Naam Simran
Naam Simran is the Sikh way of meditation. It is such a deep subject that it cannot be entirely explained theoretically. It needs to be experienced through undergoing a practical endeavor. Success depends purely on earnestness of the practitioner and most of all on Guru’s grace.
As we start this journey we face a lot of difficulties. Some are related to the lack of faith; others are merely due to the lack of knowledge and proper techniques. Naam Simran is Guru’s Hukam. Different people describe different ways to do it. This is an effort to facilitate this learning process.
What is Naam Simran:
Naam is the name we address God, the Almighty with as well as we use it to praise Him. Naam can be any word or collection of words, a stanza, a statement that connects you with Him. This word must initiate unconditional love for Him in your mind. It can be His name that you been using to address Him so far or any words from Bani that express His presence every where and His unlimited Qualities and Praises.
Can be “Waheguru”, “Satnaam”, “Satnaam Waheguru”, “Har”, “Haree”, “Har Har Har Har Haree Haree”, “Gobindey Mukandey Udarey Aparey Hareean Kareean Nirnaamay Akaamay”, “Eak Tuee Eak Tuee”, “Satnaam Sada-ee Satnaam”, “Ang Sang Waheguru”, “Mool Mantra” and many many more.
The name needs to become the adhaar (ADwr), the base for all the practice. So make sure you choose that name which is easy for you, and brings in respect, faith, and unconditional love for God/Waheguru/AkaalPurkh in your mind . If you are going to do simran on your breath it must go along your natural breathing span so you don’t have to use it forcefully. You can choose several different words and use them at different times.
For example, while driving use “Gobindey……”, while showering use “Har Har…….”, while walking “Satnaam” with one step and “Waheguru” with the following step and so on, while cooking use “Ang Sang….”; there can be so many different ways. This way Naam Simran becomes an enjoyable experience, especially in the beginning.
Simran is remembering something again and again. So Naam Simran becomes the continous remembrance of God. It is the synchronization of Naam and Simran. So you are reciting Naam (Naam Jaap) along with the thoughts of whose name you are repeating.
It can be done for a short or long span of time, at a scheduled period or for ever. So Naam Simran can be stated as the repetition of the Naam and the thoughts of God/Waheguru over and over again without stopping.
Why Naam Simran:
Naam Simran eventualy stabilizes your mind in God’s remembrance. That makes you become one with your inner spirit which ultimately leads to the unity with God. So Naam Simran done the right way, leads to the salvation with Guru’s grace
Tools to help Naam Simran:
To make Naam Simran a successful endeavor, following tools can be helpful. Most of these tools are interdependent in nature and effect.
First step is to choose the word and start Naam Jaap, loud or silent. Second step is focusing your mind on Him. That’s where we always wonder- how. Following are some tools, which can help us to concentrate better:
(1) Prayer:
Start Simran with prayer. Prayer can be full Ardaas, first stanza of Ardaas or can be your own words or stanzas from Bani. Lovingly ask for God’s help in everything; for success of the Simran, for any wish fulfillment. Seek God’s aid and guidance. Then again end it with a prayer. You can also pause and pray while doing Simran. Prayer always helps. It boosts your confidence.
Sample Prayers:
krqw qU myrw jjmwnu ] iek diKxw hau qY pih mwgau dyih Awpxw nwmu ] Page 1329(SGGS)
srin pry kI rwKu dieAwlw ] nwnk qumry bwl gupwlw ] Page 260(SGGS)
(2) Love and Devotion:
Love God. Love His creation. Love the words you are using as Naam. Love yourself- you are His creation. He is in you. Love every thing He provided you with. Love Him for His abundant goodness to us.
riv rihAw pRBu sB mih Awpy ] Page 804
Love with God brings in humility, faith, forgiveness, and devotion and is of great help in concentration process. And of co{censored}:
pRym ipAwly vs hoie Bgq vCl hoie isrjnhwrw] Page 6(SGGS)
Think of yourself being in Gurudwara Sahib, bowing and sitting in ardaas position, singing Bani, imagine yourself in Hari Mandir Sahib, holding Guru Ji’s Palla. All this helps to bring more love in your bhagti. It helps your mind and soul bow in humility which is essential for spiritual progress.
