Born to Shine

I see it in your eyes, your spirit tries to shine but it’s subdued
It’s how you spend your time, how you use your mind, it’s how you’re used
I can hear it in your voice, so many choices given away
You were born to shine, not to wallow in your mind day after day

It’s time to awaken, it’s time to be free
It’s time to align your heart with all you’re meant to be
It’s time to disentangle all the knots that you have tied
To let yourself unravel all the pain you’ve held inside
It’s time to awaken, to feel your inner flame
To call upon your spirit, speak the holy name
It’s time to sing your anthem, the one you came to sing
To blow the horn of destiny, let the bells of freedom ring

You were never just a cog in someone’s big machine
You’re as brilliant as a million suns, you were born to be seen
You can step out of that prison now, let your armor fall away
You were born to shine, not to hide behind your mind day after day

It’s time to awaken, it’s time to be free
It’s time to align your heart with all you’re meant to be
It’s time to weave the fabric given as your life
Warp and weft revealing all the love you’ve held inside
It’s time to awaken, feel your inner flame
To call upon your spirit, speak the holy name
It’s time to sing your anthem, the one no one else can sing
To blow the horn of destiny, let the bells of freedom ring

We were born to shine
We’re as brilliant as the stars
May the life we wrap around us
Reveal the light we are

Om Gang Ganapataye Namaha

You were born to shine, not to hide behind the scenes
You can step out of the shadows now and let yourself be seen

-The mantra in this song is a call to Ganesh, who stands at the doorway between the world of form and the world of spirit. Ganesh, with his giant body and elephant head, shines with the brilliance of a million suns. He connects our outer life, our sense of a personal self, with the depth of our soul's truth and purpose. We call to Ganesh to remove the obstacles between soul and personality, and to protect our journey into relationship with our deeper being.

Open My Life/Jai Ma

He Ma Ma Ma Jai Jai Ma

Open my mind, my heart, my life

Open my mind, my heart, my life
To your light, your love, and your power
In all things may I see the Divine

He Ma Ma Ma Jai Jai Ma
Jagatambe Jai Jai Ma
Ma Ma Ma

-The English words in this song come from a prayer given by Sri Aurobindo in 1938 to a disciple who wrote to him asking for an aspiration or prayer. It is reproduced in The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35: Letters on Himself and the Ashram. I combined these word with a call to the Divine Mother, the one who guides our openings and kindles our longing to see the Divine in all things.

Play Me Like A Flute

Om Vishnave Namaha

I wake in the night, I can feel you’ve been there
I savor your scent, it hangs in the air
My heart spreads its wings, and it flies like a prayer
Can’t go back to the dream, I’ve been caught by your stare

Play me like a flute, Sing me like a song
I thought I was alone, You’ve been here all along
I sail you like the wind, I chase you like a dream
Whisper me awake, Bathe me in your stream
You’re the breath within my breath, the shining in my eyes
The beating of my heart is your beautiful disguise
I’m nothing without you, I’m a puppet in your hands
My feet are on your stage, pull my strings and make me dance

The dust from your feet is the nectar of love
The shape of your name on my lips lifts me up
I offer my thirst and I reach for your cup
I offer my life and I wait for your touch

Hari Hari Bol Hari Hari Bol
Hari Hari Bol Hari Hari Bol

Om Vishnave Namaha

- The mantra in this song praises Vishnu, who is also Krishna. "Hari" is the one who drives away darkness and ignorance, and we sing ("bol") his name with joy.

Let It Open

There is a love that knows no enemies
No boundaries, no walls
There is a heart as vast as the universe
And it knows every ache, every fall

There is a love that is an ecosphere
And I want to bring you here, let you feel
That the knowing in your soul that you have
No enemies, no boundaries, is real

There is a love that flows through space and time
There's no finish line, no end
And in every way you were made to live that love
To be that love, my friend

Do you hope, do you pray?
Or have you stashed your hopes away?
Do you long to be loved?
Have you forgotten what you're made of?
Does the song in your heart find a voice in your life?
Can you let it open more?

