CHANTING: DOES IT PRODUCE PARINAMA? BY LESLIE FREYBERG
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n her Friday evening classes in Boston, Patricia Walden begins by having everyone gather around and read a selection of sutras concerning a specific theme. On one particular evening, the subject of discussion was Isvara pranidhana . Aloud, we read the following sutras , first in Sanskrit, then the English translation provided by B.K.S. Iyengar:
I.23 Isvara-pranidhanad va The citta may be restrained by profound meditation upon God and total surrender to Him. II.1 tapas svadhyayesvara-pranidhanani kriya yogah Burning zeal in practice, self-study, and study of scriptures, and surrender to God are the acts of yoga. II.45 samadhi-siddhir Isvara pranidhanat Surrender to God brings perfection in Samadhi.
After a brief discussion of these sutras, Patricia encouraged the class to take on any sutras of our own choosing and to incorporate the study of them into our sadhana. To give more meaning (artha) to our asana practice, she suggested that we find a single sutra that resonates within us. She further suggested that if we repeat that sutra either out loud or silently, its meaning can become embedded in our hearts, giving us an understanding of its message that goes beyond what can be found from dictionaries and analytical understanding. Patricia’s words reminded me that there really is something to feeling the vibration of a meaningful and potent message and that the vibration itself can help us navigate difficult times or appreciate the joys and good fortunes that come our way. With these words, Patricia planted a seed of faith into our consciousness and left us to water that faith (sraddha) with practice. Many of us know the uplifting feeling we get when hearing great music, whether it be one of Beethoven’s glorious symphonies, the work of the latest popular music idol, or, perhaps for our community, attending a kirtan with Krishna Das. B.K.S. Iyengar refers to the chanting of Nataraj Shastrigal and his group of chanters as melodious and beautiful. Regardless of our cultural background and its dictates of what a beautiful sound should be, it would be difficult to imagine a life without music. Vibration! Glorious sound! We define Parinama as “transformation.” And don’t we all feel a little bit—or maybe a whole lot—transformed by being uplifted at a wonderful
Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2016
concert? All we have to do is sit and listen. Aahh! Sit still! Listen! I have found that when I truly listen to a concert of Beethoven, Brahms, or Mozart, if I am lucky, my concentration moves into uninterrupted attention, and then, if I am really lucky, I get absorbed completely in the music. For a brief period of time, there is nothing in my world except the music and me. And this, for me, is bliss. Much of the music in the Western world has been composed to express faith in God. Chanting, in the part of the world we have come to know as India, all came out of the desire to express one’s faith in, and adoration of, God. Certainly, if we want to witness “faith in action” today, all we have to do is attend one of Krishna Das’s concerts. No one questions that what he does comes from a deep devotion to his chosen deity (ishta devata) and to his guru, who was likely inspired by his own faith in God. We benefit from the devotion of Krishna Das by feeling and hearing the vibration of his sonorous voice, which is steeped in devotion. This experience often puts us in a state of inexplicable joy! Might this be parinama? And whose parinama is it? Krishna Das’s, or ours? Our study of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali reveals that the term “parinama” appears for the first time in the second chapter, in examining the nature of suffering. This word does not appear again until after the exposition and definition of the final three limbs of yoga, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi in the third chapter. Here, parinama is presented as a result of the
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