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It's also important to actually recite gurbani or even sing along with the kirtan. Below is some info taken from a Yogi Bhajan lecture that talks about the sound,naad and meridian points in the body. The Science of Naad and Gurbani Naad means "the essence of all sounds." All languages contain sounds which relate to one or more of the five elements of air, fire, water, earth and ether. Gurbani is a perfect combination and permutation of sounds relating to all the five elements in complete balance. When Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru Nanak, compiled Siri Guru Granth Sahib in 1604, he only put in those banis which were in naad. These compositions were called Gurbani. When we break up the words, "Siri Guru Granth Sahib," into their naad, the syllables of each word tell the essence of the meaning of Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Every word has a naad, and every naad has a combination. How Naad Works In Recitation of Gurbani There are eighty-four meridian points on the upper palate of a human's mouth. One can feel that upper palate with the tongue and experience its different surfaces. There are two rows of meridian points on the upper palate and on the gum behind the upper teeth. The tongue stimulates those meridian points, and they in turn stimulate the hypothalamus which makes the pineal gland radiate. When the pineal gland radiates, it creates an impulse in the pituitary gland. When the pituitary gland gives impulses, the entire glandular system secretes and a human being obtains bliss. This is the science. Gurbani is the combination of the tongue with the meridian points. When you read and recite Gurbani, it stimulates your hypothalamus. It is totally different than any scriptures because Gurbani is made in a scientific way. One who knows the naad, knows the aad, which is the primal creativity. One who knows the aad is Parameshwar, the supreme God. The whole language of Gurbani has the power to make a person divine, just in its recitation, if done correctly. One need not be concerned with the meaning to experience a change in consciousness. Bani has to be understood by the heart, not by the head. There is no power in the head; it is in the heart. The lead is for God and the heart is for you. That is why Guru Gobind Singh asked for the head, and not for the heart. "Whosoever lives with head to God and heart for self, that prayer is complete." (Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan) We know that some people will just parrot paaths and gurbani without understanding anything and they will always feel something just from the recitation alone. I am not promoting this, but we can understand why they feel that way and how the correct pronouncing of the naad can invoke these feelings.

I guess all our approaches become personal and unique to us at some level. I can't seem to adjust away from the trikuti focus, maybe because I started off that way ! In effect, I have to do both the gurmantar and third eye focus in order to get that steady state. I also find that if I'm not focusing on trikuti, then I can't go into silent jap that easily or quickly.( I like to be doing silent jap within a minute or two usually) The other thing is that I also found my breathing becomes more centralized (equal in both nostrils) whilst I am using this method of focusing on gurmantar. With me, the third eye focus helps the feelings of transcendent joy that I can encounter whilst doing kundalini yoga. The meditatively third eye focused kriyas in the class environment can sometimes only be described as bliss and spiritual ecstasy

First of all. Congrats and welcome to parenthood ! Hope all is well and I know that some personal time and space will have to be sacrificed for a while. Your wife will also need all the support that you can give until it gets a little steady. All the best.. Anyway, I've been focusing on the sushnama recently after we started some exercises in my kundalini class last week. I've noticed that sometimes I can get the balance during the day but this is always forced with some physical techniques. The basics are that the left represents the moon, cooling and calming whilst the right is the Sun, heating and energy full, and we do have references in gurbani that mention these and make a little more sense if you know what the moon and sun represent respectively. Although I am still playing around with it, I have noticed a few things................- The main thing is that they seem to alternate throughout the day and sometimes there will be more breathing through the left and sometimes more through the right. Earlier on, I actually felt that I shall never experience the equal and central breathing even if I tried ! So, I started to just pay more attention to it at different times of the day or during/after different tasks like before eating, after eating, when fully awake, when feeling tired...AND before, during and after simran. What I noticed was that most of the time during simran and when my focus has settled and become steady, then the breathing seems to become more central and balanced or via the sushnama as they say. It seems to stay that way for about an hour or a few hours ,but soon gets imbalanced again. In effect, I noticed that when doing deep simran and getting that steadiness, which is when all thoughts become controlled on to the focus and mind doesn't wander, then the breathing itself gets balanced equally. -This is a little opposite to the technique of balancing and breathing through sushnama and then becoming more steady ? So, whenever I knew my mind was steady and not jumping into thoughts, my breathing was also perfectly balanced !!!! NOTE- I was told by my instructor that it helps to remain in a balanced pose with your weight and center of gravity being as central as possible. So, I try and sit in the lotus position and make sure that I am not leaning too much to the left or the right and that the weight is also equal on each buttock ! What I have noticed and found very interesting (although it may just be fluke or chance!) is that it seems to get balanced quite easily every time I do simran at Amritvela. However, if I do simran at other times of the day then it may happen or it may not ! I have always personally felt that amritvela simran is more deep and I get much more anand, but I thought it was probably just my thinking or assuming this (or even wanting to assume?) . But this balanced breathing of sushmana has definitely proven to me that my mind is more focused and steady at amritvela and it is for sure more than just the heavenly hour !! ((Another reason and incentive to get me up between 2.30-4.30)) Does anyone have the steady centralized breathing at all times ?? I don't know, I'm sill learning and trying to find out -what it's all about !

