Bhajan, Kirtan, Smaran etc are various forms of singing His name that purify the mind and connect it with an eternal flow of love for ista, aradhya or God. This psycho-spiritual state of strong attachment, deep love and profound reverence aroused from constant bhajan is what we call as bhakti or devotion........

Bhajans are usually based on pure ragas or as light classical compositions and folk tunes. The lyrics are very important as it reflects 'Bhakti' or devotion which equates to prayer.

Every religion has its own devotional songs. However, one must make a distinction between songs accompanying religious ritual and those containing emotions of devotion, divine love towards god, surrender. The first category of ritual songs and compositions are mainly in Sanskrit or the language of religion and the second category of songs and compositions are bhajans as we understand them today and are composed by saints and devotees in the regional colloquial languages.

Traditionally, a bhajan is sung in a group comprising devotees, with a lead singer. Sankeertan is the best example of this kind of singing. Sankeertan is a repetition of words and phrases with fixed tunes and it achieves a kind of "tunal mesmerism." Whereas various tunes can be composed for the bhajan and the singing involves a process of development of emotional feelings of devotion, divine love and surrender. Anecdotes, episodes from the lives of gods, preaching of saints, description of god's glories have been the subject of bhajans.

Tuning the composition of bhajans has been a development in the last two centuries. Till about the beginning of the 20th Century, the Raga Sangeet was the preserve of kings, and rich sections of society whereas Bhajan Sangeet was the music of the masses and was practised mainly by priests and religious preachers.

Bahrain Ayyappa Bhaktha Samaj

Established in 1985 by a group of devotees from all folks of life involved in bhajan-singing by following the traditional method of invoking the divine and there by creating a tremendous stress-removing impact through prayers.

Devotees from Bahrain Ayyappa Bhakta Samaj unhesitatingly participate in the singing, creating a divine recreation and consequently a kind of mental relaxation. The words, tunes, rhythms and the typical repetitive style of our bhajans give a certain sense of permanency something each one of us is secretly pining for.

We usually perform uplifting devotional bhajans on Vinayaka, Guru, Murugan, Siva, Vishnu, Sakthi, Lakshmi and divine compositions on Lord Ayyappa. Most of our activites will be scheduled during Mandalam season every year. We usually perform Sastapreethi during Mandalam Seasons at different places based on personal requests and a special pooja and bhajan will be conducted in temple hall on Mandalam day and Makara Vilakku day.

We are blessed and gifted by many Bagavathaas, like Shri Udayalur Kalyanaraman, Shri Kovai Jayaraman, Shri O.S. Sunder, Shri Erode Rajamani, Shri Manjapra Mohan, Shri Brahmasri Thanjavur Thiagaraja Bhagavathar and others.

Hariharabhajanam.com is just a beginning of our attempt to make our presence in the web and to share our divine experience with every devotee. Here you will find latest updates on our achievements, our activites, schedules on future programmes, articles. Very soon we will be making our bhajans (audio and videos) available for download.

This site is still under construction. Your valuable suggestions will be highly appreciated.