Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

How to sing Bhajan correctly

Control is the foundation of spiritual practice.

Moment-to-moment control of the senses and mind is essential. In group singing, follow the lead singers precisely; do not sing out of turn. This discipline trains control. Lack of control disturbs the peace of satsaṅg and prevents others from enjoying it. The story of the camel and the fox illustrates this: the fox could not control its urge to scream, causing trouble for both. True friendship requires such control for the benefit of others. To develop this inner power, one must practice mantra sādhanā diligently. This involves five stages: writing the mantra, pronouncing it aloud, whispering it, mental repetition, and finally having it resonate in every cell of your being, as Hanuman carried Rāma's name within him. Without this disciplined practice, one becomes lost.

"First is the control, Anuśāsanam. Even if you are the best singer, you have to control yourself."

"In each and every cell of our body, there is that God’s name."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Rājādena gurusa. Moment, moment, moment. This is the problem with us. First, the singer sings. And then they will sing again, and we sing that. Then they will take a time, and then they will sing. And again they will sing, and you sing with them. So keep your power strong. It is very, very important. So, not only once and then running with them, no. The locomotive is going first, and then the baggage goes back. So we need a very, we need a time. There is one very nice story, a little story, a very little story. So after this, I will tell you the story, but you should remind me which story it is. Okay, so, first they will sing, and if you, between all, begin to sing, then I will say stop. Again, we begin. So, who is the first here, singer and instrument? Yes, so he is the... you are a singer. Okay, so only these two are singing, others should not sing. An instrument who is playing, only they will do it; others should not go like this, okay? That’s it. So this is a training today. Will you follow this? Only these two, our sisters, they will sing. When they finished, then they will give a little time, and again they will say, "They sing, and you sing with them." Something better like this? So this means that we need, we need the power. Power means, doesn’t matter, you are the best, but still you have to keep it. You can do good āsanas better than others, but now another one has to demonstrate, and after that you can do. Yes? So only these two are the singers. And then there are five or ten seconds. And then they will sing, and we sing with them. You can sing twice, and then again they keep a time. And then sing further. After that, Naima Maṅgalaṁ Bhoga Svarga Kā Naima, then we sing all. That’s like this, okay? Because everybody said your bhajana is very good singing, and many, many, many Indians are listening to our bhajans always. But now we have to come, we should not be classical. This is a claw, claw and see, and color. We don’t want this. But it comes from the heart, then automatically it’s classical, okay? So, let’s do something and remind me of the story, okay? Yeah, and what does that story mean? There, I cannot resist. I can’t control myself. Except, there are different things to control, but sometimes we cannot control. When we will be about eighty years, seventy-five, seventy-eight, ninety, ninety-five, then mostly the male, they cannot control. They must have the gentlemen’s room. Rozumiesz? That’s it. But you are all young, you can do it. Or there are some other times, when the husband comes into the home and is very angry. He was angry with the clients. But anger, he will put on his wife. Maybe she cannot control. She has to go to the women’s room. Control. Very good. Everything. Everything. We have to control all our five indriyas, ten indriyas. Yes, so that’s why Patañjali said, "Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam." First is the control, Anuśāsanam. Even if you are the best singer, you have to control yourself. Sometimes, some cannot control. It happens in Olympic games, competitions. And they choose some chapters. Others cannot run in the field. But sometimes, sometimes we see it happens. One runs quickly, very good running. Want to catch him, but they can’t catch him because he’s so quick, are you? Let it, let it. So you are the, you are controlling. Many things we have to control. There are two things to control, which are very difficult. And one is the tongue, with ice creams and sweets and this. It’s very difficult to control. So, okay, let’s go on. You sing, exactly, and then they will sing, and then again you will sing with them, alright? We have time. And always we say, "Jai Satguru, Gurudev kī Jai, Mahāprabhujī kī Jai," etc. She is singing, still then they will make a little time again. You sing, and then they will sing then with you. See that control is okay. Further again, yes. It was good, not? Yes, the balance. So there are two things now. This, what we had, we enjoyed. And we tried to understand what this bhajan means. But some were not enjoying. About, let’s say, 32 percent. They did not let others enjoy. And that is not to be offended, but it is like this. There is one girl sitting here in front of me, near the pillar, and beside her is sitting another girl. It’s okay. All are sitting like this, but it’s not only one. There are many. There is someone whom I can tell by the name that that one is