Sacramental Expressions
In this section, I would like to share some sacred songs, music, and talks that I enjoy. They are generally spiritually inspired and contemplative in nature, conducive to mindfulness and heartfulness; silence and serenity; expansive and clear awareness; prayerfulness and loving devotion; deep and joyful worship; profound reflection and reflexivity; and rich interspiritual sensibility that celebrates diversity in unity. Songs, music, and teachings of the Spirit can awaken dormant spirits, move hearts, and empower deep healing and transformation, liberating us towards a culture of awakening and peace in eschatological anticipation of the new creation. Some drawn from Asian spiritual traditions, they can be seen as expressions of the sacramental dimension of God's sanctifying grace (cf. Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium).
In the same vein, it is instructive to listen to and reflect upon Pope Francis's words on the nature and function of these sacred expressions (Christian and non-Christian) in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) that was issued in 2013:
Non-Christians, by God's gracious initiative, when they are faithful to their own consciences, can live "justified^ by the grace of God,"[199] and thus be "associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ."[200] But due to the sacramental dimension of sanctifying grace, God’s working in them tends to produce signs and rites, sacred expressions which in turn bring others to a communitarian experience of journeying towards God.[201] While these lack the meaning and efficacy of the sacraments instituted by Christ, they can be channels which the Holy Spirit raises up in order to liberate non-Christians from atheistic immanentism or from purely individual religious experiences. The same Spirit everywhere brings forth various forms of practical wisdom which help people to bear suffering and to live in greater peace and harmony. As Christians, we can also benefit from these treasures built up over many centuries, which can help us better to live our own beliefs.
^ Editor's Note: Bear in mind that the term and concept "justified" is understood differently in Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. My own view is consonant with the Reformed Calvinist perspective but with some substantive and nuanced variance.
[199] International Theological Commission, Christianity and the World Religions (1996), 72: Enchiridion Vaticanum 15, No. 1061.
[200] Ibid.
[201] Cf. ibid., 81-87: Enchiridion Vaticanum 15, Nos. 1070-1076.
Sacramental Songs and Chants
Mantra is the essence of the enlightened speech of all Buddhas. This mantra sung beautifully by Ani Choying Drolma is that of Mother Green Tara, the embodiment of all the Buddhas' enlightened activity that dispels all obstacles to enlightenment — outer, inner, and secret. Unfavorable outer circumstances, afflictive and defiling inner mental states, and the innermost dualistic grasping are all obstacles to enlightenment. Meditating on the form of Green Tara in Tantric practice and reciting her mantra with attentive devotionality is a powerful process of obstacle elimination and infusion of potent wisdom energy.
This beloved prayer is called Calling the Guru from Afar: A Tormented Wail Quickly Drawing Forth the Blessing of the Lama, the Inseparable Three Kayas. It was composed by Zarongfu Sangyä Ngawang Tenzin Rinpoche. English translation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, 1985. Chanting based on Lama Zopa Rinpoche's melody as transmitted by Yangsi Rinpoche to the Tantric certificate students of Maitripa College, Portland, Oregon. Opening image of my lineage teachers Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche taken at Kopan Monastery, 1977 and featuring Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1969 at Lawudo, Thami and in the Khumbu area of Nepal.
The mantra in this video is "Baba Nam Kevalam." Baba means "my most beloved One," Nam means "name of" or "to identify with," and Kevalam means "only." So the meaning of the mantra is "My most Beloved is the only One." Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (1921-1990), a great pioneering Yogic and Tantric guru of North India deeply engaged in social reform, empowered and designed this mantra as an essential support for deep expansive meditation practice. Many practitioners have found this mantra tremendously healing, inspiring, deepening, and liberating for their spiritual growth. It is a beautiful aesthetic, musical, meditative, and spiritual expression of devotional nonduality in practice.
This is "a chant consecrated by Sadhguru, a well-known contemporary Yogic and Tantric guru of South India, to invoke stillness in all those who wish to make it a part of their lives." As a consecrated chant, it "becomes like a coating, like a shield around you. A cocoon of a certain energy. So Brahmananda Svarupa can be used as a raiment that you wear; it is a clothing that you wear all the time." As Sadhguru explains: "Brahman means boundless or ultimate reality. Ananda means the blissfulness or ecstasy of the Creator, and Svarupa is the form or image of the ecstasy of the Creator. Isha is that which rules and Jagadisha is the ruler of all existence. Akhila means everything, all inclusiveness is Akhila. And that which is everything, the image of that, is Mahesha. So the Creator is referred to in so many ways. When we chant Brahmananda Svarupa, we are saying that everything is an image of the ecstasy of the Creator."
