Om Shanti Meditation Ragas on Swarmandal by Ashwin Batish

Om Shanti Meditation on Swarmandal

The ancient Indian Harp called "Achal Veena"

By Shri Ashwin Batish

Track Listings:

1. Raga Bilaval - Play After Sunrise
2. Raga Bageshwari - Play After Sunset

All music composed and performed by Ashwin Batish (ASCAP).

Album Description

Relaxation Through Music

This music evokes the Shanta Rasa- an aura of peace and tranquility, a state of being essential to meditation. Swara means a musical note and “Mandal” means a multitude or group. Each string is especially tuned to the proper shruti and is in perfect harmony. The main idea behind the playing of the Swaramandal is the way its delicate web of music producing strings are handled.

The Om Shanti Series was initiated by Ashwin Batish and his father Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish when approached by many people looking for pure tonal music to meditate, relax, or to do daily yoga practice to. The music is un-metered, very slow, fluid, and extremely relaxing. Each note of the raga (modal scale) is fine tuned to enhance its natural soothing qualities.

Two Tanpuras add soothing drone in the background.

About the Swarmand (Indian Harp)

The swarmandal has about 30 playing strings encompassing a four octave range. It has to be re-tuned every time a new raga is evoked. The tuning is modal and in just intonation (as opposed to the tempered intonation of Western instruments). Thus each note is in perfect harmony with the rest. Playing or listening to these notes will evoke within you a corresponding state of peace, tranquility and inner harmony.

While listening to the tape, take deep breaths and chant Om. You should feel your voice vibrating in your chest when you utter Om. This will have a very relaxing effect on your body and mind. Chanting Om in a slow deliberate manner will also help you inhale and exhale easily and evenly hence acting as a breathing exercise which in the long run will produce a marked improvement on your mental and physical well being.