On the Hindu side of mantra, check out this Jai Uttal version of a Shiva mantra. I highly recommend all of Jai Uttal’s recordings, especially his Pagan Love Orchestra stuff from the 90’s. He was the first one who turned me on to mantra music.
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A mantra for Hanuman, the monkey god of karma yoga, the yoga of service to the world. Ram Dass and his guru Neem Karoli Baba were big devotees of Hanuman. When Ram Dass asked him what practice he should do to attain enlightenment he told him “Love people, serve people!” We definitely need a whole army of karma yogis right now with the state the world is in! The music is by Shantala. I highly recommend all of their music (which is mantra based).
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Amen.
Amazing intro, thank you for sharing this one.
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Love this ‘Mantra’, not sure how many syllables are necessary to qualify for a mantra, but I think this technically does:
“Ah, so
Ah, so”
Jon Hopkins with Ram Dass, East Forest - Sit Around The Fire (Official Video)
" How do you quiet the mind?
You meditate
How do you open the heart?
You start to love that which you can love
And just keep expanding it
You love a tree
You love a river
You love a leaf
You love a flower
You love a cat
You love a human
But go deeper and deeper into that love
'Til you love that
Which is the source of the light behind all of it
Behind all of it
You don’t worship the gate
You go into the inner temple"
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Lord Shiva is often depicted wearing a cobra (Nāga) around his neck for multiple symbolic reason:
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Symbol of Power: The cobra, a venomous snake, symbolizes danger and fear. By wearing it as a necklace, Shiva demonstrates his mastery over fear and his invincibility to danger.
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Control Over Desires: Snakes also symbolize desire and passion. By wearing the snake around his neck, Shiva represents control over his desires.
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Cycle of Life and Death: Snakes shed their skin, which is seen as a symbol of rebirth and regeneration. This resonates with Shiva’s role as the destroyer and regenerator in the cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction.
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Connection with Serpent Deities: In Hindu mythology, serpents are revered beings and are associated with many aspects of life, from fertility to protection. Wearing a snake signifies Shiva’s association and lordship over these entities.
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Symbol of Yogic Powers: In the yogic tradition, the serpent is a representation of Kundalini Shakti, the primal energy located at the base of the spine. Shiva, being the lord of yogis, adorns the snake, symbolizing his mastery over this primal energy.
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Balancing Cosmic Energies: Shiva is also known to drink the poison that emerged during the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan). The snake, being venomous, is a symbol of that poison and represents Shiva’s role in neutralizing negative energies.
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When Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert, psychedelic researcher from Harvard) went to India, his initial goal was to give a yogic master LSD to see how he reacted to it. He ran into this character called Bhagavan Das, a wandering hippie Sadhu who had both Hindu yogis and Tibetan Rimpoches as teachers. Bhagavan Das took him to his main guru, Neem Karoli Baba and the rest is history (the story is that he took a whole handful of acid and it didn’t phase him). Bhagavan Das is still around performing music. This is him singing a mantra to Ram and Sita and their servant Hanuman. I recommend this whole album. It totally rocks!
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@fenwizard thanks for sharing the recommendation of Jai Uttal
I check out his music on his YouTube channel, lovely interview and gorgeous music mantra prayers all 
This is lovely too
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Yes, Jai Uttal is amazing! I’ve had the pleasure to have been in kirtan with him a number of times. In addition to his time with Neem Karoli Baba, he also spent time with a tribal group in India called the Bauls and learned many of their devotional songs. He also studied Indian classical music with Ali Akbar Khan. Of the Western kirtan musicians, he is one of the ones with a lot of musical study and training.
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More Jai Uttal. The chorus of this song is the Om Namah Shivaya mantra. The woman dancing is his wife, a Brazilian dancer and yoga teacher and that is their child.
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Jai Uttal and friends live at Shaktifest in Joshua Tree, CA jamming on “Govinda Gopala” - a Krishna mantra.
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I like this one a lot:
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Here’s Deva Premal’s beautiful version of the Moola Mantra:
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Rhadika Das is an Indian Brit kirtan musician who is amazing. I had the pleasure of being in kirtan with him at Bhaktifest in September. Here he is in a church in London doing the Om Namah Shivaya mantra
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A mantra of Vishnu, who in the Hindu traditions is the aspect of the Divine who dreams the Universe into being. So we are all living and dreaming within the dream of Vishnu! Sung by Karnamitra Devi Dasi, an American who has studied traditional Indian devotional singing in India.
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Robert Moss said in one of his books that the Australian tribes had a similar myth about the world being dreamt. Not sure if it talks about it here, but figured I would link it:
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Bhaja Govindam by the Hanumen.
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Yes, I’m familiar with the Australian Aboriginal concept of the Dreamtime. My understanding is that it’s very connected to the landscape - that the land itself is dreaming or being dreamt into being. Various animals and places, etc, have their own dreaming, or their own spiritual qualities that are dream-like, much like Native American concepts of Spirit Animals. The Hindu idea of Vishnu dreaming the Universe is similar but on a very cosmic scale.
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