Various aspects of Namasankirtan - an easy Path of spiritual practice for God-realisation - revealed by Pujya (Mrs) Kanthimathi Santanam

1. Namasankirtan or Nadopasana : In Kaliyug, Namasankirtan is an easy and blissful Path of sadhana (Spiritual practice) for God-realisation. This Path of spiritual practice is also called ‘Nadopasana’. Namasankirtan is ‘Nadopasana’, which means offering devotional songs and bhajans composed by various Saints in various languages, at the lotus feet of God in various ragas and talas (Rhythms) as per Carnatic music. The compositions of Saints are enriched with bhav (Spiritual emotion) and each has a deeper implied meaning.

2. Bodendra Saraswathi Swami, Sridhara Iyyaval and Maruthaanallur Venkatarama Sadguru are revered as the three revered main Gurus in Namasankirtan.

3. Maruthaanallur Venkatarama Sadguru Swami has founded Namasankirtan, meaning, the Bhajani sect : Maruthaanallur Venkatarama Sadguru Swami travelled extensively across India and presented all devotional songs in a systematic manner in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and Sanskrut. Thus, in a way, He created a necklace of Namasankirtan studded with gems. He is the founder of Nama-sankirtan (meaning, the Bhajani sect) and moulded it as well. Devotion is deeply ingrained in all these devotional songs. Hence, when we sing these songs in various languages as per the Bhajani sect, we are able to appreciate the essence of devotion and its meaning in a better manner.

4. Classification of devotional songs : These devotional songs have been classified as Dhyan-shlokas, Thodaya mangalam, Guru-kirtans, Glory of Sadhus, Ashtapati, Tarangam of Narayan Theerthar, Kirtans of Bhadrachalam Ramdas Swami, bhajans of Kabirdas, kirtans of Purandaradas, kirtans of Sadashiv Brahmondra, Shiva-kirtans of Gopalakrishna Bharati; bhajans of Saints such as Tyagaraj, Meerabai, Tulsidas, and many others; Pujavidhis, Upachar-kirtans, Shlokas on pilgrimage centres such as Kashi; Ganeshadi dhyan-kirtans to invoke God into a five-faced lamp, Divyanam-kirtans which are sung while circumambulating a lamp, Deep-samarupanam, Prarthana-geets, Dolotsav kirtans, Radha kalyanam, Anjaneya kirtans, Bavvalipu kirtans – such is the systematic way in which these devotional songs have been classified. Just like the Radha kalyanam, there is also a tradition of Meenakshi kalyanam, Valli kalyanam, Srinivasa kalyanam, Seetha kalyanam, etc. Though these devotional songs are associated with respective Deities, these are in the same format.

5. All these have been meticulously and systematically presented to attract today’s generation towards devotion, and ultimately towards God.

– Pujya (Mrs) Kanthimathi Santanam (Age 86), Chennai, Tamil Nadu (June 2024)

In Kaliyug, Namasankirtan is an easy and blissful Path of sadhana for God-realisation. It is also called ‘Nadopasana’ !