Musician Jahnavi Harrison explores why chanting the name of God can be such a powerful devotional practice.

Drawing on her own bhakti yoga tradition, she recalls hearing her parents chanting and how important it became to her from an early age. "The name of God," she explains, "is said to be the panacea for whatever ails the mind, body and soul. It was the ever present soundtrack to my life - night, day, birthdays, funerals, weddings and road trips."

Her experience at a Christian school also showed her that other religious traditions say and sing the God's name. She notes that she was "thrilled to discover this common thread, and the myriad ways that this praise was expressed."

Using the words of the Psalms, the Sufi poets and a number of Hindu saints and mystics, Jahnavi celebrates the power of chanting in different ways and locations and, alongside the music of Vivaldi and Rachmaninov, she relishes in the most famous of all Hindu songs, My Sweet Lord by George Harrison, who is quoted in the programme:

"My idea was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by 'Hallelujah' and, by the time it gets to 'Hare Krishna', they're already hooked."

Presenter: Jahnavi Harrison
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.

BBC Radio 4 'Something Understood' - Hallowed Be Thy Name - August 2017

In the name of the daybreak and the eyelids of the morning and the wayfaring moon and the night when it departs,
I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, as a messenger of wonder, as an architect of peace....
I will honor all life — wherever and in whatever form it may dwell — on Earth my home, and in the mansions of the stars.

It’s me ,other my life at songs and sound!

BBC Radio 4 'Something Understood' - Hallowed Be Thy Name - August 2017

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