How can music be healing? We asked this question to musical artists in the genre of mantra music and heart songs, Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda. They offer a unique mix of kirtan, healing mantra music, singer/songwriter devotional English songs and Kirtronica (Mantra/Kirtan based electronic dance music).
Lakshmi: Music connects with human emotion. It can make us cry with joy or bring out that bittersweet sadness which can also open and heal the heart. We are such emotional beings! Emotions are a huge part of our life-force energy. Part of yoga practice is to channel our emotions towards the divine, rather than letting them be projected on the mundane level. This is where mantra practice can really become a powerful tool. So, when we chant mantra, whether it’s japa style (monotonous repetition) or if it’s singing a mantra to melody, emotions are often evoked and poured into the mantra. We infuse the mantra with our energy, our love, our passion, whatever it is. This practice transforms negative emotions (anger, fear, sadness, envy, etc.) to positive. So, through mantra chanting, we can kind of ‘send’ our troubles on this lifeline to the Divine and let ‘God’ transform them. Let the Divine alchemy take place.
This is why mantra chanting is so powerful and
so uplifting for all people. Fear turns to love, anger to divine passion,
insecurity and doubt to full faith.
Now miracles can occur! The ‘quantum field’ opens up and in this realm of love
and truth, anything becomes possible.
Ananda: When the music resonates, it has a way of vibrating the fabric of
your being and, in particular, opening up the heart. Mantras are
specifically designed vibrational formulas to vibrate, unlock, unleash, and
expand your mind and prana to unlimited potentials. Because of this,
mantras will never get “old” and are designed to be repetitive. As
one chants more and more, the potentiality of infinity continues to
unfold.
The root of all healing lies with journey from ignorance to awareness. All
suffering is from incorrect comprehension of the nature of
reality. Mantras are one incredible tool to help break free of ignorance and
move to a place of connection, expansion, and infinity, which is our True Self. So,
in the ancient sciences of the Vedas, mantras are used to heal people at the
core of their being rather than for specific ailments or emotional disturbances.
When music is infused with mantras, melody, and rhythm, then this moves it into
the realms of bhakti or devotion. This is particularly beneficial for the
emotional body and opening the heart. Because love is the ultimate healer of
all, bhakti yoga, or the path of devotion and the heart, cannot be recommended
enough. So please, find the music and mantras that resonate and sing and chant
your heart open and to your healing. This will inevitably anchor the
awareness that each person is love and that love is the fabric of the perceived
universe. The more one can maintain that state of consciousness, the more
one will be healed.
Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda
