LYRICS AND MEANINGS

1 -Shanti Mantra Listen!

Om saha naa vavatu, saha nau bhunaktu,
Saha veeryam karavaavahai,
Tejas vinaa vadheetamastu maa vidvishaa vahai,
Om shanti om, om shanti om

Om, let both of us protect each other together,
may both of us enjoy together, may both of us work together,
let our study become radiant, let there be no hatred between us,
OM Peace OM, Om Peace Om.

This chant is traditionally said to begin practice or study. A lot of yoga texts are pretty intellectually rambunctious. This chant is saying - let us know that even in disagreement our intentions are to come to a greater sense of knowledge. Knowledge can then bring about wisdom and in this way make the world a more peaceful place. Wouldn't this be a great intention for all arguments!

2 - Radhe Govinda

Radhe radhe govinda radhe radhe shyam
Radhe radhe govinda radhe radhe shyam
Govinda gopala govinda gopala

Radhe and Govinda are lovers. Govinda means cowherd, referring to Krishna's youthful occupation. Radhe is Radha, one of Krishna's consorts. Together they represent a love that is open and free like an open plane with room to roam. Shyam is one of the 108 names of Krishna.

This is a wonderful chant to sing when looking to live in the joy of love. It's a good reminder to not take relationships, or anything too seriously and to remember to smile even in difficult times. It reminds us all that we are all connected even when apart.

3 - Jaya Rama Listen!

Jaya rama jaya rama (X3)
Sita ram jaya sita ram

Jai jai hanuman jai jai hanuman
Hanuman bolo hanuman bolo

Jaya sita ram jai jaya sita ram

Rama and Sita's love is most famously told in the Ramayana, a fantastic story worth reading. In the story they both display what true deep devotion to family and to love can do in the face of obstacles. Hanuman is the spirited monkey-formed God. He was just a regular, tree-jumping monkey until he came up upon Ram and realized his own true nature as a divine being. After this realization he was able to - we don't mean to ruin the story but - save Sita from the dark lord Ravana by jumping over the sea to Lanka, lift an entire mountain and perform many other incredible feats of strength. Chanting Hanuman can often make you feel like anything is possible with a commitment to love. Jai means 'victory' and 'bolo' means 'sing.'

For us this often reminds us that deep realization of true nature can happen in the blink of an eye and sometimes when you least expect it!

4 - Om Namah Sivaya Guruve

Om namah sivaya guruve
Sat chit ananda murtaye
Nishprapanchaya shantaya
Niramlambaya tejase
Hare om (X4)

I offer myself to the inner light/teacher
The true inner Self, who assumes the form of Reality (sat),
Consciousness (chit), and Bliss (Ananda)
Who is never absent and is always full of peace
Independent of everytihing,
It is the underpinning and support of everything

This is another chant that is said at the beginning of study. It's a nice tradition to say thank you to something that you feel is bigger than yourself before you begin to learn. This allows for what the Buddha called 'don't know mind' a place where without knowing the answers there is more freedom and space to learn. This is a wonderful chant to sing when you want to feel something beyond yourself as Ananda/bliss-absolute is inside us all.

5 - Hare Ram Listen!

Hare ram (X2)
Rama rama sita

Hare ram
Sita ram jai sita ram (X2)
Jai jai sita jai jai rama hare ram

Sita and Ram hold their commitment to each other even through the darkest and hardest of struggles. Their love is the backburner, the scaffolding, it upholds a deeper knowledge and faith even when everything else seems to be falling. Jai - means victory. This devotion to love is cause for celebration!

We find this chant often brings an inner smile. Maybe that's because it evokes a visceral understanding of a love so great that it can withstand any storm, any obstacle and never will fade...

6- Shiva om

Shiva om
Om namah sivaya

In yoga literature there is a trinity of deities that represent creation (Brahma) sustainment (Vishnu) and destruction (Shiva). This trinity is unified. Namah (revered) shiva (lord of destruction) is chanted to acknowledge that death is always followed by new life. Shiva's mythology could explain that the richest soil is often that which is left after the devastation of a forest fire.

Repetition of this mantra is helpful when you you need a clearing in your life. Allow the freedom of destruction to invite the birth of something beautiful. Destruction is usually seen as a negative thing but Shiva shows the exact opposite to be true. Shiva's can allow for your true strength to sprout by destroying all that is holding you back.

7- Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuva Svaha
Tat savitur varanium
Bhargodevasya dimahi
Dyoyonah Prachodayat
Om Hare Om

The gayatri mantra is said to be the oldest of mantras. It has been chanted for not hundreds but thousands of years. And when it is chanted many times (or 108 times) one can actually feel this antiquity, and understand why these words have been passed down from teacher to teacher for so many centuries. There are many ways of translating the mantra from different traditions. Click here for an example.

Bhur Bhuva Svaha are bija (or seed) mantras to invoke every plane of existence (physical, mental and astral). Tat is divinity, savitur is divine sun or that light which communicates an all pervading wisdom within us all. Bhargo is radiance, the light that brings true understanding. Devasya is the divine. Dhimahi and dhiyo refer to the act of focusing on, meditating on or prayer we bring our focus and prachodayat - energize, direct, inspire - that focus to bring about a miraculous unfolding.seriously good stuff!! This is one you might not understand or pronounce all the words right, but undoubtebly you will feel this mantra.

8 - Uma Om

uma om parvati om
sita om shakti om
durga kali ma

This chant was composed right after Mother's Day in 2005. Jess was singing to her mom after a beautiful yoga class together. The chant lists female deities or goddesses all of whom, like most mothers, carry unique power. This track is perfect to sing when you want to feel the fullness of the feminine - strength, gentleness, devotion, passion, etc.

Uma is said to be an incarnation of Parvati - the mother of the Lord Ganesh, daughter of the Himalayas. Both are seen as a gentle forms of Shakti - the divine power of the feminine. Sita represents divine devotion, love, faith and strength. You may have seen Kali depicted - you'd remember! She's the one with a long tongue dropping from her mouth dripping with blood, standing on Shiva, with a mound of skulls in her hand. Kali is honoured and revered as the goddess of time and change. But we also sing to Kali as the protective mother - like a lioness protecting her cub. Durga has a similar fierce strength and is associated with the Earth.

9 - Isha Upanishad

Om poornamada poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate,
Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaa-vashishyate,
Om Shanti Om

That is perfect/whole, this is perfect/whole, perfection arises out of perfection, If perfection is taken away from perfection, perfection remains.

This is the song Krishna sang to Radha after a famous gathering called the Raas Lila. The Raas Lila was a gathering where all the milkmaids came to hear Krishna's flute and dance together. Radha was Krishna's main consort and with that they danced together in the middle surrounded my adoring devotee's. At one point Radha opens her eyes and noticed that Krishna is not just with her but every single person present. This deeply wounds Radha and she runs away in the forest. As an attempt to make her understand that his love never faltered he sings this song. Krishna explains with this poem that all love is one and indeed all beings are one.