Posture: Sit in a comfortable meditative posture.

Mudra: Lift your hands to the level of your heart, palms up, elbows relaxed by your sides. Form a shallow cup of your hands by placing the sides of your hands together from the base of the palms to the tips of the Mercury fingers (pinkies). All the fingers are together but not rigid. Open the thumbs out away from the hands. The cup is not deep, the edges of the cup are about thirty degrees up from the parallel plane.

It is important to keep the “line of Mercury” connected; the outsides of the hands touch from the Mercury fingers to the base of the palms. Normally there will be no opening whatever, but some people will have a gap between their little fingers. Keep this gap to a minimum.

Eyes: Close your eyes and look into your hands through your closed eyelids.

Mantra: Chant Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad in a monotone, letting the breach find its own pace. One repetition of the mantra takes between four to five seconds. Continue for 31 minutes.

Begin with three minutes and work slowly up to the full time.

Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad is primarily used to transform any form of negative energy into positive energy. It is said to have the power to turn negative thoughts, circumstances, habits and even surroundings into positive ones.

The powerful sound vibration of this mantra can generate positive thoughts, actions and behaviors, and it is believed to amplify anything that is said by the practitioner after chanting it. As such, it should be recited with reverence, and negative conversation should be avoided once Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad has been chanted.

Yogi Bhajan, master of the Kundalini yoga tradition, defines this mantra as a “master key” to the entire universe and its energy. In Kundalini yoga, Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad is thought to stimulate the third eye, enabling practitioners to connect with their inner wisdom and intuition.

Yogi Bhajan teaches that the power of this mantra is to be found by repeating it with the first three syllables and the last three syllables reversed:

Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad

Sat Gur Prasad Ek Ong Kar

Each of the individual sounds have a unique meaning:

• Ek means one, referring to the existence of only one supreme God or ultimate being.
• Ong implies God as the creator.
• Kar denotes God’s creation.
• Sat means truth, referring to the truth of God’s existence as both creator and creation.

In literal terms, Gur means great or important, but followed by Prasad (meaning kindness or gift) this can be interpreted as “Guru’s Grace.”

In order to practice chanting Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad, it is important to choose a stable seated posture such as sukhasana (easy pose) or padmasana (lotus pose) in which the spine can be upright.

Ek Ong Kar should be chanted with focus at the navel point; when reciting Ek Ong, the navel draws in, when reciting Kar, the navel goes out. For maximum benefits, this mantra should be chanted in an unbroken rhythm for 3 to 11 minutes.