Ongkaar Nirankaar: Chanting theKnown and Unknown Divine

In this Kirtan and Kundalini workshop, Snatam Kaur teaches the Ongkaar Nirankaar mantra—a Sikh meditation practice that holds the tension between Ongkaar (the divine manifestation perceivable in action on the physical plane) and Nirankaar (the unseen, unknown divine). Through breath work, gentle yoga poses, and extended chanting, participants learn to access the soul's prayer rather than the mind's desires, finding deep peace and acceptance when facing hopelessness or exhaustion. The workshop models how listening and breath awareness form the foundation of mantra practice.

What Does Ongkaar Nirankaar Mean?

The mantra Ongkaar Nirankaar carries two complementary energies drawn from Sikh spiritual tradition. Ongkaar refers to the Divine manifestation that is perceivable—the doer, the knowing and sensing that moves and acts on the physical plane. It is the divine presence we can recognize through action, breath, sound, and the visible world. Nirankaar is the counterpart: the divine manifestation that is imperceivable, unseen, and unknowable. It represents formlessness and the vast mystery beyond what the mind can grasp.

Snatam explains: "This mantra brings us into a place of balance between the known and the unknown." The power of chanting Ongkaar Nirankaar lies in holding both simultaneously—the tangible divine energy we experience moment to moment, and the infinite, shapeless divinity that transcends all form. Between these two polarities lies deep peace and stillness. Rather than resolving into one or the other, the mantra teaches the nervous system to rest in the paradox.

When and Why Use This Mantra?

According to the Sikh mantra tradition, Ongkaar Nirankaar is particularly suited for times of profound exhaustion or defeat—especially when every effort has been exhausted and hopelessness begins to set in. The mantra does not deny the difficulty; instead, it offers a doorway into acceptance and renewal. By tuning into the soul's prayer rather than the mind's anxious loop of solutions, the practitioner can arrive at a deep place of meditation, find inner tranquility, and access the acceptance needed to start anew.

Beyond its use for emotional and spiritual transition, the mantra also serves deep relaxation and healing work. The extended, streamlined arrangement Snatam has created—part of her Mantra and Meditation Series based on her album Nirankaar—is designed to facilitate both breath meditation and simple chanting. The serene, inviting quality of the recording creates a container for extended meditation practice.

How Does the Workshop Begin? The Opening Tuning-In

Snatam begins the workshop by setting the container and introducing the teaching lineage. She acknowledges both live participants on Zoom and future viewers watching the recording, creating an inclusive energetic space. She then orients participants to the Kirtan and Kundalini school she co-founded with her husband Sopurkh Singh, explaining the weekly offerings: her own Wednesday meditation class featuring mantra and breath work, Sopurkh's Tuesday and Thursday Kundalini Yoga classes and 40-day meditation practices, a Saturday acupressure and Kundalini yoga class, traditional Sikh sacred poetry teachings, and beginner and intermediate harmonium courses. This context matters because the workshop is not isolated instruction but an invitation into an ongoing community of practice.

Snatam dedicates the class to Coquilla Ravel, who is undergoing a transition, and extends the teaching to "all of us that are in the experience of transition in life." This dedication reframes the mantra as a tool for anyone navigating change, loss, or uncertainty.

The workshop formally begins with the Adi Mantra, the traditional opening chant of Kundalini Yoga: "Ong Namo Gurudev Namo." Snatam guides participants to sit with palms together at the center of the chest, thumbs resting at the sternum. She instructs: "Take some deep breaths into the base of your spine. Close the eyes and notice any thoughts, any fluttering energy of the past or the future, and just come into presence into being." This transition into stillness is not rushed; it is itself the beginning of the practice. After chanting the tuning-in mantra three times, participants then chant "Aad Gurena Jugaad Gurena," invoking primal wisdom and the eternal guru principle. Only after this grounding do they move into the physical practice.

What Is the Role of Breath Work and Listening?

Snatam emphasizes that "today is really about listening, coming into a place of deep listening." This is not incidental to the practice—it is the practice. Rather than forcing the body through poses or demanding perfect execution, she invites participants to "come back to your breath so not everybody will be practicing yoga, some people will be just resting and observing." The goal is a quiet mind, both during the class and, metaphorically, "at the end of the day" and "at the end of life."

Breath work becomes the anchor. As participants perform gentle warm-up poses—spinal rotations, forward folds with each leg extended—Snatam guides them to "tune into the mantra that's playing in the background." The mantra is not merely a sound object; it is a container that holds the quality of consciousness the practice aims to cultivate. She asks: "What is your soul's prayer?" This reframes the session away from achievement toward receptivity. The soul's prayer is not the prayer of the thinking mind or of personal desire but something deeper, older, and wiser than the individual ego.

