"What you give to me or in my name, I will give you back a thousand times". Bhagavan Shri Krishna in Geeta
	On this page, you will find: MAA's Bhajan Circle & Prayer Circle "Bhajan-no Vepar" - the business of bhajans The Big Difference of: Singing for Yourself vs. Singing To Help Others Join Us in Giving Dedicate Bhajans For Family/Friends/Others How Far Does This Go How to Dedicate a Bhajan Get Bhajan CDs for FREE About the DVDs "Shiva Linga Pooja" "Is the Mind part of the Body or part of the Soul" How to Get the DVDs Donation Gets "Thank You" Gift Download Copy & Share INCOME OPPORTUNITY - For Retail Stores & Home Based Agents MAA's Bhajan Circle and Prayer Circle 32 million children in India do not get the opportunity to go to school. They are growing up without any kind of education at all - orphans, homeless children on the streets, neglected and abused children, bonded children forced to work long hours under cruel conditions. When we think of helping, more commonly we think of helping materially. While material help is essential, we forget that we can also help spiritually. Spiritual help is equally essential. Bhajan Circle MAA's Bhajan Circle is a network of Bhajan Mandals, singers, musicians and devotees who dedicate their bhajans to pray for these helpless children and to create awareness about their horrifying situation. In many cities bhajan devotees are finding a new meaning and purpose for singing bhajans and this new awareness gives them deeper devotion. In bhajan programs in Mandirs and people's homes devotees are dedicating their bhajans to pray for these less fortunate children. Many singers and musicians dedicate every bhajan. Many more families want to host bhajan programs. Find out (below) what happens when you sing for yourself and what happens when you sing to help others and, if you get the spark, we welcome you to join us. Please contact: BhajanCircle@mata-annapurna-ashram.org Prayer Circle It started with just a few people. Now there are several thousand. Everyday more and more people are joining this prayer circle. We pray for education and welfare of these children. Wherever you may be, please devote a few minutes every morning and/or evening to join us in prayer. When many people pray together for a single purpose, the prayer becomes more powerful. People from all over the world have joined the prayer circle and, due to time difference, at any time of the day or night, there is morning or evening in some parts of the world. Thus, we are praying around the clock, day and night. Add the power of your prayer to this joint effort. You can also teach your children to pray for these children. Your children will learn kindness, compassion, care, and it will enrich their own lives in more ways than we can imagine. It can happen only if you involve them in acts of kindness. They do not learn this from books or computers. Send an email to join: PrayerCircle@mata-annapurna-ashram.org Then, for a few minutes every morning and/or evening, though physically you may be in your own home, join your thoughts in prayer with thousands of others all over the world. "Bhajan-no Vepar" - the business of bhajans My mother (Godavariben) has a natural gift for singing bhajans - very sweet voice with emotions. People who know her want to be there when she sings. In Dar-es-Salaam (where I grew up) we had two beautiful Mandirs, several bhajan mandals and many talented and devoted singers and musicians. Many people were devoted to two regular bhajan programs that were rarely cancelled for any reason. Every Tuesday night we had bhajans at the Mandir from 8 to 10. Every Saturday night we had bhajans in as many homes as there were bhajan mandals with every home over crowded with people. There were always more hosts than bhajan mandals so bhajans would be at different homes every week. The program would start at 9pm and go on until 5am the next morning with breaks in between for tea and snacks. Early morning breakfast for those who stay all night even if they fall asleep half way. This was a tradition, a way of life. My mother was a prominent bhajan singer and everyone's favorite. Even now, at age 82, people fall in love with her bhajans. Naturally, I have been in love with her bhajans since childhood. One such bhajan is this: "Kar maan bhajan-no vepar, Dhani tara naam-no aadhar, Kar maan bhajan-no vepar". In English, it is: "O mind, make bhajan your business, Get involved and involve others in bhajans, God's name is your support". As a kid, I used to hold on to that thought and imagine, sometimes for hours and sometimes for days, what it would be like, to do "bhajan-no vepar". And so, with my heart full of gratitude and my eyes full of joyful tears, for her limitless love, kindness, care, patience, tolerence and understanding, for a very happy childhood, for giving me good 'sanskar', for putting bhajans in my life and for doing a million other good things which I will never even understand, I humbly and prayerfully 'arpan' (submit) this 'bhajan-no vepar', 'mari Matana charanoma', at the feet of my mother, my "Janeta". Singing for Yourself vs. Singing To Help Others It doesn't matter if you are a bhajan mandal singing in a gathering or an individual singing at home, alone or with family. It doesn't matter if you sing or play music or clap and sing along or just sit quietly and enjoy the satsang. It doesn't matter if you are doing it for devotion to God or doing it professionally for