Aatmanika Ram - Ancient Chants For Modern Living

Ancient Chants for Modern Living

Aatmanika Ram was born and raised in India and has lived and worked in several countries in North America, South East Asia and the Middle East. The exposure to varied cultures, her strong family-centred values and her innate curiosity drove her to explore and write about her life experiences in Shells on the Beach An Anthology ; her artistic taste and the desire to bring out the essence of good human values found expression in the poetic fiction , The Rose Petal Trail A Sutra for Timeless Love.

Praise for Ancient Chants for Modern Living

Ancient Chants for Modern Living is full of gems for both the young and old. It is a known fact that chanting shlokas bring a lot of peace to the mind and body. The authors attempt to harness the benefits of chanting shlokas to help overcome day to day problems affecting the modern world is to be commended. The Shankar Mahadevan Academy (http://www.shankarmahadevanacademy.com/learn-devotional-music/) helps you develop the admirable spiritual discipline of daily shloka chanting with the help of its online devotional courses. I am very happy to see that a book has been written to understand how and where to use the shlokas in this modern-day world. I sincerely hope this book benefits those who are willing to make a change to their lives.

Shankar Mahadevan,
award-winning composer and singer

All of us are aware that dietary information is flooding every type of media, these days. Unfortunately, a lot of it is borrowed matter from the West. The ancient wisdom of our great country had been sidelined for all these centuries. I am very happy and proud to learn that Aatmanika Ram has come out with a book that combines recommendations for a balanced diet with healing yoga practices and chanting of shlokas to overcome physical problems. Ancient Chants for Modern Living is a much-needed book in todays world.

Malathi Mohan,
former president of the Indian Dietetic Association

Aatmanika Ram, in her book Ancient Chants for Modern Living, strives to bridge the distance between modern-day lives and our rich cultural heritage in a wonderful way. As a historian of temples and temple architecture, I find that the effort that Aatmanika has taken would be very appealing to both those who lead modern-day fast-paced lives as well as those who are very deeply connected even now to our rich cultural heritage. The temples that are spoken of in the book hold very deep treasures and are a must to visit, to feel connected to our rich heritage. Temples in India not only provide positive vibes to the mind and body but also have a rich history behind them. As with anything, understanding the history and deeper meaning behind them is sure to make the journey of learning more enjoyable.

Dr Chithra Madhavan,
research scholar in ancient history and archaeology

The importance of yoga in todays world cannot be stressed enough. Shlokas play a very important role in these sadhanas and help us connect with the Almighty and peace within ourselves. Practising yoga alone cannot solve physical issues. The association of shloka-chanting, a balanced diet, good yogic practice and the correct attitude have been brought out very well in Aatmanikas book, Ancient Chants for Modern Living.

Dr Ranjan Kumar Panda,
yoga instructor, Dubai

Ancient Chants for
Modern Living

Aatmanika Ram

westland ltd

61, IInd Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095

93, Ist Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002

First published in print by westland ltd 2016

First ebook edition: 2016

Copyright Aatmanika Ram, 2016

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-93-86036-15-5

Typeset by PrePSol Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Disclaimer

Any views or opinions presented in this book are solely those of the author, except where specifically mentioned otherwise.

The examples given to illustrate situations are fictitious, and resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental or unintentional.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

Contents

Pronunciation Guide for the Shlokas
in this Book

Acknowledgements

I am compiling this book based on my interactions and interviews with renowned people in the profession, such as Shrimati Subashini, who used to be the editor in charge of Gnanabhoomi, a Hindu religious magazine. She has visited over five hundred temples all over India and has had the honour of writing about temple history and the greatness of these religious places in the magazine. She has interviewed various saints and gurus every month for fifteen years to understand the nuances of Sanathana Dharma. She has also written research articles on temples under the pen name of Sabari for Gnanabhoomi . Her writings and knowledge of Hindu religion and practices is voluminous. I was fortunate to travel with her to most of the temples that she visited. Thank you Smt Subashini, my first guru. I take your blessings and hope that you will be a guiding light for generations to come. Your immense faith in the Almighty will be an inspiration forever.

Professor M.V. Hariharan (Retired) and Smt. Malathi Hariharan have given me immense support in editing this book. Professor M.V. Hariharan is a retired professor from the prestigious IIT (Mumbai). His wife, the reason behind his success, is a homemaker and a trained Carnatic music singer. They both spend their retired life reading and analysing Sanskrit verses and shlokas.

A big thanks to Deepthi Talwar, Varun Sudarshan and the Westland team for not only believing in my book and making this dream of mine possible, but also for their patience and the fresh perspectives they brought to this book.

The inputs that you all have provided have added immense value to this book.

Thank you all for being a part of my life and elevating my level and understanding of shlokas and chants.

Introduction

I f you have never been on a rollercoaster, then you should try it out. Now. Its an absolutely exhilarating experience. First, the long serpentine queue for the ride. Once youre through the entrance and on the rollercoaster, youre taken up almost torturously right to the precipice. Then there is the drop. You start falling. You feel yourself plummeting feet first into open space, your head following in free fall. The blood rushes to your head and you are filled with fear and excitement. Finally, at the end of the ride, you feel a sense of the joy at having faced this challenge. Its all over before you even know it. You look around and see thrilled expressions everywhere. Youre filled with a sense of belonging, of having shared an extreme experience together. Or maybe youre just confused about how anybody could enjoy something like this.

When youre on the ride, you have only two choices: you can either scream with fear or you can enjoy the ride.

Our journey in this Universe is the same. You can either enjoy the ride or live in absolute fear throughout your life. Your choice.

But why should life always be about making choices? Why does it seem like we are always at a crossroads one wrong move and everything comes crashing down like a pack of cards? How do we make informed choices all the time? How can we live fearlessly with so much uncertainty and choice? I guess there is no simple answer to these profound questions that go through every persons mind from generation to generation, irrespective of where they live or which culture they belong to.