The Ordinary Mystic

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.

• The entire prayer
• Preview the MP3:

Tags: Chanting, Sikhism, Snatam Kaur by chris
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Start with a classical guitar set to an up beat with a European Spanish feel, then add words of the spiritual ideals from the Sikh faith sung by the angelic voice of Snatam Kaur, and you have her rendition of the Mul Mantra .

This is sung at a faster pace than other favorites of mine, and it always seems to bring me back to the performance I saw two years ago. Not that she sang it then, but in that performance she took a break from singing and engaged the audience in some kundalini yoga exercises. This song reminds me of the pace of the exercises, and I can imagine taking complete in-and-out breaths with each beat of the song.

I mentioned that these were words of the Sikh faith, but they really reflect basic truths underlying all spirituality.

Here’s a Youtube video of corresponding inspirational images set to Snatam Kaur’s Mul Mantra.

Tags: Sikhism, Snatam Kaur by chris
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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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Tags: Chanting, Kirtan, Sikhism, Snatam Kaur, Yoga by chris
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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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Tags: Chanting, Kirtan, Krishna Das, Meditation, Meme Posts, Snatam Kaur, Yoga by chris
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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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Tags: Chanting, Sikhism, Snatam Kaur by chris
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One of the things I like about listening to internet radio at work, is that I get introduced to artists that I would have otherwise overlooked. Snatam Kaur is one of those. I had seen her CDs in music stores, but was never moved to check them out. But then while at work I kept hearing this one song over and over – Ek Ong Kaar – and it got a hold of me. The more I heard it, the more I became mesmerized by it until I had to find out who the artist was.

That was when I was re-introduced to the devotional music of the Sikh faith.
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Tags: Kirtan, Sikhism, Snatam Kaur by chris
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