Chanting Shree Guru Gita
Sequencing & Details
Shree Guru Gita is Gurudevi Nirmalananda's morning chant. Just as her Guru arranged it when she was a shisya (disciple), the text is framed (like a picture frame) by opening and closing chants that make it even more beautiful.
Gurudevi has set us up with this sequence of chants, which she has also recorded on her CD, "Honored Guru Gita":
1. OM svaroopa svasvabhavah namo namah: we begin and end with this Sanskrit invocation, which means, "I bow to your inherent divinity, that Beingness that is being you. Again and again, I bow."
2. Om Guru, Mere Guru, Jaya Guru Om: Gurudevi wrote this chant soon after taking sannyasa initiation. She published it on her latest CD, entitled "Namah." This is a call-and-response chant, with Gurudevi Nirmalananda singing out the call line so the yogis on the phone may respond. It is a call-and-response chant:
Om Guru, Om Guru
Om Guru, Mere Guru
Jaya Guru Om
Om Guru Om
The words mean: OM-primordial reality, Guru-spiritual teacher & source of grace; Mere-my own, Guru-teacher; Jaya-Joyful Salutations, Guru-teacher, Om-(teacher) of primordial reality / primordial reality (as the teacher).
It gives each person who joins the chant an opportunity to sing to their own Guru, whether that is Gurudevi Nirmalananda, or her Guru - Swami Muktananda, or another teacher who gives them the experience of their own Self.
NOW YOU NEED A CHANTING BOOK!
The next three chants are in SYDA Foundation's Nectar of Chanting, which is available at their online bookstore. They also have a pocket version of the Guru Gita, but it does not have the Universal Prayer in it (see below).
3. Guru Sandals: Baba Muktananda included this chant before the text of Shree Guru Gita, and Gurudevi continues the same tradition, using the traditional melody. This is sung in unison.
4. Shree Guru Gita: Gurudevi has adapted the traditional melody, used by Baba when he was alive, in order to lead chanters in finding the pronunciation of the words more easily. We chant the 182 verses that Muktananda selected in 1971, from the larger text in the Skanda Purana.
5. Universal Prayer: This chant shares the blessings accrued by the yogi with the rest of the world. This is sung in unison. You can find a recording of this on Gurudevi Nirmalananda's Beyond Blessings CD.
6. Jaya Jaya Arati Nityananda: This joyous chant is sung several times daily in Bhagavan Nityananda's temple in Ganeshpuri India . It is sung while a series of brass flame holders are waved in beautiful patterns in the air - all in front of Nityananda's murti (enlivened statue). Click here for the words and translation.
7. OM svaroopa svasvabhavah namo namah: Chanted three times at the end: the first is to honor the divine in the Guru; the second is to honor the divine within your own Self; the third time is to honor the divine in each other and in the whole world.
8. Silence: Sitting in a sweet and deep silence for a few minutes or for a sweet meditation.