never angry. So, like her, there are many. And what is happening? When we sing, then you are enjoying. But what is happening? When I am giving a lecture or singing, then you, this 32%, enjoy it very much. But others, let’s say 72, they cannot enjoy. Because one cannot control. And that I can tell you. As soon as the singer begins to sing, and the other one, she thinks that they should be like this, then she comes here, the other goes the other side, he goes like this. So this is a very Annapūrṇā. She so enjoys like this, another girl gave up, and she’s sitting like this. And the second is, of course, she was doing it, but she got such a place that people could look like that easily. And her name is called Ekta, Ekta... Ekta, Ekta,... Ekta. Many, many. Now we will sing bhajans, and please observe how we object one to head to this side and this side. Or, when we sing that, all go on this side and this side. There is one beautiful video, very beautiful. It was in the time of the holy Gurujī in Mahāprabhujī’s ashram, Śikha Nedargasi. And there is a beautiful video. And there you see, Ekta was so quickly like this. Yes, the whole video is beautiful, but... It means it is in the heart. Like Mīrābāī, what happened to her husband or his father? Give the poison, you know, and then she drank this, and then she danced. And how she got happy, and everybody, nobody has in their legs, but they all are singing like this. When the bhakti is dancing, then many are doing like this. So that means it is becoming oneness and you sing once more. But the singer is singing many times, repeating and then everybody is singing so wrong. So that’s called the dog, how to call it, parliament. So on one street there are ten dogs, and more in India, or maybe in other countries, because they are free. And it should be free, not in the house. So in Romania, Bulgaria, everywhere there are dogs, they are in the street, free. That is the freedom of a dog. But if you have your dogs, you have imprisoned them. You drive, walking, okay, coming up, that’s okay. But freedom is the difference. So there are three streets, community. So one is saying, "Wow, wow..." How many others also? Wow, wow, the third one. And when you see in the parliament, maybe I don’t see your parliament, but the Indian parliament is so beautiful that when one is talking, others are standing up and say, "No, and no, and so." It is a very nice dance. So we should not do like that. Peace and bliss result of satsaṅg. And in satsaṅg, there is very peaceful, there is very good. Ok, next bhajan, and we will see how it... If then, once you begin, you should go like this, and then you can go like... so then it’s okay. Okay, so who is sitting there behind? Anjab, Annapūrṇā, who is behind you? Māyā, Māyā, Mothāganī, Māmī, that’s very good, come on, please. Very good, was very, very good. But mostly they were, this time, they were moving like this. Relax in oneness. That’s very important. So, there is what we say, that control. Control ourselves for others to control. In a positive way or a negative way. So this is very, very important, that which we shall control. And we shall control for others. If there is something negative and people ask you something, you will control it. You will not tell something negative to someone. So there are many things to control, and with the friends, to befriend. The friend to friend is very important. So many, I think Gurujī was telling this story. So there was a very beautiful camel. You know the camel? It’s beautiful. And it is said that God has created all. But Śiva has created the camel. You should know, and he had five legs, so he had a problem, the camel. So it was Śiva who took and put his one leg again in the heart. Who did not? Who hasn’t seen the camel nearby? Who did not see? And so many, where have you seen the camel? Not on television. Yeah, did you see the camel nearby? Okay, doesn’t matter. So, the camel, how many meters in height is the camel? And the head of the camel, how high? It depends. Yeah, so is that. There are dogs that are so small, and there are dogs that are big ones. Well, and then, little fox, it is small. They are good friends. So whenever the camel goes into the forest to eat something, that fox is asking, talking with a friend. So he said, "Friend, you are eating there, and I’m down here, and I cannot talk to you properly." The fox is very, very clever. In the animals, it’s the fox. And in humans, you know, yes, this is that. Now, you know, again, he has all messages. He knows everyone, what is doing, yes. So if you have a good barber, just be, how to say, friendly, but be away. So it is like this: once, a long ago, it was that time, it was only, only the white, black, white televisions. And so I was only listening to German through this. I didn’t go to this school in Vienna; I didn’t go to learn. So there was a private school for German language. So, three times I went, and they said something to me: this one, this and this. And I said, "I know more than this. Are you?" It’s my weakness. Okay, I want to see the learned German. And of course, I could talk only how, then there was Mātājī, the mother, in Vienna, and she was an English professor, and she is, of course, Austrian. And when I said, "You are also Austrian?" she said, "I am not Austrian." Then, who are you? These beautiful mountains, what are called the Tirol. She said, "I am from Tirol." Well, everyone loves their birthplace. But now we don’t know where our birthplace is. Now, our birthplace is in the hospital. You