by Elyssa Page
From Vision Magazines Website: Click Here to See Original Article
Breathing deeply with my legs crossed on my mat, I repeatOng Namo Guru Dev Namo. The words permeate the room, filling the hearts of everyone in the class. Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. I call to the divine teacher within. This sacred chant is an integral part of kundalini yoga. Brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan, this intensive yoga practice activates the kundalini energy which resides at the base of the spine. As I sing the chant, fully present in the sacred words, I connect to my own divine wisdom in pure bliss. This is the power of kirtan.
Snatam Kaur and GuruGanesha Singh, world renowned kirtan musicians and students of Yogi Bhajan, have dedicated themselves to sharing their path to peace with the world through yoga and devotional music. The founder of Spirit Voyage Records, GuruGanesha’s grace on the guitar is enriched by Snatam’s exquisite vocals and her gentle caress upon the violin. Their harmonies are full of devotion, elevating you with sacred chants and an inspired fusion of eastern and western musical styles.
I recently had the honor to speak with Snatam and GuruGanesha and was struck by the humble and joyful nature of these two individuals who are so greatly loved across the world.
Vision Magazine: How can kirtan bring inner peace?
Snatam Kaur: Kirtan has a physiological effect on the body. Scientific studies show a major reduction in stress by chanting the sacred words of kirtan. The tapping of the tongue at the roof of the mouth makes different vibrations. Each word is a sacred code that actually stimulates the glandular system to secrete, creating profound effects on the body.
As we know with modern medicine, the physical is connected with the mental, which is connected with the spiritual. The sacred words are positive self-affirmations of the divine within. People have been using them for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They are very powerful, especially if you chant everyday—that’s when you really start to feel the effects. That’s why we’re so passionate about getting these sacred chants out there.
GuruGanesha Singh: Yogi Bhajan said on a number of occasions that the most healing sound for a human being is that of their own voice vibrating from their heart chakra with positive affirmations. I chant mantras every single morning. It never fails to make me feel really good in my heart, about myself and about my life.
VM: What are your thoughts on the recent popularity of the fusion of eastern and western musical styles?
GS: It’s a really beautiful fusion. I came out of the late 60s rock and roll era, when there was some amazing music that my children and my grandchildren will probably enjoy as well.
Interestingly, Snatam and I have been studying a lot of music from India, including classic Indian raga. It’s ancient and so phenomenal. Learning all those beautiful ragas has enhanced our soul’s vocabulary. Music is an expression of your heart and soul. When we play for a concert, it’s really a representation of what’s in our hearts at the moment. Even though each song has a melody, a chord progression and a structure, we play very improvisationally—we never play the same piece the same way. Also, the kirtans are much more of a co-formance with the audience than a performance because we encourage people to be a part of it right from the beginning. In fact, our best evenings have been when the audience takes over and gets so into the kirtan that we follow them instead of them following us.
The fusion is really who we are. The music that comes through is a combination of western and eastern music; it’s a blend of everything that we’ve studied and everything that we’ve loved for many years.
SK: I grew up in a yogic lifestyle and a lot of the music was a natural fusion of East and West. We were learning and celebrating the traditional songs and styles of kirtan, which are very devotional and come straight from the roots of northern India. As westerners, we thought this music would sound good with some guitar. It was a natural evolution. And as GuruGanesha said, the heart and soul of where we’re coming from is doing whatever brings you to that state of bliss. If it happens to be Indian raga notes or western chord progressions—whatever it is that takes you to that place. Our major journey is coming to that state of bliss with the music and sharing it.
VM: What are some of the biggest lessons that you have taken from Yogi Bhajan’s teachings?
SK: One of Yogi Bhajan’s most significant teachings for me is to use whatever powers and strengths you might have to serve the planet and all beings. I learned early on as I was touring that it really wasn’t good enough for me to be able to sing or play the violin. What is really fulfilling is that I’ve shared a moment of peace with people, that I’ve really given something through the music, and that I’ve been able to help someone in someway. And this really comes from the attitude of service that Yogi Bhajan taught through yoga and music. He always said to be the forklift, to meet people eye to eye and be in that space of humility and service. As a performer, this has helped me to connect with people and show them that I’m real. From that space of just being who I am, which maybe isn’t all that special, we can come to that place together of having a divine experience through the sacred chants.
GS: One of the reasons Yogi Bhajan came to the West from India in 1969 was that his teacher told him that young people were throwing their nervous systems off through substance abuse. By ’71, I realized that I needed to find an alternative way to feel uplifted, or to use the old expression from back then, “to feel high,” or I was going to die like a lot of my friends did. A lot of musicians never came out of it and they pretty much destroyed themselves. So I started looking for a better way to feel at one with the universe.
Fortunately, I ran into the Yogi Bhajan’s teachings of kundalini yoga, which is a very strenuous and powerful form of yoga. I went to my first class and had an experience that was definitely as profound as any of my 200 or so LSD trips. I immediately realized that this is an opportunity to transform my life and take it in a positive direction. It was a profound gift that Yogi Bhajan brought to a whole generation of young people. Back then, when you said you did yoga, people thought it was a frozen dessert. And now, everybody knows about yoga. They’re starting to offer it in public schools—it’s amazing what’s happened in 40 years.
