The Gong: The Original Sound Current

This series of posts is part of a book. See dynamic outline here.

The Gong: The Original Sound Current

Among the tools the yogi has to merge the finite with the infinite the gong reigns supreme.
. . . 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.—Harijiwan Khalsa, “The Gong” (http://www.harijiwan.com/gong)

If you attend Kundalini Yoga classes often enough, or watch enough videos, there is a good chance you’ll experience gong playing. If you have never experienced gong meditation before, it is a sublime experience. There are many reasons why this is so. The gong affects the body and its meridians, releasing blocks, reducing tension, and stimulating circulation. The result is a reorganization of the emotional energy and feelings that are tied to the body structure.[1]

The vibrations that come from good gong playing are very similar to the vibrations you would hear from a recording of the vibrations found in deep space. The sound is the reverberation of the generating, organizing, and creative forces that keep the whole of creation together—the original Sound Current (the Word), which was used to create the universe. The gong takes us into the Sound Current, where we can “resonate with pleasure, joy and bliss.”[2]

The gong is also an amplification device; it amplifies the energy field of the player and the mantra that the player is mentally reciting. Listening to the sound of the gong provokes emotions and thoughts from the subconscious, which puts the entire nervous system under pressure to adjust and heal itself,[3] which can be momentarily uncomfortable, but eventually sends you into the deepest meditation possible. The sound will carry you beyond all fears. The sound penetrates into every atom of your body and aids in replenishing the parasympathetic nervous system (which is ruled by sound). This process balances the sympathetic nervous system, which can often be overstimulated due to stresses in the body.[4]

The vibrations of the gong are able to completely wash away negative thought structures that are being transmitted by the subconscious and the Negative Mind. Listening to the gong can magnify and expand thoughts of self-love and other positive thoughts and feelings. Listening can bring a deep state of relaxation, allowing the body to heal and revive in order to be productive and efficient. Gong vibrations can set your whole system into a path of vibrating and attracting positive things. Harijiwan Khalsa says that regularly “listening to the gong will re-pattern your magnetic field, open you to the vastness of your own psyche, and release you from all that prevents you from living a life of complete and utter happiness.”[5] He asserts that good gong playing[6] is “a gift of God, Heaven on Earth.”[7]

[1]Kundalini Research Institute, KRI International Teacher Training Manual, Level 1, 4th ed. (Santa Cruz, NM:  Kundalini Research Institute, 2007), 137.

[2] Harijiwan Khalsa, “The Gong,” accessed March 24, 2014, http://www.harijiwan.com/gong.

[3] Sometimes this process can bring up fear or discomfort, but if you don’t run away, the gong will wash these subconscious thought structures away.

[4] Kundalini Research Institute, KRI International Teacher Training Manual, Level 1, 120.

[5] Harijiwan Khalsa, “The Gong.”

[6] Bad gong playing can be damaging. It is inadvisable to play the gong without proper training.

[7] Harijiwan Khalsa, “Gong Basics,” YouTube video posted January 2, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpU2noreEyc.