"Sat Narayan" Meditation To Reclaim Your Peaceful Presence

Written by Hari Nam Singh.

Please Note: In this audio recording Sangeet leads us in a strong and powerful meditation chant using the “Chotay Pad” mantra. This mantra is also known by its opening line, the “Sat Narayan” mantra. Chant this meditation to bring peace within and beyond by bringing up the light of clear and positive mind.

Dear Family and Friends,

There's another headline for this page. It reads:

Facing Tough Times? “All You Need Is Love” and This Mantra!

journey to brahm prakash 11 11 11 medium How come? Well, there are some things we have to acknowledge. Among these are negative things. Darkness comes into our lives at unpredictable times, whether from our own deep subconscious issues or prompted by external circumstances. Challenges abound and can be overwhelming sometimes. We want to be at our best, always, and yet at times we slide down into stages of being at our worst.

Many say that love is all we need and so that alone will pull us through. True, especially as we grow and learn to love an accept ourselves without judgment. Yet sometimes we need a boost, a big boost.

Well with this one mantra, you get that boost. In fact, you get to put on your boxing gloves and hop into the ring knowing you'll win the battle and return yourself to positive mind. This mantra does both - beat back the darkness and bring up the light of clear and positive mind.

This mantra brings peace within and beyond. It draws on the aspect of God that brings nourishment and relates to the water element. It awakens the true identity of God within each of us and, with the flow of ecstasy (like the flow of water), brings us the experience of Infinity/God within us and beyond us.

“Sat Narayan Wahe Guru, Hari Narayan Sat Nam, Sat Narayan, Wahe Guru, Hari Narayan Sat Nam” are the four lines of the mantra even though the first two lines are repeated. These four lines are considered the full mantra, not just the first two lines.

This mantra is a “must” in your regular spiritual practice. It is known as the “Chotay Pad” mantra or by its opening line, the “Sat Narayan” mantra.

The words of the mantra call on God in all essential forms: Sat Narayan, the true Sustainer, Wahe Guru is God as Indescribable Wisdom, Hari Narayan is God as the Primary Creative and Sustaining Force, and Sat Nam is the True Identity we hold also within ourselves. Linking all is Narayan, aligned with Vishnu or the water element which can bring clarity, flow and tranquility.

This meditation cleanses the subconscious and brings a peaceful state of mind as well as peace to your external realities. The waters of the mind clear and calm. Chanting this mantra you vibrate and link to Infinity and your Divine Essence. In the words of Kundalini Yoga Master Yogi Bhajan:

Like you can see through clear water, you can see through the clear mind and beyond this phenomenal world (to) realize God.

Incorporate this mantra into a 40-day practice, for 11 minutes or 31 minutes. It is phenomenally elevating.

I have a long and powerful history with the Sat Narayan Mantra ever since the early 1980 when, after leading a White Tantric Yoga course in New York, the Master told us to do this chant in a special sequence on the nights leading up to the full moon and on the full moon night as well.

As a dutiful student I did it just as he said, precisely, and had stunning results. A unique form of ancient darkness left me. It looked like a scary stone gargoyle you'd see on the corners of a French cathedral. Since then, at key times of challenge Sat Narayan became my go-to mantra. Gradually it became the mantra I chanted before reading from scripture and beginning my prayers, and the mantra I repeated before going to sleep each night.

Many years later, in the late fall of 2011, Sat Narayan came to me as the mantra we needed to do for the 2 1/2 hour meditation I was inspired to lead on the night of November 11th (11-11-11), the celebrated dawning of The Aquarian Age. The “age of light” was here and I knew we had to clear darkness covering all souls on this planet. We called this event “The Journey to Brahm Prakash” as I was given the understanding that this chant would awaken the powers of those great saints who dwell in the fourth heavenly ether known as Brahm Prakash. They would be drawn here by the chant and our devotion and use all that to magnify the work we were doing and circle it around the globe.

So that night 60 of us dedicated meditators formed in a double circle sitting on a beautiful red rock shelf far from human eyes in the high country outside Sedona, Arizona. When we started chanting the sky was closed with dark, threatening clouds, the energy of the moon barely felt. During the meditation the sky started to clear. At one point I heard dogs barking and growling near us and then they left. Then came the acrid smell of fire for quite some time and then that drifted away. The wind whipped up, beating our faces and then diminished. At the end there was a clear, large open cap of sky above us with moonlight beaming down. All challenges had come close, been touched by the majesty of this great chant, and then left us sitting in peace.

All the years since, with mini-retreats and long nights of chanting, Sat Narayan has so often been our chant. Even in July of 2018, a 9 Cycle month when so many were facing difficulties and death, it again became our chant. Chase away the goblins, the subconscious ghosts and gargoyles! And it did. It always will. For sure? Yes, for sure.

The Mighty Almighty cannot fail us. Those who serve to elevate goodness in this world have a unique command of the heavens and key mantras help us to deliver that command. So it is written in the most ancient texts and so it is forever true.

The instructions for doing this meditation are simple:

Asana
Sit on the floor in Easy Pose (legs crossed, hands initially resting on knees in Gyan Mudra or in lap) or sit in a chair and do your best to keep a straight spine and feet flat on the floor.

Drishti and Pranayam
Ideally the eyes are focused on the Third Eye (between the eye brows). The breath will adjust itself as you chant.

Mudra
Hands are in Gyan Mudra (thumbs and index fingers touch, resting on knees or in lap).

Mantra
Sat Narayan Wahe Guru,
Hari Narayan Sat Nam

Sat Narayan Wahe Guru,
Hari Narayan Sat Nam

Translation
True Sustainer, Indescribable Wisdom,
Creative Sustenance, True Identity.

Here's How To Do It

1. Sitting in Easy Pose on a mat on the floor, or in a chair with straight back, chant the Adi Mantra (the “Tuning In” mantra) three times.

2. Chant the “Sat Narayan” meditation with this recording, taken from Sangeet's CD “Beyond the Beyond” (available on InvincibleMusic.com), or chant it a capella with a strong melody. Put your heart into it!

3. When the meditation has finished, powerfully and deeply inhale while raising arms above your head, and hold for 10-15 seconds. Powerfully and deeply exhale. Repeat inhale-hold-exhale once more with raised arms. Then lower your arms to your lap/knees and sit quietly. Feel the vibrations of the mantra in you and around you.

4. Finish by singing the “Longtime Sunshine” song followed by a “Long Sat Nam.”

How Long to Do The Meditation

Depending on your needs at the time, a minimum of 11 minutes is fine. Longer would be 31 or 62 minutes. Build your positive state of mind by doing it for 3 consecutive days, 11 days or 40 days. Longer is also all to the good!.

May you be elevated by this meditation and blessed with its strength always!

Sangeet