May our spiritual practice guide our work and livelihood.
om bhakta jai -
Translation
om bhakta jai om jaya bhakti om
devotee success success devotion
om mantra jai om jaya mantra om
om krīya jai om jaya krīya om
om kriiya jai om jaya kriiya om
spiritual practice
in daily life
May we succeed in devotion, in mantra, and in spiritual practice in daily life.
The Song.
A beautiful song sung by Prem of Sacred Earth, on their album also entitled “Bhakti”, 2008. I remember spontaneously going into this song when I met Prem just before a workshop at the Steiner School, south Queensland.
This album is available at https://www.sacredearthmusic.com/
You can listen to and buy this song as a single, as a download, from
https://www.sacredearthmusic.com/listen-download Album Bhakti, track 6 Bhakta jai
The Mantra Discussed.
Jaya is the Sanskrit, here pronounced jai (or “ji”). In religious terms, it can mean “victory”, victory of Gods over demons in celestial battle. In peaceful terms, it can mean “success”; wishing ourselves success in our spiritual practice. This is most important, for hope and thus bhakti can easily be eroded when the defilements proliferate.
Bhakti means “devotion”. In religious terms, it can mean devotion to a Hindu God or Goddess, according to tradition. For us non Hindus, it can mean devotion to our spiritual practice. Devoting and dedicating our energy, dedicating this time to making effort to release pain or cultivate the spiritual Qualities. Without such devotion and commitment, there will be no practice and therefore no progress. Thus bhakti is foremost.
Mantra. Kirtan is a special kind of meditation, a music meditation and a mantra meditation. To gain the full benefit of Kirtan, it’s best to give it undivided attention, and focus on the energy of the sounds, and the meaning from these word sheets. When we listen to these recordings, such as this song, we can make it into a meditation. An easy one, for Prem and Jethro have done most of the hard work for us, and we can just follow their lead.
Meditation is essential to focus the mind, to declutter and dechatter our mind, move towards inner peace, and so access the full healing power of stillness and silence. It is our opportunity to set aside daily busy-ness, to refresh and renew, and re-create our inspiration, appreciation, enjoyment, good will. It is a rest from the demands and stresses of daily life, instead of further burdening our already over-worked mind with screen sensationalism. To help with this training, a Course in meditation is published on this website. Based on my experience since 1982.
However, it is equally important to continue our spiritual practice into daily life. This brings us to the next part of our mantra -
Kriya. This is best understood as spiritual practice in our daily life. Our livelihood is our opportunity to engage with and contribute to the community, to be useful, productive, supportive. It is also essential to earn, so our needs and expenses may be paid for.
Spiritual practice in daily life is our opportunity to transform the drudgery or dislikes of work into something satisfying and rewarding. It is a fundamental change and development within, that guides, heals and uplifts the daily efforts.
This website has much material on spiritual practice. To help us in this challenging task (including me!) Much of this material is adapted from Buddhist and Hindu tradition.
Song Cycle. Kirtan or mantra is for recreation. Kriya is for work, including daily domestic tasks.
Thus the song goes in a cycle, from devotion to meditation to daily life and then repeat. This suggests forging the link between meditation and daily busy-ness. Perhaps as an advanced practice.
Om. Prem has structured the song so we can easily prolong the first om. This can emphasise the role that om can play in mantra and Kirtan. om is not really a word with meaning. Rather it’s a sound that can act as a bridge between ordinary busy-ness of mind, and the quiet focus of meditation. This can be a great help when we take a few minutes off our daily tasks, to sing a song like this one.
Bhakti means “devotion”. In religious terms, it can mean devotion to a Hindu God or Goddess, according to tradition. For us non Hindus, it can mean devotion to our spiritual practice. Devoting and dedicating our energy, dedicating this time to making effort to release pain or cultivate the spiritual Qualities. Without such devotion and commitment, there will be no practice and therefore no progress. Thus bhakti is foremost.
Mantra. Kirtan is a special kind of meditation, a music meditation and a mantra meditation. To gain the full benefit of Kirtan, it’s best to give it undivided attention, and focus on the energy of the sounds, and the meaning from these word sheets. When we listen to these recordings, such as this song, we can make it into a meditation. An easy one, for Prem and Jethro have done most of the hard work for us, and we can just follow their lead.
Meditation is essential to focus the mind, to declutter and dechatter our mind, move towards inner peace, and so access the full healing power of stillness and silence. It is our opportunity to set aside daily busy-ness, to refresh and renew, and re-create our inspiration, appreciation, enjoyment, good will. It is a rest from the demands and stresses of daily life, instead of further burdening our already over-worked mind with screen sensationalism. To help with this training, a Course in meditation is published on this website. Based on my experience since 1982.
However, it is equally important to continue our spiritual practice into daily life. This brings us to the next part of our mantra -
Kriya. This is best understood as spiritual practice in our daily life. Our livelihood is our opportunity to engage with and contribute to the community, to be useful, productive, supportive. It is also essential to earn, so our needs and expenses may be paid for.
Spiritual practice in daily life is our opportunity to transform the drudgery or dislikes of work into something satisfying and rewarding. It is a fundamental change and development within, that guides, heals and uplifts the daily efforts.
This website has much material on spiritual practice. To help us in this challenging task (including me!) Much of this material is adapted from Buddhist and Hindu tradition.
Song Cycle. Kirtan or mantra is for recreation. Kriya is for work, including daily domestic tasks.
Thus the song goes in a cycle, from devotion to meditation to daily life and then repeat. This suggests forging the link between meditation and daily busy-ness. Perhaps as an advanced practice.
Om. Prem has structured the song so we can easily prolong the first om. This can emphasise the role that om can play in mantra and Kirtan. om is not really a word with meaning. Rather it’s a sound that can act as a bridge between ordinary busy-ness of mind, and the quiet focus of meditation. This can be a great help when we take a few minutes off our daily tasks, to sing a song like this one.
Derivation Details.
What is the difference between bhakta and bhakti ?
In Kirtan, bhakti means “devotion”, “valuing”. However, in the dictionary, it also means “division”, then “belonging to”, then “contained within”, then “devotion”, then “assigned to”. This suggests that true bhakti involves first separating the mind from the worries and problems of daily busy-ness, then returning our attention to that which we really belong to : our higher self or ātman. Then becoming “assigned to” bhakti, and “contained within” our higher self. More precisely, to be content within our higher self, and focussed on our higher self.
When we are in our higher self or ātman, we are quite free of troubles, fears, resentment, frustration, boredom. Instead, contentment, enjoyment, appreciation, good will, determination are uppermost in our mind and in our daily life.
bhakta has very similar meaning to bhakti. However, bhakta is more like a verb or adjective, and can mean “dividing”, “belonging”, “containing” “devoting”. This gives the following translation –
This might seem like a subtle distinction, yet the first line of our mantra puts our attention onto both bhakti and the dynamics of achieving bhakti, when we are caught up in troubles, and bogged down in suffering.
krīya and kriyā.
I have spelled kriya as krīya and not as kriyā. This is to match the sound of Prem’s song, and not to match dictionary spelling and meaning. In the dictionary, kriyā means “performance, activity, pursuit”, and I have interpreted this as “spiritual practice in daily life” for this mantra. In the dictionary, krīya comes from the root word krī which means “buy, barter, purchase”, which is not related to the meaning of our mantra. Please remember that Kirtan lyrics are rarely published with the diacritics or pronunciation marks, and the usual spelling is just kriya. This gives us more freedom to adjust the sound to suit the music, and adjust the meaning to suit spiritual practice. The works of religious scholars are the starting point, not the final word, in my interpretation of sacred mantra and verse.
In Kirtan, bhakti means “devotion”, “valuing”. However, in the dictionary, it also means “division”, then “belonging to”, then “contained within”, then “devotion”, then “assigned to”. This suggests that true bhakti involves first separating the mind from the worries and problems of daily busy-ness, then returning our attention to that which we really belong to : our higher self or ātman. Then becoming “assigned to” bhakti, and “contained within” our higher self. More precisely, to be content within our higher self, and focussed on our higher self.
When we are in our higher self or ātman, we are quite free of troubles, fears, resentment, frustration, boredom. Instead, contentment, enjoyment, appreciation, good will, determination are uppermost in our mind and in our daily life.
bhakta has very similar meaning to bhakti. However, bhakta is more like a verb or adjective, and can mean “dividing”, “belonging”, “containing” “devoting”. This gives the following translation –
- om bhakta jai can mean “success in moving towards devotion”, and
- om jaya bhakti om can mean “success in belonging to devotion”.
This might seem like a subtle distinction, yet the first line of our mantra puts our attention onto both bhakti and the dynamics of achieving bhakti, when we are caught up in troubles, and bogged down in suffering.
krīya and kriyā.
I have spelled kriya as krīya and not as kriyā. This is to match the sound of Prem’s song, and not to match dictionary spelling and meaning. In the dictionary, kriyā means “performance, activity, pursuit”, and I have interpreted this as “spiritual practice in daily life” for this mantra. In the dictionary, krīya comes from the root word krī which means “buy, barter, purchase”, which is not related to the meaning of our mantra. Please remember that Kirtan lyrics are rarely published with the diacritics or pronunciation marks, and the usual spelling is just kriya. This gives us more freedom to adjust the sound to suit the music, and adjust the meaning to suit spiritual practice. The works of religious scholars are the starting point, not the final word, in my interpretation of sacred mantra and verse.
For more translated Sanskrit mantras :
click onto the + at the top of this webpage, then click again onto the +
My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups.
click onto the + at the top of this webpage, then click again onto the +
My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups.
