CMB Sangeet is a devotional group at Chinmaya Mission Boston.  The group performs at Sri Chinmaya Maruti Temple on festival days and at important events. On the third Thursday of every month, the team presents "Bhajan Sandhya" at the temple.

Two years ago, the group came into existence with the simple objective of spread the feeling of devotion through music.  The group's mission statement is "Music as Bhakti Yoga". In addition to devotional music sessions, the group has also brought out three devotional CD albums to date.  These are envisioned as a series of prayer beads.  

The first CD album was "Bead - 1" that consisted of all verses of BhajaGovindam and Hanuman Chalisa.  The "Bead - 2" CD album comprises of Sri Rama Gita and Ramayan Ji Ki Arati. The latest album, "Bead - 3", released in Nov. 2011 consists of 14 abodes of Sri Rama (from Ayodhya Kanda of Ram Charita Manas) and Sri Rama Stuti.

 In spring, 2011, the group presented bhajans live on 91.5FM WUML "Gunjan" radio.  In order to promote devotional music in the community, the group also plays at House Concerts.

Such concerts are held to mark special days such anniversaries, birthdays or puja.  The group shall present devotional songs and bhajans in multiple languages at such concerts. The team consists of five singers, and three instrumentalists - all of who love serving the community through their devotional music.

What motivated you to start Chinmaya Mission Boston Sangeet team?

Chinmaya Mission Boston (CMB) underwent a major expansion of its facility in July 2009 with the focus to serve the spiritual, educational, devotional and cultural needs of the Greater Boston community.  Towards this end, the new state-of-the art facility houses 24 class rooms for Bal Vihar, the beautiful Sri Chinmaya Maruti Temple and a meditation hall, a 375 seat auditorium and a Community Hall with capacity for serving 150-200 people. Soon after the Kumbhabhishekam Celebrations in July 2009, efforts were underway to offer more programs at the Temple. Singing Bhajans on Thursdays is a typical offering to the Lord and Guru (Teacher). A few members of the group started informal Bhajans at the temple in Sep. 2009.  A fledgling CMB Sangeet was thus born, but did not get its name until much later.

The objective was simple - to present Bhajans and devotional music at the Sri Chinmaya Maruti Temple on a regular basis. There are quite a few people who have sung Bhajans at the CMB over the years, but this was perhaps the first attempt to bring the interested people together as a team. Thus, CMB Sangeet was formed under the guidance of our Bal Vihar coordinator, Dr. Shashi Dwarakanath.

How did the team come together?

Once the initial team was in place, more members joined over a period of few months. A critical quality that each team member possesses is devotion towards the lord and a big passion for music. Primarily, our projects require a lot of dedication and focus.

Our team comprises of working professionals, who love to give their time and put in efforts to promote devotional music. Currently, the team comprises of seven vocalists - Madhusudhan Akkihebbal, Dr. Laxmi Ramesh, Padma Sundareshan, Rakshit Mazumdar, Naresh Parmar, Dr. Vijaykumar Harohalli, and Seema Gupte. Dr. Ravi Mosurkal plays harmonium and is also a singer. Our tabla player is Raghav Ranjan. Dr. Satish Ananthaiyer accompanies us on guitar and also leads us in chants. Ramesh Nayak is our audio engineer, and also the producer of our CD albums. Madhusudhan Akkihebbal is the coordinator of the team.

What musical training do you have?

Some of the team members have formal training in vocal and instrumental classical music, and a few of us are presently in the pursuit of classical music training (Carnatic and Hindustani).  The team members continue to explore different genres of light music and semi-classical music.

Why did you decide to focus on Bhajans rather than popular music as a focus for your group?

Being part of Sri Chinmaya Maruti, our prime objective was to create a team that can serve the community's needs for Bhajans and devotional music. A couple of our vocalists also sing in some of the popular external music groups. However, CMB Sangeet is a music team where the key elements such as service, devotion and music amalgamate to bring out good devotional music.

On the third Thursday of every month, we present "Bhajan Sandhya" at the Sri Chinmaya Maruti temple between 7 and 8 p.m. We also present Bhajans during important festival days and Pooja events at the Temple. An offshoot of CMB Sangeet is the Balagopala Bhajan Mandali that comprises of a group of children between ages 4-13 led by Dr. Laxmi Ramesh and Dr. Ravi Mosurkal. The Mandali also presents kid friendly Bhajans during important events held at the Sri Chinmaya Maruti Temple. This is raising awareness of Bhajans and devotional music among the kids.

Could you tell us about your CDs? How can people obtain them?

As far as the devotional music is concerned, we continue to expand our collection with new numbers and genres. It was during Shivaraatri celebrations in 2010 that Ramesh Nayak saw the team present Bhajans at the Center. He thought that CMB Sangeet could bring more value to the community by putting together devotional CD albums. Thus, the team considered some of the great works of devotion by Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Tulsidas-Ji, Bhagvan Sri Ramana Maharshi, etc for the CD albums. CMB Sangeet was very fortunate to receive training and direction for the production of its second CD album from Raghav’s father Sri. V.N. Shrivastav Ji.

Our devotional CD album series is called as a series of beads, as in prayer beads! Someday, the team hopes to produce 108 beads - the number of beads in the prayer maala. Our first CD (Bead - 1) was released in May, 2010. It comprised of Adi Shankaracharya's Bhaja Govindam (all 31 verses) and Hanuman Chalisa. The second one, Bead - 2 was released towards the end of 2010. It consists of Sri Rama Gita (from Sri Tulsidas' Ramacharita Manas, Aranya Kand) and Ramayan Ji Ki Arati. Our latest CD album, Bead - 3 was released last month. This CD has verses from Sri Tulsidas' Ramacharita Manas (Ayodhya Kand) and Ram Stuti. We also plan to bring out popular Bhajan CDs next year. The CDs are available at the CMB Bookstore (1, Union St., Andover, MA 01810).

Do you perform for house poojas or small gathering?

Yes, CMB Sangeet also performs at house concerts. Our mission statement is "music as Bhakti yoga" - we are glad to bring devotional music and Bhajans to people's homes, to share it with their family and friends. Interested people can contact us to present devotional music sessions at their home to mark occasions such as pooja, birthdays and anniversaries. All proceeds from our activities such as house concerts and the CD sales go directly to Chinmaya Mission Boston.

The objective is to take Bhajans and devotional music to the community. We also love to sing in different Indian languages - Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and more. Earlier this year, the group also presented Bhajans live on the popular "Gunjan" radio program (WUML, 91.5 FM) - it was very well received by the listeners.

Any special message for our readers?

CMB Sangeet is happy to spread the joy of devotion through our music. To know more about our CD albums or house concerts, please email us at cmb.sangeet@gmail.com . Our website address is http://srichinmayamaruti.org/  (look for CMB Sangeet tab). You may friend us on FaceBook (http://facebook.com/cmbsangeet) and also check out some of our videos on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/cmbsangeet).

Thanks.

Thanks to Lokvani.com for talking to us.

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