Spiritual names

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam everybody!

 

My name is Yahara and I am new to the list. I am coming back to

Kundalini Yoga and Sadhana after loving it. I was introduced to 3HO in

college.

 

I would like to ask if people would share about what it was like to

request a spiritual name and to receive it and what your names mean and

if you liked it when you first got it. In addition to helping me, it

would be a great way for to meet you all.

 

I am drawn to asking and somewhat worried I wont like the name, wont

resonate with how it sounds or with it all.

 

I never liked my birth name and asked the Universe for my real name to

be given to me, the one that felt like me and was given Yahara. I

claimed it (after the shock of being given an answer) and made it

legal. It fits me in its meanings and in its beauty and flow.

 

Yahara means spiritual, creative and beautiful to me and the image that

I got aobut what it means is Yahara is a big wind that comes into town

in the middle of a blue black night and stirs things up that needs to be

and then moves on. In Sanskit it means jewel, in Hebrew its fromthe

root word for both self respect and daring and its the name of a river

named by the Winnebagos in Wisconsin.

 

I am drawn to asking for a 3H0 spiritual name in the hopes I will feel

even more inspiration to grow that I once did from Yahara. It's a risk

however, because maybe I wont like the name or what it means or maybe I

wont feel inspired by it.

 

Did anyone of you not resonate wit the name that was given and pass on

it or request another? Or, did it feel like home?

 

Thanks.

Yahara

from the Mountains of Western MA

Turners Falls, MA

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Yahara:

 

When I received my name it was a gift from Yogi Bhajan. I had

requested a name via a form and it was to be transmitted to him. This

was during teacher training in 1996. But during a private session with

him, he wanted to give me my spiritual name right then.

 

So I saw his process. He had already checked my aura. He asked for my

birth date. His wife (who was always present during our private

sessions at that time) did some calculations and gave the results

orally to him. When he heard my birth year he said " Hmmm! " with some

kind of delight.

 

Then he gave me my name " Awtar Singh, you are a reincarnate teacher. "

His voice is resonant and deep, I still feel the vibration of what he

said to me.

 

I already knew I am a teacher. I am always curious, a studious

student, interested in everything, and interested in finding ways to

teach what I find interesting in simple ways... I ended up studying

mathematics and loved finding ways to explain things intuitively and

logically in a way that my explanations not only were clear, but also

gave the spirit of why it worked.

 

So when Yogi Bhajan told me I was a reincarnate teacher that added s

spiritual dimension. It also explained to me why I was so drawn to

understanding how life works, what life is about, much more than

trying to fit in any pre-established career.

 

I have loved my name from the start, but not because I liked it, just

because I was in awe of being told what my purpose was, what my

essence was... and I could not wait to fit in those shoes! It was like

being in awe that what I feel about me and who I am matches! Like a

recognition that my deepest dreams match what God wants from me. It

seems obvious but I was scared about it without knowing that's where

my fear came from. So it was very healing for me.

 

Actually it was not an entire surprise. I had had a vision of being

drawn to enter a cathedral several years before my private session

with Yogi Bhajan. In that vision I felt drawn to the doors of a

cathedral and thought the doors might be locked. That vision fit at a

time when I was searching what to do in my life. I did not know I was

looking for my spiritual path. So when I felt drawn to a cathedral

what came to me was this need to resource myself spiritually and I was

a little nervous to touch the doors and get in. Perhaps that is

similar to the fear and at the same time curiosity about asking for

your spiritual name in the Kundalini yoga tradition. The doors to this

cathedral were unlocked to my surprise. I entered and it was filled

with people. There were chandeliers made of crystals over the main

aisle. It felt very opulent and welcoming. Much less scary than I

feared. I looked for a place to sit, but soon I discovered that

everybody was looking at me and they stood up and applauded as it

seemed the only place for me was at the podium to give a speech. But I

had forgotten this when Yogi Bhajan gave me my name. That vision

stopped as soon as I stood at the podium and faced people. Where I was

in my life them, I would not have given them what they needed, I would

not have known what they needed.

 

All this to tell you, my name was part of what I needed to receive for

the phase that was opening up for me in my life.

 

Now that Yogi Bhajan has passed on, someone he trained is doing the

name assignment on his behalf. She is very good. I requested names for

some of my students at some point and they fit quite well as far as I

could tell.

 

I know some people were shocked by the name they received. So that

happens. But I think usually it is about a resistance not that the

name isn't beautiful, but sometimes we have past experiences that were

painful in trying to be self. it was beautiful, but our work wasn't

accepted, and we were lynched or burnt alive or something of that

nature... and it is naturally scary to try again... but everything is

different now in the Aquarian age... everything is different... I

think the courage needed is more about leaving the past behind than

about facing the future...

 

You already have a name, a beautiful name, a name you connect with. If

you feel drawn to request another spiritual name perhaps it is because

you are entering a new phase in your life and that is always a little

scary because you are opening up to the unknown to some extent... but

God always gives those who open up more than they expect and blessings

beyond measures... so welcome to who you are!

 

Blessings,

Awtar Singh

[Guest guest]

Sat nam Awtar Singh,

 

Thank you for your exquisite reply. You wove a tapestry around and

through my heart. Thank you for believing in my preciousness.

 

You are absolutely right. At Solstice, my own home celebration, last

year I made some BIG prayers and in January my life changed at rocket

speed. The changes are solid and wholesome but now a part of my psyche

is in shock and in an uproar about the magnitude of how my personal

compass has changed. I am actively giving that part of me care.

