This chant brings me into the presence of my Guru, Gurumayi ji. I receive her grace and kind love as the chant continues to reside within me.
Shaab Al Bahari, Kuwait
Om Namah Shivaya in the Shuddha Bilaval Raga is the first Siddha Yoga chant I ever heard and chanted; that occurred in a Siddha Yoga satsang thirty-seven years ago. Every time I hear it, I feel my heart opening to a new beginning, like it did back then. Every time I hear it, I feel realigned with my true Self, like our planet with its axis.
California, United States
The day I received this mantra during a Shaktipat Intensive is an unforgettable day for me. The mantra has been with me and my family for twenty-five years now. It is a pillar in my life. Whenever I sit for meditation, it takes me to a place of calm and peace.
Madampakkam Chennai, India
When I listen to this recording, I experience deep silence in my heart, and my inner being merges into the radiant form of Bade Baba.
Aurangabad, India
Truly, I think there is no more sacred sound than this. It's both a prayer and the answer to a prayer at the same time. Here I am on the eve of Baba's Divya Diksha Day, resting my forehead in my hands, swaying gently, filled with a sweet feeling of love and gratitude as I listen to my beloved Guru's voice. Time dissolves.
I am transported back to my first Shaktipat Intensive, when I received
shaktipat immediately upon hearing this sound. Simultaneously, I seem to also be aware (only just!) of a very long journey stretching back into the mists of time, bearing fruit now with this sound, which I can only describe as the arrival home.
Castlemaine, Australia
Whenever I hear this beautiful chant, I remember the first time I went to Shree Muktananda Ashram for a Shaktipat Intensive—twenty-nine years ago this month. I was sitting on the lawn eating lunch, as
Om Namah Shivaya in the
Shuddha Bilaval raga was playing. I looked up at the wide blue sky and my heart opened with joy and love.
I remember this experience as if it were yesterday, and every time I do, I feel immense gratitude for Gurumayi's presence in my life.
New York, United States
In February 1980 I met Baba in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Miami. It was Shivaratri and the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya was being chanted twenty-four hours a day. I stayed only three days. I very much needed help and was asking for it from Baba, although he was in a silent period. He looked at me and said, “She deserves some of God's food, after lunch!”
As a newcomer to the Siddha Yoga path, I did not know what he meant but I was very happy. After lunch, all of a sudden my heart opened with love and joy and gratitude; it was a blissful experience. And that's how I received
shaktipat initiation, which started a new life for me.
The mantra has never left me during these last forty years.
Ganges, France
This morning I sat in my garden listening to Gurumayi chant
Om Namah Shivaya in my most cherished
raga, the
Shuddha Bilaval raga. There had been rain overnight and everything sparkled. My eyes searched out the different greens of the plants and trees, how the leaves have collected the rain drops to enjoy later.
As I listened to Gurumayi chanting, I was aware of this stillness, which I realized was absolute love—and which was also the same stillness and beauty my eyes were revealing. My understanding is that I can greet each day through the lens of love and contentment. By walking the Siddha Yoga path, I can practice this every day.
Hampton Hill, United Kingdom
Hearing Gurumayi chant the mantra in the
Shuddha Bilaval raga has been so heart-connecting for me this morning, during these difficult days. It takes me back to my time in Gurudev Siddha Peeth on Valentine's Day in February 1990—my first time of meeting and having
darshan with Gurumayi, the time when she bestowed
shakipat initiation on me.
It is like coming home to hear Gurumayi chanting this mantra. I am truly grateful for this heartfelt connection that can never be broken.
Lancing, United Kingdom
After chanting, I was reflecting on the power of the mantra. It was the mantra that drew me to Gurumayi thirty years ago, and it is the mantra— the beautiful, powerful, life-giving mantra—that beats in my heart today.
What joy! What profound gratitude! I experience the mantra as alive with the
sankalpa and the
shakti of our beloved Guru.
New York, United States
Listening to the mantra takes me back to my first Shaktipat Intensive, an event that changed my life forever. It brings me profound peace.
London, United Kingdom
The sun was rising in the east when I clicked on the link to Gurumayi’s chanting
Om Namah Shivaya in the
Shuddha Bilaval raga. Immediately the birds who had been lightly chirping as they ate their morning breakfast from the tree outside my porch began to fly and dance around my porch, swooping up into the air and down again as if rejoicing in the sound of God filling the atmosphere. My heart leapt up in joy, and in the recognition that I was witnessing a very sacred moment in the presence of God through the voice of my Sadguru.
San Felipe, Mexico
Sitting here and chanting along with the audio clip, I felt that deep connection in my heart, like when one senses that movement of warmth and the presence of love as the result of just having had
darshan. This particular
raga has always been soothing and comforting to me. I feel so totally relaxed into myself—so content, safe, and centered, with no concern about the past or future.
Receiving the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya has been my life's greatest gift. I am eternally grateful to Gurumayi for bestowing her grace upon me.
Florida, United States
I am grateful to be able to participate in this chant in the
raga in which I chanted
Om Namah Shivaya just prior to receiving
shaktipat diksha, spiritual initiation, twenty-eight years ago. It was the greatest moment of this or any lifetime, conferred on me during my first-ever Siddha Yoga experience—the Shaktipat Intensive in honor of the tenth anniversary of Baba Muktananda's
mahasamadhi.
Arkansas, United States
For thirty years, chanting the mantra
Om Namah Shivaya has been an everlasting joy, an amazing strength, an ever-present help in time of need, a comfort, and then—in times of joy—a vehicle for praise.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this inheritance and treasure.
California, United States
Listening to Gurumayi chanting the mantra brings me peace and clarity. Tranquility spreads throughout my being and expands to the surrounding area. I am grateful for being enveloped in this peace.
Modiin, Israel
This is the melody with which we chanted
Om Namah Shivaya with Gurumayi when I first came to the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland in 1989. It still brings me deep inside to a feeling of great love and an awareness that I have come home.
California, United States
Some years ago, when I was offering
seva in Gurudev Siddha Peeth, I was walking through the courtyard to go to an office, while this
Om Namah Shivaya chant was being chanted outdoors. It was a dark-velvet, warm night, and to my surprise I was pulled into the chanting area by the power and sweetness of the chant. I realized that this was a perfect moment to chant. I sat down on the cool marble and started to sway and chant the mantra. Waves of bliss flowed through my heart and entire being. It is a moment that I will always remember.
Hawaii, United States
This beautiful chant with Gurumayi is my favorite. Hearing it on the Siddha Yoga path website is especially comforting. It brings me directly in touch with the grace flowing from the Siddha Yoga path. I feel love and blessings assisting me and flowing directly to a family member who is ill at this time.
I am thankful beyond expression for Shri Gurumayi's all-pervasive and unconditional love.
Mulgrave, Australia
As I listen to this recording of the mantra, I feel it vibrating in and around my heart and spreading throughout my being in a flood of bliss.
Thank you, Shri Gurumayi, for the divine experience of knowing that you are truly alive within me in the form of the mantra.
Perth, Australia
When I listen to this audio recording, I feel lot of love for Gurumayi ji. I experience deep connection within. I become more silent within and active on the outside.
Sometimes I listen to this audio recording while I offer
seva, and I notice that I become more focused and offer
seva with more speed and accuracy. I am able to communicate with clarity and brevity.
Nasik, India