May 2022 Newsletter |
Dear Divine Atman, In
this month’s YSS Newsletter we share wisdom from Paramahansa Yogananda
on devotional chanting as a form of yoga, a divine art which can be done
individually or in a group (known for ages in India as kirtan).
Below you will find guidance from Paramahansaji on how the art of
chanting can be practised in a way that brings you into direct contact
and communion with the Divine. |
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From the talks and writings of Paramahansa Yogananda: |
Sound
or vibration is the most powerful force in the universe. Music is a
divine art, to be used not only for pleasure but as a path to
God-realization.
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The sankirtans
or musical gatherings are an effective form of yoga or spiritual
discipline, necessitating intense concentration, absorption in the seed
thought and sound.
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In
devotional singing, whether one is alone or in a group, one should not
mouth a song unfeelingly or unthinkingly. The words in a song to God
should never be sung without devotion. Rather, the devotional thought in
a song must be predominant in the singer’s consciousness while the
sounds of the words reverently, gently, softly follow the inner feeling
of increasingly warm offering of love for the Lord.
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A
phonograph cannot give devotion, but a soul can. While praying or
chanting, do not think of the words, but of their meaning, and intensely
mentally offer the thought behind them to God, and your prayer will
drop straight like a plummet into the depths of the sea of God’s
consciousness.
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Popular
songs are usually inspired through sentiment or passing interests. But a
song born out of the depths of true devotion to God and continuously
chanted, audibly or mentally, until response is consciously received
from Him in the form of boundless joy, is a spiritualized song. |
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To
put this wisdom into practice, enjoy “The Divine Art of Kirtan,” a
video and audio resource for devotional chanting on the Yogoda Satsanga
Society of India website. There you can participate in kirtans, led by
YSS/SRF monastics, from recent YSS/SRF events; as well as read
Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Prelude” to his book, Words of Cosmic Chants. |
You
will also find on The Divine Art of Kirtan webpage a short video of
Swami Chidananda Giri, president of YSS/SRF, leading a guided meditation
on the lyrics to one of Paramahansaji’s chants, “In the Temple of
Silence.” |
| Go to The Divine Art of Kirtan webpage |
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YSDM — Tirupati Sets up a PHDU at Punganur, Andhra Pradesh |
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On
April 28, 2022, a special 10-bed Paediatric High Dependency Unit
(PHDU), set up by Yogoda Satsanga Dhyana Mandali – Tirupati (YSDM —
Tirupati) at a Community Health Centre at Punganur, was inaugurated by
Sri Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Minister for Energy, Forests,
Environment, Science and Technology, Mines and Geology, Government of
Andhra Pradesh. |
| Read more |
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Thank
you for participating in our online offerings. May your heart and mind
be saturated with the true joy that comes from attuning your life with
the music of the soul.
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In divine friendship,
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
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