Loving Ganesha: Chapter 19 (section 3) - Singing to Ganesha--Ganesha Bhajanam

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font-family:Arial">Namaste all,

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>From http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-19.html,

the third section of chapter 19; the excellent chapter on devotional singing

and chanting to Lord Ganesh.

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12.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Shanti

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font-family:Arial">Neil

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font-weight:bold">Depth of Meaning and Feeling

For those

of you who may not know the Sanskrit language, it is necessary to make a

special effort to understand, in English or in the language with which you are

most familiar, what is being chanted in Sanskrit during bhajana

italic">. When we chant together "Ganesha Sharanam,"

it is essential that we know that it means "I take refuge in the darshana of

Lord Ganesha." Even knowing the meaning is not enough. You must actually

take refuge in the overpowering feeling of Ganesha's presence as you visualize

His murti

or form. You must also be able to awaken to the higher emotional realms, to

rise to a devotional mood as you are singing to the Gods, a mood that itself

carries you into Ganesha's protective refuge, a mood that awakens you to the

presence of Ganesha's love and compassion. If you are singing to the Gods with

such genuine feelings, then the song itself has been transcended even while you

are in the midst of your lyrical worship. Now this is very important. That

makes your chanting truly beneficial, beneficial not only for yourself and

those who are with you but for all mankind.

You could

be singing Ganesha sharanam,

sharanam Ganesha most beautifully, with no

thought deeper than enjoying the sounds and realizing that you were on key and

another in the room was not. Or you could be singing and at the same time

thinking about some problem that came up during the day or an event that will

take place in the days to come.

Little

benefit is to be derived from such an approach to bhajana

italic">. Similarly, when the time comes at a later date for you to

be initiated into the art of meditation, there will be no real meditation if

the mind is allowed to wander aimlessly, mulling over things of the past and

imaginings of the future. Bhajana

too, is a sadhana that requires

preparation, attention and concentration. It is not an external performance

meant to entertain the participants. It is an internal performance that invokes

the inner-plane Gods and draws awareness deep within. Approach your chanting as

a devotional sadhana. Let it be a

time of communion with the deepest strata of consciousness within you and a

communication with the Gods. Study the chants. Memorize their meanings so that as your

voice goes out into the physical room your awareness simultaneously pierces

into inner dimensions.

>From your

own experience in the world you can understand how the Gods naturally perceive

an aspirant whose body is joining in the bhajana but whose mind is

elsewhere. People have come to you and said things that they did not mean.

People have talked with you and you knew that they were thinking about

something entirely different and thinking only absent-mindedly about the

conversation. You have observed the results when people approach anything

half-heartedly, perhaps preferring that they were somewhere else doing

something else. Nothing permanent and valuable is ever accomplished even on the

gross physical plane by such an approach. Then how much more important is it

that the subtle worlds, the deeper states of consciousness, be approached with

mindfulness?

font-weight:bold">The Group Helps the Individual

A group

that is chanting regularly, singing to the Gods day after day after day, gives

the devas great power, a channel through which they

can reach out and help other Hindus in the community and around the world.

Within a hundred-mile radius inner-plane helpers assigned to guide Hindus, who

are perhaps not religious Hindus, would come to the bhajana on the astral plane and be

renewed themselves. Inner-plane helpers may also be renewed and inspired.

A large satsanga or bhajana

conducted regularly at the same time can summon these thousands and thousands

of guardian devas together

in a single conclave, renewing and inspiring them. Then they go back to the

First World Hindu whom they are bound to guard and guide and in turn uplift and

inspire him. He may be lifted out of the fog of the outer mind in its morass of

confusions and become inspired to pay closer attention to his religion. He may

awaken a desire to go to the temple, to serve others more selflessly, and on

and on. Such things can happen just because a group of devotees get together

and sing to God, feel what they are singing, know the meaning of the words they

are saying and the implications within the meaning of the words. Of course,

children love to sing; and bhajana

is universally enjoyed by children of all ages, providing one of the most

wonderful ways to bring your sons and daughters fully into the religion. They

should attend group bhajanas

often. The family itself can chant together in the shrine room each day for at

least a few minutes.

We want

to take it all in, take in the tone, take in the thought, take in the feeling,

take in the knowledge -- take it all back to the source, back to the microcosm

where you were living ten months before you were born in this physical world.

You were there in the microcosm, fully aware, fully matured, working out your

own spiritual destiny through helping those on this plane, awaiting another

birth that would catapult you into an even greater evolution when you returned

to the microcosm. So the microcosm is nothing with which you are not familiar.

You came out of the microcosm and will return to it after the purpose of this

birth has been fulfilled. It is really more your home than any structure on

this earth could ever be. So you are just contacting home when you invoke the

Second World. It is nothing difficult. It is

relatively easy, and you can do it night after night after night as you sing

here to the Gods. Know that there are people listening, people just like you,

people on the lower astral plane and people on the higher astral planes. They

too join in the chanting where they are. If you had an inner ear, you could

stop chanting and they would all be heard chanting simultaneously. This has

been done; these inner-plane chants have been heard. The more regular the bhajana, the

deeper it penetrates into the inner worlds. We believe that religion is the

working together of the three worlds, and in our bhajana this working together is a

joyous ritual simultaneously celebrated on all planes of consciousness.

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font-family:Arial">Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

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font-family:Arial">Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/

& http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy

Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Arial">107 Kaholalele Road

Kapaa, HI 96746-9304

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