Nina Rao
Experience an auspicious inner state of gratitude, intention, and wellbeing through the ancient devotional practices of Vedic and kirtan chanting… to access fortitude, focus, guidance, and inner peace during life’s most challenging times.
You know the soothing feeling that comes over you when you step out of the daily grind and into nature — to replenish, rejuvenate, and relax?
How would you like to be able to carry that feeling of deep peace, calm, and connectedness with you in every moment…
… to have a spiritual practice that brings a sense of refuge, solace, sustenance, and harmony during times of challenge or stress — or when circumstances feel out of control?
According to beloved chantress Nina Rao, spiritual seekers have for centuries turned to the ancient devotional practice of chanting mantras to cultivate a powerful internal sanctuary, much like what nature offers — providing a sense of security and the kind of inner refuge we all long for.
Even in our busy modern world, you can access this space of strength, comfort, and safety whenever you need… with the discipline of a daily chanting practice.
Embark on Nina's transformative 5-module journey into the practice of Vedic and kirtan chanting — a sacred tradition that aligns with the elemental energies of the universe to help you cultivate a deep sense of confidence and security in every moment.
Chanting offers spiritual sustenance that feeds and supports you… providing inner strength, resilience, and peace that you can return to time and again when life throws you off your center.
Chanting is more than music. It’s potent sound medicine that helps you navigate life’s challenges and grants you sustained access to your own divinity.
Mantra chanting in the form of kirtan is easily accessible to everyone — it’s now practiced all over the world for those who long to immerse themselves in the ocean of divine love through prayers sung from the heart…
… turning darker moods into positive actions.
Drawn from the highest authority in Hindu dharma, Vedic chanting is the practice of repeating a mantra without music, in which exactness in notes, rhythm, and pronunciation is vital…
… while kirtan, which evolved from the original roots of the Vedic mantras, is the sung, call-and-response style of chanting that may be more familiar to you.
The Vedic style is a structured concentration practice while the kirtan style is more flexible. Both styles produce greater wellbeing of your physical, mental, and emotional bodies.
You will be lead in both traditional Vedic and kirtan chanting so you can have an experience of the spectrum of practices available to you.
During this experiential course, you’ll:
- How mantras create an auspicious inner state of gratitude, intention, and wellbeing — a sanctuary for refuge and sustenance in times of duress
- The practice of both styles of chanting in each session — the Vedic and kirtan — diving deep, in particular, into the Gayatri Mantra
- That mantras connect you to your heart, where your own divinity resides — and guide you to experience that same divinity in the people and environment around you
- The precision and rule-driven nature of Vedic mantras and how they help you develop stronger concentration, deepen your practice, and honor the ancient tradition… compared to the kirtan that most of us are used to hearing (and singing!) in the West
- How the nature of sound can usher you into the subtle realms of consciousness where you can experience profound healing
- The peace and love that can wash over you as you dispel fear through chanting mantras
- How reciting or singing mantras with constant repetition will nurture you as you align with the elements of nature in your body and in the universe
- The love of the divine beings whose names you’re chanting and a sense of security and confidence that all will be well
- Why the knowledge of Vedic mantras holds the power to harmonize and uplift your individual existence, as well as your relationship with nature and your community
- That a sustained chanting practice can evoke and invoke qualities that help you positively experience life — surrender, patience, courage, gratitude, generosity, compassion, trust, love, devotion, clarity, and wisdom
- And much more…
Throughout this heart-nurturing program, you’ll find that a mantra practice can help you become more attuned to the interconnected web of life and develop a greater sense of compassion for yourself and all beings. As a result, you naturally experience a stronger sense of belonging and oneness with All That Is.
You’ll explore mantra as a powerful vehicle for cultivating focus by continually drawing you back to your heart and the core of your being. With every repetition, you’ll immerse yourself in the sacred vibrations that reverberate through your body, mind, and spirit — anchoring your attention in the present moment.
By consistently returning to the essence of your being through mantra, you’ll forge a deep connection with your true self — building resilience and mental fortitude, and nurturing a sense of focus that extends to all aspects of your life.
Nina explains that mantra is like a precious jewel and that it has the power to unlock profound insights and foster inner transformation. It sharpens concentration, calms the mind, and elevates consciousness.
Like a radiant gemstone, this practice brings to light the intrinsic beauty and potential that lie within you — guiding you on a path of self-discovery, personal growth, and spiritual awakening.
