While visiting India a couple years ago, I stayed in Omkareshwar known as the 'Island of Lord Shiva' at the Ma Sharanam Ashram. This sweet little ashram situated on the banks of the sacred Narmada River alongside many other temples and ashrams, was also a school and home for orphaned young boys to study, eat and sleep in. Swami Gurusharananada is a beautiful being who runs the ashram embued with unity and the serenity that comes with service, chanting and prayer. Every sunrise we would go down to the water (which was about 100 steps down) to chant to the Mother through ritual and song. Every evening after dinner, we would Chant to the Mother via Bhakti, the celebration of the Divine through prayer and song. Swami Gurusharananada would often invite me to offer up a chant to the Divine Mother and this was a blessing for me. The young boys would sing with their hearts wide open, banging on drums or suddenly moved to get up center stage and dance in a way I can not describe. Faces beaming and joy filled, bodies glowing bright and extending out beyond their little rhythmic movement. Voices loud, almost screaming with heart. The Mother they chanted to was Kali, the Goddess of shadow, time and death. Her fierce, dark image with hanging tongue, dress of dead arms and bleeding skulls, standing on the body of Lord Shiva, this was their 'Mother'. In our country, we are used to praying to peaceful looking, beautiful images of Divinity, but here, it was no holds barred disarming. What I realized in chanting to Kali, was that these children were to grow up celebrating the dance of so called 'suffering' that they had and would continue to endure. In the very celebrating of shadow, the illusion of all the scary could be accepted and overcome with the understanding that 'beauty' exists in everything, and that our temporary time here is just a temporary dance of the eternal soul, every challenge a hidden boon, a gift to direct us to what really matters, to the Eternal, the Divine.
Goddess Kali is a form of the Goddess 'Durga' the protector of righteousness, battling negative forces for the higher good. Goddess 'Saraswati' is the goddess of the spoken word, speech and wisdom. "Om Ma" was what the boys would chant emphatically for hours. "Om" the universal sound and "Ma" meaning Mother.
I wrote this chant after returning from India. Moved by the boys and reflecting on my own longing and shadow.
lyrics
Kali Ma Durge Ma
Kali Ma Kali Ma Durge Ma, Om Kali Ma, Kali Ma
Saraswati Ma
Om Ma, Om Ma, Om Ma Ma Ma
credits
from Divine,
track released September 18, 2018
Yvette: Vocals
Ben Leinbach: Acoustic Guitar, Bass
Arranged, Mixed and Recorded by Ben Leinbach
Composition by Yvette
Produced by Ben Leinbach and Yvette
Mastered by TurtleTone Studio
Photography by Christopher Pecoraro
CD Packaging Design and Art Work by Matthew Canale
Yvette began her musical career in the theatre both as a performer and co-writer of musicals. After her yoga
certification, Yvette began to explore the healing and spiritual nature of sound especially in the form of chanting Sanskrit Mantra. Today her music is a mystical blend of traditional Eastern music with western popular melody, grass rooted in a wide range of folk, pop-english rock....more
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