Mahashivarathri 2015 is almost here and here's a song to get you in the spirit of the season. Listen in and let the effortless jive sway you away.

Shiva Shiva

First Snow

The Bengali bhajan "Gauranga Karuna" by Vaishnava Acharya Narottama Dasa Thakura and performed by bhajan group "Rasa".     The song lyrics Follow....

Gauranga Karuna Koro:
By Narottama Dasa Thakura:

Lyrics:
(1)
gaurāńga karuṇā koro dīna hīna jane
mośamo patita prabhu nāhi trībhūvane
 
(2)
dante tṛṇa dhari gaura ḍāki he tomare
kṛpā kari eso āmār hṛdaya mandire
 
(3)
jadi dayā nā karibe patita dekhiyā
patita pāvana nāma kisera lagiyā
 
(4)
paḍechi bhava tuphāne nāhika nistāra
śrī carana taranī dāne dāse kara pāra
 
(5)
śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu dāser anudāsa
prārthanā karaye sadā narottama dāsa
 
TRANSLATION
1) O my dear Lord Gauranga! Please show Your mercy to this lowly and destitute soul. O Lord! There is no one more fallen than myself in all the three worlds.
 
2) Holding grass between my teeth, O Lord Gaura, I am calling out to You now! Please be compassionate upon me and come to reside within the temple of my heart.
 
3) If You do not give Your mercy, seeing how fallen I am, then why are You known as Patita Pavana, the merciful Savior of the fallen?
 
4) I am plunged amidst the violent hurricane-stricken waves in the ocean of this material world, from which there is no escape. Kindly give me the gift of Your divine lotus feet, which are compared to a boat in which Your servant may cross over the ocean of birth and death.
 
5) Narottama Dasa, the servant of the servant of Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu, ceaselessly makes this prayer.

Rasa

Gauranga Karuna:  Rasa:

Shani Mahamantra Shani Bhajan. Shani Mantra || Neelanjan Samabhasam Raviputram Yamagrajam

Shani Dev is one of the most popular deities that the Hindus pray to ward off evil and remove obstacles. Shani Mantra is one of the most efficacious one to chant in a way averting the ill effects of the Saade sati (7½ year) period.

Neelanjan Samabhasam

Shani Dev Mantra

Shani Mantra || Neelanjan Samabhasam Raviputram yamagrajam

Bilwashtakam Lyrics - Shiva Bilwa Ashtakam Stotra Meaning
 
Bilwa Ashtakam, also spelled Bilwashtakam, Vilvashtakam, or Bilvashtakam, is the asthakam (ashtak) addressed to Lord Shiva. Bilwa Ashtakam is a highly powerful Sanskrit Shiva stotra which are the eight hymns chanted while offering Bilwa (Vilva) leaves to Lord Shiva. The Bilwa (Aegle Marmelos) leaves are one of the main offering to Lord Shiv and by offering Bilva leaves (Koovalam in Malayalam) a devotee can easily please Lord Shiva.

Chanting Bilwa Ashtakam especially on Maha Shivaratri is considered auspicious. Here is Lyrics of Bilwashtakam with English meaning. Bilwa Ashtakam devotional video song is provided after the Bilwashtakam Lyrics. Vilvashtakam translated in to English by P. R. Ramachander

Bilwa Ashtakam Lyrics - Prayer to Lord Shiva while offering Bilwa Leaf 

Tridalam Trigunakaaram Trinethram Cha Triyayusham,
Trijanma Papa Samharam Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 1

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
Which has three leaves,
Which causes three qualities,
Which are like the three eyes of Shiva,
Which is like the triad of weapons,
And which destroys sins of three births.

Trishakhai Bilwapathraischa Hyachidrai Komalai Shubai,
Shiva Poojam Karishyami, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 2

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
Which has three shoots,
Which do not have holes,
Which are good and pretty,
And worship Lord Shiva.

Aganda Bilwa Pathrena Poojithe Nandikeshware,
Shudhyanthi Sarva Papebhyo, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 3

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
For if an uncut leaf is offered,
To his steed the god Nandi,
We get cleaned of all our sins.

Salagrama Shilamekaam Vipranam Jatha Cha Arpayeth,
Soma Yagna Maha Punyam, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 4

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
For it is equal to, offering a saligrama to a Brahmin,
Or the great blessing got out of performing Soma Yaga,

Dandi Koti Sahasrani Vajapeya Sathani Cha,
Koti Kanya Maha Danam, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 5

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
For it is equal to gifting thousand elephants,
Or the performing of hundred fire sacrifices,
Or giving away billions of girls.

Lakshmyasthanutha Uthpannam Mahadevasya Cha Priyam,
Bilwa Vruksham Prayachami, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 6

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
For it is equal to giving a tree of Bilwa,
Which was born from the breast of Lakshmi,
And which is very dear to the Lord Shiva.

Darshanam Bilwa Vrukshasya, Sparsanam Papa Nasanam,
Aghora Papa Samharam, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 7

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
As seeing and touching of a tree of Bilwa,
Washes away ones sins and also very great sins.

Kasi Kshethra Nivasam Cha Kala Bhairava Darshanam,
Prayaga Madhavam Drushtwa, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 8

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
After living in the city of Kasi,
Seeing the Kala Bhairawa,
And also visiting the temple
Of Madhawa in Allahabad.

