Temple Music and Chants with Swami Rama

In 1973, Swami Rama and his students from the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy in Prospect Heights, Illinois made a recording of sacred music and chants. Side One was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin, and Side Two was recorded in New Delhi, India. Now available for the first time digitally, Mission Members are sure to enjoy this selection of scriptural prayers, classic kirtan pieces, and soulful bhajans—all over the warm sound of crackling vinyl.

From the liner notes:

Sri Swami Rama
One of the greatest Yoga masters and teachers of the world, Sri Swami Rama has come to America to build a bridge between the East and West.

Born in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1925 to a learned Brahmin family, Swami Rama was adopted at the age of three months by a great yogi and saint. He was ordained a monk early in childhood and studied under various Himalayan masters. He taught Hindu and Buddhist scriptures by the age of thirteen. In Tibet he lived in a cave, away from all human beings for three years. At the age of twenty-four he became Shankaracharya (a Hindu position somewhat analogous to Pope). He renounced this position in 1952 so that he could teach and write and prove the scientific basis of Yoga.

Sophisticated and complex, yet simple and serene, the commanding presence of the tall stately Swami is combined with the delight and humor of a child. Radiating love and joy, Swami Rama truly exemplifies the art of living in two worlds—the physical and the spiritual.