Sanskrit chants from the Vedas, Upanishads, and other texts have been handed down through the centuries by Traditional Scholars in India. In these renditions, Ravi Shankar reconfigured existing forms and composed new numbers to convey the spiritual force of these Sanskrit mantras and chants.
Oftentimes, it's the repetitive use of mantras that calls upon the internal spiritual self. And, it's the primordial, and shortest, sacred sound Aum or Om that is used before or after each prayer.
These chants, Shankar notes, "were mainly prayers for the well being of the universe, physical, mental, and spiritual selves of everyone, without pollution, turmoil, illness, discomfort, and misery of any kind and for overall Shanti (peace)."
Listen to a sampling of these musical forms and read the English transliterations and translations of the Sanskrit.
Here's a beautiful one:
Asato Maa
Om Asato Maa Sadgamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrityor Maa Amrtam Gamaya.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih.
O, Lord please lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light (i.e. from ignorance to knowledge).
Lead me from death to immortality.
May there be peace, peace and perfect peace.
Here's another:
Sahanaa Vavatu
Om Saha Naavavatu Saha Nau Bhunaktu
Saha Veeryam Karavaavahai.
Tejasvi Naavadheetamastu
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih.
May the Lord protect us together.
May he nourish us together.
May we work together uniting our strength
for the good of humanity.
May our learning be luminous and
purposeful. May we never hate one another.
May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace.
1 comment:
Maestro Ravi Shankar should get the Nobel peace prize for spreading peace with his music for over 75years! He does this quitely without much ado
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