money and fame or simply because it makes you feel good. None of that matters. What matters is, does it do anything for anyone other than yourself? Are you doing it for yourself or are you doing it to help someone? That is what really matters. Bhagavan Shri Krishna has said in Geeta, "What you give to me or in my name, I will give you back a thousand times." Does this mean we sing bhajans in His praise so He will sit down with harmoniam and tabla and sing a thousand bhajans in our praise? Is that what it means? No? Then, what does it mean? Let us say that you get one point for singing one bhajan (here singing also means participating in, listening to or just being there). So you get whatever you are praying for, whether material or spiritual, equal to one point. When you sing bhajans for yourself, the thought in your mind, the intent and purpose of your karma, the wish, desire, prayer and hope in your heart, is something like this, "O God, please give me success, money, fame, please give good health and happiness to my children, O God, I want to go to heaven." In doing that you are not giving anything to God. You want the benefit of your karma for yourself. Since you are not giving anything to God, He does not give you anything back. You get your one point for one bhajan and all the things you are praying for, equal to one point. When you sing bhajans to help others (let us say you want to help the poor kids in India), the thought in your mind, the intent and purpose of your karma, the wish, desire, prayer and hope in your heart, would be something like this, "O God, please help those poor kids, they are helpless and they are hurting, they need your help. O God, please take care of them." In doing that you are doing your karma to help those kids. You are giving the benefit of your karma to them. You do not want anything for yourself. The kids get the benefit of your karma. As for you, you gave it all to the kids, but "what you give to me or in my name, I will give you back a thousand times", because you did your karma to help them, you gave the benefit of your karma to them, God gives you back the benefit a thousand fold. You get a thousand points for every bhajan and success, money, good health, happiness and everything else, in that measure. It is the same karma. The time, money, energy, effort you put in it is the same. The way you do it is the same. Everything is the same. Only your desire is different. The outcome of your karma depends on your desire, not on anything else. If you think of yourself, try to help yourself, you actually end up being a loser. If you think of others, do your karma to help others, you get thousand times the benefit. Join us in giving 32 million children in India do not get the opportunity to go to school. They are growing up without any kind of education at all - orphans, homeless children on the streets, neglected and abused children, bonded children forced to work long hours under cruel conditions. When we think of helping, more commonly we think of helping materially. While material help is essential, we forget that we can also help spiritually. Spiritual help is equally essential. MAA and MAA's volunteers are devoted to the education and welfare of these chidren. If you are a Mandir, a Bhajan Mandal, a group of friends or an individual singing bhajans, you can help by doing this: 1. Dedicate each bhajan to help these innocent, helpless children or to help some other needy people (or person). Before starting the bhajan, let the lead singer announce the people (or person) for whom that bhajan is being dedicated and for a few moments let everyone bow their heads and silently pray for those people. 2. At the end of every program, please inform everyone about MAA's Prayer Circle and its purpose. 3. If you like to help these children materialy, start to form your own group. You can easily help one NGO. It is very simple, easy and low budget. All you need is a strong desire to help and willingness to make the effort. We will provide the necessary support. If you are not a registered non-profit organization, we can help you register. 4. We will help you raise funds. The amount people spend on a cup of coffee or soda (in a foreign country) is enough to provide two nutritious meals to a child in India. Considering that, this is a very low budget program. Whatever people give voluntarily will most likely be sufficient to help one NGO. We will help you if you run short of funds. 5. We will help you record some of your programs. We produce CDs of selected bhajans and distribute worldwide to create awareness about the horrifying situation of these children and to involve people in praying for them. So far, we have produced and distributed 16 CDs. People like these CDs because they are recorded live in Mandirs and people's homes, not in studios. Singers and musicians are regular 'bhajan mandal' people. Listeners get genuine 'bhajan mandal' atmosphere and feel they are live at the program. We have also produced one high quality DVD, "Shiva Linga Pooja". It is professionally filmed, edited and mastered. When you are ready, we will help you produce and distribute on your own. 6. It is a miracle of bhajans that bhajans become instrumental in education and welfare of these helpless children. We can't even begin to imagine the miracles the children's blessings will create. We, the volunteers of MAA are truly blessed to be a part of this miracle. With great