The Narayan Shabd has helped me more than once in my lifetime. Whenever I am in a time of crisis I start to chant it. It is said that this Shabd has the power to restore what has been lost.
Narayan is one of the many different names for the Divine. It relates to the quality of water. As a plant needs water for its flowers to blossom, in the same way chanting Narayan nurtures the Divine Identity within you so that your soul can bloom into its full beauty and grace.
When you sing, your energy mixes with the energy of the mantra and it takes on a living, dynamic quality. There are colors and textures and a million emotions that can result. Often you’ll find a mantra or a singer for whom the vibration seems to match yours, and it will consistently deliver “results,” that is to say, the experience of the Divine.
Me personally, I love this version of the mantra: Narayan Shabad chanted by Ajeet but please feel free to find the one version that resonates with you.
The Narayan Shabad was composed by the fifth Sikh Master, Guru Arjun. Narayan is the quality that restores. It allows life to become fresh, lush and green again. In the tradition of the Sikh dharma it is said that death cannot approach the one who chants this mantra. Chanting this Shabd restores what has been lost.
TRANSLITERATION
naam niranjan neer naraa-in. rasnaa simrat paap bilaa-in. naaraa-in sabh maahi nivaas. naaraa-in ghat ghat pargaas. naaraa-in kahtay narak na jaahi. naaraa-in sayv sagal fal paahi. naaraa-in man maahi aDhaar. naaraa-in bohith sansaar. naaraa-in kahat jam bhaag palaa-in. naaraa-in dant bhaanay daa-in. naaraa-in sad sad bakhsind. naaraa-in keenay sookh anand. naaraa-in pargat keeno partaap. naaraa-in sant ko maa-ee baap. naaraa-in saa Dhsang naraa-in. baaran baar naraa-in gaa-in. basat agochar gur mil lahee. naaraa-in ot naanak daas gahee.
Language: Gurmukhi Source: Siri Guru Granth Sahib
TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH
The Name of the Immaculate Lord is the Ambrosial Water. Chanting it with the tongue, sins are washed away. The Lord abides in everyone. The Lord illumines each and every heart. Chanting the Lord's Name, one does not fall into hell. Serving the Lord, all fruitful rewards are obtained. Within my mind is the Support of the Lord. The Lord is the boat to cross over the world-ocean. Chant the Lord's Name, and the Messenger of Death will run away.
The Lord breaks the teeth of Maya, the witch. The Lord is forever and ever the Forgiver. The Lord blesses us with peace and bliss. The Lord has revealed His glory. The Lord is the mother and father of His Saint. The Lord, the Lord, is in the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy. Time and time again, I sing the Lord's Praises. Meeting with the Guru, I have attained the
incomprehensible object.
Slave Nanak has grasped the Support of the Lord.
In the Kundalini Yoga Tradition a Mantra and a Shabd or Shabad are not exactly the same.
Shabd/Shabad
A Shabd or Shabad is a section of a poem, or the entire poem, as it appears in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS). It has a repeating chorus, that acts as an anchor to the major message or experience of the poem.
Mantra
The word Mantra means projection (tra) of the mind (man). By chanting a mantra, we project the mind into a state of infinity. Instead of stopping our mind from thinking, we meet the intensity of our thought patterns with an equal force with the Mantra. Doing so, we are then able to change the flow of our thoughts, just as a pebble creates waves in a pond.
THE SIRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB
The Siri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) is the central holy religious sripture of Sikhism. The scriptures is considered to be the 11th and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten Gurus of the religion.
