. “Waah” means bliss, and it takes us to that sensation when we chant it. “He” means the here and now. It brings the bliss to our experience and reality. “Guru” is the sacred word of transformation, that which brings us from darkness into light. It brings the healing and transformation to a personal level, as it works with our very own cellular structure and energy to create change and elevate the spirit.
After sitting with the energy for a few days, it became clear to me that this mantra is not just for clearing energy as I had thought. It is also for restoring a very important equilibrium in which we experience ourselves in our earthly human realm, and also in our spiritual heaven realm. We live in both realms and are made up of elements from each.
As hard as it may be to believe, the challenges we face in everyday situations are all placed there so that we have the opportunity to lose equilibrium, and come back to equilibrium, time and time again. It is a form of exercise that allows the soul lessons to be learned. It is a totally challenging form of exercise, but in the little that I have experienced, I have seen that we become stronger with each flex that brings us back into equilibrium, and this strength builds upon itself. Our daily mantra meditation practice is key in order to keep up, along with a healthy dose of self-forgiveness and love.
The beauty of all of this is that when we are in equilibrium with our true nature, which includes both being human and angel, we can serve. Service is the most powerful way to create unity once again – unity in our homes, our lives, our country, and our world.
I invite you to practice this very beautiful mantra meditation with me from the book The Mind. (2)
Here are the instructions.
Sit straight with your elbows by your sides. Place your hands at shoulder height by your sides with the palms forward and hands in Gyan Mudra (index finger tip on the thumb tip). Pull the shoulders back and lock them. Look at the tip of the nose.
Chant in a steady, clipped or marching cadence:
har har waaheguru
Please use one complete breath for each repetition of the mantra. Use the tip of the tongue on “har” and move the lips distinctly on the rest.
Continue for 31 minutes.
As the sound walks up your spine, you balance all five elements and passions in the midst of activity.
I find that it is best to use your own voice (or voices if you are in a group) and sing in a steady monotone. The sound of your own voice vibrating will be more successful in awakening the energies of your spine than listening and singing along with the recording. When your spine vibrates, it is the most beautiful music of the cosmos. The music for the Har Har Waaheguru track on our album will be great to chant along with as you are learning the mantra, as you go about your day, or even while you are sitting in easy pose with your eyes closed.
“This mantra removes phobias and subconscious blocks from the past. It creates balance between earth and ether and restores equilibrium, so past karmas are cleared.” – Bibi Ji (3)
Bibliography.
1. Yogi Bhajan, Success and the Spirit (Santa Cruz, NM: Kundalini Research Institue, 2011) pg 127
2. Yogi Bhajan, The Mind, (Santa Cruz, NM: Kundalini Research Institue, 1998), pg 166
3. Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, Mantra (Santa Cruz, NM: Kundalini Research Institute, 2016) pg 43
Note from Snatam:
I love to look at Beloved as a sound medicine tool kit, with each track having a specific healing effect. Please use this list as a quick reference to help navigate which track will be helpful for you at this time.
Amul – Priceless – To Feel the Priceless Love of the Divine
Gopaal – To Center the Self
Water of Your Love – To Tune in to the Sacredness of Water
Har Uplift – To Restore Equilibrium
Darashan Maago – Reestablishing Self-Esteem and Honor
Pooran Jot – Pure Light – To Access Your Authentic Light
Har Har Har Har Gobinday – The Power to Self Elevate to Your Highest Destiny
Sat Naaraa-iṉ – To Bring Inner Peace and Blessings