pleasure we welcome you to join us and share this miracle and many more that are bound to happen. Dedicate Bhajans For Family/Friends/Others Praying for the less fortunate is a practical way of showing our gratitude to God. Praying for oneself and one's family and friends is equally essential. Praying when going through difficult times helps us overcome the problems. Praying during happy days brings many more happy days. Bhajans are dedicated to pray for children in various places in India, for children and adults in India and abroad who may be sick or injured, for disaster victims and for many other people. Bhajans are also dedicated for family members, relatives and friends who may be going through difficult times or celebrating happy occassions. How Far Does This Go I am looking at something here. Please tell me if you see what I see. There may be 50, 100 or 200 people at a bhajan program. The singers, musicians, the volunteers, the host family and everyone present, would be the first people to dedicate a bhajan and pray for the people for whom the bhajan is dedicated. Then, we put the bhajan in a CD and distribute it worldwide. We will never put any restriction on copying and sharing for personal and private, non-commercial purpose. We encourage people to make copies and share with everyone. So people make copies and share with more people. Then those people make copies and share with more people. It keeps multiplying. In the bhajan program, before each bhajan, the singer announces the people for whom that bhajan is dedicated and there is a brief pause during which everyone silently prays for those people. This is recorded in the CD. So, everytime a person listens to a bhajan, the person dedicates the bhajan again and prays for the people for whom the bhajan is dedicated. Thus, one bhajan will be dedicated time and again. No one can count or estimate or even guess how many people will get the CDs and how many times a bhajan will be dedicated. It is countless. Only God will know. We know only this: Every single person who plays any part in this whole thing, does anything big or small, in one way or another, becomes a partner in this ever-contineous 'punya' karma. When I was a little boy my father once told me a very fascinating thing, "It takes only one seed to plant a tree and no one can tell how many fruits that tree will bear and how many more trees from those fruits and how many more fruits from those trees." How to Dedicate a Bhajan Any individual or organization can send a request to dedicate a bhajan for any person or group of people including self, family members, relatives and friends, to pray for others or to pray for oneself and one's family, for anything and everything we all always pray for. You can send your request to a Bhajan Mandal in your area. They will dedicate a bhajan as per your request. You can also send your request to MAA, online click here or by regular mail. We will forward it to a Bhajan Mandal in your area. If the Bhajan Mandal in your area has many requests pending, then we will forward it to any Bhajan Mandal in any area that does not have a long waiting list. We keep track of all requests received at MAA. We can tell you to whom your request was forwarded and when a bhajan was dedicated. For requests sent to Bhajan Mandals directly, you need to inquire with them. Only people for whom the bhajan is dedicated are announced. People requesting the dedication are not mentioned. In your request you can say "any bhajan" or specify a bhajan by writing its first line. We can dedicate a bhajan of your choice but cannot honor your request for a particular singer. All bhajans in a bhajan program are dedicated but all bhajans are not put in a CD. Bhajan dedicated at your request may or may not be put in a CD. DONATIONS Bhajans are dedicated on request. There is no fee. Donation is optional. No amount is too small or too big. All requests are treated equally and honored in the order they are received whether accompanied by a donation or not and regardless of the donation amount. You can give/send your donation directly to the Bhajan Mandal to whom you send your request. You can also send it to MAA at our HQ in California or online, please click here. If you send it to MAA, we will forward the entire amount to the Bhajan Mandal to whom we forward your request. MAA does not keep any portion of it, not even one percent. However, MAA will keep a track of your request if you send it to MAA. MAA and MAA's volunteers are devoted to the education and welfare of working children in India. 100% of donation amount goes to help the children. No part of it goes for any expense. MAA raises funds separately and specifically for expenses. MAA welcomes and appreciates contributions to cover numerous expenses. These contributions should be clearly marked "For Expenses". 