By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar

Listening to Gurudevi chanting “Om Namah Shivaya — Ganeshpuri Melody” deepens my inner experience of the Divine.

It gives me a new way to appreciate our lineage mantra. Chanting our mantra to the Ganeshpuri Melody before meditation, I am relaxed and focused.

The melody evokes the sacredness of Ganeshpuri, Gurudevi’s spiritual home, which is the site of Nityananda’s temple and Muktananda’s Ashram. I am carried inward to my own Self more deeply.

This chant is track 2 of Gurudevi’s album Namah: I Honor the Divine. Track 3, “Nirmalam,” honors the name Nirmala, which Gurudevi was given when she took sannyasa vows.

Nirmala means “without limitations.” This name celebrates the reality within Gurudevi, which is the reality within all. In her book, Yoga’s Sacred Songs, she writes, “This is my song, a song to my Self, which is Muktananda, which is Nityananda.”

“Nirmalam” begins with the chorus:

Shivo’ham svaroopo’ham
 Shivo’ham svaroopo’ham

I am Shiva, I am my own Self.
I am Shiva, I am my own Self.

The concluding verse expresses deep devotion:

Nish-kalam nitya-yuktam
Chidanandam nama-myaham

Performing no actions, joined with the eternal,
to the One, who is the bliss of Consciousness, indeed I bow.

Gurudevi’s voice on this album uplifts my heart as I go about my daily chores. I experience tantra, perceiving the interweaving of the Divine in the mundane.