The Yoga Warm-Up as Spiritual Practice

The yoga portion is methodical and accessible. Participants circle the spine, inhaling forward and exhaling back, creating mobility in the pelvis. Then, with the right leg extended and the left foot tucked into the right thigh, they fold forward repeatedly, linking breath to movement: inhale up, exhale down. Snatam offers an invitation while they move: "With each breath, come into the energy of forgiveness—forgiving yourself, forgiving anyone that has said something or done something that you struggled with in any way. Let that go."

This is important. The physical practice becomes a metaphor and a real vehicle for emotional release. The repeating fold is not mere exercise; it is a method of consciously releasing held tension and grievance from the nervous system. Snatam then guides participants through a standing forward fold and a lunging sequence involving breath of fire—a rapid, rhythmic nasal breathing technique distinct from ordinary respiration.

In the lunges, Snatam offers modifications: "You can bring the right knee down to the ground if you feel that you need to." She models how Sopurkh (who is present, demonstrating) modifies the pose. This accessibility is crucial; the practice is not about pushing the body into an ideal shape but about meeting oneself where one is.

What Is Breath of Fire and How Does It Prepare the Mind?

Breath of fire is a signature Kundalini Yoga technique. Snatam describes it: "It's much like panting like a dog, but the panting the mouth is open but this time we're closing the mouth and that same action we're doing with the mouth closed, the breath passing through the nose." The result is a rapid, rhythmic breathing pattern—in through the nose, out through the nose, mouth closed—that activates the nervous system and clears stagnant energy from the body.

The breath of fire is performed in the lunges for several rounds, then practitioners are guided to bring the right knee down and fold the torso over the left thigh, bringing the forehead to the ground with arms by the sides, palms facing up. Snatam directs attention to the third eye point, the space between the eyebrows: "This is the seed of intuition and a great place to tune into the energy of the soul as well." After the physical exertion of breath of fire, the body receives the counter-pose—stillness, inversion, and the cooling breath of nose breathing without the fire. The contrast teaches the nervous system flexibility; it learns to move between activation and rest.

Transition Into Meditation and Chanting

After completing both lunges and moving through a series of standing poses that open the chest and align the spine, Snatam guides participants to "come directly into our meditative chanting practice." She offers instruction in sat kriya, a signature Kundalini Yoga meditation pose: sitting upright on the knees with arms stretched overhead, hands clasped with index fingers pointing up. As participants chant "Sat Nam" (truth is my name, or the vibration of truth), they pump the navel point inward with each "Sat" and relax on the "Nam."

The sat kriya is performed for an extended period. Snatam explains: "Really the practice is just to keep going, keep the rhythm, keep the breath." The instruction is minimalist—no visualization instructions, no fantasy of transformation. Just the repetition of sound, breath, and movement. After the active chanting, participants inhale, hold the breath, and exhale, resting in the silence. Snatam notes: "And then transition, just expanding that silence."

How Does the Deep Meditation Work?

Following sat kriya, participants settle into a still, seated position and begin the extended chanting of Ongkaar Nirankaar itself. The structure is simple: continuous chanting of the mantra to the recorded melody, with breath and sound becoming one. Long stretches of the recording contain silence and music without instruction—Snatam has intentionally created space for unguided meditation within the held container of the mantra's frequency.

Late in the workshop, Snatam offers subtle guidance during the meditation: "In this earthly realm, this earthly plane, I feel like this is the internal... " The thought trails into silence. She does not impose meaning but invites practitioners to discover their own relationship with the mantra's energy. The point is not intellectual understanding but direct resonance—the body and nervous system learning the frequency of Ongkaar Nirankaar through sustained exposure and breath.

The mantra's power, as the Sikh tradition understands it, is that it recalibrates the being toward acceptance of what is perceivable and what is not, toward the soul's prayer rather than the ego's demands, and toward the still point between doing and being.

What Happens After the Meditation Ends?

The workshop does not end with a sudden return to ordinary consciousness. After the extended chanting, Snatam brings participants back gradually. She may guide gentle neck rolls—turning the head to the right as one exhales, breathing into the right ear, then switching to the left. The cheek may rest on one side or both, allowing the flower-like quality of the asana to open the heart. These final poses are a descent, not an ascent; they prepare the body to transition from the deepened state into ordinary activity.

Snatam typically offers a few final moments of breath and stillness before gently bringing the practice to a close. The quality of ending—gentle, unhurried, honoring the silence—is as important as the beginning.

Where to Go From Here

For those drawn to this work, several paths are available. Snatam's recorded album Nirankaar contains the full-length versions of this and other mantras, suitable for home practice. The streamlined Mantra and Meditation Series versions are explicitly designed for extended personal chanting and listening meditation. Those seeking ongoing instruction and community can join Kirtan and Kundalini, the online school, where Snatam teaches weekly Wednesday classes and offers additional courses in harmonium and mantra. The practice of Ongkaar Nirankaar need not be a one-time experience; it can become a recurring touchstone during times of transition, grief, exhaustion, or simply the need to return to the soul's prayer. The mantra's value increases with repetition, as the nervous system gradually learns to recognize and trust the frequency it carries.