I know !! Let's just hope we can all keep at it. It's funny because I spent so many long moments throughout my life where I would moan to myself that ''I'm bored!!'', then I would end up doing so many no good tasks just to convince myself. Anyway, I wish I knew what Naam jap and simran was back then. Now, I can't ever see myself getting bored because even when I have a few moments of nothing to do.......I start waheguru simran inside . We Sikhs should count ourselves lucky with this little treasure we have . I wish I hadn't wasted so many moments in my life.

I don't really get the full bliss of listening to kirtan in the background. It's ok but that is probably what I would call the little extra dose ! Anyway, I actually prefer to get the full experience of all music in a real good sound system or a 7.1/ 5.1 set up in your living room. This way, I like to experience not just the vocals or gurbani, but the feel and experience of every single instrument being played that you can hear coming from all different directions. --NOTE...it' like trying to get the live experience itself but enhancing it even further ! It's difficult to describe it exactly but the experience of live kirtan is probably the ultimate feel for me. I get to feel the raagi's vocals on my forehead and they penetrate deeper, the tabla beats vibrating all my bones and especially sending little hammers hammering down the spine, the harmonium surs giving the tickling hair sensations on the back of my neck as if the hairs are swaying and then the chainey hitting deep into the back of the neck, somewhere behind the mouth. Then the feeling in your heart of what the shabad is saying gets so deep that I can't even imagine to explain.......(especially if I understand it but I usually have to think or learn it first as my Punjabi is not brilliant being a 3rd generation Brit) All together it feels Electrifying and makes you feel pure, devoted and completely weightless. You physically get lost and absorbed in the whole musical experience losing all the perceptions of time, tension and any physical pains one may have (I have a lot of pains and stiffness due to my serious injury and they all diminish completely!) It's quite hard to really explain but it is pure anand and I'm sure it was the manner that Guru Nanak ji wanted you to feel his gurbani in raag. I believe would be very deeply absorbed in the musical aspects of gurbani and would express it in that manner. I know that not everyone is that musical or can feel it this way, but the only way I can put it is to ''throw yourself into it instead of just listening through your ears'' if you know what I mean ?? It's probably why I don't really like to watch or listen to music on you tube or similar.

It's good that you can lock your mind on the sound because I find that I can only do that sometimes. I started by keeping focus on trikurti in my early days and have really got into that habit so to speak. However, I do try and keep as much focus on the gurmantar and naad and it is only since then that I have began to sense the anhat naad. Sometimes, I find that I can go into silent jap and simran within a minute or so and other times I go back and forth. I think I shall try your advice of focusing near the mouth and try not to visualize but I know this may be tricky for me because I've been experiencing some tricky encounters that seem to divert the waheguru simran dhian away and halt my progress. I seem to be accustomed to doing both the trikurti dhian and listening of gurmantar at the same time. Maybe a fresh and different approach will be beneficial so that I stop getting stuck at the same plays of maya. .

I'm glad that you mentioned this 'Unmani' stage. I have mostly tried to pay attention to this for a while..............(If it is what i'm talking about?)- - Sometimes after a good length of time in simran and especially at amrit vela between 2-3.30am I find that I can get sleepy. What happens is that your body starts going to sleep but you are actually aware that you are not asleep and neither are you fully awake (it's like when you try to stay awake but do it all with the mind and not by physically moving or waking yourself)............ it's that very short space of time or transition BEFORE one fully nods off and starts dreaming, - that's probably the easiest way to try and explain it. However, it is the being AWARE of your AWARENESS (really got to think what i'm saying here!) - *Aware of your Awareness* which may only last a few seconds or a little longer if you try and lock yourself into that stage. - Sometimes, I try and do just this and it is my personal dose of 'Samadhi' as I call it.(my personal little glimpse of a sample dose I think!) I can sometimes manage to stay in that stage for a good few minutes and I try to prolong it as much as I can until i'm back to full alertness -(Not asleep, because I have never fallen into sleep here , its always towards full alertness until the next bout) I also find that there are no thoughts except for a deep immersion in the shabad for that period of time. Somewhere I had heard or read that this is an important stage of amrit vela that one should aim for ? - I can't remember who actually said that though ! This is also the time that I have probably heard the anhat naad at the Max sound and vibration, and I think it is also the time that we can have darshan with his grace and kirpa. Then there is another stage that I find and i'm not too sure about, if any of you experience this at all? - - It's when I may be fully asleep at night and just turning over sides whereby my eyes may open just for a second to maybe look at the clock or something - (NOTE that this is one of those stages where you can be dreaming and then you wake suddenly but you have not been awake so fully that you can usually go back into the same dream and continue where you left off )- At these moments what I find is that, I will just do waheguru jaap a few times or recite a random shabad or even praise waheguru.. ..The funny thing is that it is my subconscious that does this because I know I didn't even make an effort or instigate it intentionally because sometimes I will wake and then realize what I was just saying and then think to myself ''how come I said that?'' For example.... this morning I woke for a fraction of a second whilst turning sides in my bed and I must have seen a glimpse of the fog(dhundh) outside. and then I started saying 'Satguru Nanak pargat aya mitti DHUNDH jag chanan hoya..) - I couldn't even remember that it happened but my wife told me this morning as I have been asking lately 'what did I say last night ?' because, I have learnt that I do this a lot more frequently throughout the night than I previously imagined. I'm probably just blabbing a little here and i'm not even sure if this is a dose or form of UNMANI. But it is something that I have only began to take notice of in the last year or so.

