NOTE: Not a huge fan of chanting but one of the great pleasures of attending Ramaswami's workshops, intensives or TT's is lying in savasana after a three hour practice (asana, pranayama, pratyahara, japa meditation) listening to him chant, either from memory of from the little chant book he seems to take with him everywhere. At LMU we practiced in a cavanous dance studio and Ramaswami's voice, so soft during his asana instruction, would resound around the space, it's something I'll never forget. I recorded a couple of these savasana chants and often play them still when 'taking rest' at home, I've even played them on a couple of the workshops I've had the opportunity to offer myself. Many of these chants are now available on youtube, Ramaswami lists a few of them in the second half of this newsletter.
See also this page of Ramaswami's for some excellent chant tutorials http://vinyasakrama.com/Chants
Also this earlier post with Ramaswami's Chanting the yoga sutras video
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2013/10/how-to-chant-yoga-sutras-ramaswamis.html
In October I completed teaching a 100 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga TT program in Madrid Spain. it was organized by Blanca San Roman of Dhara Yoga. There was good participation from very talented dedicated yogis from different parts of Europe including different cities of Spain, Germany Switzerland, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Italy, UK, and also from Japan in East, Chile in West and Russia in North.
For 2017 I have a few programs firmed up. Firstly in early January (from Jan 2 for 10 days) I will be teaching a 50 hour program "Bhagavatgita for Yoga Practitioners" at Yoga Vahini in Chennai. Then in January I will be teaching a 33 hour Core Vinyasakrama program with Pranayama and Dharana at Omyoga in Vasant Vihar in New Delhi.(Jan 25 to 30th). In Feb/March I will be teaching a 100 hr Vinyasakrama TT program at Yoga Vahini in Chennai . It starts on Feb 15th and runs for 15 days. Then in March/April I will be doing the 100 hr Vinyasakrama TT program at The Yoga Institute, Sydney, Australia. For more details and links please use the following link in my website
www.vinyasakrama.com/Events
I am also likely to teach a 3 day 15 hour program in Samkhya Karika between Sep 15 to 17 at Chicago Yoga center in Chicago. In July/August I may teach a 50 hr Bhagavatgita for Yoga Practitionersand a 20 hour Core Vinyasakrama Asana program at LMU, Los Angeles. Then I may teach a 100 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga program at OneYoga, Montreal in Canada. I will add the particulars in my website when these are finalized shortly
Advice
All through our lives we freely receive and give advice. As a child the concerned parents advise the youngster to avoid bad company, study well, take care of health eat properly etc, As a youth one would receive advice from parents and well wishers and teachers, not to smoke or drink or take prohibited drugs etc, As an adult the spouse becomes the advisor in chief. Then friends, supervisors advise us on many matters. In certain situations one may seek professional advice, expect good healthy advice from doctors and advice of expediency from lawyers. When one becomes old, one's own grown up children become advisors in chief. Scriptures or dharma shastras contain advice about how one should face different situations in life according to the rules of dharma. They even advise what one should do in case conflicting dharmas (dharma sankata) like what to say when what one says may violate either of the two dharmas like satya and ahimsa. There is a well known commencement address (anusasana) by the vedic rishi to his graduating students (antevasai). In it he advises his students to follow some principles (dharmas) all through their life. Speak the Truth, follow the dharma, svadharma (duties) Never stop studying the scriptures never deviate from the paths of Truth, one's own dharma, or from the duties to devas and pitrus. Your mother, father, preceptor and guests should be treated with highest respect should be worshipped. And a few more like what one should do when in a dilemma.
But then sometimes ordinary advice may not be sufficient especially when one is emotionally strained, like what happened to Arjuna in the famous epic Mahabharata. Lord Krishna's advice running to hundreds of slokas is touted as the greatest and most comprehensive and exhaustive advice. Arjuna had two problems. One that was emotional and other the inability to decide what is the right dharma. All of us have similar comparable situations in our lives albeit rarely. Sri Krishna's approach to make Arjuna do what was right or what was the right dharma or duty, has become a framework for one to deal with such a conflict in life.
