Shyamatara Das

In the Service of the Divine Mother

Saturday Morning Hanuman Chalisa

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On Tuesdays and Saturdays, it is my habit to sing the Hanuman Chalisa as part of morning devotions. I learned this beautiful prayer during the early days of the pandemic, listening to livestreams from Devadas.

Here is one of my favorite of Shri Tulsidas’ stanzas.

rāma duāre tuma rakhavāre
hota na ājñā binu paisāre

You are the guardian at the door of Ram’s abode, no one enters without your leave.

Hanuman is the personification of devotion. This verse tells us that without devotion, we cannot approach the indefinable, imperishable, unchanging state of consciousness that we usually refer to as God.

I would highly recommend this commentary from Paramahamsa Prajnanananda if you’d like to learn more about this powerful prayer.

If you’d like to learn the words and chant along, here are links to transliterations and English translations.

Hanuman Chalisa (Nina Rao’s Website)

Hanuman Chaleesa (Krishna Das Website)

राम राम

Om Aim Saraswatyai Namaha

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We picked up a Swarmandal/Tanpura from Old Delhi Music, and it’s perfect for chanting japa (using a beaded mala to keep track of repetitions).

It’s a little hard to tell from the video, but the vibrations are just marvelous. This practice really seems to promote a state of profound relaxation, calm and peace – similar to what we experience at a gong bath.

Obviously, after only four days with this instrument, I still have a lot to learn. Very much looking forward to further explorations with it.

 

Praying the Rosary

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Rosary and Prayer Booklet“A Very Powerful Prayer”

One of the first devotional activities that I learned during early explorations into Catholicism was to pray the Holy Rosary.

I had grown up in an Evangelical Protestant home, but stopped attending as an adult, and had observed no religion for a decade or more. I was drawn to a notice in our local newspaper about a session for anyone interested in learning about the Roman Catholic Faith, and decided to attend. I soon found myself there each week as an Inquirer to the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.

The RCIA sessions focused mostly on the “Big T’ Traditions of the Church, but we also learned about the vast and beautiful trove of Catholic culture and customs. The Rosary has been one of the most beloved and widespread Catholic prayer practices for centuries, so naturally it received some attention.

I obtained a Rosary and an instruction book, and began to learn how to use them. When I casually mentioned this to our Director of Religious Education, Sister Ancilla (a Springfield Dominican), her face grew serious, and it almost seemed as if she was in another world for a moment as she said “The Rosary is a very powerful prayer.”

A Brief History of the Holy Rosary

The use of beads or knotted ropes to count repetitions of mantras or prayers goes back thousands of years across many cultures. In Christianity, the Desert Fathers are known to have been using prayer ropes in the 3rd Century of the Common Era, praying the Jesus Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

It is thought that the use of 150 knot prayer ropes by the laity was practiced in imitation of Monks and Clergy, who prayed the 150 Psalms each day. Since most laymen were not literate enough to read the Psalms, they pronounced the Lord’s Prayer on each knot as a substitute.

Then, in 431 C.E. at the First Council of Ephesus, Mary was declared “Theotokos” – the Bearer of God. This declaration by the ecumenical council set in motion the more widespread adoption of Marian prayer.

The Latin word “Rosarium” means a crown or garland of roses. Dominican tradition says that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1208, giving him the form of the prayer. The Dominicans continued to teach and practice the devotion, and its use spread throughout Christendom. Pope Pius V (a Dominican) established the Rosary as an “official” devotion of the Catholic Church in 1569.

And so Dominic looked to that simple way of praying and beseeching God, accessible to all and wholly pious, which is called the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the same most Blessed Virgin is venerated by the angelic greeting repeated one hundred and fifty times, that is, according to the number of the Davidic Psalter, and by the Lord’s Prayer with each decade. Interposed with these prayers are certain meditations showing forth the entire life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, thus completing the method of prayer devised by the Fathers of the Holy Roman Church.

The “angelic greeting” is that of the Angel Gabriel in Luke’s Gospel “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”

In 1917, three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal reported that they had seen apparitions of “a Lady more brilliant than the Sun.” She asked the children to pray the Rosary every day to bring an end to World War I and to bring peace to the world. Recitation of the “Fátima Prayer” at the end of each decade of the Rosary became a widespread practice thereafter.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II issued the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, declaring October 2002 to October 2003 the “Year of the Rosary” and giving us five new Luminous Mysteries to contemplate during the prayer.