 

I never expected a new spiritual horizon, new vastness, a new huge

opening. I have had an amazing spiritual journey so far. When I was 27

I finally left my parents view of me, expectations and demands and

restrictions of me and unfurled into the arms of God and my higher

self. I blossomed like an oasis. I rocked all of our worlds. I

completed that mission last year, 21 years later.

 

Something else is definitely up, I can feel it in the air. And, yes, I

think my hesitation about sending in my name request form is some

hesitation about " buying the ticket " and saying, " Sign me up! "

 

I lived in Sedona when I left at 27 and later in San Antonio. I got

drenched in the expansiveness and richness of spiritual experiences and

information about the New Age. I came back to my home state 6 years

later, (God's design, not mine) to solidify in my home state the new

awakened spiritual being I am.

 

After many years of being here, often it's been hard to feel my

spiritual horizons and the coming Aquarian age here or to believe its

really coming. MA is a very different state to feel the grandeur and

heights of Spirit in.

 

I realized last month that I was unacceptably lonely for spiritual

feasting and communal feasting and that I felt I was wasting my time in

my downtime hours and that that, too, was unacceptable. Wah Yuntee had

been calling me all fall. I heard the first few words for months in my

head. I had been briefly introduced to it in 1992 in Sedona.

 

I found it again and Shakti Parwha Kaur's book to remind me of what I

learned so richly in college when I was introduced to kundalini yoga by

the wonderful Sikhs in the Leverett, MA ashram. For the first time in

my life was doing Sadhana on my own and everyday.

 

Yes, you're right. Fear of the unknown, even a good unknown, is a bit

for this human consciousness to swallow. It's amazing to outgrow traps

and dominations and even powerlessness, fear of people and loneliness.

I am amazed that because of my practice I stay balanced when talking to

people whose worlds are not where I resonate, whose cultures are foreign

and used to feel uncomfortable with. I am amazed that because of

Sadhana I actually have choice and exert choice to be as loving as I can

be during the day even in the face of not liking how I am being treated

or the response someone just gave me. Its possible now to treat others

how I'd like to be treated.

 

I love this time of year, the " dead " of winter. Everything is so quiet

and I feel God and the Richness the most. I feel most connected. I feel

like I'm just home with God. The earth's energy is most inward at this

time of year.

 

I outgrew the New Age community. I was disappointed that I thought this

spiritual revolution was over on the planet. I wasnt grounded in the

world when I was in the Southwest and having amazing spiritual

experiences. Now I am.

 

I prayed last Dec because I was tired of hearing all the earth's

problems every day in the newspaper without hearing enough of their

solutions. I prayed that the solutions would pour forward and the

healing and restoration ensue.

 

It would be quenching to tap in again after so long to Spirit's

wonder-giving, to feel part of and experience Spirit's loving and

birthing of a wahe guru world on planet Earth. And to give myself those

spiritual heights here in Massachusetts.

 

Thanks again for your tenderness, respect, information and generosity

towards me, Awtar Singh.

 

I wish you every blessing,

Yahara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Yahara:

 

Your words are poetry. You have much to offer the world.

What you yearn for is what you already know inside is possible.

So it is now yours to create!

 

You are now at home everywhere, don't seek anymore,

" be the change you want to see! "

 

You are now the infinite creator!

 

Many blessings,

Awtar Singh

[Guest guest]

Dear Awtar Singh,

 

Thanks for this beautiful, uplifting recollection. As a footnote: How

is it that you are a reincarnate teacher if the reincarnation as a

teacher is the final reincarnation? Or do you have a different

understanding of the meaning of this phrase? (I am asking seriously,

not to be provocative.)

 

Zydeco

 

Kundaliniyoga , " yogahs " <kundalini_yoga

wrote:

 

Dear Yahara:

 

When I received my name it was a gift from Yogi Bhajan. I had

requested a name via a form and it was to be transmitted to him. This

was during teacher training in 1996. But during a private session with

him, he wanted to give me my spiritual name right then.

 

So I saw his process. He had already checked my aura. He asked for my

birth date. His wife (who was always present during our private

sessions at that time) did some calculations and gave the results

orally to him. When he heard my birth year he said " Hmmm! " with some

kind of delight.

 

Then he gave me my name " Awtar Singh, you are a reincarnate teacher. "

His voice is resonant and deep, I still feel the vibration of what he

said to me.

[Guest guest]

> How is it that you are a reincarnate teacher if the reincarnation

> as a teacher is the final reincarnation? Or do you have a different

> understanding of the meaning of this phrase?

> (I am asking seriously, not to be provocative.)

>

Dear Zydeco:

 

No provocation taken!

 

I have never heard Yogi Bhajan say that if you incarnate as a teacher

it is your last lifetime on Earth. Others may have and I don't dispute

that. What I did hear Yogi Bhajan say is that being a teacher is the

highest incarnation as a human being. To me that did not mean there

was no room to grow... so I could still have several incarnations as a

teacher. I have heard many people (not in the Kundalini Yoga world)

being excited telling me they were on their last incarnation...

Personally I have always doubts when I hear such statements unless it

is from a master and I do think I am due for several more, unless a

miracle happens!

 

Yogi Bhajan himself was a teacher in his previous incarnation. He

talked about this. He made one mistake when he refused a student for

ego reasons and had to come back.

 

Now even someone on his/her last incarnation always has a choice to

come back to help human beings further... unless they are called to

serve in another spiritual sphere (Yogananda's teacher for instance as

stated in Autobiography of a Yogi.

 

Many blessings,

Awtar Singh