100% of this amount will be used for expenses. Please mail your check (no cash please) to: Mata Annapurna Ashram, Post Office Box 6918, Buena Park, CA 90622-9998 USA, or make a contribution online, Click Here Most Bhajan Mandals in MAA's Bhajan Circle work with and provide material and moral support to one or more NGOs involved in children's education and welfare. Some Bhajan Mandals get involved as soon as they join the Bhajan Circle. Some take time to fully understand the work involved and to get their volunteers ready. MAA does not impose any time limit. The Bhajan Mandals can, MAA also can, tell you if a Bhajan Mandal is involved in this activity or not. All Bhajan Mandals in MAA's Bhajan Circle are independent organizations. MAA does not control them directly or indirectly and MAA is not involved in their work. If a Bhajan Mandal is not involved in education/welfare of working children in India, it will give you info about their activities and use of funds. How to get Bhajan CDs 1. You can get them FREE from Bhajan Mandals. Donation is optional. No amount is too small or too big. Whatever you donate stays with the Bhajan Mandal you donate it to. MAA does not take anything from that. Bhajan Mandals use that money to support one or more NGOs involved in education and welfare of working children in India. 2. Copy & Share. We permit and encourage "copy & share" for personal and private, non-commercial purpose. Only one copy per family. No other permission is given or implied. When you make or receive a copy from someone, please donate $2 or £2 to MAA. MAA uses all that money to help the children in India. Nothing goes for MAA's expenses. MAA raises funds separately and specifically for expenses. About the DVDs MAA has produced "Shiva Linga Pooja". It is not an event staged for the purpose of making the DVD. This is a real pooja as we do it in our Mandir every Monday. When you see this DVD you will feel like you are in the Mandir participating in the pooja. With this DVD you can participate in the real pooja (from home) as often as you want. All you need to do is light a diya and agarbatti. If you believe that doing Shiva Pooja regularly brings happiness, peace and prosperity in our lives, then you want to have this DVD in your home. The DVD comes with an audio CD. "Aatmajyot" is a spiritual discussion forum created to discuss intriguing spiritual questions. If you have a spiritual question that you have seriously thought about and not been able to find an answer, you can discuss your question here. Aatmajyot's first discussion DVD, "Is the Mind part of the Body or part of the Soul?"  was released in January 2005. This is a deep discussion. It is not likely that you look at it once and figure out what it is all about. You need to listen to it several times, over a period of time, and do your own thinking. More you think, more you benefit. The DVD comes with an audio CD. Whether a person's interest is in life hereafter or only in success and happiness here and now, these discussions will enrich a person's thinking, make him/her more aware and help him/her find answers and happiness, both spiritual and material. More info: http://www.aatmajyot.com How to get the DVDs There are several options. These options provide opportunity to those who are blessed with more to contribute more. The options also ensure that anyone interested in these DVDs is not left out because of money. Please choose the option that is right for you. We have created two levels of donation so that everyone can choose the level they are comfortable with. 1)  This first level is for those who are blessed with more and are looking for ways to give back to society. The "Thank You" gift we offer is not a trade-off or value for money but a token of our appreciation for being with us. 1. You will receive an original DVD of your choice as a "Thank You" gift from MAA when you donate any amount between US$21 to $121 (Sterling £21 to £121 in Europe) for education and welfare of working children in India. This gift is not offered for donations for other purposes like disaster relief. Please make your check payable to "Mata Annapurna Ashram". To donate online, Click Here. From your donation, US$6 (Sterling £6 in Europe) will go for the cost and expenses of the DVD. (If you choose "Aatmajyot" DVD, this amount will be paid to Aatmajyot Corporation). The balance, $15 to $115 will go for education and welfare of working children in India. No part of it, not even a penny, will go for any other expense. MAA raises funds separately and specifically for expenses. 2. This second level is for those who feel they are not yet in the first level. (Don't worry, you will be.) This level of donation is US $7 to $20 (Sterling £7 to £20 in Europe). If you are in this group, we want to tell you that we value your participation and support just as much. No matter if you choose the first level or the second level, whether you contribute the maximum amount or the minimum amount, we appreciate your involvement equally and we want to give you the same "Thank You" gifts. You can make your contribution online, click here or mail your check to our HQ in California. Your "Thank You" gift will be mailed to you promptly anywhere in the world. 3. Raising funds for other organizations also. Many Mandirs, Bhajan Mandals and other non-profit organizations will also accept donation for MAA and give you the "Thank You" gift right away. From your donation, $6 will go for the cost of DVD. 100% of the net amount ($15 to $115) will be given to the non-profit organization if the organization is directly involved (or gets directly involved) in MAA's program of supporting education and welfare of working children in India and uses the total amount for that purpose. If the organization is not directly involved in the said program, only 50% will be given. They can use that amount for their own programs. MAA will use 50% to help the children. (Non-profit organizations interested in joining this program please provide info about your organization. Click Here 4. In many areas