Brahmananda Svarupa, Isha Jagadisha ब्रह्मानंद स्वरूपा, ईशा जगदीशा
Akhilananda Svarupa , Isha Mahesha अखिलानंद स्वरूपा, ईशा महेशा
This powerfully profound text was composed by the renowned master of nonduality Adi Shankara (C.E. 788-820) and embodies the inner essence of the spiritual process. It tersely speaks of the false identifications we get entangled in, resulting in bondage and suffering. Our erroneous identifications with the body, sensory organs and faculties, emotions and intellect, material elements and life energy, duty, wealth, possessions, virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, social roles and class, religious texts and rituals, death and liberation — even with the experiencer, the experiencing, and the object of experience — are progressively deconstructed and peeled away, revealing the essential nonduality of consciousness and bliss that is who we are in the very depths and at every surface expression of our being.
Traditional Buddhist discourses (sutta) and protective verses (paritta) beautifully chanted by the monastic Sangha of Buddha Bodhivana Monastery, near Melbourne, Australia. Luang Por Ajahn Kalyano, a senior disciple of the late Luang Por Ajahn Chah of the Thai Forest Theravada Buddhist Tradition, is abbot of the monastery. This profound yet grounded contemplative tradition is known for the purity and impeccability of their Dhamma practice and teaching.
The first discourse of Gotama Buddha is known as the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, or the Discourse on the Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma where, the Buddha enunciated what came to regarded as the heart essence of his entire teaching—the four noble truths. This sutta is a personal favourite and I fondly recall reciting it in sonorous Pali together with monks and lay Buddhists at the Mulagandhakuti-vihara Temple in Sarnath, India during my meditative pilgrimage to ancient Buddhist sites decades ago.
The Blessing, a song originally performed by Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes and Elevation Worship, features the Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6:22-26. In a time of escalating conflict and post-pandemic malaise, where uncertainty reigns and despair on multiple fronts set in, this song crystallizes humanity's longings and hopes for fraternity, peace, unity amidst diversity, and deep communion of spirit as part of our multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-lingual world family. Shalom. Salaam. Pace. 和平. Peace.
The Blessing in Hebrew, Arabic, and English
"On October 3, 2022, during [the] annual All Nations Convocation Jerusalem and Watchmen's Tour of Israel (ANCJ), 144 harpists from 35 different nations, including Israel, gathered together with worshippers from 140 nations in Jerusalem to minister to the King on the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount." The 144 heavenly harpists beautifully accompany the melodic and inspired Aaronic Blessing, most apt and timely for a world torn apart in tatters and our collective future hanging in a balance. Lord, have mercy!
This glorious and beloved passage of Scripture in John 3:16 is sung in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, English, Korean, and Persian by disciples of Jesus Christ who are united as brothers and sisters in Him. In these chaotic times of geopolitical tensions and conflicts, we look upwards, forwards, inwards, outwards, and towards the One who loves us and has sacrificed Himself for us by His self-emptying love in a singularly glorious grace. May the world find peace, be peace, and emanate peace in the Messiah who saves.
How Great Is Our God גדול אלוהי (Gadol Elohai) in Hebrew, Arabic, and English
This well-loved worship song written by Christ Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, and Ed Cash was sung in Hebrew, Arabic, and English at the Garden Tomb, Israel, expressing a heartfelt sense of unity and love in Yeshua our Risen Saviour and Messiah King who was, and is, and is to come. As we follow our Lord in our cross-shaped lives, we unlearn our pride and belligerence, relearn gentleness and kindness, and learn to bear our own crosses in Christ-like love that transcends constructed boundaries. May the Lord bless and keep us all.
This contemplative piece is from Harpa Dei, a choir of four siblings in blood and in spirit. It comprises the name of Jesus sung in its original Hebrew form "Yeshua," verbally derived from "to rescue" or "to deliver" and connotes our cry for help from God YHWH. The preamble to this song states: "Pope Benedict died on 31 December with these words: 'Jesus, I love you.' In the Catholic Church there is a tradition of reciting the Name of Jesus 1,000 times on May 3rd, the Feast of the [Finding] of the Cross. Today, when we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, we want to adopt this tradition by chanting 'Yeshua' (Jesus in Hebrew) 1,000 times." May you find deep stillness, peace, and assurance through this Name of Yeshua.