The Rosary and the Prayers

The Rosary has a crucifix, a centerpiece and fifty-nine beads. The first five beads lead from the crucifix to the centerpiece. The others are arranged in sets (“decades”) around a loop from the centerpiece.

To pray the Rosary, we begin in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with the crucifix in hand, making the Sign of the Cross. We then recite the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in God, the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Then, on the first bead, we recite the Lord’s Prayer (which Catholics usually call the Our Father prayer).

Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

As we grasp each of the next three beads on the way to the centerpiece, we recite the Angelic Greeting (Hail Mary prayer).

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Then the Doxology prayer (Glory Be).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

On the last bead before the centerpiece, we begin the first decade of the Rosary. We would proclaim the first mystery to be contemplated, and perhaps read a short reflection about the mystery, and then pray the Our Father. Then, on the next ten beads, we pray the Hail Mary as we continue to contemplate the mystery. We end each decade with the Glory Be and the Fátima Prayer.

O my Jesus, forgive us of our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls into heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen.

We continue on in this fashion through each set of one plus ten beads, until we have reached the centerpiece once again after the fifth decade of the prayers. We then pray the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen).

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our Life, our Sweetness, and our hope. To thee we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then most gracious advocate, Thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us, the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

We conclude with this final prayer.

Let us pray. O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

The Mysteries of the Rosary

The Mysteries of the Rosary call to mind the most significant events of the Gospel. The are grouped into sets of five.

Joyful Mysteries Luminous Mysteries
The Annunciation The Baptism of The Lord
The Visitation The Wedding at Cana
The Nativity Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
The Presentation The Transfiguration
The Finding in the Temple The Institution of the Lord’s Supper
Sorrowful Mysteries Glorious Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden The Resurrection
The Scourging at the Pillar The Ascension
The Crowning with Thorns The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
Carrying the Cross Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Crucifixion Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven

My Own Experience With The Rosary

I have found that Sr. Ancilla was right. The Rosary is, indeed, a “very powerful prayer.” For me, it is very much like devotional chanting, in that it seems to foster trust and surrender. It is when I let go of my need for control that I make way for marvelous things to happen in my life.

I have no data on this, but I also believe that the practice leads to a brainwave state which nurtures a sense of grounding and serenity. I can attest that I certainly feel more grounded and serene when I pray the Rosary daily.

Over many centuries, this practice has created something of an égrégore, to which our own intentions are joined when we pick up the beads. The Rosary connects me to generation after generation of others who have kept a devotion to the Holy Mother, and to her nurturing spirit of peace and compassion. There is power and beauty in that.

There is also power and beauty in creating a personal ritual or set of habits in relation to devotional practices such as this. I sometimes will light a cone or stick of rose incense and a Marian votive candle before beginning the prayers of the Rosary, and I still like to use the same Celtic Cross beads set that I first began praying with nearly thirty years ago. This helps to promote a sense of continuity with the grounding and serenity noted above.

Resources

Although the structure of the devotion described above may seem a little overwhelming at first, there are lots of resources available nowadays to make it simple to begin. There’s no need to memorize the prayers, or even to have a set of beads in your hands (although they are widely available and relatively inexpensive). Here are  some links that may be helpful if you have an interest.

Rosary Army – Dear friends Greg and Jennifer Willits began making and giving away all-twine knotted Rosaries two decades ago, and they are still doing it today. You can request yours, for free, on their website. They also have an app that will lead you through the prayers of the Rosary.

Rosary Center and Confraternity – This site offers instructions on how to pray the Rosary, along with articles, videos, an online store and more.

How to Pray the Rosary – From the USCCB.

The Mysteries of the Rosary – From the Vatican Website

 

The Hanuman Chalisa

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Prayer Book Hanuman Chalisa

“Having polished the mirror of my heart with the dust from my Guru’s lotus feet, I sing the pure fame of the best of the Raghus which bestows the four fruits of life.”

So begins the stunningly beautiful Hanuman Chalisa, a poem of devotion to Lord Hanuman composed by Tulsidas in the 16th Century.

Maharaj-ji said that every line of the Hanuman Chalisa is a Mahamantra. In my own experience, it does seem to be an extremely powerful prayer. It has certainly helped me trust and surrender to God more.

This is one of the chants that Devadas includes several days a week in his daily livestreamed sadhana. Also, Shyama Chapin has been livestreaming the Chalisa, along with other chants and readings from the Ramayana, each morning at 7 AM Eastern Time for nearly a year on her Facebook Page.

The photo above is a page from the Kainchi Temple prayer book available from the Taos Neem Karoli Baba Ashram’s online store.

