Chinmaya Swaranjali
Chinmaya Swaranjali is the musical wing of Chinmaya Mission. Chinmaya Swaranjali is a movement dedicated to exploring the mystical world of Indian classical and devotinal music and discovering its hidden joy of infinitude. A typical swaranjali group performs in various areas including recitals of devotional music, audio-video multimedia concerts, workshops, classical orchestras, etc.
With regular workshops and demonstrations of classical Indian arts, Chinmaya Swaranjali is a confluence of performers and audiences, and a dynamic platform for new and upcoming artists as well as keen learners, invigorating the artist in everyone.
In North America, a number of Mission centres have an active Swaranjali group.
Swami Chinmayananda’s love for classical music and dance was legendary. ‘Music is the Ornamentation of Silence’, he said, and ‘the art of listening to Indian classical music is itself Meditation.’‘
Most Chinmaya Mission centres have Bhajan classes as one of their activities, and many centres have groups of devotees who get together to sing the glories of the Lord. This regular activity led to the birth of Chinmaya Swaranjali, the music wing of Chinmaya Mission, Mumbai on the birthday of Swami Tejomayananda, the global head of Chinmaya Mission, in 2003.
Chinmaya Swaranjali has now become one of the integral grass root activities of the Mission due to the passionate involvement of musical-minded devotees.
Swaranjali means, ‘a musical offering to the divine’. True to its motto, ‘Swara to Ishwara’, Chinmaya Swaranjali members look upon music not as an idle passion, but as a dynamic vehicle to seek the inner source of joy and divinity. It is a movement dedicated to exploring the mystical world of Indian classical music, thereby discovering the veiled joy of infinitude. Chinmaya Swaranjali members range from professional musicians to people with no musical background, linked through their mutual love for music. ‘Experience directly the beauty and rhythm of the Lord, which is always available in Indian devotional songs. Many of our saints reached Truth through singing for Him,’ said Swami Chinmayananda It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Chinmaya Swaranjali performances always stir and stun audiences, for even a seemingly meek Damaru produces unparalleled music in the hands of Lord Shiva! “Classical music, rich in its devotional sentiments has the rare and precious ability to raise us to sublime heights. The lyrics and melody in it, kindles the jnana and bhatki elements in us, and fuses the two. This fosters a stirring of the heart, a blissful expansion within, which purifies us, thereby becoming a sadhana.”
– Swami Tejomayananda