Moolatho Brahma Roopaya, Madhyatho Vishnu Roopine
Agratha Shiva Roopaya, Eka Bilwam Shivarpanam 9

I offer one leaf of Bilwa to Lord Shiva,
As Brahma resides at its bottom,
Lord Vishnu lives in its middle,
And Lord Shiva lives in its tip.

Bilwashtakam Idham Punyaam, Padeth Shiva Sannidhou,
Sarva Papa Nirmuktha Shiva Loka Maapnuyath 10

Reading this holy octet of Bilwa,
In the presence of Lord Shiva,
Would save one from all sins,
And in the end take him to the world of Shiva.




BILVASHTAKAM

02 Devi Sooktam

Ganesh mantra original from India

On Dec, 11, 2012, The GodFather of Sitar & WorldMusic left this world's stage to play with the heavenly orchestra. This is a little tribute to him who was an inspiration to so many, and to me to get hold of a sitar & try to play it. May he live & be blessed forever...

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/weekend/ci_22187123/steve-smith-springsteen-gaga-black-keys-join-stones

"Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, who was responsible for bringing classical Indian music to the masses in the Western world via Beatle George Harrison's interest in Shankar, his instrument and his Hindu religion, died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla last week. He was 92.

Shankar had been given heart-valve replacement surgery. A message on his website said, "Though the surgery was successful, recovery proved too difficult for the 92-year-old musician."

The three-time Grammy winner's final performance was Nov. 4 in Long Beach; it was a celebration of his 10th decade in music.

In 1952, Shankar began a musical collaboration with Western classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin but their work, while highly lauded, didn't bring about mass exposure to a Western audience. That would come a decade-and-a-half later.

In 1965, Harrison developed a fascination with the sitar and Indian music. The Beatle bought a secondhand sitar in a London shop and improvised a sitar part on John Lennon's "Norwegian Wood," marking the first time the instrument was used in a Western pop song (months earlier, The Yardbirds recorded a version of their hit, "Heart Full of Soul," with a sitar as the lead instrument, but that version wasn't released until much later).

In June 1966, Harrison met Shankar and asked to be his student. Shankar accepted. Interest in the sitar and other Indian instruments and the music spread through rock music like a wildfire.

His appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival provided his introduction to a young generation of music fans eager for diverse sounds and blending of musical forms. He also performed at Woodstock and in August 1971, he convinced his friend Harrison to stage rock music's first major benefit, the Concert for Bangladesh, that raised international awareness of the plight of refugees following a devastating cyclone and civil war in the south Asian nation. Shankar opened the two concerts (afternoon and evening) at Madison Square Garden.

Eventually, Shankar became mostly critical of rock's incorporation of the sitar because of its connection to drugs. He and Harrison remained the best of friends and collaborated often until Harrison's death from lung cancer in Los Angeles in November 2001. Harrison was 58.

Among Shankar's survivors are his wife Sukanya and two daughters, acclaimed sitar player Anoushka Shankar Wright, whose husband, Joe Wright, directed the recently released film, "Anna Karenina," and Shankar-Wright's half-sister, adult contemporary singer-songwriter Norah Jones."

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Ode to Ravi Shankar (who was my inspiration to try & play sitar), 12.12.12 (Free DL + Videolink)

Sounds of Isha -
"Yad vaacha na abbhyuthitham"

Bho Shambho Shiva Shambho Swayambho - Shiva

Krishna das -- door of faith - 05 - jai jagadisha hare (arti

Amla

Having started off as a drummer in a PopRock Coverband, passing through the eXPerimental & psychedelic stages of music of the 1970s, arrived in the New Millennium as a percussionist in the Berlin Band "Los Multikultis", privileged to play alongside brilliant musicians like Colin Bass of the Band "CAMEL", I now mainly produce WorldFusion music in my home studio in Berlin, Germany   
----------------------------
I'm a Hobby Musician (various drums, sitar, guitar, vox, plus now VST's & loops), Sound- & ComputerEngineer from Berlin/Germany.
Initially having been somewhat forced to "enjoy" a musical education of sorts as a child (playing sheet music on a recorder) I really started enjoying music with the appearance of The Beatles. So I started off my "career" as a drummer in the mid - 1960s here:

http://soundcloud.com/blackbirds-berlin/sets/the-blackbirds-live-on-stage/
 
After the Band dissolved, and inspired by the upcoming of psychedelic & electronic music I got into SoundExperiments together with the BassMan of our group. Of course, there is no way these can compare to the intricate "symphonies" being created nowadays in the age of computer music.

http://soundcloud.com/experimentator/sets/experimental-sounds-of-the-1960s/

Further following the path of The Beatles, esp. George Harrison, I travelled to India in 1971, getting myself a Sitar there, and upon my return trying to teach myself to play on it:

http://soundcloud.com/experimentator/sets/sitar-music

Later I found out that I also was able to sing, and so I also learned some Guitar playing

http://soundcloud.com/experimentator/sets/vocals-28/

In the mid-1990's I met my friend the BassMan again who had moved to Bavaria and joined another Band. The "Bavarian Power Jam" Session came about very spontaneously around 1995. Credits for anything but drumming go to http://www.dbusk.de

http://soundcloud.com/experimentator/sets/bavarian-power-jam/

Now, having seen the vast possibilities at hand, I have got into "it" again...and with a little help from my newly found and amazingly lovely SoundCloud & FaceBook friends I feel I could succeed...

http://soundcloud.com/experimentator/sets/new-stuff-2011-3/

Ode to Ravi Shankar (who was my inspiration to try & play sitar), 12.12.12 (Free DL + Videolink)

hjerlmuda