 Celestial Communication  |
I love to make people happy, like many others, I am sure. And I am equally certain, that this motivation, cannot be so unusual. After all, who would want to make others miserable! Far from pandering, though, I feel true delight and inspiration when I can see others come alight with the fire of their own being.
For about a year and a half now, I have been at once humbled and deeply empowered with a magical device that can take almost any ordinary, sober-thinking, self-conscious, serious person and, in a matter of seconds, turn them into a chuckling, beaming, unselfconscious one.
Outside of my yoga classes, I have gone to Sikh youth camps where we have turned on hundreds of youngsters and their teachers all at once. We have gone to many high schools where they have invited me to discourse on the Sikh religion, and before we are finished, I have had these youngsters who would normally be just a little cynical and more than a little self-conscious, giggling and chanting from their hearts. We have gone to several interreligious conferences and have been asked especially to cast this certain spell on a somber gathering of respected representatives, and watched in wonder as almost all the Hindus, Catholics, Bahais, Scientologists, Protestants, Jains, Zoroastrians, native Canadians, Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, and Unitarians together cooed in animated delight.
So, what is this secret formula? It is Celestial Communication, but not just any Celestial Communication. Some, I have found, work better than others, and this one works extraordinarily well. I picked it up from the original 1993 version of Wahe Guru (Wah!) Kaur’s Child’s Play tape, which had a helpful sheet of illustrations. (The current version with the book and CD has the same tunes, but since it is designed for a broader, secular market, it is not the same and there are fewer mantras.)
The Technique: (1) Here is how it goes: The first part is “I am happy!” When you say “I”, you place both your hands flat against your heart centre. For “am”, you place both palms together just in front of your heart center. For “happy”, you raise your arms, palms forward, up to sixty degrees at either side.
Commentary: At this point, it is good to tell your students that meditation - or japa - by its nature is repetitive, and for a reason. It is like learning the answer, no matter how difficult it may be, to a question you know will be on an exam. If you can find the answer, then study and repeat it to yourself often enough, eventually you will “get it.” It will become a part of you. In the same way, if no one has ever told you that you have a birthright to be happy - or perhaps there have been people telling you quite the opposite - you may have to repeat it a few times to yourself until it really sinks in, and you realize the truth of it. You might also explain that holding the arms at sixty degrees stimulates the heart center so that, in effect, even if you are not feeling happy, as the heart center becomes stimulated, you start to feel the joy that emanates from there.
The explanation of “I am happy!” is simply that we were made to be happy. The Creator never meant for us to be miserable. All our lives, we naturally try to achieve happiness. True happiness comes from inside. It is up to us to learn the real art of being and staying happy.
The Technique: (2) “I am good!” “I” - hands flat against your heart center. For “am” - both palms together again in front of your heart center. For “good” - both hands on your knees.
Commentary: God doesn’t make junk. God is ultimately good, and we are made in God’s image. There is nothing wrong with us. We may have some odd habits we still carry around as luggage. There may be habits we are embarrassed about, but habits can be changed, and as humans, we have the capacity to change our habits.
The Technique: (3) Sat Nam, spoken:
“Satinaam Satinaam Satinaam Jee!” For this, put both your arms in front of you and bend ninety degrees at the elbows. Your hands are open, facing your chest. Now make your right and left hands and forearms rotate like a paddlewheel (or a
mixer) in front of you as you chant.
Commentary: Sat Nam means Real Name, True Name, or Identity. It means we should identify with truth, we should be real. We should be what we are, like saints, and not phony. People may have different expectations from us, but ultimately, if we want to be happy, we have to be true to ourselves.
The Technique: (4) Wahe Guru, spoken: “Wahay guroo Wahay guroo Wahay guroo Jee!” For this, do the same paddlewheel motion in front of your chest, but do it in the opposite direction.
Commentary: “Wahay!” means “Wow!” When there is nothing else you can say, when something is so wonderful that you just cannot find any words for it, you can always say “Wow!” or “Wahay!” Guru (Gu: dark, ru: light) means wisdom. It also means the cosmic sense that makes everything just the way it is; everything happen just the way it does. All the intricate details of the universe are determined by this. It is the principle of sacrifice, the principle of Light, the principle of Cosmic Love which is the “method in the madness,” the higher sense which makes everything what it is.
When we say “Wahay Guroo!” we pay the Creator a compliment. We say that this world and everything in it, the way it is and the way everything happens, is just so amazing all we can say is “Wow!” Even if, at first, we do not feel this, with enough recitation, it begins to sink in, and we begin to experience on a personal level that it is true.
You do not need a recorded tape to do any of these meditations, although Shakta Kaur has recorded a basic monotone version of it on Khalsa Sacred Khalsa and Hari Kirn Kaur does a version with slightly different hand motions on her We Are The Khalsa video. Wahe Guru Kaur’s tune is very melodic and nice to use. But we can practice Celestial Communication without any tape or instrumentation.
It is such a privilege and joy in this day and age of transition to convey these awesome, yet disarmingly simple techniques. What can we say? The way to the heart may well be through the stomach, but the freeway to the soul comes through the heartfelt resonation of the Shabd Guru. I hope that you, too might find occasions for sharing the light and delight of this special, sacred kriya and seeing for yourself that Celestial Communication can be simply heavenly!