The Songs

Track 1 – Narasimha Vijaya – Invocation

The first song is an invocation to Narasimha, an avatar of Vishnu who gives protection to all those who ask for it. The first set of chanted verses, from the seventh canto of the epic Srimad Bhagavatam, are heard behind the music, and describe his fearsome form and power at the time of a great battle. The other verses are invocatory epithets of Narasimha, one of which describes that although he has fearsome features, still his eyes are like pink lotus petals and his soft hands take away all life’s problems.

Namaste Narasimhaya / Namaste Madhu Vairine/ Namaste Padma Netraya / Namaste Dukha Harine

Track 2 – Hymn to a Goddess

According to the ancient mystical writings, there are indeed angels. Unseen by the common eye, but beheld briefly during meditation, these graceful beings help us on our upward journey. Beyond them is the world of the gods and goddesses, celestials who are enjoying the results of lifetimes of good karma in the lower realms. Endowed with beauty, wisdom, power and an unimaginable duration of life they help to move the cosmic forces that serve to determine our fate. But even higher than them are the greatest yogis and sages who have attained nirvana, liberation, through the accumulated power of years of meditation. Highest of all are the eternally liberated beings in the supreme abode of Vaikuntha. For all eternity they live in the light of the absolute truth.

This song declares that one such eternally liberated being, Shri Rupa, has appeared on earth disguised as a humble saint, the mere feet of whom are the real treasure of life for the singer, Narottama Das

Track 3 – Dancing in the Streets

This is a folk song calling on people of the village to come out into the streets to sing and dance. Why? Because in this age, when it is difficult to walk the spiritual path, the singing of musical mantras is the recommended and easy path. And when the heart is uplifted the feet want to dance. So come out of your houses, sing the names of God with your friends, play musical instruments – and dance in the streets!

Track 4 – The Great Chariot Festival

Since time immemorial a popular festival has been taking place in India: the chariot festival. The sacred image of God in the temple is brought out and placed aboard a colourfully decorated chariot. Thousands of people sing, wave lamps, and make offerings of fruit and cloth as the chariot is pulled through the streets. In one such town, Krishna is known as Jagannatha – the ‘Lord of the Universe.’

In this song, the poet describes his amazement that the very same Krishna, who is none other than Rama, has now also come to Earth in a golden incarnation known as Mahaprabhu the ‘great master.’ Behaving as a Vaishnava, a devotee of Krishna who dances and sings before the chariot, his divine identity is nonetheless apparent. This fills the poet with wonder.

Track 5 – Sarvaswa Tomar

In this life everyone wants to enjoy themselves and to secure permanent happiness. They attempt to control their environment, firstly to collect the persons and ingredients necessary for enjoyment, and then to hold on to it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, time and tide wait for no-one;  treasures are lost and relationships are pulled apart like leaves on a river. The only happiness that cannot diminish is the soul’s natural love for God which, when developed, gives the greatest pleasure and will last forever. While everyone wishes to become a master, the poet expresses his greatest wish to become a humble servant, like the dog at the feet of his master

Track 6 – Sacred Landscapes of Vraja

When the infinite enters the relative plane in the form of an avatar, He or She makes the ordinary countryside into a divine realm. The soil, the streams, the hills and valleys, the trees – even the air itself – become vibrant with spiritual energy. Krishna and his beloved Radha came to this world thousands of years ago, and the place where they sported, the Land of Vraja, still exists to this day. Pilgrims come to walk barefoot for 128 miles to experience for themselves the uniquely sacred atmosphere. And as all pilgrims discover, their hearts become illuminated and they take Vraja home with them

Track 7 – Let the Bee of my Mind Fly to the Eternal Lotus

In this Sanskrit song the mind is conceived of as a bee, and the Paramatma, the Soul of the Universe, as a lotus that blooms for all eternity

Track 8 – Father, What is the Spirit?

This English reading is taken first from the Chandogya Upanishad, one of a series of Vedic philosophical texts which form a chain of meditative dissertations on the nature of being, the distinction of matter from spirit, and the ultimate aim of the soul. The second portion of the reading brings us into the Gitopanishad, otherwise known as the Bhagavad-gita, the upanishad spoken by Krishna, and the third portion into the Kalisantaran Upanishad. It concludes with a recommendation to chant the great mantra for deliverance, the Hare Krishna mantra:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama

Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Track 9 – Kevalastakam

The last song – an anonymous Sanskrit poem – continues the theme of Kalisantaran Upanishad: “The entire universe is a product of the illusory energy. The only thing that is reality, reality, again I say reality – the holy name of Hari (God). It is more sweet than all other sweet things, more auspicious than all other auspicious things; and the greatest purifier of all purifying things – the holy name of Hari is everything.”