Ramana Maharshi · Listen
The sacred sounds of Arunachala: what to listen to
Much of Arunachala's grace lives in sound ~ the Vedic chanting at the ashram, Ramana's own hymns sung to the hill, the Aksharamanamalai carried around the Girivalam road. A guide to the sacred audio of Arunachala, and where to find it, so you can carry the sound of the hill wherever you are.
There is a reason the traditions of Arunachala are so full of song. Sound ~ chanted, sung, repeated ~ is one of the oldest and most direct of all the ways to still the mind and turn it toward God, and at this hill it is everywhere: in the twice-daily Vedic chanting that has rolled through Sri Ramanasramam since Ramana's own time, in the Aksharamanamalai that devotees carry around the Girivalam path, in the bhajans that fill the Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram at dusk. You do not have to be at Arunachala to be touched by these sounds. Here is what to listen for, and where the authentic recordings may be found.
Out of respect for the ashrams that preserve these sacred recordings ~ and for copyright ~ we point you to the official sources rather than hosting the audio ourselves. The ashrams have lovingly made much of it freely available; please listen through their own channels, which also supports their work.
From Sri Ramanasramam
The ashram is the great keeper of the authentic sound of Ramana's tradition, and has made a wealth of it available.
The Vedaparayana (Vedic chanting)
The rolling, twice-daily chanting of the Vedas that has sounded at the ashram since Bhagavan's day ~ one of the most beautiful things to sit through, in person or in recording. It is chanted in the presence of Ramana's shrine morning and late afternoon.
Look for the official Sri Ramanasramam recordings and its online radio / audio archive.
The Five Hymns & the Aksharamanamalai
Ramana's own love-songs to Arunachala, chanted daily at the ashram ~ above all the Aksharamanamalai, the ‘Marital Garland of Letters’, sung to the hill as to a bridegroom. To hear it sung is to feel the devotion of the place directly.
Available through Sri Ramanasramam's published audio and its official app and channels.
Upadesa Saram, Ulladu Narpadu & the core texts
Ramana's key teachings, chanted in the traditional way ~ the Essence of Instruction, the Forty Verses, and more. Hearing the texts chanted, rather than only read, is a traditional aid to letting them sink in.
Sri Ramanasramam's official recordings and publications.
The ashram's own app and radio
Sri Ramanasramam has made much of its treasury genuinely accessible in the modern way ~ through an official app and online audio streams / radio that carry the chanting, the hymns, talks, and readings from the works. This is the simplest way for someone far from Arunachala to have the authentic sound of the ashram in their pocket. Search for the official Sri Ramanasramam app and its online radio, and prefer these to unofficial re-uploads, which are often incomplete or of poor quality ~ and which do not support the ashram that preserves the tradition.
The bhajans of the town
Beyond Ramanasramam's contemplative chanting runs the other great current of Arunachala's sound ~ the warm, rhythmic bhajans of the devotional path. The Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram resounds with the singing of the Name morning and evening, and the mantra he loved ~ Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram ~ can be found in recordings from his ashram's official channels. On a full-moon night, the whole Girivalam road becomes a river of song. If Ramanasramam's chanting is the sound of silence deepening, the town's bhajans are the sound of the heart pouring out ~ two devotions, one hill.
You need not understand a word of Sanskrit or Tamil for this to work on you ~ that is rather the point. Play the chanting quietly as you sit; let the Aksharamanamalai accompany your own walk, wherever you are; let the sound do what sound does, which is to gather the scattered mind and turn it, gently, homeward. Many who have been to Arunachala find that the recordings carry them straight back; many who have never been find that the sound is itself a kind of pilgrimage. For the hymns themselves, see the Five Hymns to Arunachala and the Aksharamanamalai.