Bhakti: Honoring the Names of God

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“Ram naam karne se sab pura hojata hai.”

“Repeat the Name of God, and everything else is accomplished.”

– Sri Neem Karoli Baba

Meerabai

What is Bhakti?

The simplest translation of the word “bhakti” is “devotion.” For most of us Westerners, if we know the word at all, we think of it as synonymous with the beautiful Hindu practice of devotional chanting. We also tend to think of bhakti as synonymous with “kirtan.”

Many of us get our first brush with this practice at a local yoga studio. One of my wife’s teachers used to bring a harmonium to class from time to time, and they would sing together after asana practice. I first experienced the practice myself in a Kundalini Yoga class that we attended together.

The Bhakti Movement came to the fore in Medieval India. The practice of personal devotion to Hindu deities is much older, dating back to the First Century BCE. By the 5th Century CE, notable bhakti poets emerged in Southern India, and the movement spread widely and rapidly throughout the Indian Subcontinent during the 12th to 18th Centuries. Some historians believe that its growth among Hindus was at least party in response to the arrival of Islam.

Bhakti as we know it today, at least in the West, tends to take the form of singing the names of Hindu deities (or sometimes other Hindu or Buddhist mantras), often accompanied by instruments such as harmonium, guitar, dotara, tablas, mridanga drums and kartals. It is quite often practiced in the call and response style from Indian folk music traditions known as Kirtan.

I have come to think of this practice as a way to honor the light and life within each of us, and to draw our lives closer to that light. One need not be Hindu, nor hold any religious beliefs or convictions at all to appreciate, to enjoy and to benefit from this practice.

Bhakti as a Meditation Practice

One can think of bhakti as being simply a mantra meditation practice, with a melody. Just as we do in any mantra meditation we repeat certain words, phrases or sounds, and when our mind wanders off, we gently draw it back to the mantra we are repeating. This practice helps to still the mind, and helps us learn to keep our attention in the present moment.

Krishna Das uses the analogy of “a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.” The medicine is in the mantra. The music is just there for the sweetening.

Singing to Evoke the Loving Presence Within Us

When we sing, and particularly when we sing together, we manage to get in touch with that part of ourselves which is most authentic.

Here is what the legendary American Folk Singer, Pete Seeger, wrote in his introduction to a songbook titled Rise Up Singing.

Once upon a time, wasn’t singing a part of everyday life as much as talking, physical exercise, and religion? Our distant ancestors, wherever they were in this world, sang while pounding grain, paddling canoes, or walking long journeys. Can we begin to make our lives once more all of a piece? Finding the right songs and singing them over and over is a way to start. And when one person taps out a beat, while another leads into the melody, or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know there is hope for the world.

I cannot explain this in a rational, analytical way, but there is something about these Indian devotional chants that stirs one’s heart. It is, perhaps, exceedingly odd to be a grey-headed white Christian American, singing in fumbling Sanskrit about an ancient monkey god. But when I do, I get the sense that it is one of “the right songs” that Seeger mentioned.

We sing bhakti to stir the loving presence deep within us, a presence which is secure, perfect and eternal. There are many names for it, but there is only the one presence – the one Source – that which is life and love.

Entering the Age of Truth

The Hindus have a name for the time in which we currently live (at least according to some authorities’ reckoning). It is called the Kali Yuga. One of the four great epochs of the world’s time cycle, the Kaliyug is the age of confusion, or downfall. It is a time of great darkness, materialism and conflict. Not fun to be living in such an era.

The good news is that the Hindus also believe that during the time that we engage in spiritual practice, particularly devotional chanting, and especially when we gather together with others for bhakti, we enter into the Satya Yuga – the age of truth, and light, and beauty, and kindness and justice. As we enter into the age of light, that light enters into us, and radiates out from us to everyone and everything around us. We bring light, life and happiness to our own hearts, to our community and to our world.

Of course, it is hard to find data on this. How does one measure the truth in a person’s heart? How does one verify a person’s location in one of these four ages described in ancient Indian lore? Do these ages even exist?

What we do know is that negative states of mind, things like tension and anger and fear and doubt and worry, all have a negative effect on human physiology, neurology, psychological health and societal health. And we also know from anecdotal accounts and bonafide studies that practices such as bhakti, over time, can help to promote positive states of mind (and improved physical well being, too – music is now used to help treat chronic pain, to help speed the recovery of stroke victims and more).

Since bhakti is also an immensely pleasurable activity, I’ll take the chance that it doesn’t transport me to the Satyug. But I prefer to think that it does. 🙂

But how can a Christian sing to a “foreign god?”