Arjuna found it difficult to bring himself up to fighting and most likely killing his own grandfather and teacher--who were in the opposite camp-- whom he loved and respected most. Except for a few, most of us would avoid a conflict even if dharma is on our side. Secondly even though there is no love lost between his clan and the opposing Kauravas, they were still his cousins, kith and kin. And this could also disturb ordinary minds even if the opponents are crooks and adharmic but happen to be relatives relatives. Avoid conflicts at all costs is the advice one may usually get
What did Krishna do? What advice did he give Arjuna? He told Arjuna that he had no choice except to fight. What were the main reasons he gave him to pull himself up and fight the battle of Kurukshetra?
Here is a paerial list the main arguments put forward by Krishna. He said that for a warrior (Kshatriya) this unwanted situation created by the Kauravas is the best that can happen to Arjuna a kshatria belonging to the warrior community-- fighting a just war (dharma Yuddha). If he wins he will, with his brothers, and family rule a prosperous country. On the other hand if he loses and dies in the war he will reach the exalted heaven of warriors (Vira swarga). On the other hand if he would refuse to fight he would be a deserter and there is nothing more despicable than running away from the battlefield for a warrior and discharging one's duties (swadharma). Then if he runs away from the battlefield for whatever reason his reputation as a great warrior would nosedive and history will paint him as a coward. Since death is certain for anyone who is born, by avoiding the war he will not be making his teacher and grandfather live for ever. They will die in due course in spite of his sparing them. Further his bothers , their families. and a number of kings from other countries who have become his allies would be destroyed and he would be betraying all of them and they would be exposed to the fury of the Kauravas. And so on
But looking at these reasoned arguments one may say that it is a great advice but nothing extraordinary. Almost any wise person would give this kind of reasoned advice. A high school football coach may be able to motivate his wards on these lines. Then what is unique about Krishna's advice.
The Lord brings the spiritual aspect of his teaching right in the beginning. He makes it the central theme of his upadesa. The above mentioned motivational talks may work but Krishna starts by telling Arjuna about the nature of the real Self. Even before giving the above arguments he starts by saying that really the self which is pure unwavering consciousness is the one that should be called as "I" and is the one that experiences all that one experiences as a child, in youth, in old age and then the same atman or self takes a new birth. Thus when one is killed in a battle the atman of neither the killer nor the one that is slayed is affected at all. Krishna advises Arjuna to keep in mind this truth about oneself. He says "I, you, all these people in the battlefield have ever existed and will never cease to exist." Keeping this fact in mind that the real self is immortal do your duty "yogasta kuru karmani". Of course it takes lot more factors in his upadesa to Arjuna, but all of the advices will fall flat without legs to stand without this central theme of Krishna's advice.
This is the central theme of all upanishads-- that the true Self in all of us is immortal. it is the theme of Yoga Sutras and also Samkhya. Even though many know the upanishads and other subjects for most it is just an academic pursuit, and seldom one relates to the Atman as the real Self. Krishna has chosen to make this the central theme of his important advice to ordinary non scholarly lay person like Arjuna--like all of us. Can one imagine advising a person in distress or confusion how one should perform one's duties remembering all the time the true nature of oneself?
It requires the Lord to do that.
Sankara in his commentary writes at the commencement of the Lord's upadesa in II chapter
Sanskrit Chants
I have been writing about the recording pf my chants several times. Now I find that many of those chants are uploaded n Youtube by my producer through an agent, Aditya Musicals. Here are the details about some of them that I was able to locate. These, more than 20 titles were recorded during a 15 year period from 1980 to 1995. Hpe yu like some of them.
