Many people sing romantic songs. How does one respond to people who ask, “What’s the use of doing that? Can’t that time be spent doing something useful instead?” Only one who has experienced something knows whether it is beneficial or not. People enjoy listening to ordinary songs. Similarly, when devotees listen to bhajans, they forget everything else and become absorbed in the bhajans.
Worldly emotions and relationships are typically the subject of ordinary songs, and listeners relish the mood behind these songs. But when bhajans and prayers are sung, both the singers and the audience experience peace of mind. Disco music arouses emotional vibrations. Listening to romantic songs evokes the mood between lover and beloved as well as related emotions and thoughts.
Bhajans remind us of our relationship with God. Here, divine qualities are awakened instead of emotions. Bhajans impart peace to singer and listener alike. God-realization is not the only aim of singing bhajans. It offers other advantages, too. Through prayer, the devotee begins contemplating. A child repeats a word 10 times and thus memorizes the word. In the same way, when one sings bhajans and reiterates divine qualities, these qualities take root in the heart, creating an awakening in life.
Prayers borne of positive thoughts create positive vibrations; prayers arising from negative thoughts create negative vibrations. When one prays for the destruction of one’s enemy, one is filled with thoughts of anger. The world then receives angry vibrations from this person. The attitude behind the prayer determines the vibrations that the world receives from the one who prays.
