Importance of religious chantings with Bhakthi and Sradha

Importance of religious chantings with Bhakthi and Sradha

Many people say that they are able to excel in the field due to Saraswathi's leelavilasangal. I am just modifying it and saying that it is all due to Sree Lalithambika's leelavilasam. Because, it is this Sree Lalithambika who is coming in front of us in various forms in Sree Lalitha Sahasra namamam as Devi, Sarawathi, Lakshmi, Durga etc etc. It's all different forms according to our own imagination and application of these imaginations at various times. From closely following Sree Lalitha Sahasranamam what we can understand is how we see the various forms of Devi according to our liking and circumstances. It is also the same as to how we create any concept and continue with it with our mind and focus fully involved in it.

Consider a simple example. Many of us like Sambhar. Many times we remember some particular occasion or place or even from our own mother or grandmothers cooking, a particular day’s taste and even after many years we cherish that taste. Same mother or grandmother may be cooking the same quantity of sambhar every day using the same quantity of toovar dal, pumpkin, tomato, onion, brinjals, drumstick, potato, etc. But we may not get the taste which we had on that particular day. It may be either due to the difference in quality of the vegetable we had today and that day or due to the difference in quantity of masala which she included today than that day or due to the difference in adding of the relevant quantity of ingredients like tamarind pulp or salt or may be due to the quantity difference in mustard seeds and curry leaves used in tempering or may be even due to the minute difference in asafoetida added today than that day. As you know and as many others know, making of a good sambhar with unforgettable taste is a systematic process with the right elements and content added at the right time. Even if do take the right elements and contents, may be we do not get it right according to that particular taste which we wanted to have it. Here comes the two most important factors, the first one is attentiveness (sradha) and the second one is devotion (bhakthi). These were the two important factors which our mother or grandmother filled with care on that particular day while preparing it. These are the two, if followed with the right principles, will never miss to take us from our objectives.

Coming to your question of Purusha sooktham chanting or rather, any other devotional chanting, it all depends on our mind set. According to me, there is no harm in chanting Purusha sooktham by looking at printed text and learning from a cassette. This again leads us to the question, which cassette, which style and version of rendering. For each of these there are many different versions available now. For example, I have at least more than 30 different versions of Lalitha Sahasranamam cassettes and CDs and about 100 or more different live chanting sessions from various bhajans. Each CD and cassette projects the vibration which existed on that day and also highlights to some extend the gathering present on that occasion. This leads us to one important factor before chanting these stothrams. This is none other than bringing our mindset to the frame of chanting these relatively long namavalis. This is the reason why before any satsang, they start slowly with repeated Om chanting, followed by other small stotras to invite our mind to the place we are, i.e. the sannidhi of our Devi or Devan. Slowly, we gain the momentum and along with that we would (or the group) would reach and would have started chanting the main namavali and continue to travel in the divine flow.

So, select a version which is convenient for you to play keeping in mind the tradition and sastras. For Purusha Sooktha series, I think, there is one particular series of cassettes and CDs released by Giri Trading (Giri Cassettes) Madras and they strictly follow traditional way of rendering by releasing good devotional CDs and cassettes. I think there is a cassette by Sri Hari Achuta Sastri (if I remember the name correctly) and it is relatively good style of chanting to follow. Here again, there is an element of core pronunciation and rendering style involved in these cassettes by these revered singers who follow mostly Tamil, Sanskrit or Telugu style. So, you may select your own convenient and simple style with comfortable pace, However, it is always good to keep in mind the earlier mentioned two important factors, Sradha and bhakthi. You will see the best way of rendering coming to you right in a gradual and automatic way.

To sum it, our mind is always like a playful little monkey. It is really difficult to focus it in one objectgive as it wander around with various thoughts, especially when one sits to chant a long namavalli like Lalithasahasranamam or Vishnu Sahasranamam or series of Sookthams. This is also the reason why one suggests devotees to attend satsangs and bhajan sessions in group as it prompts or tempts and take his mind to travel to that focal point, which is the divine sannidhi, along with everyone. It is therefore important for us to calm down this little monkey to sit idle for some time and focus on one particular thing, here in this case discussion with the supreme god during our prayer. If we achieve this, whatever format or form we use will have no significance.