Lesson 6

Harnessing emotions
to energize your meditation

We human beings are very emotional and sentimental. Emotions are a powerful motivating force, both in positive and negative directions. We need to be in the right mood for any kind of activity. This is especially true for meditation. Rather than battling to overcome our emotions, we can learn to harness and direct our emotional nature to energize our meditation so that it becomes inspirational and not just a dry, mechanical routine.


Music is one of the most direct and powerful ways to access and transform our emotional states. It bypasses the normal intellectual and analytical level of the "left-brain" mind and brings us into the more intuitive state of creative expression of the "right-brain". Integrating the rhythms and melodies of music into mantra meditation adds a new, dynamic dimension into meditation practice.


When the repetition of mantra is set to music that can be sung aloud, either alone or together with others, it is known as "kiirtan".

This dynamic form of meditation, mantra-meditation, sets up the mood, opens up the flow of emotions, purifies and cleanses both inner world and the outer space. This practice prepares you to dive much more deeply into your meditation


How to practice dynamic meditation?

  • Combine the Universal mantra "Baba Nam Kevalam" with music and sing it out loud. When mantra is set to music it is known as "kiirtan". There are many beautiful kiirtans that you can sing along to, or you can also improvise your own melody if you are musically inclined.

  • After singing mantra, sit down and follow the instructions for basic meditation. You will find that singing has created a momentum in your mind, allowing the mantra to flow more easily. Instead of simply repeating the mantra, it is even more effective to continue singing it with a melody internally.

  • If you discover that the mantra music spontaneously arises in your mind, the way that a catchy tune gets "stuck" in your head, this is wonderful. It means the effect of mantra is penetrating into your subconsciousness and that the meditative flow and its benefits can enter into your daily rhythms, not just when sitting to meditate with eyes closed.

  • Listen to kiirtan melodies during the day, while working, in order to help the mind flow in a spiritual direction. This will make sitting practice easier.

What is happening to your mind, body and spirit
during dynamic meditation?

As you sing, the physical vibration of the mantra is resonating in your chest, throat, head, and whole body. This is why singing is so much more powerful than passively listening. This allows the vibration of the mantra to harmonize the physical energy of your body much more quickly.

While singing, the throat center "vishuddha chakra" is being used, which contributes to the development of intelligence, rationality, intuition, selflessness, voice and charisma.


Music can express an endless variety of subtle emotional states. We are attracted to certain kinds of music according to our moods and the feeling we want to express. There are kiirtan melodies that express joy and others that express longing or melancholy. By choosing a melody that fits your mood and taste, your mind will more easily enter into the flow of mantra, also when you continue the meditation in silence.

As you listen to the music and your own singing, your mind is more easily absorbed in taking the form of the mantra vibration. This means, that in accordance with the "you are what you are thinking about" principle, during the process of singing, the mind is taking the form of the mantra's purifying vibration both when it forms and expresses the idea through singing, and when it receives the idea by listening, effectively doubling the mantra's impact.

How to increase the meaningfulness
of mantra repetition?
At first, you attempt to understand the idea of Consciousness with your intellect, however, it is a paradox. That infinite, higher Consciousness is too subtle to be perceived with intellect. That is why we must transcend intellect and open the gates to intuition, where we can access the awareness of a miraculous, mystical presence of Oneness.

Using music helps to bypass the overactive yet limited intellect. It shifts our mood and channelizes our emotions constructively. This can awaken the subtler expression of mystical emotions that in time can lead us towards higher states of ecstasy and a deeper flow in the meditation.

You sing and meditate about the divinity that is inside of you – internally and externally.

Practice 5-15 minutes of dynamic, singing meditation and then sit to continue meditating in silence. Once the flow has been established through singing and music, it is much easier to keep it flowing in silence as well.



  1. In the "MeditationSteps" app there is a player with different audio recordings of mantras and you can set the length of time that they will play. Use these kiirtans for your practice. Close your eyes, adopt the idea that inside of you and outside of you is the Higher Consciousness, and then sing the mantra. This is dynamic meditation practice. At first, you may sing with the recordings. Later you may do it without recordings, improvising or remembering a melody. You can even accompany the kiirtan with a musical instrument such as a guitar, drum, piano or harmonium.
  2. Sing mantra at least for 5 minutes before every meditation. Observe your sensations and the effect on your silent meditation practice. Just sing in the beginning and then start putting your feelings into the singing, which will increase its effect.
  3. Observe the effect. I am sure you will soon see a significant change in the quality and depth of your meditation, but the best is to experience that yourself.
HOMEWORK
IN THE NEXT VIDEO:

  • Full form of the dynamic meditation "Lalita Marmika" – dance of internal beauty

  • Using your motoric and sensory organs during mediation
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