The Sound of the

The Gong

by Harijiwan

INVOCATION

Yogi Bhajan has given us the secrets to entering the vast mystic space of the gong. Before playing the gong we offer a prayer. With reverence, through the Naad of the mantra–the harmony of the mind within the waves of sound, in the humility of our devotion, we ask to be allowed to enter into the Aad—the infinite space.

We recite silently to ourselves…

AAD GURAY NAMEH
JUGAAD GURAY NAMEH
SAT GURAY NAMEH
SIREE GUROO DAYV-A NAMEH
ONG NAMO GUROO DAYV NAMO
AAD SUCH
JUGAAD SUCH
HAIBHEE SUCH
NAANAK HOSEE BHEE SUCH

(Translation)
I bow to the primal wisdom
I bow to the wisdom of the ages
I bow to the true wisdom
I bow to the great Divine wisdom
I bow to the subtle divine wisdom, the divine teacher within
True in the Primal beginning
True throughout the ages
True here and now
O Nanak, forever and ever True.

THE UNIVERSAL SOUND OF THE GONG

The sound of the gong allows us to move beyond the boundaries of the mind. We have used our mind since birth to perceive the world and through our mind we have constructed our own unique version of reality. Over time we have become habituated with a set of perceptual responses to the incoming data from the world outside our mind. These responses layer and layer upon each other and build up their own magnetic frequency. This magnetic fre- quency then radiates out from us and attracts similar frequencies. Like attracts like. This is why the change process is so difficult. We can add information. We can add knowledge. We think we know more, and we do. But we have not really changed. Our energetic being remains the same. Our basic magnetic frequency and our layered perceptu- al filters process the new information in the old habitual ways. New information does not change us. An energetic shift of our magnetic field changes us.

The universe is powered by sound. The gong is the basic creative sound. Out of the gong comes all music, all sounds, all words. The sound of the gong is the nucleus of the Word. The mind was created out of this sound: it
is like the father and mother together. The gong is the first and last instrument for the human mind. It is the one thing that supersedes the mind. The mind has no power before the gong. It takes three to ninety seconds for the sound of the gong to overtake the mind. Then we are free of the conditioned habitual pattern of the perceptual fil- ters of our magnetic field. We have expanded beyond the frequency of our mental imprints. We now have the op- portunity to experience new realms of our own psyche, new energetic aspects of our own being, new dimensions of ourselves. We have the choice to explore, to create. This is the true flexibility of yoga—the beginning of the union of the finite within the infinite.

Among the tools the yogi has to merge the finite with the infinite the gong reigns supreme. It is not an ordinary thing to play; it is an art to play the gong. The gong is not a drum or a musical instrument. The gong is a beautiful reinforced vibration. It is an inter-vibratory system. It is like a multitude of strings, like playing a million strings. Think of the human body as a Divine instrument with strings. We are composed of seventy-two surs or strings. The Crown Chakra-the thousand petal lotus- impacts each of these strings with a thousand-fold vibration. So there are 72,000 vibratory impacts that send energy throughout out our system and these vibrations shape us physically, emotionally, and mentally. When the gong is played, the vibration of the strings causes all thirty trillion cells of the body to resonate, to dance—forming patterns that release blockages that have prevented the cosmic pulsation to flow freely through our being. Within this creative cosmic flow we find fulfillment, harmony, and love.

When we chant a mantra, if the rhythm is right, and the concentration and surrender to its pulse is practiced, then the central nervous system vibrates it, and we can listen and absorb the sound. The mantra is attuned to the In- finite and when the Infinite resounds in us we achieve excellence. As Yogi Bhajan says: “The science of reality is to find the sound and to resound in that sound. Then the soul shall excel and God shall dwell within you.” Anahat is that state in which the nervous system vibrates the mantra without conscious effort; we vibrate in harmony with the psyche of the universe, beyond anything we could create from our finite self or ego. Nothing compares to the gong’s ability to create in the human the Divine sound, which allows entry into the state of Anahat, and causes the sound to resound within. Only the gong can produce this combination of space vibrations. It is this productive sound that changes the pattern of the brain neurons for positive purposes. No effort or practice is required to par- ticipate. We can not avoid interlocking with the sound of the gong, because we are a byproduct of the wave and the strength of the wave that is called light and sound. It is the sound of Creativity itself. The gong takes us directly into the original sound current, into perpetual sound—out into space, into space, into space. This unlimited sound vi- brates and creates light, creates life. The sound of the gong becomes the sound of the Universe. This Universe and the other Universes are powered by the resounding sound that comes within the state of Anahat. Within this sound and resound we relax, stress departs, healing, rejuvenation occurs as we journey into the sublime vibratory field of all that is within us, of all that we are, of all that we come from. We resonate with pleasure, joy and bliss.