Chanting for Joy
Jun 02, 2025Paramhansa Yogananda said that devotional chanting and singing can uplift our spirits and make us feel closer to God.
In 1926, Yogananda led thousands in chanting “O God Beautiful” in Carnegie Hall for 2 hours. The next day, many men and women testified to the “God-perception and the healing of body, mind, and soul that had taken place during the sacred chanting…”
His guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, said that chanting can awaken “the natural love of the heart” to help us overcome any difficulty in our lives. In my own experience, when I am feeling emotionally low, I select a chant and sing it over and over until my heart heals from whatever may have been bothering it. Emotions are complex, but chanting brings peace to all of them like a salve on an inflamed wound.
When the fires happened in January 2025, although my family was evacuated, we were one of the very, very fortunate ones who found our house still intact when we came back two weeks later. The complexity of my emotions was a mixture of survivor’s guilt, an intense empathy for all whom we loved who had lost almost every possession they had, and deep sadness for the loss that had taken place in a matter of hours. Of course, chanting helped me.
But then something else happened. Some friends from Ananda Village came to visit, and a group of us went to the burn sites and distribution centers to chant and sing. It was then that the real value of spreading light by becoming channels of love and joy through chanting became evident to me. It was a way to hold Joy in a sacred place so that those who needed to could find it.
Separately, I had been inspired to buy a harmonium last May, which I have been learning to play for the past year. It was after the fires that I realized my inspiration to learn and share the music couldn’t have come at a better time!
We invite you to join us in continuing to hold the Joy and share the light as we chant and meditate together!
Please mark your calendars and save the dates for this monthly Kirtan in Pasadena based on the chants of Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda on the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:30 PM.
Monday, June 9th, 2025
Monday, July 14th, 2025
Monday, August 11th, 2025
Monday, September 8th, 2025
** Please note: dates past September will be announced in the LA monthly newsletter as we get closer to those months.**
In Joy,
Kavita Stanek