By the end of this course, you’ll have the ability to develop your own daily practice and devote yourself to the mantras that speak most to you.
What You’ll Discover in These 5 Modules
In this 5-module transformational intensive, Nina guides you through the fundamental skills and wisdom you need to cultivate an auspicious inner state of sustained fortitude, focus, and guidance — no matter what life brings to your door — through Vedic chanting and devotional kirtan.
The Beauty of On-Demand
This course features step-by-step teachings and experiential practices from Nina. Each session builds harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to develop your own mantra chanting practice, so you can access inner peace during life’s most challenging times. Your purchase includes 24/7 ongoing access to your course content, allowing you time to review the materials at your own pace and integration.
Module 1 Cultivate Heightened Consciousness, Courage, Gratitude, Compassion, Wisdom, Clarity & Love Through Mantra Practice
The Gayatri Mantra remains the most widely practiced of all the mantras over the eons. By invoking the brilliance of your inner sun, you illuminate and open your heart and mind.
In this opening module, Nina will teach this mantra in the traditional Vedic style, leading you in pronunciation and the use of svaras — or correct notes — for chanting this mantra. You’ll then chant one of the most widely chanted mantras in kirtan, the “Maha Mantra”: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
In this session, you’ll:
- Experience greater wellbeing through your connection with nature
- Use ritual to welcome in and cultivate personal qualities of expanded consciousness, patience, courage, gratitude, compassion, generosity, wisdom, devotion, clarity, focus, love, and healing
- Learn correct pronunciation for the Gayatri Mantra and the Maha Mantra
Module 2 Practice Mantras for Long Life
In this session, you’ll review the Gayatri Mantra, which you learned in the first class, and chant 108 repetitions together. You’ll then have a chance to ask questions about this practice.
Nina will also guide you through a kirtan mantra in devotion to White Tara. She learned this practice from the Tibetan spiritual master Garchen Rinpoche, who practiced the dharma from a young age. He’s considered to be an emanation of White Tara and while he’s experienced a great deal of suffering throughout his life, White Tara always came to his aid. Eventually he brought his learnings and teachings to the West out of compassion for all beings.
In this session, you’ll:
- Deepen your practice and understanding of the Gayatri Mantra with review and repetition
- Invoke the healing and protecting powers of the White Tara mantra
- Cultivate greater mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health through the chanting mantras
Module 3 Allow Mantras to Ground
Obstacles can arise from good as well as bad circumstances, but they should never deter or overpower you. Be like the earth, which supports all living creatures indiscriminately, without distinguishing good from bad. The earth is simply there. Your practice should be strengthened by the difficult situations you encounter, just as a bonfire in a strong wind is not blown out, but blazes even brighter.
— Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
In India, the Creator as the sustainer is worshiped in the form of Vishnu, also known as Narayana, and his feminine aspect Narayani — the goddess who has many other forms including Bhumi Devi or Mother Earth. Vishnu manifests all the planes of the Universe, unveils its laws, and manifests the universe under these laws.
Narayana — with 1000 heads, eyes, and limbs — is also hidden in the hearts of all beings. Resplendent like a flame, you can visualize him through meditation and ask him for help.
Nina will share some stories about her guru, Sri Siddhi Ma, and other saints as told by devotees. Hearing of these saints is a practice in and of itself and an important part of bhakti yoga, or the yoga of devotion.
You’ll build on the structure of the Gayatri Mantra by chanting the Vishnu Gayatri mantra — from the ancient sacred text — learning the pronunciation and structure. You’ll repeat this mantra 108 times, which is an auspicious number. The repetition of mantra, called japa, helps put an end to samsara — the cycle of birth and death and consequent suffering — and removes all obstructions for liberation from this cycle.
Nina will also lead you in an extended call-and-response kirtan chanting of “Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya” — the mantra that has been emblazoned in Nina’s heart and mind since her visit to Badrinath Temple, a sacred pilgrimage spot in the high Himalayas. It’s meant to invoke the presence of Vishnu/Narayana.
In this session, you’ll:
- Engage in a full 108 rounds of mantra repetition (or japa) to create a deep meditative space
- Be nurtured by the recitations of mantras that bring you closer to the elements of nature
- Enjoy singing call-and-response chants to feel more grounded, stable, and connected to divinity
Module 4 Create an Environment of Auspiciousness to Experience Unfathomable Bliss
What does auspiciousness mean to you, and how do we create an environment of auspiciousness?