I think it's linked with the solar plexus activation as well.

Humans being of higher conscious have the ability and capability to do wrong or to make the wrong choices. Whereas a plant or a tree that is still living and has an aware conscious knows only to do what it has been programmed to do by Waheguru. We know what to do as well, but we also have the option of making choices.

As long as duality remains, so will heaven and hell. A Sikh's goal, in my opinion, is to try and make the fine line in dualities; as faint as possible--> to point of no duality. No duality means no heaven and hell, no dukh and sukh, pain or sadness...no comparisons of self with others..etc..

You would have to see and check his achievements like the extreme endurance displays of being buried alive, suspended in a glass box above the Thames, standing on a very short space on a very high tower in NY I think it was....etc.. the list and records he broke go on and on. ............... I get the feeling that this kind of stuff fascinates you too !

It's the same Gursant from the confessions book as you mention above. This is the same guy who tried to take the California state to the supreme court because he claimed that ""Guns are necessary to practice the Sikh religion'' or something very similar along those lines which implied that ''I am a Sikh and I need a gun''!!! Anyway, everybody soon realized that he was just talking about his own personal interests and it was wrong to think that he was speaking for ALL of the Californian Sikhs. I'm sure that many Sikhs from California came forward and said that they have no personal interest in acquiring and keeping guns as part of sikhi and this guy was just talking about his own situation.

I remember hearing him in an interview that YES, he does meditate. He is all about the powers of the mind and his bigger achievements are not the tricks or illusions but his ability to get his mind to accomplish the extremes.

Actually, I've just had a hint of occasional taste as compared to Sat. Problem is that sometimes I've gotten too absorbed in my visuals during simran. When this happens, I find that I get stuck at that level and begin to fall back if anything. I see the sweet taste as a sign of good progress in meditation and that you are going the right way. However, there is definitely a major element of DEVOTION involved. You see the woman I know at my kundalini classes said to me that this sweet nectar is only tasted by meditators that are devoted to a higher conscious or God. She has had the sensation for years and years and she said that there are lots of people out there who only meditate to gain powers like clairvoyance or psychic abilities (ridhi sidhis). She said that none of these people get the sweet sensations because there devotion is only to their self-ego! This is what I find amazing. So, I don't think that the Blaine or Uri Gellar types (one's who meditate for mind powers only!) will comprehend the sweet nectar.

Just keep at it and persevere. I admire and envy your dedication and devotion to Satguru with the effort you put into your simran. You are certainly an inspiration to many of us on here. Waheguru

Very true and a valid point. As a born and bred Brit now living in Canada, I can truly say that the Canadians just don't get it or understand the sulay problems in UK. Unless you have lived and been bought up on the streets of UK, you won't understand the core of the sulay problems there.

I agree with the ones that think this story is full of bullshit ! OK, so this guy's lawyer is saying that he has a ‘degree of sexual naivety’ . because he went to some Islamic school where respect for women was not taught...blah ....blah........blah..... However, if he was so naïve then why would he make his guest appearance coming out of the bathroom wearing a condom ??in his He claims he was seduced and couldn't control his kaam, but why did he book a hotel room and go prepared with condoms in his pocket ?? An 18 year old with a 13 year old- well we know that is allowed and fine in islam as long as they are married just like the prophet was to a very young Aiesha (7-9yrs age) HOWEVER, i'm sure that the Islamic school would have taught that sex outside marriage is NOT islam... (OR is it????) This sula knew what he was doing was wrong and he had already pre-planned it. I don't have an ounce of sympathy for him and the judge obviously fell for the bullshit story.. It is ALL a load of codswallop.. I AGREE with Dalsingh that the goray are actually scared of sulay right now.

