This recording was made live during a kirtan at Yoga Vidya Bad Meinberg in Germany.

Here is the text to sing along:

Sita Ram Sita Ram
Ram Sita Ram Ram

If you are interested in seminars with music, you can find here seminars on mantra and music. For more kirtan and Mantra vocal recordings click here. For more information on Yoga, meditation and Ayurveda can be found on the internet pages of Yoga Vidya.

“Govinda Narayana” is a Krishna kirtan: Krishna is invoked as Govinda Gopala – that is, as the Good Shepherd. He is there for all Naras that is all beings. He is Hari, radiant and luminous.

In this kirtan, God is invoked as Govinda, the good shepherd; as Gopala, the protector of all beings; as Narayana, the one who is within all; and as Hari, the one who shines and is radiant, full of love. He is Ananda – he leads to joy and he is the one we can perceive and experience everywhere.

Here is the text to sing along:

Govinda Narayana,
Gopala Narayana

Govinda Gopala Narayana
Hari Govinda Gopala Narayana

Govinda Narayana,
Gopala Narayana

Hari Govinda Ananda Narayana
Sai Govinda Gopala Narayana

If you are interested in seminars with music, you can find here seminars on mantra and music. For more kirtan and Mantra vocal recordings click here. For more information on Yoga, meditation and Ayurveda can be found on the internet pages of Yoga Vidya.

Vani Devi sings the hymn from the “Nirvanashatakam” during a satsang at the Yoga Vidya Ashram in Bad Meinberg. You can find the complete text in the Yoga Vidya Kirtan Booklet under number 404.

In the six stanzas on liberation by Jagadguru Shankaracharya, you can discover both what you are not and what your true nature is: namely, Being, Knowledge, and Bliss.

The Nirvanashatakam kirtan consists of six instructive verses on freedom – or Nirvana – written by Shankara (also Sankara or Shri Shankaracharya). In each verse, Shankara explains what we are not. We are not our body, we are not our intellect, we are not our thoughts, and we are not our prana. Instead, we are Sacchidananda (i.e., Satchidananda). Only Brahman, the Absolute, is real; everything else is a temporary dream, an illusion – Maya.

Lyrics:
Mano-buddhy-ahankara-chittani Naham
Na Cha Shrotra-jihve Na Cha Ghrana-netre /
Na Cha Vyoma-bhumir Na Tejo Na Vayuh
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham // 1 //

Na Cha Prana-sanjno Na Vai Pancha-vayuh
Na Va Sapta-dhatur Na Va Pancha-koshah /
Na Vak Pani-padau Na Chopastha-payu
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham // 2 //

Na Me Dvesha-ragau Na Me Lobha-mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Matsarya-bhavah /
Na Dharmo Na Chartho Na Kamo Na Mokshaha
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham // 3 //

Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Duhkham
Na Mantro Na Tirtham Na Veda Na Yajnah /
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham // 4 //

Na Me Nrityu-shanka Na Me Jati-bhedaha
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Mata Cha Janma /
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyaha
Chidananda Rupah Shivoham Shivoham // 5 //

Aham Nirvikalpo Nirakara-rupo
Vibhutvach Cha Sarvatra Sarvendriyanam /
Sada Me Samatvam Na Muktir Na Bandhaha
Chidanandarupah Shivoham Shivoham // 6 //

“Jaya Shri Krishna Chaitanya” honors Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his closest disciples and companions. Jaya means “invocation of,” and Shri Krishna Chaitanya is the great founder of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. The Hare Krishna community is also part of this tradition.

This mantra is also known as the Pancha-Tattwa Mantra, as it invokes the five companions of Shri Krishna Chaitanya. They are considered aspects of Chaitanya. It is recommended to always sing this kirtan first, before reciting the Maha Mantra.

Swami Sivananda had great devotion to Shri Krishna Chaitanya, even though he came from a different tradition.

One can first recite this mantra and then sing the Maha-Mantra—that is, the great mantra, the “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” mantra.

Here you can hear a recording featuring Satyananda and Aziza from a Yoga Vidya Saturday evening satsang in Bad Meinberg on May 3, 2025.

Lyrics:
Jaya Shri Krishna Chaitanya,
Prabhu Nityananda /
Shri Advaita Gadadhara
Shrivasadi Gaurabhakta Vrinda // 1 //

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare /
Hare Rama Hare Rama,
Rama Rama Hare Hare // 2 //

If you are interested in seminars with music, you can find here seminars on mantra and music. For more kirtan and Mantra vocal recordings click here. For more information on Yoga, meditation and Ayurveda can be found on the internet pages of Yoga Vidya.

“Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize” is a kirtan that succinctly describes the teachings of Swami Sivananda. Swami Sivananda loved to sing this kirtan.

“Serve, love, give, purify, purify” refers to the various yoga practices. By practicing yoga, we purify ourselves. We also do so by working on ourselves. By serving, loving, and giving, we purify ourselves. And then “purify” and “meditate” follow naturally. Therefore, serve, love, give, purify, meditate—and then comes: realize.

The more we serve, love, and give, the deeper our meditation becomes.

Here you are listening to a recording featuring Kamala Devi from a Yoga Vidya Saturday evening satsang in Bad Meinberg on December 6, 2025.