(3) Contemplation (bIcwr) of Bani:
We are blessed with such an invaluable gift- Bani. “Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji” is our Shabad Guru. And we must read, think, contemplate and then understand Gurbani. And most of all live accordingly. This is the key; try to live according to one teaching for one day, you will see the difference.
Bani’s contemplation can be done in Sangat or individually. Bani tells us over and over again to do Naam Simran. It tells us what is more important in this human life. It teaches us everything that a human needs to know to do bhagti. It is essential-as all other tools we are discussing can be learned from Bani.
miq ivic rqn jvwhr mwixk jy iek gur kI isK suxI ] Page 2(SGGS)
(4) Faith:
You must have full faith in God, the Almighty, Waheguru. Without faith nothing is going to work. We say we know about His existence. We say we know He is doing every thing. Then what happens when a small thing goes the way we did not want it to be? We blame others, our circumstances, even God and ourselves. Where has the faith gone in Karta Purkh?
Faith is the acceptance of a preposition. And what is our preposition of God-
He is the One.
He is the Karta Purkh
He is omni present
He is unique and without equal
And so on. …. All that is being said in Bani.
Evaluate one day in your life and see how much you truly accept His existence.
We know about God, and our mind is set to mistake this knowledge about Him as faith. We need to actually live this faith, this knowledge, only then by full means we can accept His presence.
A person who is in faith faces fewer difficulties on this journey. When you are in faith- half the battle is done. Faith in Him makes us depend on God Himself, not on anything else.
Read Bani. It will rejuvenate the faith in God in your mind. Once you start your journey, faith grows stronger and stronger.
(5) Concentration (Dhyaan) (iDAwn):
Our mind has a natural function of thinking. It gets information from the memory and brings it in front of our mental eyes that we call thought, and that arouses the emotions depending upon the nature of that thought. If it is a happy thought, we become happy, if it is something bad we may start worrying or become sad. So every thought arouses one or many emotions based on our past experiences and knowledge. We act happy, sad, mad, or anxious and so on. One thought leads to another and another, based on our knowledge, memory and emotions involving the subject of the thought.
We have been doing this since we started seeing and feeling the outer world. This nature of our mind does not let us concentrate when we start doing Naam Simran. We are able to do Naam recitation (Naam Jaap) but not Naam Simran as Simran is directly related to the thoughts. Naam recitation alone without involving the thought process does nothing as mind keeps on playing its tricks and you cannot see and feel your soul. You have to still your mind and then Naam starts cleaning the mind and takes you further.
kwhy kau kIjY iDAwnu jpMnw ] jb qy suDu nwhI mnu Apnw ]Page 485(SGGS)
Dwvq mnu rwKY iek Twie ]
Page 299(SGGS)
Why it is Important:
Mind is a shield between the outer world (false/grievance/maya) and the Soul (truth/Reality/God). When we are born into this world this shield is transparent. The thought process as it has the involvement of emotions makes this shield thick and opaque over time. This slate of mind gets so much written on it. Untill we clean this slate and make it transparent; there is no use of Naam Jaap.
We can do this by changing our mind set. We need to change our thinking process entirely. To convert Naam Jaap into Naam Simran we have to work on our thinking.
Control of Mind.
One way of doing this is: As the thoughts occur in your mind, start involving the Creator in them. Bring God in everything you think. For example you are thinking of what to wear to work tomorrow: Ask for His guidance to choose your clothes. Communicate with Him as you do when you pray for anything. Thank Him for all the clothes He provided you. Need new clothes, ask Him to provide you new ones. Thank Him for guiding through the process.
It may feel awkward in the beginning, as you are not used to do it. In fact the mind is not used to it, so remind yourself- God is everywhere- in every living and material thing. He is inside you. You walk with God. God walks with you everywhere you go.
