Matamandirsingh's Blog

The impetus for the upcoming  Japji course in The healing Arts Center of Crestone Colorado came from a boast I made while  teaching in Dan and Sues level I Kundalini Yoga Teachers Training   course in the sound and mantra section. Naad yoga so to speak or  The Yoga of Sound as we call it. I talked a lot about JapJi Sahib , Guru Nanaks poetic discourse on life on earth, humanology, the vastness of the universe  , and mans place in it. I also spoke a lot about the Gurmukhi script , how it was developed by Guru Angad , to write down the verbal teachings and poetry of  the Bhaktas or devotees from Northern India such as Guru Nanak, Kabir, Ravi Das in order to convey the  most subtle spiritual teachings to the common people. As I was explaining that Gurmukhi contains placements of the tongue and other parts of the mouth that we don’t use in English ,there was some dismay that the pronunciation is in some way too difficult to access and practice. That is when I made a boast, something I am not usually prone to doing.I said, “The Gurmukhi script is very beautifully and scientifically designed and easy to learn. I can teach any group of people Gurmukhi in a week. ”  I also explained that I usually do it in conjunction with a workshop on Japji in order to make it all interesting. In my experience, it is a lot more fun to mix in the cosmic discourse on Japji than to spend a week just learning an alphabet.

So, they took me up on my boast, although we couldn’t figure out how to make a week-long  seminar happen ,given everyones work schedule, so we decided on a 2 1/2 day course. Now that is my challenge. To teach people to read Gurmukhi in 2 1/2 days .

So , I am doing my part and researching the best teaching techniques to facilitate the quickest retention of language that is possible , and you folks that are coming will have to come prepared to apply yourselves to opening up your mind to a new written script and thought-forms of Japji that are beyond our normal daily patterns of thought. Please bring two notebooks. One for writing exercises, random notes and information. And one for a word by word translation of Japji. For this last one, its nice to have a good quality one that will last and has an appealing design. Japji ,at least for me, is a lifetime study and you may want something that will last. I look forward to a very interesting and intense weekend that will at very least , lay out the teachings of Naad yoga as embodied in the Gurmukhi script in a logical and comprehensible way, and will give us a glimpse of life immersed in the cosmic wisdom  embodied  in the universal spirit of Guru Nanaks  Japji.

Sat Nam,

Mata Mandir Singh

For more information on content please contact

Mata Mandir Singh at

Cell: (505)-927-6715 Alternate: (505) 753-1318

E-mail: matamandir@hotmail.com

or stay tunes to this blog.

For Course & Lodging Reservations contact:

Sue Beck-Retuta at

Crestone Healing Arts Center

Office: (719) 256-4036 Cell: (719) 588-3373

E Mail: crestonehealingarts@fairpoint.net

In-facility lodging limited to 9 spaces $20/night

Off facility lodging is available in Crestone.

The Course

In my experience mastering various stanzas or pauris of Japji increase and deepen the experience of Yoga in a way that I have found nothing else can , and increases ones depth as a yoga teacher. In fact Yogi Ji stated that everything he taught about humanology and mans place in the universe he learned through Japji.

In this three day course we will take a multi-dimensional approach to JapJi in order to :

1. Experience Japji as a living tool of meditation and communication with the Infinite in our lives. By changing our own frequency through meditation on the pauries(stanzas ) of Japji we change our experience of life.

2.Increase our understanding of Japji in a very real and tangible way. Not               only through reading   translations   but through studying  each word.               A most powerful meditation is to read Japji in Gurmukhi   and                                   understand each word so that the thought-forms are triggered by each                 word as we read it.

3. We will learn and practice the Gurmukhi script in terms of the 8 areas                    of the body from which  we produce sound and language (called                               ustaans). The Gurmukhi alphabet is designed taking into account                              these areas  and learning Gurmukhi in this way is fast and accessible                       by all in a short time. By learning the alphabet and beginning to read                    we master the Naad of mantra and Japji with an understanding of                            how we are physically  producing the sound . This leads to a                                     deep experience of Naad Yoga.

We will be studying Japji from the end going forward as Yogi Ji stated that Japji begins  from a very high frequency of the  quantum essence of the universe ,(Ek Ong Kar). The story goes that Guru Nanak is coming out of his Samadhi on the banks of the river and repeated Japji to the people standing on the shore . Because he is speaking from such a high frequency ,we may,in our earthly conciousness ,take some time to understand the deep meaning of Ek Ong Kar.  Japji continues all the way to the Slok, which is the last stanza where Guru Nanak describes life on the planet earth. This will be our starting point as we are living on the earth plane.

I have a particular way to access and master the sound current of the pauris that I have used myself over many years. This will be the format for the course.

1. We will first sing each stanza musically 11 times to enjoy the energy of the words and the flow of the poetry put to music.