GANESA SAHASRANAMA
Some associate Mondays and Fridays with Ganesa Worship. Here is Ganesa Sahasranama stotra from I think Ganesa Purana. It contains 1000 names of Ganesa the beloved elephant faced deity worshiped all over India in the form of sthuti slokas (devotional verses). This was recorded more than 30 years back. Here is the link
MOOKAPANCHASATI
One of my favorite chants is Mookapanchasati. It consists of 500 slokas or verses in unusual Sanskrit meters. It is said to be the out pouring of devotion and high poetry from a dumb devotee who was able to speak due to the grace of Goddess Kamakshi whose beautiful temple is in the midst of the temple city Kancheepuram some 40 miles from Chennai, India. It consists of 500 verses divided into 5 chapters of 100 verses each. Mookapanchasati consisting of 500 mouthful verses takes about 3 hrs to chant. Here is my chanting of Mokapanchasati recorded some 30 years back by Sangeetha. Maybe you would like to listen to a few slokas
SUNDARA KANDA ALBUM
Sundara Kanda is an important section of the great epic Ramayana. It beautifully explains the story of Anjaneya/Hanuman's mission to discover Sri Sita in Lanka. Sundara means beauty, it also refers to Hanuman as fondly addressed by his mother. It is a story of hope from an utterly hopeless situation as Sri sita found herself. It is a little less than 3000 verses and is chanted at specific occasions either in one go or in spread over in about a week. More than 20 years ago I chanted the entire Sundarakanda which was recorded and marketed by Sangeetha. I find that the whole Sundarakana is now on Youtube. Maybe you would like to listen to it or a portion. It is in about 27 videos and runds for about 10 hrs total.
Here is the link to the playlist.
INDRAKSHI SIVA KAVACHAM
Here is a vedic chant I learnt from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Sri Krishnamacharya spent a lot of time teaching me vedic chants. This one is the third chapter in Yajur Veda (Krishna). The video also contains a Sakti and Siva chant called "Indrakshi Siva Kavacham" very popular in sme parts of India especially Kerala. Hope you like it
TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD
VISHNU SAHASRANAMA
Mahabharata is an epic like the Ramayana. Like the Ramayana which has given us Sundara Khanda that cntains the exploits of Anjaneya, the Mahabharata is the host for two outstanding works, the philosophical Bhagavat Gita and devotional Vishnu Sahasranama. Both these works from Mahabharata are very alive and studied and chanted by thousands of people in India every day. Sankara says that one may chant Vishnu Sahasranama daily and also study the Gita. Here is my chanting of Vishnu Sahasranama-- the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu. The video also contains purusha suktam and Narayana suktam, Sankara's famous Bhaja Govindam and a short sweet chant on Rama called Sri Ramajayam a 2 minute chant one says before going to sleep.
LALITHA SAHASRANAMA
There are several forms of worship of different deities. Adi Sankara organized them into six major groups. One is Ganapatya or worship of Ganesa. The second is called Kaumara or worship of Kumara also well kmnown as Muruga is South or Kartikeya and Subrahmanya. The third is Vaishnava or worship of Vishnu. Then we have Saiva or worship of Siva. Soura is worship of Surya or Sun and then we hav Saktha or worship of Mother Sakthi. Sankara came to be known as " षण्मत स्थापनाचार्य ṣaṇmata sthāpanācārya" or one who established the six mathas or sects of worship.
There are many devoted to the worship of divine Mother Sakthi. The prayer "Lalitha sahasranama" or 1000 names of Lalitha another name of Goddess Sakthi is perhaps the most chanted prayer of Sakti. When I was young my mother used to have our family priest visit us every Friday and perform the Puja of Sakti with 1000 offerings of flowers etc to the Goddess. I used to look forward to Fridays because of the delicious offerings to the goddess towards the end of the puja which we children eat. Here is the chanting of the Lalitasahasranama from Markandeya Purana.
ADITYA HRUDAYAM AND SVADHYAYA PRAKARANA
Today is Sunday, sun's day. I have been mentioning about Complete Suryanamaskara chant from Yajur veda on several Sundays. There is another well known sun chant called Aditya Hrudayam or Sun in the Heart. It is said to be taught to Sri Rama by sage Agastya and is a highlight of the Ramayana. It is a short sun prayer which is chanted by many in India in the morning before they go to work. This chant was recorded during the 1980s . This video also contains chanting of the second chapter of Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur veda. It is known as Kushmanda Homa and also as Svadhyaya prakarana. It extols the greatness of the famous Gayatri mantra ,a sun mantra.