VM: What are your thoughts on sustainability and environmental consciousness?
SK: We are taking many steps to green our tour and our music creation. The last CD that GuruGanesha and I did, Liberation’s Door, is completely made of cardboard. We’re also encouraging people to download our music on our Web site, SpiritVoyage.com.
On tour, we got reusable water bottles for all of the band members. I envision the landfills out there whenever I think of using a plastic water bottle. We also encourage our producers to serve our food on reusable plates, as opposed to throwing them away. It’s not always perfect, but I find that the more we talk about it together as a band with our producers and show them that this is important to us, the more we will be able to collectively make significant changes. The more we realize how the planet is interconnected, the better off we’ll be for many generations to come.
VM: Can you talk a bit about your work in supporting the United Nations Peace Resolution?
SK: We have been part of an organization called 3HO, which stands for Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization. It is a non-governmental organization of the U.N. founded by Yogi Bhajan that teaches kundalini yoga to women, men, children, couples and families. GuruGanesha and I are so dedicated to sharing the technology and science of kundalini yoga as a way to create peace. Yogi Bhajan really believed in sharing with everyone, whether they’re into doing yoga or they’ve never heard the word before. I always bring a little bit of yoga in the concerts and people have really powerful experiences. We encourage them to continue with their yoga practices. It doesn’t even have to be kundalini yoga; just doing yoga and meditation on a daily basis has a profound effect on the planet. That’s our way, our path to peace.
GS: The backdrop at our concert says, “Peace in your heart, peace in your home, peace in the world.” It starts in your own heart. The goal of the concerts is to give people a deep experience of inner peace. We can only do our small part, but if people leave the concert having a door open in their hearts, that can lead to a little bit more of a peaceful household when they get home. And if there are enough peaceful households, eventually the world starts to become a more peaceful place. The television is always telling you that war is breaking out and there’s fear and terrorism everywhere. We’ve been doing concerts for 10 years now and we’ve crossed paths with thousands of incredible people all over the world from all walks of life. On the contrary to what the media is saying, it appears to us that peace is breaking out all over.
VM: Do you have a favorite mantra?
GS: My favorite mantra is, “Peace to all, life to all, love to all.”
SK: I would say mine is Wah He Guru. Wah means ecstatic bliss and joy, He [pronounced “hey”] means here and now, and Guru means from darkness to light. Essentially, it means that bliss is here now and the lack of awareness is transforming into awareness. It’s a really powerful one for me and I chant it everyday.
VM: Besides chanting, what are some practices that you consider important for wellness?
SK: I feel that it’s important to do a powerful yoga practice every day. My husband and I have been really focusing on experiencing yoga every day—and chanting right afterwards is phenomenal.
I also feel that it’s incredibly important to have a vegetarian diet. There’s actually nothing more powerful that one can do for the environment than become a vegetarian. The energy that goes into creating that piece of meat is incredible. And as human beings, we simply cannot digest it. Yogi Bhajan taught that if you can’t digest something within 72 hours, then you shouldn’t be eating it. Meat putrefies in your gut. In fact, during autopsies, they find traces of meat leftover from when somebody was five years old—even when they’re doing the autopsy on an 80-year-old. It’s just not healthy.
GS: When I was in my early 20s and a heavy meat eater, Yogi Bhajan looked at me and said, “Why do make your body a graveyard for dead animals?” And that was like a bolt of lightening; it resounded in my head and very soon thereafter, I became a vegetarian.
VM: What is your hope for the world?
GS: For quite sometime, I’ve had a heartfelt conviction that a worldwide enduring peace is going to manifest in my lifetime. That’s just not my hope for the world; it’s my firm conviction. When Obama got elected, it was a powerful move in the right direction. I believe that he’s a man of consciousness who’s not just looking out for Americans, because we’re one global family. We have to think in terms of what’s best for the whole universe—not just what’s best for me, my family, or my country, but what’s best for all of us. We’re moving into the Aquarian Age, a time when people of consciousness, like Obama and others, are moving into positions of leadership. It is my heartfelt conviction that worldwide peace will manifest in every nook and cranny on this planet in the next 20 to 40 years.
SK: My prayer is that we continue to experience the beauty of nature. In our travels, we’ve met a lot people working for peace and we’ve also seen a lot of pollution and lack of awareness. Having clean air and water is divine. Caring for each other and thinking globally, rather than in terms of separate nations, is divine. We have a big responsibility to shift the consciousness of the planet. And it’s been done before. My grandfather, who was a peace activist after World War II, said, “Our generation shifted the consciousness. We fought for peace and now it’s your turn.”
Snatam Kaur and GuruGanesha Singh have just returned from Europe where they guided sold-out crowds from deep meditation to ecstatic dancing with their uniquely colorful blend of traditional Indian instruments and Western beats. Their 2009 Sacred Chants world tour now brings them to Southern California for two concerts only: Huntington Beach, November 13 and San Diego, November 14. Snatam will hold an afternoon yoga children’s program on both days before the show, consisting of music and a yoga storytelling adventure. For tickets and music downloads, visitSpiritVoyage.com.
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