Jageera

The most important thing I've learned is to avoid the company of those who still indulge in intoxicants no matter for whatever reason. Let them curse and mock you,you carry on ,find new friends,if none available pick up a new hobby.
Get a habit of exercising,that helps alot.
Do your nitnem and simran daily,as much as you can,when you can.Try watching Bhai Simranjeet Tohana on youtube,has a channel Waheguru Waheguru,posts highly informative vids that teach simran.
A tip,when having strong urges to drink etc,try to take the money that you plan to buy the bottle with,and give it to some beggars or Gurudwara,or buy food and donate somewhere,just anything charitable to burn the exact amount the bottle costs.It helps you change your mind as you see the same money that is gonna get you piss drunk is able to help others.
Wish you the best brother.Even if you fall get up and try again immediately.
Slowly with time,there would be a stronger arm that holds you and makes sure you never fall again,but we need to work hard to develop that level of faith.
 

Any updates Sajjan?
Do start!

You haven't been able to demonstrate that.
 
Tohi mohi mohi tohi antar kaisa.
 
Our TRUE nature, the Satnaam, is that of Waheguru. Everything else is illusion. 

The Bani you quoted does not say we are separate. Nothing can exist that is not part of Waheguru. Our delusion of separation is an illusion not a fact.
man too(n) jot saroop hai aapanaa mool pachhaan ||
 
Please stop being childish and accusing people who don't agree with you of disrespecting Guru Sahib. If you can't engage in a discussion without throwing insults just be quiet.

I've been listening to Bhai Simranjeet's Tohana recordings and following points stood out to me. Thought I would share.
You can find the original recordings here :
 
From recording 6-April-2021:
1st yudh is with thoughts in the mind and this battle is fought with the Gurmantar.
2nd yudh is with falling asleep at dev lok stage whilst we are trying to listen to anhad shabads and merge in Sach. The dhoots try and put us in sleep and dreams to stop us progressing.
When you hear crickets (bhinday), birds chirping, sehaj dhun this is the first stage of dev lok avasta.
Those who enter sehaj whilst listening to shabad and experience amrit ras have risen above dev lok.
Those who have transcended sleep have entered next stage.
Those who travel in sunn mandal instead of dreams of bhavjal are mukht.
Those who know before entering this physical world what instructions/hukam were given by Waheguru before they came each day are mukht.
Those who know how mind and body are made and how they are united are mukht.
 
From recording 7th April 2021:
4 Avastas of Naam/Shabad (What stage are you?)
1.You can hear the anhad sounds internally in the ears. 2.You know how to listen to anhad shabads with the guidance of gurmukhs. 3.You know how to merge into the shabads and become shabad roop. 4.You know how to play with the shabads in Agam and able to keep your focus on them during the day when in Tregun maya.   If you have doubts then you cannot progress beyond Dev lok even if you hear shabads. In Dev lok anhad sounds are heard, but you still have doubts or have not overcome all your vices.  
Simran + Viraag = Kirpa of Waheguru
 
DO NOT GIVE UP OR BE PESSIMISTIC THAT YOU CAN MAKE IT. THOSE THAT HAVE A PESSIMISTIC OUTLOOK WILL NEVER MAKE IT! (Heard this from a number of Gurmukhs recently)
DO NOT HAVE BELIEF THAT SWITCHING GURMUKHS ALL THE TIME WILL YIELD FASTER KIRPA AND PROGRESS. HAVE FAITH (BHAROSA) IN YOURSELF OTHERWISE YOU ARE JUST LOOSING YOUR OWN SELF CONFIDENCE. YOU NEED TO MAKE THE EFFORT YOURSELF UNDER ONE TEACHER!
Keep doing quiet gentle Simran in the background whilst listening to anhad shabads. Eventually you will merge in the shabads and receive Amrit from them.

Well done for staying clean. I know someone who was never spiritual before they got clean but after rehab does Japji Sahib every morning, does a mindfulness meditation each morning and gets therapy. And it’s done them wonders. I’m sure there’s a lot more they need to do to keep clean, but it’s a large part of how they go through life now. 
 