RAMODANTAM (Bala Ramayanam)
About 60/ 65 years back when I was in middle school, we were required to study three languages, Tamil, my mother toungue a very rich Dravidian language then English (or Indglish ) and thirdly either Hindi the national language / the majority language or Sanskrit. I chose Sanskrit. At that time a text calld Ramodantam used to be prescribed as a text. It is complete Ramayana absolutely abridged so that children can study and improve their vocabulary of Sanskrit and also get to know the great epic Ramayana. While Valmiki Ramayana is a very lengthy beautiful Kavya of about 24000 verses, this cute little work is about 200 verses. I recorded this in the late eighties. I have it also as Bala Ramayana or Ramayana for children. Ramodanta would mean the life story of Rama. Rama+ut(d)+ anta Ut would refer to birth and anta the end
MAHANARAYANOPANISHAD
This is the last chapter of yajur Veda. It contains many mantras that are used on a daily basis like the pranyama mantra, Atmasuddhi mantra (Self Purificatin Mantras), pranahuti mantra (mantras used before taking food for the prper functining of the life forces r pranas) and others. This was recorded in early 1980s.
SANDHYAVANDANAM
Thousands of people initiated do sandhya daily three times a day, dawnm midday and dusk, This video cntains all the mantras. In addition it also contains a fire ritual called samidhadhana performed by bachelors twice a day morning and evening.
RAGHAVENDRA SAHASRANAMAVALI
Thosand names of the grest aint Swami Raghavendra
There are other videos floating around in the web
ASWAMEDHA (3 Hrs) from Yajurveda
DURGA SAHASRANAMAM
GAYATRI SAHASRANAMAM
SRI SUBRAHMANYA SAHASRANAMAVALI
DEVI MAHATMYA (3HRS)
SRI ANJANEYA SAHASRANAMAVALI
See also this page of Ramaswami's for some excellent chant tutorials http://vinyasakrama.com/Chants
Also this earlier post with Ramaswami's Chanting the yoga sutras video
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2013/10/how-to-chant-yoga-sutras-ramaswamis.html
 |
| Ramaswami chanting with his teacher Krishnamacharya. |
*
Advice - Sanskrit Chants - Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami November 2016In October I completed teaching a 100 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga TT program in Madrid Spain. it was organized by Blanca San Roman of Dhara Yoga. There was good participation from very talented dedicated yogis from different parts of Europe including different cities of Spain, Germany Switzerland, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Italy, UK, and also from Japan in East, Chile in West and Russia in North.
 |
| See this post for videos from the course http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2016/10/videos-krishnamacharyas-shoulderstand.html |
For 2017 I have a few programs firmed up. Firstly in early January (from Jan 2 for 10 days) I will be teaching a 50 hour program "Bhagavatgita for Yoga Practitioners" at Yoga Vahini in Chennai. Then in January I will be teaching a 33 hour Core Vinyasakrama program with Pranayama and Dharana at Omyoga in Vasant Vihar in New Delhi.(Jan 25 to 30th). In Feb/March I will be teaching a 100 hr Vinyasakrama TT program at Yoga Vahini in Chennai . It starts on Feb 15th and runs for 15 days. Then in March/April I will be doing the 100 hr Vinyasakrama TT program at The Yoga Institute, Sydney, Australia. For more details and links please use the following link in my website
www.vinyasakrama.com/Events
I am also likely to teach a 3 day 15 hour program in Samkhya Karika between Sep 15 to 17 at Chicago Yoga center in Chicago. In July/August I may teach a 50 hr Bhagavatgita for Yoga Practitionersand a 20 hour Core Vinyasakrama Asana program at LMU, Los Angeles. Then I may teach a 100 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga program at OneYoga, Montreal in Canada. I will add the particulars in my website when these are finalized shortly
Advice
All through our lives we freely receive and give advice. As a child the concerned parents advise the youngster to avoid bad company, study well, take care of health eat properly etc, As a youth one would receive advice from parents and well wishers and teachers, not to smoke or drink or take prohibited drugs etc, As an adult the spouse becomes the advisor in chief. Then friends, supervisors advise us on many matters. In certain situations one may seek professional advice, expect good healthy advice from doctors and advice of expediency from lawyers. When one becomes old, one's own grown up children become advisors in chief. Scriptures or dharma shastras contain advice about how one should face different situations in life according to the rules of dharma. They even advise what one should do in case conflicting dharmas (dharma sankata) like what to say when what one says may violate either of the two dharmas like satya and ahimsa. There is a well known commencement address (anusasana) by the vedic rishi to his graduating students (antevasai). In it he advises his students to follow some principles (dharmas) all through their life. Speak the Truth, follow the dharma, svadharma (duties) Never stop studying the scriptures never deviate from the paths of Truth, one's own dharma, or from the duties to devas and pitrus. Your mother, father, preceptor and guests should be treated with highest respect should be worshipped. And a few more like what one should do when in a dilemma.
