Kundalini Yoga’s Highest Mantra Meditation
Kundalini Yoga Mantra Meditation
Kirtan Kriya
On the website, you find many powerful Kundalini Yoga Meditations, which combine the use of mantras, mudras and pranayama (breathing), to bestow profound material and spiritual benefits to those who practice them sincerely over time. Some of the most popular of these meditations are Sodarshan Chakra Meditation, Infinite Energy and Prosperity Meditation Technique and Tantric Sat Kriya for Transmuting Sexual Energy. None of these though, are actually considered the greatest Kundalini Yoga Meditation. This honor belongs to the mantra meditation I am going to detail for you today and it is called Kirtan Kriya.
One of the primary reason’s Kirtan Kriya is considered the highest of all the Kundalini Yoga meditations, is because it uses the most important mantra from this yogic science, the Sa Ta Na Ma mantra. Sa Ta Na Ma is considered the most fundamental mantra in Kundalini Yoga. You will notice that the very greeting in Kundalini Yoga "Sat Nam" contains the Sa Ta Na Ma components. Sat Nam is a seed mantra and it means True Identity or the True Divine You, while Sa Ta Na Ma is understood as Existence, Life, Death and Rebirth. Kirtan Kriya uses this all important mantra as the centerpiece of the meditation.
Kirtan Mantra Meditation will be the 16th entry in our ongoing and popular Free Online Guided Meditation Techniques E-book. As it is also considered a Kundalini Yoga Kriya, I will include it in the Free Illustrated Kundalini Yoga Kriyas E-Book as well. In addition, I will soon be launching the Free Kundalini Yoga Meditations E-book, to help group those meditations specifically, and of course Kirtan Kriya will be a part of that book as well.
Kirtan Kriya, like many of the other Kundalini Yoga Meditations, exploits the power of mantras, hand positions (mudras), mind power, naad yoga (yoga of sound) to work it’s magic and in the design section below, you will find details regarding these aspects of the meditation. As with all kundalini yoga technique and meditations, it is important to go slowly and follow the guidelines I have laid out in the following articles: Beginner’s Guide to Yoga Practice and Guidelines for Kundalini Yoga Practice.
Benefits of Kirtan Kriya - Sa Ta Na Ma Mantra Meditation:
- Increases intuitive abilities and psychic powers.
- Clears the system of negative emotions, traumas and impressions.
- Heals, balances and uplifts the emotional body.
- Builds concentration and mental focus.
- Bestows peace and tranquility.
- Gives one awareness of one’s Divine Infinite Nature.
Design of Kirtan Mantra Meditation:
- As explained above, uses the fundamental Sa Ta Na Ma Mantra to help one realize their True Divine Nature. As indicated, this is considered one of the most important mantras for Kundalini Yoga Meditations.
- Uses the power of visualization to activate the higher chakras and associated endocrine glands. Specifically this mantra meditation is going to activate the Crown Chakra and the Ajna Chakra (Third Eye), thus it will stimulate the pineal and pituitary glands specifically. These are the most important glands of the endocrine system and the highest chakras of the kundalini yoga chakra system. For more information about the chakra model you can read the article, Kundalini Yoga Seven Chakra System.
- Uses the science of Mudras or hand/body positions to create and complete certain circuits in the body. The following hand positions are used, which bestow the benefits as I have indicated below.
Index Finger + Thumb –> Wisdom
Middle Finger + Thumb –> Focus
Ring Finger + Thumb –> Energy
Little Finger + Thumb –> ConnectionIn addition, Shambhavi Mudra is used, where the eyes are turned up to look through the center of the forehead, which stimulates and activates the Ajna Chakra (Third Eye).
How to Do Kirtan Kriya - Sa Ta Na Ma Mantra Meditation:
- Sit in any cross legged posture. You can also do this meditation sitting on a chair.
- Elongate your spine and tuck your chin in slightly (like a soldier at attention). Rest your wrists gently on your knees, with your palms facing slightly upwards.
- Close your eyes, but turn them upwards such that you looking through the center of the forehead. This is shambhavi mudra, and only hold it for as long as is comfortable. Release it whenever necessary and continue with the meditation, reapplying it once ready.
- While chanting the mantra as described below, follow the following pattern.
Press the index finger + thumb for SA
Press the middle finger + thumb for TA
Press the ring finger + thumb for NA
Press the little finger + thumb for MA - Begin to Chant the Mantra now. Slowly chanting the sounds Sa Ta Na Ma repeatedly. Do the following visualization as you chant. Visualize the sound S, T, N, M entering through the top of the head through the crown chakra, while visualizing the sound "A" leaving through the center of the forehead through the ajna chakra. Keep visualizing this flow of the mantra and keep making the finger movements as you chant the mantra in the following way.
- Chant aloud for 5 minutes.
- Chant in a whisper for 5 minutes.
- Chant mentally for 10 minutes.
