In this recording from the 1970s, Sri Chinmoy recites and sings immortal Sanskrit mantras and passages from the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
Songs From The Upanishads – Part 2
Last modified April 28, 2014
The powerful and soulful singing of these ancient mantras can transport the listener into the ancient spiritual inspiration associated with these mantras – mantras which have been recited by Seers and Rishis throughout the ages. Sri Chinmoy accompanies himself on the harmonium. Some of the songs use traditional melodies. Some of the mantras have been set to music by Sri Chinmoy himself.
Excerpt from the book : The Upanishads
“In the silent recesses of the Upanishadic heart we see and feel a splendid combination of the soul’s spirituality and life’s practicality. In the world of imagination, in the world of aspiration, in the world of realisation, in the world of revelation, and in the world of manifestation, the soul of the Upanishads has the divine effrontery to assume the sovereign leadership, because that is its natural role. Its understanding embraces all the foibles of weak humanity. Its universal love is the song of self-offering.
The Upanishads are at once the heart’s aspiration-cry and the soul’s experience-smile. They have the vision of Unity in multiplicity. They are the manifestation of multiplicity in Unity.
The message of the Upanishads is the life divine, the life of transformed humanity, and the life of an illumined earth-consciousness.”
– Sri Chinmoy, The Upanishads: The Crown Of India’s Soul, Agni Press, 1974
From the lecture The Upanishads: The Crown Of India’s Soul
Each Upanishad is the unfoldment of the Supreme Knowledge which, once spiritually attained, is never lost. The entire universe of action, according to the Upanishads, with its ephemeral means and ends, lives in the meshes of ignorance. It is the knowledge of the supreme Self that can destroy the human ignorance of millennia and inundate the earth-consciousness with the Light and Delight of the ever-transcending and ever-manifesting Beyond.
As we have the heart, the mind, the vital, the body and the soul, so also the Upanishads have a heart, a mind, a vital, a body and a soul. The heart of the Upanishads is self-realisation, the mind of the Upanishads is self-revelation, the vital of the Upanishads is self-manifestation, the body of the Upanishads is self-transformation, and the soul of the Upanishads is self-perfection.
The Son of God declared, “I and my Father are one.” The Chandogya Upanishad makes a bold statement, to some extent more daring, and at the same time more convincing:
Tat twam asi.
That thou art.
What does it mean? It means that you are no other than God. Who else is God, if not you?
Princeton University, New Jersey
October 22, 1971
Sri Chinmoy, The Upanishads: The Crown Of India’s Soul, Agni Press, 1974
In fall of 1972, two articles from Sri Chinmoy’s lectures on the Upanishads were published including:
- Princeton Seminary Bulletin, one of the foremost theological journals in the world.
- The talk, “Is the West Unspiritual?” appeared in the monthly cultural magazine, Fine Arts, which deals with the arts, humanities and philosophy, and is published in Ohio.
Artist: Sri Chinmoy
Name: Songs From The Upanishads – Part 2
Recorded: 1971
Release year: 1971 (MC) 2008 (CD)
Duration: 0:47:30
Acknowledgements: Sri Chinmoy
Page Created: Ashish / Tejvan
Format: Advanced Audio Coding
Photos by: Sarama
Thank you cordially