This sweet taste during meditation is as mentioned in some of the posts above- It is NOT ketones but a chemical from the PIneal gland from what I know. I have been paying a little attention into this and inquiring a little! My yoga teacher mentioned it a few sessions ago and made reference to one of the long time students in the class. This student is a hindu woman who has been meditating with devotion for over 25 years. She has had this sweet taste for many many years and she called it 'soma' from what I remember. However, I couldn't help but notice that she looks extremely young ! I know that she is older than me and about 45 yrs in age BUT she looks as if she is only 25 max! I know that some references have been made to this nectar being the fountain of youth and the anti-aging elixir...etc.. All I can deduce is that this nectar or amrit as we call it contains not just some sweet taste but much more complex hormones or something that we don't know too much about. But I can definitely vouch that this woman I know does not look extremely young from some anti-aging products because you can tell she hardly has any cosmetics on. It is definitely the product of her devoted meditation. I know this puts a whole new meaning to 'Amrit peevho sadha chir jeevoh' !!!!!!! I have tried researching it a little and I find that reports and research gets a little mixed up and some are convinced that it is a chemical known as 5HT or some derivative from melatonin and serotonin. Others claim that it is some sort of opiate like endorphin or hormone but most believe it to be endocrine secretion rather than a hormone. I read somewhere that aging is a process linked to calcification of parts of our body and funny enough, our pineal gland is not readily activated because of being calcified. This goes on further to the controversies of fluoride additions in water along with extra calcium that may not even be needed for healthy bones/teeth.

if you can feel the Waheguru within a spoon or in it's making, then let's say it can. I say, why should we argue that Waheguru is only within living things or things with a conscious. Waheguru has NO FORM as we know but he can manifest from and in ANY roop for our sake just as in Bhagat Dhana sakhi. Within ALL of this creation is Waheguru. Just as in every single molecule of oxygen he may be and so in every single nucleus within every single particle. Sometimes, I explain to my kids that the nucleus of every single atom is actually the God or waheguru factor within all of his creation. As for free-will. I see it as our own will to perform or take actions that we are capable of or limited to. However, our Free will is always under the umbrella of His will or his hukam. Because his will is the ultimate governing factor for all of us.?? -Let's say that you have the choice of using your free-will in making a simple decision like whether to take the bus or car to work. The choice you make will be your own, providing you shall be capable of pursuing it. Because for you to proceed, you NEED to be ALIVE and BREATHING. and the ONLY person who controls your breaths is Waheguru Himself ! Therefore, his Hukam or His will is the Overall governer or doer and if his will Governs or decides that you shall have use of your own limited free-will, then so it will be. This way, I see our free-will as coming under the umbrella of His Will or Hukam.

The taste of keto acidosis is a little different and the sweet taste also has a slight bitter edge to it. From what I know, there is also a distinctive smell of ketones from the persons breath that you can sense yourself and others can also smell if close enough !

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Well i'm sure it can. We have all seen and heard about the yogis who meditate deeply and psych up their minds so as to dissacoiate from any pain perceptions and walk on fire, hot stones or lay on beds of nails....etc....

Mentality is a huge factor in any hand-hand combat. Most professional fighters know that their mind is the primary weapon before the rehearsed moves and co-ordination come in. We all know what 'Eye of the Tiger' means I think ! and we've all seen underdogs win major fights just because they had this eye of the tiger in them. To have the mental ''umpph' is very important in my opinion and you can be surprised how your body can do wonders ! If any of you do something simple like 20 reps on some dumbbells lets say...... Then say that you get fatigue on 15, but can carry on until the last 20. Now, if you try and completely relax your body and 'MIND' whilst doing this and take away the counting, then you can eventually lift another 5 by getting your mind to override the pain of fatigue and also by being more relaxed to get the 15-20 grunt off your face ! Try it !!! it works for me and ALL this control is in the MIND.

I'm not sure having a separate room would be gurmat, because in effect we would be creating the new 'untouchables' that were not allowed in the immediate vicinity of the core worship area. The Gurdwara and langar area were put there to get rid of the segregation of untouchables. I think the problem is when they have these chairs and seats set there at the back and sides. In one gurdwara here they have the little peeriyas outside that the OAP or physical less abled can bring in or have someone bring it in and then sit on it. This way I find that only the very genuine needy persons make the effort to get the peeriyan inside and then take them back out when they leave. Otherwise we have the chairs or seats placed in the back and some not so genuine lazy's make themselves a choice of whether to sit on floor or the chair - just because it is there and all can see it is there to be used !!

Every Sikh needs to understand what Hukam is. No Sikh should have fear of death and 'suicide' or killing thyself is what Guruji teaches us ! SOunNds Crazy ????.............I know !! What I meant to say was killing or suicide of Ego and Haumai. Suicide of 5 chor through continuous effort ! To Live whilst Being 'Dead' is what a Gurmukh is in my opinion.