So you are consciously directing the consciousness of your mind. You can use this technique while doing Simran or even while actually choosing your clothes. When you do this you will notice fewer emotions are being aroused, so thought does not upset you much. And your mind starts to get irritated, as it could not do its job as it used to do before. Now your job is to do this again and again. When you keep controlling your mind repeatedly, the mind starts working under you, as it does not have another choice now. Eventually it will become a habit. You won’t be working under your mind anymore. You will not be a manmukh any more.
(6)Accept those who are different from you:
Not even two people on this earth are meant to be the same. God created this world this way. Accept it. There are millions of ways to do the one same thing. Love the diversity. It is the beauty of His creation. It will ease the task of forgiving others and yourself.
(7)Learn from mistakes:
Elaborate what you yourself and others do, follow the right deeds and discard the wrong, but do not hate yourself or others for doing anything wrong, as everything happens in His Will. And do not indulge in elaborating only. Learn from it. Leave the emotions alone that make you happy, sad, anxious and so on. Always ask for His guidance. This will help you overcome the five vices.
jW pMc rwsI qW qIrQ vwsI ] Page 356(SGGS)
(8)Staying Awake:
Staying awake here means that live in consciousness. Feel God’s presence everywhere. Feel Him inside you and around (up to the infinity). Meditate on the ‘ Naam ‘ with deep faith and deliberation. Live teachings of Gurbani. Stop dubidha. There is One and Only One prevailing everywhere and in everyone. Be humble. Forgive yourself and others. If you are having problems in mind’s wandering condition-keep trying different methods to overcome this problem. It may be difficult but not impossible. duAwr qy AV ky inmrqw nwl Klo jwvo imhr jrUr hovygI[
You just have to start; the rest is done by itself over the co{censored} of time. Guru is very loving. He will not let you wait for long if your intentions are good. Does not matter you are asking for anything or not. It is your devotion to God that plays the key role.
crn srin gur eyk pYfw jwie cl, siq gur koit pYfw Awgy hoie lyq hY ] by Bhai Gurdaas Ji.
(9)Simran on Breathing:
It helps in developing concentration. Breathing is one crucial thing that is happening to keep us alive. It is the living energy of our soul on this Earth. So by doing Simran on our breaths we facilitate our way to reach our soul. As you are focusing on breathing the mind will not get much time to chase other thoughts.
(10)Thank God for every thing:
Thank Him for every thing you already have. It brings your mind into the prevalent state. By thanking God we give credit to Him for everything, this helps us to curb our arrogance and ego. It makes us realize that it is God and not we who is ultimately in control of our lives. Thanking God makes us humble and modest.
Thank Him for your ability to breathe, walk, talk and eat. Thank God for your ability to see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Thank Him for your level of intelligence, your circumstances, and your existence. You can find unlimited reasons to thank Him.
He has provided us with inexpressible gifts:
bhuqw krmu iliKAw nw jwie ]vfw dwqw iqlu n qmwie ]
kyqy mMgih joD Apwr ]kyiqAw gxq nhI vIcwru ]
kyqy Kip qutih vykwr ]kyqy lY lY mukru pwih ]
kyqy mUrK KwhI Kwih ]kyiqAw dUK BUK sd mwr ]
eyih iB dwiq qyrI dwqwr ]bMid KlwsI BwxY hoie ]
horu AwiK n skY koie ]jy ko Kwieku AwKix pwie ]
Ehu jwxY jyqIAw muih Kwie ]Awpy jwxY Awpy dyie ]
AwKih is iB kyeI kyie ]ijs no bKsy isPiq swlwh ]
nwnk pwiqswhI pwiqswhu ]
Page 5(SGGS)
Thanking God keeps us in constant contact with Him. Our relationship with God becomes unbroken.
All this may sound difficult, but it is most rewarding when practiced. Do simran and inspire others to do the same. Guide them if they need help. Attend Sangat. Listen, read and sing Bani. Contemplate Bani yourself and with others. Do selfless seva. Help the needy. Live in God. Make your life’s motto: "Naam Bina Na Jivia Jai".