In this module, Nina will share about asking for not only what you need on the material level, but also the ability and stamina to do practices in which you wish everyone well. This is called raising bodhichitta — the Buddhist concept of praying with compassion for the awakening of all beings to the reality of life.
You’ll focus on the goddess, the feminine aspect of the Divine — the goddess who is Mother Nature herself and provides for all our needs — in the forms of Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Durga. The goddess in both the Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist traditions has different names and forms that reflect the light of the multi-faceted jewel that she is. Nina will guide you in kirtan in devotion to these three goddesses.
When you chant the Devi Navaratri Puja, you invoke Durga, whose energy and weapons destroy inner demons. Sarasvati gives the gift of knowledge and practice for purification and enlightenment. And you’ll implore the goddess in her form as Lakshmi to stay for an enduring auspicious environment.
Lakshmi casts the spell of the intoxicating sweetness of the Divine. To be close to her results in profound happiness… and to feel her within your heart is to experience rapture and marvel. Grace, charm, and tenderness flow out from her like a light from the sun — and wherever she fixes her wonderful gaze or offers the loveliness of her smile, the soul is seized, made captive, and plunged into the depths of an unfathomable bliss.
In this session, you’ll:
- Invoke auspiciousness to enter to the space of the goddess through the singing of prayers
- Connect with the feminine aspect of the Divine to call abundant sweetness into your life
- Call upon the energies of the goddesses of Durga, Sarasvati, and Lakshmi to cleanse, enlighten, and create auspiciousness in our lives.
Module 5 Contribute to Your Own Peace
Nina says that the combination of harmony and alignment dispels fear.
Before we can contribute to any peace-keeping efforts among people, animals, and nature, we first have to find peace within ourselves. This is why we practice.
Practicing together with teachers and community (satsang) helps us along this path. With our combined efforts and energy we help each other — and everyone around us responds synergistically.
Grace is raining down on you all the time, and all you have to do is cup your hands to receive it. By offering gratitude for what you have, you can wish grace and wellbeing for others with love and an open, compassionate heart.
In this closing module, you’ll learn the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra in Vedic style, dedicated to Lord Shiva, the absolute, who liberates our minds so we merge with the Oneness that connects us all. As you chant in devotion to Shiva, you begin to expiate your karma as fruit ripens in the sun, and when ready, releases from the tree with ease.
You’ll also sing Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, wishing all beings happiness and peace.
In this final class, you’ll:
- Welcome harmony, peace, and alignment into your life through the devotional practice of chanting
- Connect with the energy of Shiva who liberates our minds and connects us with higher consciousness
- Cultivate gratitude that showers us with grace, wellbeing, love, and compassion for others
- Allow peace and love to wash over you as you sing to wish all beings well
SPECIAL BONUS OFFER
In addition to Nina’s transformative 5-module course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Course Materials
The Hanuman Chalisa in Song
Video Recording of Live Event With Nina Rao
This recording is from an uplifting and immersive event, in which Nina Rao leads a group through the Hanuman Chalisa in a variety of melodies. Nina's attention and devotion are palpable. Watch and sing along, as Nina’s accompanied by Benjy Wertheimer on tabla, Mark Gorman on bass, Brad Stoller on guitar, and Genevieve Walker on violin.
What People Are Saying About Nina Rao…
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Here’s What You’ll Receive
Five 90-Minute On-Demand Modules
Experience a unique opportunity to learn from seeker and chantress Nina Rao — from the comfort of your own home. Each session includes a streaming video and will guide you to experience an auspicious inner state of gratitude, intention, and wellbeing through the ancient devotional practices of Vedic and kirtan chanting.
Five Transcripts of Sessions
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive session transcriptions. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Exercises and Suggestions for Integrating Each Lesson
Between sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, Traditional Vedic Chanting & Devotional Kirtan as Sound Medicine
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
If you don’t absolutely LOVE Traditional Vedic Chanting & Devotional Kirtan as Sound Medicine — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form 14 days from your date of purchase and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Nina Rao
worldwide icon and bestselling Western chant master
author and founder of Dharma Moon
author and founder of Tara Mandala
author and teacher of contemplative practices
student of life, author, and grateful upholder of the Buddha teaching found in all ways of love and in every flower and blade of grass
About Nina Rao
