sat nam meaning

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By: Hillary Faye
Hillary Faye is an international Kundalini and Hatha Yoga Instructor, Meditation Guide and Reiki Master Teacher. Hillary is the creator of the Awaken Love workshop and the 200 hour Awaken Love Hatha ...
Edited date: December 8, 2023Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Sat Nam meaning is true identity. ‘Sat’ meaning truth and ‘Nam’, identity. Sat Nam is in the sacred language of Gurmukhi: ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ. In the practice of Kundalini Yoga, Sat Nam (also spelled Sat Naam) is the sacred mantra most widely used.

This is the seed syllable (Bij) mantra, and within this seed is contained all the knowledge of the fully grown tree.

The seed is the identity of truth embodied in a dense form – the truth of your soul. Chanting this mantra balances the five elements (tattvas), awakens the soul, and brings your destiny present.

In other words, when chanting a seed (Bij) mantra, the seed of the sound is planted in the unconscious. Sat is the truth. Nam is our vibrational identity, and what we vibrate we become.

“Sat Naam is the Bija or seed mantra. It is small and potent. Great things grow from it. If it is not written in your destiny to be with God and know your higher consciousness, this mantra engraves it in your destiny.” – Yogi Bhajan

Wondering What Does Sat Nam Mean?

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“What is” Series video created by Brett Larkin for YOGI TIMES – Sat Nam Meaning

Sat Nam Meaning in Yoga

As a great master said when asked how to become enlightened, stay where you are.

The experience of Yoga (union) with the divine consciousness happens within YOU. Therefore, when you align with your highest truth with your Sat, and vibrate in this identity, Naam, it all comes to you.

By chanting certain sacred mantras you can experience vibrational harmony through which you vibrate in the divine.

This is a science of how sound vibrations affect the mind, spirit, and body through the movement of the tongue in the mouth.

This movement of the tongue stimulates meridian points like a keyboard inputting into a computer and it is through this science that we can experience our truth and connection to the Divinity within.

Sat: the Truth identified (named).
Sat plus Nam: the true reality that is identified in truth.

This mantra is normally chanted in a long fashion with the hands in prayer pose at the heart center after taking a deep inhale at the end of a Kundalini Yoga class.

Truth is our identity. We are vibrating our existence.

sat nam meaning, woman sitting, meditation, what is the meaning of sat naam
Woman prying with Candles – Sat Nam Meaning

My Experience With Chanting

The first time that I chanted Sat Naam mantra at the end of a Kundalini Yoga Class at Golden Bridge in Los Angeles, I felt something inside me wake up. A feeling of wholeness, acceptance, and remembrance washed over me.

Actually, that was one of the first times that I thought wow, maybe I am more than just this voice in my head, and this body, more than just me, maybe there is a higher truth than what I have been experiencing.

This incredible mantra has changed my life and time after time again given me that little spark of remembrance, of truth.

Remembrance of my soul, the divine, and the unbreakable connection they have. GOD AND ME, ME AND GOD ARE ONE – SAT NAM.

There are different ways to practice Sat Naam

It is good to be reminded that the Sat Nam meaning is a not a religious ritual, simply a spiritual and universal sacred word that can be practiced no matter what your belief systems are. 

1. While walking

Meditation does not have to be exclusively in a seated pose. You can use the mantra to follow each of your steps. (as you move your right foot say Sat and your left foot Nam.)

2. Laying down

When you are about to sleep or take a nap, start softly repeating the mantra. Follow your breath with each word, inhale (Sat) and exhale (Nam)

3. Seated

Choose a spot in your house where you feel very comfortable. You can sit cross-legged or in any position that you can sustain for a while.

Feel the vibration of the mantra swirl throughout your spine as you speak the sacred words.

Long SAT and long NAM, and repeat it until a veil of peace has fallen over you.

In essence (Sat Nam Meaning)

At the end, when you chant sacred mantras such as Sat Nam and Wahe Guru (Wow, I am in the ecstasy of God) you allow your life to be transformed and begin to cultivate a deeper faith and knowledge of who you really are.

What is truth to you?

What is your Sat Nam?

What is the truth of your identity?

When you discover your truth, you can be who you truly are.

GOD AND ME, ME AND GOD ARE ONE – SAT NAM.

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