May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you,
and the pure light within you, guide your way on.
If you’ve ever taken a Kundalini Yoga class, you have heard and sung this song. If you’ve ever listed to a lecture by Siri Singh Sahib Ji, you’ve heard this song sung at the end of the class. Here is what he said about this song at his lecture on January 28, 1985:
“You know we have been singing this for fifteen years, sixteen years. Sometimes it brings tears in my eyes. A yogi is not supposed to cry, but I am such a yogi who cries on everything. It’s funny. It’s very funny. Where people cry I don’t, where people can’t even cry, it starts going, but anyway….
May the long time sunshine upon you. What a blessing. We bless everybody. And all love surround you. Not of God only, but all. What an affirmation. And the pure light within you. Not your “light”, pure light is the radiant body, the soul. Soul is the direct descendent of the radiant body. Radiant body is the direct shield of the soul. Pure light within you.
And we don’t say follow me. We say guide your way on. Keep going. And we sing it. It gives us a feeling of ourself. But sometime we should sing it within ourself. Understand that you know all. When your adversity, you can laugh at and when your tragedy, you can bring into a humor and when you can excel, God is already sitting in you; there is no place else to find it.
Special Thanks: May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You was originally written by Mike Heron from the Incredible String Band. For more information and gratitude to Mike Heron for this beautiful song, please see the article “Where the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You… Where it all Began”, as shared in a 2009 Aquarian Times Magazine
Listen to versions of “May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You” here. You can also search on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. to find other versions.
Read about how this song came to be sung after all Kundalini Yoga classes.
Numa says:
Hello, Thank you so much for this article :)
Why are the lyrics sung three times, please ?
Thank you for your answer :) and blessing to you all
Kathy A Burpee says:
I would like to have permission to sing this at bedside. Our hospice group is a volunteer group and we sing for the very sick and dying.
Sikh Dharma International says:
Of course! Many Blessings to you and the people you serve
Robert Resnik says:
Happy and healthy birthday wishes to Mike Heron, who was born 80 years today !
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Wahe Guru! Many blessings to him. Thank you, Robert.
Cendi says:
The verse is an old Irish blessing. Wherever the music came from, it came later.
Virginia Cazort says:
So glad to find this and get the last line straight!
Christopher says:
I found myself singing this inside myself as I walked in the brilliant winter sun, and it found its rhythm in me so that I walked completely in this light inside and out, and I remembered my friend Gyurme Dorje whom I met 50 years ago in Sarnath when he was still Keith MacLennan, and he taught me so many Incredible String Band songs as we traipsed the backroads of UP, Bihar and W Bengal. He passed away early this year but tonight I found myself singing this for him and with him, as he now travels on that inevitable journey we all will make in the true light.
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Wahe Guru! Thank you for sharing your story and how you are honoring the spirit of your dear friend. Love and Blessings to You!
Jim says:
Thank you Mike Heron. This was the last my sister heard on her death bed before she passed. This helped us all during an incredibly difficult time!
Gyanpreet says:
This is a beautiful piece of art created by Shabad Atma Kaur. So lovely that it is on this Sikh Dharma Page. Her other work is very devotional and bright.
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Thanks for sharing Gyanpreet. Does she have a webpage for her artwork that we can share?
John B says:
This is similar to the native American concept of The Great Spirit
David Hartman says:
I’ve been singing since the Incredible String Band in the 60s.
James says:
The last part of “A Very Cellular Song”, “May the Long Time Sun Shine”, is sometimes wrongly referred to as a Sikh hymn or an Irish blessing, but is in fact an original song written by Mike Heron.
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Yes, please see the bottom portion of this post where credit is given to Mike Heron and there’s a link to an article with the history of the song as well.
Pamela Smith says:
I’m glad you have told people the song is included in a longer song by Mike Heron
I noticed one Yoga Group had registered it as theirs!
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Yes. Fortunately we got a heads up from one of our other readers and made sure to include it. Sometimes the facts of history can get away from us now that we can so easily access things on the internet. Great to have people keeping an eye on things to be sure the integrity is maintained. Thanks and Blessings to You.
Richard Saunders says:
What a shame that Mike Heron, of the Incredible String Band, isn’t credited with writing this.
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Thank you Richard for pointing this out. We’ve made that update and referenced an article which was posted on 3HO’s site: https://www.3ho.org/3ho-lifestyle/healthy-happy-holy-lifestyle/about-3ho/may-long-time-sun-shine-upon-youwhere-it-all Blessings to you!
Nam Sahej says:
I’m loving seeing Shabad Atma’s (Los Angeles) design of that quote in your article! She makes beautiful journals and prints of her artwork as well!
OngKar Kaur Khalsa says:
Thank you for sharing this info on the artist. We found the image on Google images and did not know who had created it. If you send us more info, we will share the details as part of the post. Sat Nam!