- Chant in a whisper for 5 minutes.
- Chant aloud for 5 minutes.
- To end, sit completely silently and still for 1 minute and allow infinite to descend upon you. The total time for the meditation is therefore 31 minutes.
Summary of Sa Ta Na Ma Mantra Meditation:
Although at first glance this mantra meditation might look complicated, it really is not. You are simply chanting the sounds SA TA NA MA, visualizing them flowing through your crown and ajna chakras, and applying the appropriate mudra for each sound. As far as Kundalini Yoga Meditation are concerned or for that matter any mantra meditation are concerned, Kirtan Kriya is one of the most profound and effective meditations you can do, so commit to it seriously and find out for yourself all the wonderful benefits of this timeless technique.
Benefiting from Mastery of Meditation & Yoga? 
on September 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
During the meditation, should both hands be performing the mudras, or is one hand good enough?
Also, from my understanding, my eyes should be in Shambhavi Mudra for as long as possible, resting them when necessary. Is this correct?
Thanks for posting this article. This meditation looks like it will help me progress in my spiritual practices. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into your website.
Thanks
Rishi
on September 15th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I started this one last week and am already totally in love with it. On the third day I had this sensation of my heart and torso expanding with this pure sweet energy that filled my body and also made me feel like my body had no edges. Woah ha ha. Yeah! I know what? It lasted about a minute and then my chattering little mind came in to see what the hell was going on. It was like being infused with love from the universe. Its hard to describe but I give it my full recommendation! Clearly. I am only up to day 5 now and am looking forward to whats in store : )
on September 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Tell me one thing anmol, Is it “nada yoga” to which you are referring in this post??
on October 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
wow i tried this meditation some time ago and i got to admit its extremely easy and powerful i cant understand how can it be more powerful than surdarshan chakra kriya witch is the most hardest kryia i ever done. wht would anybody need sck when u have something so easy and powerful. When i do kirtan kriya i feel something in my head and like i begin to lose my identity and i feel joy im my solar plexus.
on October 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
aint that the truth, i feel the same way, u kno ur right because I used to practice this meditation persistently last year and my power level was so immense but some how lost contact with it. Now I practice this 1 all day….its like a kundalini intoxication because this is the only technique that allows me to feel the true power of kundalini.
on October 12th, 2009 at 3:12 am
hi anmol i have a question: i’ve been doing zazen for like 4 months and i was now wandering if it is a good ideea to reaplace it with kirtan kriya or i should stick to zazen? plase advice me thx.
on October 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
hi anmol: i have read threw quite a few of your articles. I will say it to be very intriguing. You have my blessings and power for the work you have done to put up such a site. But, because I am just a beginner I am kinda confused and enthousiastic at the same as to which yoga to first begin with.
on December 28th, 2009 at 6:58 am
can u plz post a video for this technique too?
on April 2nd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
This meditation is fantastic.
When I first began it, around a month and a half ago or so, I was unconvinced of it’s benefits. It did not seem to compare to zazen, what I had previously practiced, because it did not bestow the neutrality of the witnessing consciousness to the same degree as zazen, something I had come to value highly.
Yet, as I continued to practice, I have come to see the beauty of the Kirtan Kriya. Its ability to bestow emotional balance is tremendous. Every time I have been in an extremely negative, pessimistic and depressed mindset, with a simple Kirtan Kriya meditation I have been restored to my natural cheerful and secure self. The potency of this restorative meditation is fantastic.
Yet, beautiful as it is, emotional balance is not the greatest benefit of this meditation. It is something subtler, yet more profound: the awareness of the oneness of existence. Often now I look around at my friends and even at strangers, and see them not as other people, separate from myself, but a part of myself, and I a part of them. There is no difference between me, and any other. I am them, and they are me, and we are one consciousness. Immediately upon perceiving this universal truth with such lucidity, I become overwhelmed with unconditional, loving compassion. Tears nearly come to my eyes, because the beauty of life becomes undeniable, impassioned, like a cosmic firework display.
This meditation bestows not only the great gift of balance, but of enlightenment. I have been given a taste of its sweetness, and I will continue to strive for its loving embrace.
Thank you, Anmol.
on May 2nd, 2010 at 11:29 pm
[…] Kundalini Yoga’s Highest Mantra Meditation […]
on May 10th, 2010 at 4:37 am
is the L in the head mandatory? from what i know the mantra should take about 4 seconds and should be chanted in a specific melody
on May 29th, 2010 at 8:05 am
SatNam Anmol
I am currently doing 3 kriya’s daily. prosperity kriya 20mins followed by 20 mins zazzen meditation early morning. At noon sck followed by 6mins archer pose. in the evening kirtan kriya followed by 5min eagle pose. Is this an advisable combo, or could you suggest something else if not.
Love and Light
Barry
on July 3rd, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I thought Sodarshan chakra Kriya was the most powerful meditation in all yoga, isn’t it so?