I won’t argue with someone who believes that God is the ogre of the universe, waiting to stomp on the first person who appears to be having fun. I also won’t go into any detail in this post about the historical context of the Ten Commandments, or Church teaching on this topic. I do have thoughts on these matters, and perhaps will write more on the subject later.

For now, I will simply say that I have come to believe that these distinctions we draw between the Catholic Jesus and the Baptist Jesus, and Allah, and Jehovah, and Shiva – we are thinking too small. These are not different gods, they are different ideas about the One God.

In any case, I am at peace with it.

As noted earlier, one need not buy into any specific ideas about God or religion (or any ideas at all) to enjoy kirtan and benefit from its practice. Here is how one of my favorite bhaktas, Devadas, puts it on his Brooklyn Mellows website.

While these mantras are associated with the sacred forms, names, mythologies and great teachers of traditional Hindu culture, it is not necessary to be religious or even spiritual to enjoy kirtan or for it to be a transformative practice. While the practice of kirtan may awaken a spiritual mood or feeling within us, we aren’t asked to believe in anything. We don’t need to convert to any particular religion or sect. There is no dogma to follow. We aren’t asked to be anything other than who and what we already are. We can try the practice and if we enjoy it, great. We can come back to it and even integrate it into our lives. And if we try it and we don’t enjoy it, that’s also great. We can move along to something else that might be better for us.

Want to get started?

If you’re interested in learning more about this sweet, sweet devotional practice, there are two incredible online video resources that I would suggest.

Every morning, at 9 AM Eastern, Devadas has been livestreaming kirtan from his apartment in Brooklyn. He began doing this during the early days of the pandemic quarantine, and at the time of this writing is approaching six months without having missed a day. Watching his streams, and chanting along, have become a fundamental part of my own daily spiritual routine, and I have learned so much from him about the chants and the practice. It’s a beautiful gift to the world.

Also, once a week, on Thursday Evenings at 7 PM Eastern, Krishna Das livestreams kirtan and Q&A on his YouTube Channel. These sessions, too, are a great gift. His stories about his guru and his time spent in India are fascinating, and his perspective and sense of humor add quite a lot of that “spoonful of sugar” mentioned above.

There is Bhakti, Right Here in Key City

With a capital B and that rhymes with Key. 🙂 Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

We also have an entire website devoted to our own local kirtan gatherings. There’s not a lot of content on the site yet, but you may find something of interest there, along with links to other sites, resources, and chant lyrics. Visit KeyCityKirtan.com if you’d like. And if you live near the great Chicago Southland, come join us some time.

Do you sing bhakti? Share your favorite stories, insights and resources. Have questions? Email or comment. I’d love to hear from you!

Praying the Divine Office

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Liturgy of the Hours BooksI was introduced to the Divine Office by a lifelong friend who is a Catholic Priest. From time to time he has come to visit our family for a few days, and he always brings several beautifully bound large volumes with him for his daily prayers. I was fascinated and intrigued by all of the ribbons and the elaborate process involved, but thought of this prayer as a somewhat arcane practice, reserved for the clergy.

At some point I considered praying the Office (also called the Liturgy of the Hours) as part of my Lenten practice one year, and did a little research. Unfortunately, a lot of the material online seemed more complicated and daunting than helpful.

I was eventually lucky enough to find a resource called Universalis. In addition to the website, there is also a smartphone app which makes it simple to add this ancient and beautiful prayer tradition to one’s day. My own practice is to pray the Office of Readings combined with Lauds (morning prayer) first thing in the morning, and then Vespers sometime during the evening.

Initially, I prayed the Hours only during Lent, and by the time Holy Week arrived, was satisfied with the prospects of putting the practice behind me until the next year. For some reason here in 2020 I continued the practice after Lent ended, and it has now become a habit that I intend to observe, if the Lord wills it, for the rest of my days. Beginning and ending each day with this deep dive into the Psalms helps to bring a longer-term perspective and a sense of centeredness to the flurry of life and its daily activities.

This practice has also given me a deeper understanding of the nature and context of Judeo-Christian scripture itself, and of the character of the God we Christians worship.

If you’re interested in praying the Office, I would highly recommend the Universalis website. There’s no cost for the web version, and both the desktop and smartphone apps are very reasonably priced. If you pray the Office of Readings with Lauds, you’ll want to set aside fifteen or twenty minutes for it, and Vespers is a bit shorter (maybe five or ten).

Do you have a formal daily prayer practice? I’d love to hear your experiences, resources, and questions.