There is a love that flows from the sun to you
From the moon to you, from the Earth
There is a heart that is waiting inside of you
Waiting to be born from you, given birth

There is a love that flows from my guru's feet
Flows like an endless stream, like rain
This power has come to redeem all that hides from love
Every loneliness, every pain

Sivapuranam

Namachchivāya vāzhga, Nādhan thāL vāzhga
imaippozhudhum yen Nenjjil Nīngādhan thāL vāzhga
kōkazhi ānda kurumanidhan thāL vāzhga
āgamam āgiNinRu ānnippan thāL vāzhga
yēkan aNēkan iRaivan adi vāzhga

- This song comprises the first 5 verses of Sivapuranam, which is a prayer included in Thiruvasagam, a collection of Tamil hymns by Manikkavasagar. G.U. Pope translates the 5 verses:

Hail, the five letters! Hail, foot of the Lord!
Hail, foot of Him Who not for an instant quits my heart!
Hail, foot of the Guru-pearl that rules in Gogari!
Hail, foot of Him Who becomes, abides, draws near as the Agamam!
Hail, foot of Him, the One, the Not-One, and the King!

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Arunachala Siva

Hara Hara Sivane, Arunachalane, Annamalaiye Pothri

Hara Siva Shankara Mahadeva, Hara Hara Hara Shambo

Arunachala Siva Om

- This song combines Tamil and Sanskrit, and praises Shiva in his form as Arunachala, the endless column of light that has coalesced into a mountain in Tiruvannamalai.

Sri Krishna

Jai Sri Krishna

We are waiting in the empty space to receive
The love that awakens and sets us free

Sri Krishna

Krishna Jai Sri Krishna, Krishna Jai Sri Krishna

Sri Krishna Govinda, Hare Murare
He Natanarayana Vasudeva

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

We are waiting in the empty space to receive
A love so tender and a love so sweet

-Sri Krishna is the Lord of Love, the embodiment of the Divine One's love for the human, and the One that we humans most desire to embrace in the depths of our hearts.

Sing Ram

Rama Rama Bolo, Bolo Bolo Ram

Let the rhythms of your heart awaken the lyrics of your soul
Let the melody embrace you. Release into the flow

Let the sky be filled with singing, the Earth is waiting for your song
Let the bells resound with ringing, all of Heaven sings along
Let every dream you’ve ever dreamed
And every hope your body holds
Find wings of aspiration in the lyrics of your soul

Sing Ram, Sing Ram
Let the power of the Name open up the way

Raise your voice above the turmoil, hold nothing back at all
Weave a tapestry of rapture, destroy the pressing walls
When we join our songs together, when our hearts become as one
The seeds that heaven planted will finds sweet reunion

Rama Rama Bolo, Bolo Bolo Ram

Sing Ram, Sing Ram
Let the power of the Name open up the way

Rama Rama Bolo, Bolo Bolo Ram

- "Rama Bolo" means "Sing Ram". Each of us has a song living within our soul, waiting to be expressed. The name of Ram, when sung with praise and devotion, opens up the way to hearing the lyrics of that song, and embodying its essence.

Unafraid

Om Rudra Netraya Vidmahe
Maha Tejaya Dhimahi
Tanno Agni Prachodayat

You say you’re scared
Afraid and alone in a world with its teeth bared
So small on this big stage and unprepared
How could you dare?

But beneath that fear is a burning like a flame
And the light that leaps from your eye won’t be contained
Your heart beat’s pulsing rhythms can’t be tamed
By your shame

Your life is a gift upon the Earth
Your love is a balm that soothes the pains of birth
(repeat)

Om Rudra Netraya Vidmahe
Maha Tejaya Dhimahi
Tanno Agni Prachodayat

Beneath your fear is a burning like a flame
And the light that leaps from your soul won’t be contained
Your heart beat’s pulsing rhythms can’t be tamed
By your shame

And you’ll rise on the wings of the love that brought you here
You’ll soar like the voice that sings you out so clear
In the light of dawn the shadows disappear
And so will your fear

The sense of smallness that surrounds you, encumbers and confounds you, won’t always be around you, hemming you in
The essence at your core that you’ve been longing for, will unveil itself and pour out through your skin
Every limiting conception, every filter of perception, all that’s false is bound to fall away
And then you’ll stand sincere in truth, no lack, no greed, no need for proof, completely whole and holy, unafraid

Om Rudra Netraya Vidmahe
Maha Tejaya Dhimahi
Tanno Agni Prachodayat

-The mantra in this song is the Agni Gayatri, a mantra praising Agni, the essence of fire in all its forms. Agni is the flame that emanates warmth and light, that purifies, that devours our offering to the divine and offers it upward, and that aspires ever toward what is higher and more true. The mantra calls Agni "Rudra's Eye" and "The Great Radiance", and asks that when we focus our attention on the flame, it lead us toward truth.