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.
Naam Simran is the Sikh way of meditation. It is such a deep subject that it cannot be entirely explained theoretically. It needs to be experienced through undergoing a practical endeavor. Success depends purely on earnestness of the practitioner and most of all on Guru’s grace.
As we start this journey we face a lot of difficulties. Some are related to the lack of faith; others are merely due to the lack of knowledge and proper techniques. Naam Simran is Guru’s Hukam. Different people describe different ways to do it. This is an effort to facilitate this learning process.
What is Naam Simran:
Naam is the name we address God, the Almighty with as well as we use it to praise Him. Naam can be any word or collection of words, a stanza, a statement that connects you with Him. This word must initiate unconditional love for Him in your mind. It can be His name that you been using to address Him so far or any words from Bani that express His presence every where and His unlimited Qualities and Praises.
Can be “Waheguru”, “Satnaam”, “Satnaam Waheguru”, “Har”, “Haree”, “Har Har Har Har Haree Haree”, “Gobindey Mukandey Udarey Aparey Hareean Kareean Nirnaamay Akaamay”, “Eak Tuee Eak Tuee”, “Satnaam Sada-ee Satnaam”, “Ang Sang Waheguru”, “Mool Mantra” and many many more.
The name needs to become the adhaar (ADwr), the base for all the practice. So make sure you choose that name which is easy for you, and brings in respect, faith, and unconditional love for God/Waheguru/AkaalPurkh in your mind . If you are going to do simran on your breath it must go along your natural breathing span so you don’t have to use it forcefully. You can choose several different words and use them at different times.
For example, while driving use “Gobindey……”, while showering use “Har Har…….”, while walking “Satnaam” with one step and “Waheguru” with the following step and so on, while cooking use “Ang Sang….”; there can be so many different ways. This way Naam Simran becomes an enjoyable experience, especially in the beginning.
Simran is remembering something again and again. So Naam Simran becomes the continous remembrance of God. It is the synchronization of Naam and Simran. So you are reciting Naam (Naam Jaap) along with the thoughts of whose name you are repeating.
It can be done for a short or long span of time, at a scheduled period or for ever. So Naam Simran can be stated as the repetition of the Naam and the thoughts of God/Waheguru over and over again without stopping.
Why Naam Simran:
Naam Simran eventualy stabilizes your mind in God’s remembrance. That makes you become one with your inner spirit which ultimately leads to the unity with God. So Naam Simran done the right way, leads to the salvation with Guru’s grace
Tools to help Naam Simran:
To make Naam Simran a successful endeavor, following tools can be helpful. Most of these tools are interdependent in nature and effect.
First step is to choose the word and start Naam Jaap, loud or silent. Second step is focusing your mind on Him. That’s where we always wonder- how. Following are some tools, which can help us to concentrate better:
(1) Prayer:
Start Simran with prayer. Prayer can be full Ardaas, first stanza of Ardaas or can be your own words or stanzas from Bani. Lovingly ask for God’s help in everything; for success of the Simran, for any wish fulfillment. Seek God’s aid and guidance. Then again end it with a prayer. You can also pause and pray while doing Simran. Prayer always helps. It boosts your confidence.
Sample Prayers:
krqw qU myrw jjmwnu ] iek diKxw hau qY pih mwgau dyih Awpxw nwmu ] Page 1329(SGGS)
srin pry kI rwKu dieAwlw ] nwnk qumry bwl gupwlw ] Page 260(SGGS)
(2) Love and Devotion:
Love God. Love His creation. Love the words you are using as Naam. Love yourself- you are His creation. He is in you. Love every thing He provided you with. Love Him for His abundant goodness to us.
riv rihAw pRBu sB mih Awpy ] Page 804
Love with God brings in humility, faith, forgiveness, and devotion and is of great help in concentration process. And of co{censored}:
pRym ipAwly vs hoie Bgq vCl hoie isrjnhwrw] Page 6(SGGS)
Think of yourself being in Gurudwara Sahib, bowing and sitting in ardaas position, singing Bani, imagine yourself in Hari Mandir Sahib, holding Guru Ji’s Palla. All this helps to bring more love in your bhagti. It helps your mind and soul bow in humility which is essential for spiritual progress.