are born in the hospital? Yes. So she said, "You should learn Jāma." I said, you are teaching me enough. So there are mothers, like mothers, they are clever. Yesterday evening, late evening, this little Paris, this girl, three and a half years old, and she liked to see my telephone, always sitting and looking at all these little animals and things like this. Then, Umāpurī brought a little toy in the form of a little bird. And when you touch it like this, it makes a sound like this. So, she gave up the telephone here, and she was playing with that. So, how can we play with the children? Well, Matajī said, "Don’t you want to learn driving?" She said, "Yeah, I will." Very good. But, of course, you have to go to the riding school. No, you have to go to the driving school. Okay, and they said, "Which language will you teach?" I said, "English," so they gave me some British driving master, and he spoke such a language, I don’t know anything. I said, "No, I want a German language." So then Matajī said, "Then you have to learn." So I said, "How to learn? I will teach you." So she’s teaching me three minutes maximum, then I do my mala. But then there was, she said, "Look, that television." So, afternoon there is for children. And so, through that, I learned a little bit of German. So, Mataji and I were sitting after dinner. And there was one film, and that’s called, "What’s it called? This Cowboys?" I said, "Okay." And so we were looking, so there were many, many stories, so I learned through that. Well, this is how many things are coming. So, they were very, cowboys, they were very tricky. Anyhow. And the camel, the camel is very humble, but he is very big. And he eats a lot, and the fox eats little. But they were friends. So the fox said one day to the camel, "About five, ten, twelve kilometers." Fox said, "And there’s one river." So we have to cross the river. It’s a dry river. And a very big farm with corn. And there are many farmers. Only we can eat at midnight. So, the camel said, "Yes, let’s go," but very silently. So, the camel had long legs, so he crossed over the, what we call the, not river, the field. Fence, the fence. Now, the fox said, "My dear brother, when I eat full of my stomach, then I have one weakness. And the weakness is this, that I have screaming, and then the farmer will come and they will beat us." So the camel said, "Please wait till I also eat, because my stomach is bigger." Okay, let’s go. And he’s sitting on the back of the camel. Camel legs are very big, and the fence is little. And the camel began to eat, and the fox ate only three or four guguruts. And then he said, "My friend, I can’t wait, I must scream." Kami said, "Wait, my dear, I’m eating, still eating." He said, "No, no, I must, I must eat." And he was screaming, and five farmers came with the bamboo lathi and began to beat the camel. The fox went under the fence and ran away. The camel tried to go over the fence, but his buttocks were so big, they were beating him. After two kilometers, the monk said, "My friend, I’m so sorry." I will never do it, please. And so the monk said, okay. So few times, again he comes and he eats first, and then he is screaming. I can’t control. He says, "Please, then don’t eat. First, let me eat." But I am hungry, I can’t stop, I control. Well, it is a very tricky view, one. One day, when they went to eat in the farm, strong rain came and there was water in the river, two meters of water. And now they have to cross. So Phuc said, "Please, can I sit on your back to cross the river?" He said, "Of course you are my friend. Sit on my back." And then the camel came in the middle of the river, and the camel said, "Fuxi." The camel has some kind of very peculiar feelings. We can’t control. And what is this? That we have to sit in the water and roll in the water, two meters deep? Yes, no problem. You just sit on my back. Then, please, just sit. Don’t roll. I will do my best. But now I have to sit. And the folks said, "He cannot swim." And the camel sits deep, and only this much mouth is out from the camel. And the folk said, "Please, please, please be my good best friend. I am more than you, your friend." But the fox fell down in the water, but somewhere... He came to the bank of the river. The camel got up slowly and went away. So the fox comes, "My friend, stop, stop, stop! I’m cold, I’m cold! Oh, my friend, I’m so sorry." You know how many times I got a bamboo beating on my buttocks? And many times I said, "OK, OK," but how many times have you said, "Oh, I cannot control"? So I also can’t control. Fuchs was standing in front of the camel. Please, this time I will not scream. I will sit on your back. I will look to see if there are no farmers coming. When you are finished eating, then you eat and we will go together. He said, "Yes, friend." So when there is a friend, you must control. And how to teach? How to control? I gave you the lesson of my dear folks who said, "The camel." So, control means many, many things. Many things, alcohol, people all the thousand times they said, "I will never drink anymore, I will never," but in the evening they have to drink. Or some drugs, so many different things. Or, "Today I will not meditate because I’m tired." So there are many excuses we have. But excuse, there are two kinds of excuse. If we did something, we tell the friend, "I’m sorry, excuse me." But in another way, we also have to give the lesson. So we shall do on our own control. And for control, we have to have mantra. And mantra, which has how many? Five