Seeing how dukhi can turn turn a human towards God is a truly Beautiful thing. Seeing the bright side of recovery from addiction, in moving closer to Truth is key I believe. Sometimes people come out of it stronger and better than they were before. But the path can be tough, I know that so well done to you. 
 
Ive never had a great issue with alcohol but I did used to drink it and made a vow to fully give it up one day, which I broke once and then kept after that. It’s been over a decade now. But the dukhi from the kind of life I was living did turn me towards God. 

Very good example for other to follow, I am going through stressful time and would try to start something similar. May be initial target of 1100 would be good!

I would like to start and would post soon. it is nice if you have company

Jaap completed for month of April , 19440, Total =38,880. Hopefully, Guru ji keeps this streak. If this post encourages anyone to increase their simran and nitnem, i will get the punya as well. so sangat ji stay in chardikala and do more simran/nitnem than you previously do and also bless this keet. waheguru  🙏

Bhen ji thats a truly amazing experience especially as dass is a big premi of Baba Harnaam Singh Ji Rampurkhera Wale and Baba Jawala Singh Ji Harkowale.
 
 

Only once it happened that I spent one night in spiritual divine jaap , neither i was asleep nor awake, neither I was dreaming nor thinking, don't know what was going on that night, very peaceful night and the next morning.   I feel very blessed that night. 
That week i was reading Baba MahaHarnaam Singh Ji's biography 'Se Kanahiye' in the evenings and felt the magic. I was japping naam in the free time and completely lost reading the book, listening to gurbani in the car and had that magical experience.

I think this is what might be happenning to me, maybe @paapiman or @ragmaala can advise.
If I do mool mantar with full dhyaan, focus, love & not concern myself with finishing it. Here is what happens :
Say “Ikongkaar” in antargat ... mind gets “ras”....”waheguru presence” - hajoori feeling and mind enters a trance like state.... after sometime then move onto “satnaam”.... sometimes the same phrase gets in repetition mode “satnaam satnaam satnaam”  basically the mind tries to hold onto the last syllabe as long as possible and sometimes in between a feeling of “awe” triggers & “waheguru jaap” start by itself. So this basically happening after 4-5 month of 6 mala practice with a few days missed here and there. 
If I chant loud. I get the dhun mein dhyaan and “Waheguru presence” feel in the mantar. Chanting becomes silent after 1st mala and mantar goes on in mind at a point in the head. Able to finish 6 malas in 1 hour 40 mins. I use a 108 mala and figured that if I dont use a mala at all. I can concentrate better, bcoz part of the attention goes into untangling the mala and moving the bead as the mala gets caught in knots here and there. 
 
Overall been doing 6 malas on an average for 4-5 months. There have been rough periods.
 
Kal Yug does get stronger and tries to de-rail you. Certain issues made me miss my amrit velas, but then caught up on it. Kaam does gets stronger. I experienced some flashes of dark entities in my vision too with angry faces, who looked beat up and were mad at me. Then noticed there was a trend of the mind to start thinking mundane and routine things related to career, job, finances only and only during amrit velas. This all goes to show that kal yug tries to pull u back.
Like @ragmaala I also aim to do one sehaj path a month as per Baba Ji’s bachan. I think I might end up doing what you are doing, chant it out loud and spend the rest time on Gurmantar. 

This post just hit the nail on the head. When beginners start the jaaps all the emphasis is put on the number of repetitions and we believe that if your repeat x number then it will bare fruits. We have discussed this concept of dhun Mei dhyan in a number of threads especially the meditation experiences thread. 
 
Yes you will definitely gain benefit of learning to devote x amount of time to jaaps but was it done with full dhyan and concentration? Probably not because your trying to race to the finish line and just be done with it. We have all made this mistake when we didn’t know any better. The dhun mai dhyan is so simple yet so hard to achieve for many. If a jaap is done with so much dhyan you may notice yourself going into sehaj / sleep.

Waheguru Ji
Week 5 update
Day 29-520 Jaaps
Day 30-550 Jaaps
Day 31-460 Jaaps
Day 32-590 Jaaps
Day 33-580 Jaaps
Day 34-470 Jaaps
Day 35-390 Jaaps
Total completed this week 3,560
Total completed since started 21,493
103,507 left till 125,000
Sangat Ji please share your experience while doing Simran or any other Jaap to encourage the Sangat members, so they can start Naam Simran.
 

JFYI (you might already know this), but some Jaaps have a recommended time period.
Most likely, Sri Mool mantar, Sri Gurmantar, Sri Sukhmani Sahib, etc, can be recited anytime.
Morning Nitnem must not be done after sunset.
Sri Rehraas Sahib must not be done in the morning.
There are more examples.
 
Bhul chuk maaf

Yes, after 12 am is Amritvela.
 
Yes, for sure
 
Obstacles are good sign in spiritual journey. That means your bad karams are working out plus kaal/kalyug/maya/ are trying to distract you from psth. Its good sign. Keep at it. Stay relaxed dont tense

@Jageera Veer ji, would love to hear how your recovery/life/spiritual journey is going?
My experience has been that relapse (fortunately and unfortunately) has been part of the journey and has humbled me again and again just enough so that I may be ready again to ‘give myself completely’ to play that game of love our dear Guru ji speaks off (“Jio tho prem kiln ka chao.... “ ) . I’m just Sharing my experience here, not saying I that it is will be the same for others.
My experience is that of the last 10 years after being introduced to recovery (through drug and alcohol treatment centres which focused on many tools including 12 step recovery), Guru ji certainly was the ‘power greater than myself’ that I incorporated and it was easier to reconnect as I had grown up with it all around me.  I have spent most of these years clean as a result, however despite wonderful gifts flooding back into my life (more talking non-material gifts here), for me it remains on the level of a daily commitment, reallly moment to moment to choose the path being ‘liv’ or ‘taat’. Have to remind myself that it is Gurprasad that a pathway of recovery was even shown to me, that I am able to take a breath and that really I cannot take credit for all the grace that Guru bestows on me.
 
Above, I am referring to relapses after having being introduced to whatever method of recovery and finding great excitement in being clean, feeling Guru Ji’s blessing and love and knowing that ‘void’ was indeed a spiritual one and was being filled and that intoxication was not even a thought — through to the addiction, 5 doots, ego, the ‘disease’, ‘kaal’ whatever you wish to call it taking over and eventually a relapse.

It has been painful and I do have a growing fear that I may have squandered the gift sometimes but I hope you are enjoying a new life and Guruji continues to guide your way home.
Would love to connect and hear from you :) 

What time you usually sit for Jaap? You do it in the dark or with light on?

No Veerji, I haven't heard  of it before but I will look into it. I quit drink & smokes on November 15th last year,the day I made this thread. 200 days clean already. Now I'm just maintaining. Will check out some youtube vids. I just searched and found some. Just need the extra motivation to keep going on.Thanks.

Ok thanks. Will carry on doing what Im doing now then.Trying to silence the mind puts even more burden and stress on me and puts me off from doing paath.Now Im just kamikaze.I just sit and do paath no matter where my mind is.I try redirecting it to paath and it runs away again.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

June the 2nd was my 200th day of quitting alcohol and cigarettes.Still carrying on.Think about it daily but I refuse to succumb to temptation.
I find it tough as I'm having high stress levels this past month.Having flashes of memory of me drinking.Suddenly getting taste of beer or whisky in my mouth.Sometimes I get the taste and smell of cigarettes.It comes and goes. Mind is playing tricks on me.I believe that my determination not to go back being a drunk and smoker is keeping me away from these intoxicants.Taking it step by step,day by day.
Prayer wise,lots of noise in my head while doing paath.Before my mind was less noisy but now its gone real bad.Whole while I'm reading Japji Sahib my mind is active with thoughts and comments etc.Sometimes the thoughts are negative and filled with anger.Don't know why. I've given up trying to silence my mind.
Will update again in another 100 days.

Just an update.Today marks 100 days since I quit Alcohol and Cigarettes.Still think about it once in a while but the strong urges have gone.
Social life took a hit as I rarely go out any longer but no problem.It is better this way.Now is a time I get to know who my real friends are.
Been doing daily some Mool mantar jaap,Japji Sahib,Chaupai Sahib,some breathing simran and I believe it is powering me to carry on.
I will update again here in another 100 days.Thanks to all members here who helped me in this journey to clean up my act.