Bhajans Made Easy!

[Guest guest]

Namaste ALL esp Linda,

Your explanation of bhajans was terrific. By explaining exactly how

bhajans (would you call them sacred musical chants?) work, you have

done some of us a very great service. BTW, can you explain about

"kirtan?"

Dhanyavaada!

(Thanks!)

-

nierika (AT) aol (DOT) com

Sunday, September 19, 2004 7:08 AM

Re:To Karen on Bhajans

Karen wrote:

Can you explain what "bhajains" are?

Dear Karen,

First a little story. I was very fortunate, at one point in my life,

to take a university class in ethnomusicology. The instructor was

from the Andeas, and I considered her to be a shaman. the class was

small, only five, and we held it at the instructor's home. Since it

was, in essence, a music class, we studied sacred music, especially

chanting. The important things I learned about chanting, and I think

this holds true for many or most bhajans is that they are made up of

sacred syllables and a way to interact with the sacred, that they are

most often repetitious, which makes it easier for the people who don't

know them to sing along, and they are most often in the "call and

response" mode, which is to say, the main chanter sings a verse, then

the group sings a verse, and so it goes along like that.

If you go to the website that Kandaaran provided, you will find a

bhajan button and some examples of bhajans. Here is the site again:

http://www.htsnm.org

Now I will share one of my favorite bhajans, but keep in mind that for

each verse, it is sung twice, once by the main chanter and then by the

group.

Shiva Shiva Mahadeva

Nama Shivaya Namo Namah

Kali Kali Mahamata

Namo Kalike, Nomo Namah

Durga Durga Mahamaya

Namo Durgaya, Namo Namah

See, they can be very simple, but when chanted over and over can take

you to a place of oneness, bliss, etc. Another thing about bhajans

that is different from other chanting I have studied is that they

start off slowly and then gradually speed up ... then they slow down

again to end. Jai Maa ~ Linda