2. Then we will go through the meaning of each word and what each line means. This will be a combination of discussion and learning as each line can be understood on many different levels, from many different perspectives.

3. Further  we will learn   to read the Gurmukhi letters  with  the proper placement of the tongue and so begin approach a more correct pronunciation which in turn delivers a more effective transformation of our brain chemistry. This of course is a transferable skill that will create a more exact pronunciation of Kundalini yoga  and Sanscrit mantras.

4. Then we will recite again the pauri ,eventually reading from the Gurmukhi script as well as doing it slowly  ,allowing the meaning and image of each word form a thought-form in the mind as we recite.

Stay tuned to this blog for further developments as we get closer to the course.

Sat nam,

Mata Mandir Singh

The lesson I learned from this leg of the journey is that friendships are golden and material stuff is just stuff. I met people on the road that I made friends with in seconds and I met old friends in Massachusetts that I haven’t seen for 30 years . I developed friendships with musicians that will be lasting, and have worked with people that so far have only been nodding acquaintances. It is not possible to place a value on such relationships. They transcend time and space in some way, and many times you have the feeling you know this person intimately even though you have just met.

The trip out from New Mexico was quite an eye opener, or perhaps ear opener would be more accurate. I drove through a little of Texas, a lot of Oklahoma, Tennessee and up the Eastern corridor. I say ear opener as I was listening to a lot of local talk radio going through. My overall perception was that there is a lot of unfounded  fear,  ingrained prejudice and a lot of misinformation and downright lying out there on politics and issues of the day streaming out over the airways. Quite scary actually so I was thinking this is not a part of the country you want to have a truck break down in as it seems like a different planet. Especially when you are wearing a turban and full beard on your face.  However to my pleasant surprise the people I met (when the truck did indeed break down) were wonderful, helpful and friendly. The breakdown was not veggie fuel related but at some point I noticed liquid leaking from the heater box down there on the passenger side of the truck cab. I reached down and determined it was radiator fluid and found a gas station/food mart and stopped to take a look. A couple of “good ole boys” that could easily have been in the cast of the movie ”Deliverance” stooped to have a look under the hood. They turned out not only to be very friendly but extremely helpful and showed me how to bypass the heater system with the hoses. That would have been the perfect solution if the piece of metal that connects the hose to the radiator didn’t break off in the process. That was a setback as you can imagine. (Note to prospective do it yourself repair people with limited car knowledge: Super  glue will not work with the high pressure radiator system!!!!).

So I called the local mechanic shop and the very next morning at 8:00 am sharp, a “salt of the earth “ type retired mechanic stepped out of his truck to the rescue and knew the whole drill. He disconnected the radiator, took it to solder it at the shop and returned within an hour and had me back on the road by 9:00am. $84.00 and the nicest man you’d ever want to meet. So Oklahoma gets a thumbs up for honest workmanship and friendliness. Just maybe you all could think about gettin  them  right-wing nut-jobs off the talk radio scaring everyone  and lyin, things might move ahead a century or two.

I arrived at the Millis Kundalini Ashram and Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) for their annual fall Yoga festival and concert. Enjoyed the community here immensely. Such great people holding the space. Superbly organized and hosted .I cant name all the people I met with whom I was impressed with, and befriended by for fear of leaving someone out. Suffice it to say that it was a warm, successful beginning to the tour. We began the festival day with a gatka class. Gatka is an ancient martial art perfected to a very high level by the Sikh Gurus and warriors ,and is an excellent method of movement meditation, exercise and effective self defense. We only had 1 ½ hour to learn the beginning steps of the movement meditation known as “pantra”. Then there was a special yoga class taught by Hari Kaur from New York and we had a picnic lunch on the immaculate and peaceful grounds in the beautiful fall sunshine. Then back to work after lunch with a concert, chanting session and class in Naad Yoga (The Yoga of Sound”) . I had with me a superb band consisting of Guru Sangat Singh on bass guitar, Jagan Nath Singh on violin, Amritpal Singh on Tabla . Then there was a yoga/gong presentation led by Dharam Singh. Great host work by Ek Ong Kar Singh and organization by Harbhajan Kaur and Siri Sevak Kaur and a host of great people too numerous to name here. The following day we had Gurdwara with more music. Later that evening Jagan Nath, a superb violinist and I performed a very intimate and relaxed concert in the Yoga center. It was such a great pleasure to play quietly and subtly in such a beautiful space . Anyone coming to the Boston area would be enriched to visit this ashram.

Now onto Virginia and the DC area where I am sure I will see more friends from ages ago.

Sat Nam!

Sunday Sept 20th. Sacred Chant Concert Millis Mass.

Saturday Sept 26th,2009 House Concert Great Falls ,Virginia.

Sunday Sept 27th Teachers Training Course in Naad Yoga Great Falls Virginia.

Friday Oct 2nd Concert at Yoga House Wash. DC.

Saturday Oct 3rd Naad Yoga Mastery Class Yoga House Washington DC.

Sunday Oct 4th Shakti Yoga Seminar”Indian martial art and movement meditation based on Gatka.”

Friday Oct 9th Guru Ram Das meditation Yoga West New York City

Saturday Oct 10th Naad Yoga Course -Science of the Sacred Chant, Mantra and Sacred Chant Concert.

All takes place at Yoga East New York City
http://kundaliniyogaeast.nolet.com/custom/news_events.html

Oct 16th Sacred Chant Concert Ottawa Canada
http://www.ottawayoga.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=52

Oct 17,2009 Ottawa     Naad Yoga course #2 Sunia-The science of Listening
http://www.ottawayoga.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=53

Shakti Yoga Course
http://www.ottawayoga.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=53

Oct 24,2009 Toronto Canada Sacred Chant Concert

Oct, 24th   Toronto Course Yoga of Sound ,Sunia -the Art of Listening

Oct 25th Toronto Course Shakti Yoga-Movement Meditations to the rhytms of Gatka. and Kirtan-Science of the sacred chant.

Toronto contact

http://www.thewellnesspath.ca/events.html

Oct 31st    Activities in Detroit -Details to be announced

For more details please contact me at matamandir@hotmail.com

Thank you and Sat Nam!

Allow me a quick introduction. My name is Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa. I know it’s a long name so, just call me Mata. It means mother. My music and teaching derive from the teachings of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and the Sikh Gurus who were masters of the Naad or sound current as well as music for meditation and spiritual consciousness called “kirtan”.  More on that later.

I am about to embark on my first tour around the U.S. East Coast. I will be  performing Kirtan/Mantra concerts and teaching workshops in mantra and meditation, also called Naad Yoga and Shakti yoga which is a type of martial art called Gatka (but so much more than that)  developed in the subcontinent of India.

I have decided to keep my carbon footprint as low as possible as well as the budget , and drive a veggie oil truck from Espanola New mexico to my first gig on the East coast which will be a major Yoga Festival in Millis Mass, near Boston. So I have purchased an old 1988 Chevy Silverado Diesel truck , parked a stripped down camper on the back of it, and am busy running around collecting used cooking oil. I have friends with the Soothing Touch cosmetic company that blessed me with my first half full 55 gallon drum of very clean cosmetic oil . My exhaust is gonna smell sweet!

The other thing keeping me busy is converting the truck to run on the veggie oil. To do that basically one has to put in an extra gas tank and run heated fuel lines with a variety of gauges and filters and be able to switch fuel tanks when the veggie oil and motor reach a certain temperature that allows the oil to burn clean and efficient. In other words, you have to start the truck on diesel and then switch it over to veg. Why am I doing this?

1. Veggie oil is far less polluting than petroleum. It contains no sulfur, emits 90% less pollutants than petroleum products.

2. Its free although quite a bit of work filtering and collecting it. However it is a good exercise in recycling.

3. So I can hold a little more money in my wallet, pollute a little less and help reduce our dependence on oil, foreign or otherwise.

What worries me as I plan the trip? That I wont get the conversion done in time, that I wont be able to collect enough oil , and that crossing borders will be tough as some people say the EPA considers the conversions to be un -tested   therefore illegal.

Now, considering that Mr. Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine to run on peanut oil, disappeared from a ferry boat on his way from the mainland to England to give a presentation on alternative fuels. Three years later his engine was introduced to the public , modified to run on a heavy petroleum fuel, that they had the discourtesy to name after him.  So it seems to me that the EPA has had it backwards all these years.

Rudolf Diesel said, “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.” After his suspected murder, the Diesel engine was engineered to run only on petroleum based products and his great ideas of a clean burning engine died with him.

The EPA could be working to reverse the negative effects of that long ago crime instead of looking for aging hippies with guitars running on fry oil.

My first gig is in Millis Mass. Thats nearly 2,500 miles from New Mexico. The festival ,where I have to play is On Saturday Sept 19th . I have to build a band and practice the day before, so i must arrive on the evening of the 17th… latest. so I figure, an average speed of 50 mph is doable for 12 hours a day netting me 600 miles per day. So I need about 4 long days to reach. So if I leave on the 13th latest that gives me time with a day to spare for unforeseen possibilities.

Ill keep a running commentary on the buildup to the launch date and then keep track of thoughts ,words and deeds that I experience along the way.

Many blessings and prosperity to all.

Mata mandir Singh

The past few weeks i have been preparing for a music tour. Times and dates will be posted soon! I hope to see some of you who will be reading this. Cheers for now though!