All I knew then was that the chanting had resonated so strongly that it shook my very core. It was immediately clear that I wanted to be in that deep space as much as possible, and chanting became my core sādhana, or spiritual practice. Unexpectedly, it was re-awakened 23 years later at a retreat center in the Catskills in New York when I went to my first yoga retreat and heard Krishna Das sing Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram.

We never talked about that evening after I returned to my home abroad, but the deep and expansive feeling that came over me that night stayed quietly with me. It was a harmonious uplifting moment with everyone turned toward the altar in one sacred intention. That night, there was a gathering for the whole village where others from the community ranging in age from young kids to elders took turns leading the chants and everyone responded. My aunts, my mother, and cousins seemed to know this practice, and though my sisters and I didn’t know the meaning of the words we were singing, we quickly caught on. The family would gather around and follow his instructions by singing back the line that he chanted in response. It happened very naturally around my grandfather’s harmonium (a wind pumped reed organ). My first experience of kirtan, a form of call-and-response musical chanting, pronounced keer (sounds like peer) – thun (sounds like the first syllable of thun-der), was as a girl of 9 years on a summer vacation in my grandfather’s home in the south-western Indian coastal village of Bekal. It does not store any personal data.The practice of chanting, or kirtan, is an exploration into understanding the answer to that very question.Ĭhanting and repetition of the Divine Name has been my practice and life Path since 1996, but as I trace this path back, I see where there have been signs pointing me in this direction earlier on… The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Performance'.

This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Necessary'. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Functional'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Analytics'. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Wether in a meditative style or otherwise, we have listed some of the positive ways that daily Mantras can impact your life Mantras have been used alongside the practice of Yoga for thousands of years, connecting the mind and body on a spiritual level, to increase self understanding of the participant, allowing them to access higher states of consciousness and develop a more positive energy. They will help you hit the reset button and draw some inner focus when you feel that you need it most. Whether you are experiencing a tough time with heightened levels of anxiety, stress, sadness or anger, powerful Mantras are an incredibly powerful self-care tool, that can be used whenever required and from a mental health perspective, there are fewer things more beneficial.

Ong namo guru dev namo written sanskrit