But then sometimes ordinary advice may not be sufficient especially when one is emotionally strained, like what happened to Arjuna in the famous epic Mahabharata. Lord Krishna's advice running to hundreds of slokas is touted as the greatest and most comprehensive and exhaustive advice. Arjuna had two problems. One that was emotional and other the inability to decide what is the right dharma. All of us have similar comparable situations in our lives albeit rarely. Sri Krishna's approach to make Arjuna do what was right or what was the right dharma or duty, has become a framework for one to deal with such a conflict in life.
Arjuna found it difficult to bring himself up to fighting and most likely killing his own grandfather and teacher--who were in the opposite camp-- whom he loved and respected most. Except for a few, most of us would avoid a conflict even if dharma is on our side. Secondly even though there is no love lost between his clan and the opposing Kauravas, they were still his cousins, kith and kin. And this could also disturb ordinary minds even if the opponents are crooks and adharmic but happen to be relatives relatives. Avoid conflicts at all costs is the advice one may usually get
What did Krishna do? What advice did he give Arjuna? He told Arjuna that he had no choice except to fight. What were the main reasons he gave him to pull himself up and fight the battle of Kurukshetra?
Here is a paerial list the main arguments put forward by Krishna. He said that for a warrior (Kshatriya) this unwanted situation created by the Kauravas is the best that can happen to Arjuna a kshatria belonging to the warrior community-- fighting a just war (dharma Yuddha). If he wins he will, with his brothers, and family rule a prosperous country. On the other hand if he loses and dies in the war he will reach the exalted heaven of warriors (Vira swarga). On the other hand if he would refuse to fight he would be a deserter and there is nothing more despicable than running away from the battlefield for a warrior and discharging one's duties (swadharma). Then if he runs away from the battlefield for whatever reason his reputation as a great warrior would nosedive and history will paint him as a coward. Since death is certain for anyone who is born, by avoiding the war he will not be making his teacher and grandfather live for ever. They will die in due course in spite of his sparing them. Further his bothers , their families. and a number of kings from other countries who have become his allies would be destroyed and he would be betraying all of them and they would be exposed to the fury of the Kauravas. And so on
But looking at these reasoned arguments one may say that it is a great advice but nothing extraordinary. Almost any wise person would give this kind of reasoned advice. A high school football coach may be able to motivate his wards on these lines. Then what is unique about Krishna's advice.
The Lord brings the spiritual aspect of his teaching right in the beginning. He makes it the central theme of his upadesa. The above mentioned motivational talks may work but Krishna starts by telling Arjuna about the nature of the real Self. Even before giving the above arguments he starts by saying that really the self which is pure unwavering consciousness is the one that should be called as "I" and is the one that experiences all that one experiences as a child, in youth, in old age and then the same atman or self takes a new birth. Thus when one is killed in a battle the atman of neither the killer nor the one that is slayed is affected at all. Krishna advises Arjuna to keep in mind this truth about oneself. He says "I, you, all these people in the battlefield have ever existed and will never cease to exist." Keeping this fact in mind that the real self is immortal do your duty "yogasta kuru karmani". Of course it takes lot more factors in his upadesa to Arjuna, but all of the advices will fall flat without legs to stand without this central theme of Krishna's advice.