(3) Contemplation (bIcwr) of Bani:
We are blessed with such an invaluable gift- Bani. “Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji” is our Shabad Guru. And we must read, think, contemplate and then understand Gurbani. And most of all live accordingly. This is the key; try to live according to one teaching for one day, you will see the difference.
Bani’s contemplation can be done in Sangat or individually. Bani tells us over and over again to do Naam Simran. It tells us what is more important in this human life. It teaches us everything that a human needs to know to do bhagti. It is essential-as all other tools we are discussing can be learned from Bani.
miq ivic rqn jvwhr mwixk jy iek gur kI isK suxI ] Page 2(SGGS)
(4) Faith:
You must have full faith in God, the Almighty, Waheguru. Without faith nothing is going to work. We say we know about His existence. We say we know He is doing every thing. Then what happens when a small thing goes the way we did not want it to be? We blame others, our circumstances, even God and ourselves. Where has the faith gone in Karta Purkh?
Faith is the acceptance of a preposition. And what is our preposition of God-
He is the One.
He is the Karta Purkh
He is omni present
He is unique and without equal
And so on. …. All that is being said in Bani.
Evaluate one day in your life and see how much you truly accept His existence.
We know about God, and our mind is set to mistake this knowledge about Him as faith. We need to actually live this faith, this knowledge, only then by full means we can accept His presence.
A person who is in faith faces fewer difficulties on this journey. When you are in faith- half the battle is done. Faith in Him makes us depend on God Himself, not on anything else.
Read Bani. It will rejuvenate the faith in God in your mind. Once you start your journey, faith grows stronger and stronger.
(5) Concentration (Dhyaan) (iDAwn):
Our mind has a natural function of thinking. It gets information from the memory and brings it in front of our mental eyes that we call thought, and that arouses the emotions depending upon the nature of that thought. If it is a happy thought, we become happy, if it is something bad we may start worrying or become sad. So every thought arouses one or many emotions based on our past experiences and knowledge. We act happy, sad, mad, or anxious and so on. One thought leads to another and another, based on our knowledge, memory and emotions involving the subject of the thought.
We have been doing this since we started seeing and feeling the outer world. This nature of our mind does not let us concentrate when we start doing Naam Simran. We are able to do Naam recitation (Naam Jaap) but not Naam Simran as Simran is directly related to the thoughts. Naam recitation alone without involving the thought process does nothing as mind keeps on playing its tricks and you cannot see and feel your soul. You have to still your mind and then Naam starts cleaning the mind and takes you further.
kwhy kau kIjY iDAwnu jpMnw ] jb qy suDu nwhI mnu Apnw ]Page 485(SGGS)
Dwvq mnu rwKY iek Twie ]
Page 299(SGGS)
Why it is Important:
Mind is a shield between the outer world (false/grievance/maya) and the Soul (truth/Reality/God). When we are born into this world this shield is transparent. The thought process as it has the involvement of emotions makes this shield thick and opaque over time. This slate of mind gets so much written on it. Untill we clean this slate and make it transparent; there is no use of Naam Jaap.
We can do this by changing our mind set. We need to change our thinking process entirely. To convert Naam Jaap into Naam Simran we have to work on our thinking.
Control of Mind.
One way of doing this is: As the thoughts occur in your mind, start involving the Creator in them. Bring God in everything you think. For example you are thinking of what to wear to work tomorrow: Ask for His guidance to choose your clothes. Communicate with Him as you do when you pray for anything. Thank Him for all the clothes He provided you. Need new clothes, ask Him to provide you new ones. Thank Him for guiding through the process.
It may feel awkward in the beginning, as you are not used to do it. In fact the mind is not used to it, so remind yourself- God is everywhere- in every living and material thing. He is inside you. You walk with God. God walks with you everywhere you go.
