This is Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.
Simran is the root science of yoga (SSS.) Yoga is not complete without simran. Its not found in a posture, mudra, or a book. Its an experience you find within yourself. Before we can talk about simran, we have to talk about Naam. "True Identity" "Name of God." It's actually a subtle experience that lives inside of you.
SSS Harbhajan Singh (yogi ji) started talking about Naam more seriously in the 1980s:
"Nobody understands that it is our primary essential duty to recognize Naam. Naam is my identity given to me by my God complete and clear. This is all a Sikh has to learn that organically God made you to learn. You need to learn to be you. Not by process, not by group therapy, not by guidance. Learn to be you by reverence, by grace, by selflessness, and by self esteem. There are a lot of people that want companions. It is not a bad idea. You should have a companion. Is your soul your companion? You are looking for a soul mate. Are you looking for your soul? Are you looking for yourself? Are you identifying with your own identity?"
One of the problems we have on the spiritual path is that we try to exemplify a teacher or diety, and we don't learn to become ourselves. That is the double edged sword of the spiritual path. The spiritual path is there for you to find you. The you within you. The essence of you. But we get lost in the idea of something, and then we start to deny our truth, in the name of that idea, and then you end up with duality and spiritual ego. So Naam is that each one of you was born and the light of the Divine is the base of your existence. A beam of light came down to earth and the tattvas formed around with with an absolutely unique identity. The point of life is to be sovereign, so don't subject yourself to anything but your own consciousness and your own Guru. If you die being a good Sikh, or christian or yogi, but you don't actually experience yourself, then you missed it. The path you are on gives you a discipline, and if that takes you away from yourself there is a problem. If the discipline helps you find yourself, that is the answer. Naam is not that you are saying the name of an external God figure. The essence of Naam is that when I chant these sacred sounds, I find within myself, my own origin, which is an absolutely unique ray of the divine light.
"Guru Nanak gave Naam. Naam has 3 conditions; Purkha (The Ultimate Being), Prakirti (The Creative Being), Prakash (The Light of the Being). Naam is Ekongkaar. If you want to simro naam, then know what you are talking about. "
Purkha is masculine - stability of presence. Prakirti is feminine - creativity. Prakash is the shining light. When you are completely clear, and your light is shining through, that is when you are in your Naam.