This is the central theme of all upanishads-- that the true Self in all of us is immortal. it is the theme of Yoga Sutras and also Samkhya. Even though many know the upanishads and other subjects for most it is just an academic pursuit, and seldom one relates to the Atman as the real Self. Krishna has chosen to make this the central theme of his important advice to ordinary non scholarly lay person like Arjuna--like all of us. Can one imagine advising a person in distress or confusion how one should perform one's duties remembering all the time the true nature of oneself?
It requires the Lord to do that.
Sankara in his commentary writes at the commencement of the Lord's upadesa in II chapter
"Now finding no means other than Self-knowledge for the
deliverance of Arjuna who was thus confounded as to his duty
and was deeply plunged in the mighty ocean of grief, Lord
Vasudeva who wished to help him out of it introduced him to
Self-knowledge in the following words"
*****************
Sanskrit Chants
I have been writing about the recording pf my chants several times. Now I find that many of those chants are uploaded n Youtube by my producer through an agent, Aditya Musicals. Here are the details about some of them that I was able to locate. These, more than 20 titles were recorded during a 15 year period from 1980 to 1995. Hpe yu like some of them.
GANESA SAHASRANAMA
Some associate Mondays and Fridays with Ganesa Worship. Here is Ganesa Sahasranama stotra from I think Ganesa Purana. It contains 1000 names of Ganesa the beloved elephant faced deity worshiped all over India in the form of sthuti slokas (devotional verses). This was recorded more than 30 years back. Here is the link
MOOKAPANCHASATI
One of my favorite chants is Mookapanchasati. It consists of 500 slokas or verses in unusual Sanskrit meters. It is said to be the out pouring of devotion and high poetry from a dumb devotee who was able to speak due to the grace of Goddess Kamakshi whose beautiful temple is in the midst of the temple city Kancheepuram some 40 miles from Chennai, India. It consists of 500 verses divided into 5 chapters of 100 verses each. Mookapanchasati consisting of 500 mouthful verses takes about 3 hrs to chant. Here is my chanting of Mokapanchasati recorded some 30 years back by Sangeetha. Maybe you would like to listen to a few slokas
SUNDARA KANDA ALBUM
Sundara Kanda is an important section of the great epic Ramayana. It beautifully explains the story of Anjaneya/Hanuman's mission to discover Sri Sita in Lanka. Sundara means beauty, it also refers to Hanuman as fondly addressed by his mother. It is a story of hope from an utterly hopeless situation as Sri sita found herself. It is a little less than 3000 verses and is chanted at specific occasions either in one go or in spread over in about a week. More than 20 years ago I chanted the entire Sundarakanda which was recorded and marketed by Sangeetha. I find that the whole Sundarakana is now on Youtube. Maybe you would like to listen to it or a portion. It is in about 27 videos and runds for about 10 hrs total.
Here is the link to the playlist.
Here is a vedic chant I learnt from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Sri Krishnamacharya spent a lot of time teaching me vedic chants. This one is the third chapter in Yajur Veda (Krishna). The video also contains a Sakti and Siva chant called "Indrakshi Siva Kavacham" very popular in sme parts of India especially Kerala. Hope you like it
TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD
Taittiriya upanishad is one of the 10 major upanishads. It is from Yajur Veda (Krishna). It is one of the most studied and also the most chanted upanishad. I learnt to chant this upanishad from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Here it is
VISHNU SAHASRANAMA
Mahabharata is an epic like the Ramayana. Like the Ramayana which has given us Sundara Khanda that cntains the exploits of Anjaneya, the Mahabharata is the host for two outstanding works, the philosophical Bhagavat Gita and devotional Vishnu Sahasranama. Both these works from Mahabharata are very alive and studied and chanted by thousands of people in India every day. Sankara says that one may chant Vishnu Sahasranama daily and also study the Gita. Here is my chanting of Vishnu Sahasranama-- the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu. The video also contains purusha suktam and Narayana suktam, Sankara's famous Bhaja Govindam and a short sweet chant on Rama called Sri Ramajayam a 2 minute chant one says before going to sleep.
