Bhajans-A Sadhana

By Staff

Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 16:56

The mind is the instrument through which we can make effort to gain the transcendental truth. At present the mind has a tendency to roam about in the outer world of objects and emotions.

It is with that mind we train to take off to the higher experience, the journey to attain the truth which is within us. At the moment the very vehicle for spiritual effort is not a available to us. It is wandering all over the world. So all the beautiful religious ceremonies, beautiful settings, mellifluous music, suggestive dancing, expressive painting, the beauty of nature, indeed all aestheticism, are all suggestions to take the mind away from the world outside and discover a peaceful serene composure in the mind.

Having folded the mind from the outer world the next stage is to give the mind ample work to do in the inner world. Mind is a dynamic factor. It has to act constantly and dynamically. Where the mind's activity is ended, there is no more mind. Hence the inward turned mind should be given ample work in our bosom and here it is that we start japa, meditation, kirtan, etc.

The Kirtanist, when he chants or leads the chanting of the Bhajan, we should all chant with him mentally with the mouth shut. Thereafter when the leading is over, when he finishes, we all should follow him and chant loudly. Whenever we chant kirtan, we must learn to chant with the whole mind. When each individual chants with the mouth alone, then all effect of kirtan is lot. This is why many people, who have gone against religion are those who have practiced it for long and then given it up because there is no effect.

Chanting the Kirtan is not an exercise for the throat. It is meant to discipline the mind. ''Yoga is incorporating the mind in your practice," when the mind is folded from outer wanderings and it is turned inwards i.e. the mind is turned within the body to the materialist whose mind is allover the world, but to a seeker it is allover the body. When the mind is folded away from the outer world and turned inwards, at that moment, the size of the mind is the size of the body. Such an inward-turned mind, even though not so conscious of the outer world, is conscious from the tip of the toe to the top of the crown. Every part of the body we are 'conscious of'. Therefore the mind is of the size of the body. It is on this basis that Jainsim says that the size of the 'soul' is the size of the body. It is not the 'soul' but only the mind.

Read on how to chant bhajans on the Next Page

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