So you are consciously directing the consciousness of your mind. You can use this technique while doing Simran or even while actually choosing your clothes. When you do this you will notice fewer emotions are being aroused, so thought does not upset you much. And your mind starts to get irritated, as it could not do its job as it used to do before. Now your job is to do this again and again. When you keep controlling your mind repeatedly, the mind starts working under you, as it does not have another choice now. Eventually it will become a habit. You won’t be working under your mind anymore. You will not be a manmukh any more.
(6)Accept those who are different from you:
Not even two people on this earth are meant to be the same. God created this world this way. Accept it. There are millions of ways to do the one same thing. Love the diversity. It is the beauty of His creation. It will ease the task of forgiving others and yourself.
(7)Learn from mistakes:
Elaborate what you yourself and others do, follow the right deeds and discard the wrong, but do not hate yourself or others for doing anything wrong, as everything happens in His Will. And do not indulge in elaborating only. Learn from it. Leave the emotions alone that make you happy, sad, anxious and so on. Always ask for His guidance. This will help you overcome the five vices.
jW pMc rwsI qW qIrQ vwsI ] Page 356(SGGS)
(8)Staying Awake:
Staying awake here means that live in consciousness. Feel God’s presence everywhere. Feel Him inside you and around (up to the infinity). Meditate on the ‘ Naam ‘ with deep faith and deliberation. Live teachings of Gurbani. Stop dubidha. There is One and Only One prevailing everywhere and in everyone. Be humble. Forgive yourself and others. If you are having problems in mind’s wandering condition-keep trying different methods to overcome this problem. It may be difficult but not impossible. duAwr qy AV ky inmrqw nwl Klo jwvo imhr jrUr hovygI[
You just have to start; the rest is done by itself over the co{censored} of time. Guru is very loving. He will not let you wait for long if your intentions are good. Does not matter you are asking for anything or not. It is your devotion to God that plays the key role.
crn srin gur eyk pYfw jwie cl, siq gur koit pYfw Awgy hoie lyq hY ] by Bhai Gurdaas Ji.
(9)Simran on Breathing:
It helps in developing concentration. Breathing is one crucial thing that is happening to keep us alive. It is the living energy of our soul on this Earth. So by doing Simran on our breaths we facilitate our way to reach our soul. As you are focusing on breathing the mind will not get much time to chase other thoughts.
(10)Thank God for every thing:
Thank Him for every thing you already have. It brings your mind into the prevalent state. By thanking God we give credit to Him for everything, this helps us to curb our arrogance and ego. It makes us realize that it is God and not we who is ultimately in control of our lives. Thanking God makes us humble and modest.
Thank Him for your ability to breathe, walk, talk and eat. Thank God for your ability to see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Thank Him for your level of intelligence, your circumstances, and your existence. You can find unlimited reasons to thank Him.
He has provided us with inexpressible gifts:
bhuqw krmu iliKAw nw jwie ]vfw dwqw iqlu n qmwie ]
kyqy mMgih joD Apwr ]kyiqAw gxq nhI vIcwru ]
kyqy Kip qutih vykwr ]kyqy lY lY mukru pwih ]
kyqy mUrK KwhI Kwih ]kyiqAw dUK BUK sd mwr ]
eyih iB dwiq qyrI dwqwr ]bMid KlwsI BwxY hoie ]
horu AwiK n skY koie ]jy ko Kwieku AwKix pwie ]
Ehu jwxY jyqIAw muih Kwie ]Awpy jwxY Awpy dyie ]
AwKih is iB kyeI kyie ]ijs no bKsy isPiq swlwh ]
nwnk pwiqswhI pwiqswhu ]
Page 5(SGGS)
Thanking God keeps us in constant contact with Him. Our relationship with God becomes unbroken.
All this may sound difficult, but it is most rewarding when practiced. Do simran and inspire others to do the same. Guide them if they need help. Attend Sangat. Listen, read and sing Bani. Contemplate Bani yourself and with others. Do selfless seva. Help the needy. Live in God. Make your life’s motto: "Naam Bina Na Jivia Jai".
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.