LALITHA SAHASRANAMA
There are several forms of worship of different deities. Adi Sankara organized them into six major groups. One is Ganapatya or worship of Ganesa. The second is called Kaumara or worship of Kumara also well kmnown as Muruga is South or Kartikeya and Subrahmanya. The third is Vaishnava or worship of Vishnu. Then we have Saiva or worship of Siva. Soura is worship of Surya or Sun and then we hav Saktha or worship of Mother Sakthi. Sankara came to be known as " षण्मत स्थापनाचार्य ṣaṇmata sthāpanācārya" or one who established the six mathas or sects of worship.
There are many devoted to the worship of divine Mother Sakthi. The prayer "Lalitha sahasranama" or 1000 names of Lalitha another name of Goddess Sakthi is perhaps the most chanted prayer of Sakti. When I was young my mother used to have our family priest visit us every Friday and perform the Puja of Sakti with 1000 offerings of flowers etc to the Goddess. I used to look forward to Fridays because of the delicious offerings to the goddess towards the end of the puja which we children eat. Here is the chanting of the Lalitasahasranama from Markandeya Purana.
ADITYA HRUDAYAM AND SVADHYAYA PRAKARANA
Today is Sunday, sun's day. I have been mentioning about Complete Suryanamaskara chant from Yajur veda on several Sundays. There is another well known sun chant called Aditya Hrudayam or Sun in the Heart. It is said to be taught to Sri Rama by sage Agastya and is a highlight of the Ramayana. It is a short sun prayer which is chanted by many in India in the morning before they go to work. This chant was recorded during the 1980s . This video also contains chanting of the second chapter of Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajur veda. It is known as Kushmanda Homa and also as Svadhyaya prakarana. It extols the greatness of the famous Gayatri mantra ,a sun mantra.
RAMODANTAM (Bala Ramayanam)
About 60/ 65 years back when I was in middle school, we were required to study three languages, Tamil, my mother toungue a very rich Dravidian language then English (or Indglish ) and thirdly either Hindi the national language / the majority language or Sanskrit. I chose Sanskrit. At that time a text calld Ramodantam used to be prescribed as a text. It is complete Ramayana absolutely abridged so that children can study and improve their vocabulary of Sanskrit and also get to know the great epic Ramayana. While Valmiki Ramayana is a very lengthy beautiful Kavya of about 24000 verses, this cute little work is about 200 verses. I recorded this in the late eighties. I have it also as Bala Ramayana or Ramayana for children. Ramodanta would mean the life story of Rama. Rama+ut(d)+ anta Ut would refer to birth and anta the end
MAHANARAYANOPANISHAD
This is the last chapter of yajur Veda. It contains many mantras that are used on a daily basis like the pranyama mantra, Atmasuddhi mantra (Self Purificatin Mantras), pranahuti mantra (mantras used before taking food for the prper functining of the life forces r pranas) and others. This was recorded in early 1980s.
SANDHYAVANDANAM
Thousands of people initiated do sandhya daily three times a day, dawnm midday and dusk, This video cntains all the mantras. In addition it also contains a fire ritual called samidhadhana performed by bachelors twice a day morning and evening.
RAGHAVENDRA SAHASRANAMAVALI
Thosand names of the grest aint Swami Raghavendra
There are other videos floating around in the web
ASWAMEDHA (3 Hrs) from Yajurveda
DURGA SAHASRANAMAM
GAYATRI SAHASRANAMAM
SRI SUBRAHMANYA SAHASRANAMAVALI
DEVI MAHATMYA (3HRS)
SRI ANJANEYA SAHASRANAMAVALI
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