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Yogism Is This Mantra Sikh Or Hindu?

namjiwankaur

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Nov 14, 2010
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I want to know more about this mantra sung by Mantra Girl:

YouTube - "Gobinday" - Mantra/Chant by Mantra Girl

The words to it are:
Gobinday, one who sustains us
Mukhunday, one who liberates us
Udharay, one who uplifts us
Aparay, who is infinite
Hariung, who does everything
Kariung, for through grace everything is done
Nirnaamay, nameless, desireless
Akaame, and is itself.

I'm wondering if they are all Sikh Names for the Divine.

Jasnoor
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
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Jun 17, 2004
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jasnoor ji

As written, this is the so-called Prosperity Mantra recited by followers of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. It is however a set of phrases/words taken from the Jaap Sahib, attributed to the pen of Guru Gobind Singh ji. These phrases are then reconstituted as a mantra, often called the Guru Gayatri mantra.

I must tell you that Jaap Sahib is still continued as one of the daily prayers of baptized Sikhs. And will be until its authorship is successfully disputed by scholars not to be of the 10th Nanak. So to cannibalize the Jaap Sahib, and make part of it into a commercial endeavor, is distressing to some Sikhs. If you only google the first two lines page after page of mp3 file and cd for sale turns up. Personally this is one of the things about westernized practice of Sikhi that I find distressing.

No criticism of you.
 
Jan 6, 2005
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This is from JAAP SAHIB, verses 94 & 95:

"Jaap is the bani (set of hymns) uttered by Guru Gobind Singh ji, the Tenth Sikh Guru, the Tenth Nanak. It is one of the Five Banis recited by most practising Sikhs each morning and the bani that the Panj Pyare recite while preparing Amrit on the occasion of Amrit Sanchaar (Sikh Initiation), a ceremony held to admit initiates into the Khalsa Brotherhood. It is the second bani of the five in the daily morning prayer routine of a Sikh."
 

namjiwankaur

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Nov 14, 2010
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Why are some Sikhs so critical of this Yogi (I don't know anything about him)? Do Sikhs from places like India and Pakistan feel Sikhs in the west are doing things the wrong way or something? Just so I know why there is bitterness in reply to my questions sometimes.

Jas
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
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jasnoor ji

Apologies if you perceive this as bitterness, at least coming from me. I do not intend it that way. When people are distressed it happens because the prayer has been taken apart, put back together again, and then sold on the open-market, as part of yoga practice.
 

a.mother

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Jun 12, 2010
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spnadmin ji I am totally agree with you,
Personally this is one of the things about westernized practice of Sikhi that I find distressing.
Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji's This shabad is giving me a lot of peace but when you see this kind of westnize pic on cd there is not any peace left other then anger.I usually I listen Giyani Thakar Singh ji Patiyala wale's cds some times they sing these lines with sangat oh my god its so cooling you don't need any thing else .I feel like life for dieing person.
 

Ishna

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May 9, 2006
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With all due respect, can I please interject here and say that although this commercialization and "new-age-ization" of Gurbani is primarily due to Yogi Bhajan and his Western 3HO movement, it does not reflect the whole sum of Western Sikh practice.

I'm a Westerner trying to puzzle my way into Sikhi and get as frustrated as most of you here when my fellow Western seekers grab bits of Gurbani, call it "magical mantra" and start selling it, but it is not the Sikhi I as a Westerner buy into (pun intended).

It is another nail in the great wall fortifying the Punjabi ownership of Sikhi which is supposed to be a Universal religion. The kind of flippant regard for Sikhi shown by some Westerners probably does more to alienate people who are otherwise good and wise Punjab-rooted Sikhs from connecting with the Western world which is a shame because they have so much to share and teach. On the other hand, commercialisation like this may be enough to spark some Westerner's interest in where this "magical mantra" actually came from and draw them through the commercial veil and into learning about Sikhi as a whole, and turn them into a productive and dedicated Sikh.

Ishna
 
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findingmyway

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Aug 17, 2010
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World citizen!
Ishna ji,
Culture is a very slippery slope! I personally try to take the best bits of all cultures and reject the rest. I hate putting people into boxes of Westerner vs Easterner or Indian vs British vs Australian. For me Sikhi is a culture and I follow what is compatible what that only. I reject a lot of Panjabi culture too. I also think you cannot call the 3HO only a Western Sikh movement as the founder is an Indian guy! I think what a lot of Panjabi's will object to as westernisation in the above video is the image of the female as in Panjabi culture that image would be considered distasteful. That is where the difference between panjabi and west comes in.
 

namjiwankaur

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Nov 14, 2010
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Can anyone tell me where the Names in this mantra are found? If not all together, then where each Name would be found separately.

I do not intend to use this as "magic" or anything. I merely wanted to know more about the Names used here.

I apologize for any tension it created. :(

Jasnoor
 

Ambarsaria

ੴ / Ik▫oaʼnkār
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Dec 21, 2010
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Can anyone tell me where the Names in this mantra are found? If not all together, then where each Name would be found separately.

I do not intend to use this as "magic" or anything. I merely wanted to know more about the Names used here.

I apologize for any tension it created. :(

Jasnoor

Jasnoor ji in the following from your first post in this thread,


  • Gobinday, one who sustains us
  • Mukhunday, one who liberates us
  • Udharay, one who uplifts us
  • Aparay, who is infinite
  • Hariung, who does everything
These are not names per se in the literal sense. These are synonyms for qualities in divine/God like creation.

There is nothing wrong if one repeats these while understanding these with an intent to use as tools to find or reach for peace or seek out God within.

Just my opinion.

Sat Sri Akal.

PS: My father was quite a critical person and a straight shooter. He told me he did not find too much wrong with Bhajan yogi's efforts.

To indicate his straight shooting personality an example. He rebuked Professor Darshan Singh in a gathering (UK) where he was presiding and a saropa was to be presented to Porfessor Sahib. When Professor Sahib just sat and did not rise to receive the saropa, my father told him that it was an insult of gathered sikh sangat (indirectly a display of Haumay/Hankar) and told him to properly receive his saropa. He otherwise did not say bad about Professor Darshan Singh.
 

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