mantras. And how, which are the five mantra trainings? Which ones are these? First is licking, writing the mantra. So, did you write your mantra many times? At least, at least eight thousand pages. It’s because it’s eight mālā. Then, after we come to the pronunciation, So then we can say, "Rāma, Rāma," but before we write, what is Rāma? Write, write, write. So first writing, then pronouncing, then pronouncing only with the lips, no sound. But we are singing, yes. That is Hanumānjī, Bhagavān Hanumān and God Rāma. So Hanumanjī is a very great devotee of Rāma. And day and night he is chanting Rāma, Rāma,... Rāma. So, Rāma, he was so much—you know the story of the Rāmāyaṇa. So God Rāma, Rāma,... Rāma. And when he was yawning, oh, so then you cannot say Rām, Rām, Rām. So you say, "Oh, you lost." There’s a difference now between singing. So when he, Hanumanjī, was doing like this, so with like this, "Rām, Rām,... Rām." This was a Rāma, but still Rāma was there. So this is called Lāgila Gana, this bhajana. Which bhajana is this? This is a German language. So, what is that? Very good. So there we are singing there, through man, buddhi, citta, in this all we shall pronounce our mantras, then you will see how much power, energy is in you. That was Hanumanjī doing mantra, so in each and every cell of God Rāma, Hanuman’s voice was vibrating, "Rām, Rām,... Rām." So one day they were sitting in satsaṅg like this. So Sītā was sitting there, God Rāma is sitting there, we say. Backside is Hanuman or Lakṣmaṇa, and near the holy feet of God Rāma is sitting Hanuman. And they are all sitting before God Rāma. But always, he said, do it like this. And Hanuman is looking like this, "Rām, Rām, Rām." And God Rāma is half, all the time he is looking to Hanumān. After half an hour, 40 minutes, Sītā was a little bit offended. She said, "Why, my God Rama, at all he doesn’t look to me?" And he’s all the time looking to this monkey. He loves the monkey, not me. So, but she’s thinking, "Why, my Lord Rāma?" That he doesn’t, once he can look to me. Bhagavān Rāma also, he understood what Sītā is thinking. So God Rāma, he bent forward and he takes one hair from behind the hair of Hanumān, one hair, one hair, only this little. And she’s looking there, and then Hanumānjī’s hair he takes, God Rāma, in left hand, and he brings his hair. Near Sītā’s ear, near his ear, and what happens with Sītā? She is hearing the resonance in that little hair. Ram, Ram,... Ram. Bhagavān Rām said, "Sītā, you are my whole being." But Hanuman’s devotion is so much, each and every cell and the hair of Hanuman is my voice in him. And that’s why I am completely in him too. So, like this, when we will make perfection our mantra, write, write, write your mantra. Write your mantra, write, write. And therefore, God has only two letters, Rām, Rām,... and we have very big Om, So’ham, Śrīgu, Brahmā, Śrī, Harī, Purā, Nārāyaṇa, Namaḥ. No, it doesn’t matter; we have completed it. So, Likhita Mantra, then Prāṇava Mantra, then Inner Vocal Mantra, then Mental, only Mental, no movement, no tongue. And then comes the fifth one. And that means that now you don’t need to chant. You should chant, you should worship. But in each and every cell of our body, there is that God’s name. You can chant Jesus, Jesus,... everything, yes? Your Guru, your God, whatever you choose. But not only one day this, and then the second day that, and two months something else, this is not the way. It means that we lost our life once, and then. You are born once. Your mother will not give you to the stomach again and then give you back again. You are born only once from your mother. And now, the mother gave you birth. And she said, "Now grow and go, continue." Similarly, only the Guru, only the Master, that mantra, then the siddhi is there. Yes, there’s not only that one’s this and one’s this, and one’s this woman and one’s that man and that man and this woman. There’s nothing; it is lost. Then you lost your nest, nowhere. Then we come there, God will say, "Where are you?" What have you done? That cannot be. Go back. It is a reality, and therefore Likita Mantra, then the Singing Mantra, then Silent Mantra, Upāṁśu Mantra, Mental Mantra, and the Fifth Mantra. So these are five mantras, with writing, what we call likhit, bekārī, upāṁśu, mānasik, and then you will be good, yes, my dear, but between, what happens with us? We are the pups. We are jumping there, and we are waiting there. Nothing? Therefore, there was something always to me. So that is when we want to do it. It’s okay. I don’t tell that only me or you or that. Any god, Hanumānjī, even we are worshipping the dog. Yes, that dog is very, very, very important. Sorry. So there is a guard that’s called Anumā Berujī. And Beru, he had with him a dog. It is a big story, many, many big stories. Yes. So, that we have to learn. Do you practice your mantra? Do you recite your mantra? How many malas you made? And many people say, "No, no, we don’t need mala. Only I want to sit and meditate." Gurujī said, "Yes, you are lost in nothing. You are doing mantra? Mala is gone. Mantra is also not." Only somewhere the lost, lost, and there is one song, no? Yeah, and I lost something dear. Yes, something, yes. So sing the mantra again, again come what I am telling you many times. So, did you write your mantras? Every day, five times means write down mantra. Eleven times. Yes, twenty-one, twenty-five, thirty-one, thirty-five, elevens, etc. Proper number. That’s it.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel