What is a Spiritual Name? Yogi Bhajan
Yogi Bhajan Yogi Bhajan first started giving spiritual names in 1971. Day by day, as those of us who received them from him firmly and proudly pronounced and announced them to the world, we became a part of them, and they became a part of us. The power of sound vibration (Naad Yoga), or what Yogi Bhajan called the “sound current” vibrated and echoed in our ears. This sound current together with the meaning of our name, reinforced our spiritual base, and helped us to live in more meaningful and conscious ways. Our spiritual name became a tool, which daily touched our hearts, impactfully scripted our words and delicately influenced our actions, transforming us and releasing us from the insecurities of the past." -- Nirinjan Kaur (Yogi Bhajan's Chief of Staff) A spiritual name reinforces and accelerates your progress to your highest destiny. It challenges you to live in highest consciousness and awareness and blesses you to continually relate to your divine self. Yogi Bhajan used to say, “We are not human beings looking for spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Your sacred name is one of your first steps in leaving past patterns behind, taking a new direction, and embracing your spiritual identity. During his lifetime, Yogi Bhajan gave thousands of spiritual names to those students who requested them. “What we do is, we consider what your past is, calculating your destiny, and give you a target name, a spiritual name. That is the journey you have to travel. It sets the standard, the base.” (Yogi Bhajan, Master’s Touch, April 24, 1997) It was his gift to his students. For many years, Yogi Bhajan trained his Chief of Staff, Nirinjan Kaur, in his technology of giving spiritual names. Today, Nirinjan Kaur gives out spiritual names with the blessing and technology of Yogi Bhajan. Yogi Bhajan always gave the name Kaur as the second part of each spiritual name he gave to women, and the name Singh as the second part of each spiritual name he gave to men. This tradition was first established by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Teacher of the Sikh Religion. Kaur means the Princess of God, and Singh means the Lion of God, both of whom walk with grace, power and courage throughout life, and who have the potential to attain and maintain an elevated state of consciousness. Yogi Bhajan encouraged all to make an effort to manifest this potential, and gave people spiritual names to reinforce and encourage this potential. He would often give the same first name to a married couple. He taught that the ultimate goal in marriage is to become two bodies with one soul, and he gave married partners the same first name to help encourage and inspire unity and oneness between them. He used to say that a spiritual marriage is a process of "amalgamation," wherein the man and the woman eventually become merged, retaining all of their individual strengths, while complimenting the other, supporting the other, and covering for each others weaknesses. Having the same first name is a technique to help bring about this process of amalgamation. |
