Aakhan Jor | Prayer of Acceptance

Again I am struck by another of Snatam Kaur’s rendition of a spiritual prayer. The beauty of her voice as well as the musical arrangement truly convey the peaceful message of acceptance.

The words, “Aakhan Jor”, come from the first line of the prayer, and mean “no power in speaking”. It echos the message contained in the rest of the prayer – that we have no power inherent within us. All power comes from God, the Most High, the Creator, the Source. Anything that we accomplish we should credit to Him who watches over all and who has power over all. All that remains is for us to accept that fact, and in doing so work with the source of all power instead of against it.

How can we have no power and yet think that we can ever accomplish anything?

The key to understanding this paradox is to realize that the “we” who has no power is actually our ego, our separation from the source. The true Source of power is always moving towards creating, so we just need to realize our true connection with that Source and then, free from ego, accomplish what we wish without struggle.


Celebrating Peace in Palo Alto with Snatam Kaur

Celebrate Peace

Listening to good music – relaxing – chanting – laughing – singing – practicing a few yogic breathing exercises – sharing with others an experience of peace … I experienced all these in one evening a few weekends ago at a concert performed by Snatam Kaur.

And it was awesome!

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What is Raising Your Vibration? (The High Vibes Game)

Do a Google search for ‘raising vibration’ and there is no lack of information available. But in the spirit of the ‘high vibes game’ meme started at OptimistLab (I’ve just been tagged … twice), I’ll give my take on it as well as five things I do to ‘raise my vibration’.

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The Magical Vibrations of Ray Man Shabad

The next time you find a particular piece of music very relaxing, there might be more to it than you realize.

The first time I heard Snatam Kaur’s Ray Man Shabad, I was instantly hooked, yet I failed to understand exactly why.
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Praising a Monkey God in this Day and Age

Why would a person who doesn’t believe in or worship “idols” enjoy listening to a forty-verse devotional anthem to a monkey god?

That’s right, a Hindu monkey God – the divine monkey – also known as Hanuman.
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Two Very Different Reactions to Chanting

[This is part II of a three-part series. Be sure to read part I.]

When my family and I arrived at the temple at the Mata Amritanandamayi’s ashram in San Ramon, a member greeted us and asked if we were first timers. We said yes, then she placed colored dots on our clothing as an indication of our “status”. There is definitely an effort to make newcomers feel welcome and to make sure that the first experience is a good one.
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“Dust-R-Us” – Krishna Das

Actually, the exact words spoken by Krishna Das at a recent kirtan were “Dust is us”. That was before he led the crowd at the church through the process of removing that dust – removing ourselves.
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