carefully selected retail stores and Home Based Agents are authorized to accept your donation for MAA and give you the "Thank You" gift right away. Please make your check payable to "Mata Annapurna Ashram". Cash and credit cards are also accepted. If you need a receipt from MAA, please contact MAA directly after 15 days, Click < Receipt for Donation > Here. From your donation, US$6 (or £6) will go for the cost of DVD. From the balance of $15 to $115, the agent (retail store or home based person) will be paid US$5 (or Sterling £5) plus 10% of donation over US$21 (or Sterling £21). They provide a valuable service, they have expenses and they need to make a nominal income. In my opinion, it is a fair and reasonable compensation for them and they fully deserve it. The net income of $10 to $100 will go to help the children in India. (Retail stores and home based individuals interested in joining this program, please see "Income Oppo" below.) CAUTION: There is a possibility that some unauthorized people may solicit donations in MAA's name. Therefore, we urge you to give your donation to someone only if you personally know the person and preferably give it by check payable to "Mata Annapurna Ashram". If you do not know the person, please mail your check to MAA's office. Any Questions, contact us right away. Click Here 5. You can download "Shiva Linga Pooja" DVD from here right now for only US$5. (Under installation. Will be available very shortly). 6. You can download an Audio CD of "Shiva Linga Pooja" from here right now for only US$2. (Under installation. Will be available very shortly). 7. Copy & Share. We permit and encourage "copy & share" for personal and private, non-commercial purpose. Only one copy per family. No other permission is given or implied. When you make or receive a copy from someone, please donate US$2 or Sterling £2 to Mata Annapurna Ashram. To donate online, Click Here. INCOME OPPORTUNITY FOR RETAIL STORES/HOME BASED AGENTS As you well know, in western world it is common practice to raise funds for charity in a business manner with publicity campaigns and help of business people, professionals and others who are paid for their products and services. Ofcourse, volunteers and sponsors also play a major part. Non-profit organizations usually offer a nice "Thank You" gift to encourage and appreciate donor's involvement. So what we are doing here is nothing new or different. But since no one in Indian society has ever done it before some people may be little slow to adapt to this new trend. Our plan is very simple and practical. Here are the main points: 1 MAA's "Shiva Linga Pooja" DVD and Aatmajyot's "Is the Mind part of the Body or part of the Soul" DVD are not for sale. We are giving them as "Thank You" gifts when people give donations to Mata Annapurna Ashram for education and welfare of working children in India. These gifts are not offered for donations given for other purposes like disaster relief. 2. People can donate any amount from US$7 to $121 (Sterling £7 to £121 in Europe) and get a DVD as a "Thank You" gift. See details in "How to get DVDs" 3. As MAA's agent, you will handle the following work: a) Accept donations for MAA and give receipt for every donation. b) For donations for education and welfare of working children, give every donor a "Thank You" gift, a DVD of his/her choice. c) Deposit all donations in MAA's bank account every day. d) Maintain proper records of all donations large and small: donor's name, address, phone number, email, amount of donation, method of giving: check, cash, credit card, title of DVD given. e) Every week, fax or email a copy of this record to us. f) We will ask a few selected agents to help us recruit new agents since we cannot reach everyone everywhere. Selected agents cannot appoint anyone. They can only submit people's applications to us. Please indicate if you would like to be considered for this. 4. For your services, you will be paid monthly as follows: a) Donations for working children: For donations of US$21 to $121 (Sterling £21 to £121 in Europe): US $5 (Sterling £5 in Europe) plus 10% of the donation amount over $21 or £21 (15% if you are a MAA volunteer). For donations of US$7 to $20 (Sterling £7 to £20 in Europe): US$1 (Sterling £1 in Europe) plus 10% of the donation amount over $7 or £7 (15% if you are a MAA volunteer). b) For donations for disaster relief and all other purposes: 10% of donation amount (15% if you are a MAA volunteer). c) For helping us recruit new agents: A one time bonus of US$25 (Sterling £25 in Europe) for every new agent you help us recruit.You cannot recruit anyone. You can only submit their applications to us. Agents are very carefully selected. Everyone who applies does not get accepted. You do not get paid anything for those that we do not accept. 5. To start, we will send you 5 "Shiva Linga Pooja" DVDs and 5 Aatmajyot "Is the Mind part of the Body or part of the Soul" DVDs and more as you need them. 6. You are not required to solicit donations from anyone. If you are a retail store, just desplay the DVDs where people can see them. If you are a home based agent, you only need to spread the word that you are an authorized agent accepting donations for MAA and giving the DVDs as "Thank You" gifts. Those who are interested will contact you. 7. We will stay in constant touch and provide guidance and support to help you in your work. 8. To apply for agent you must do all these things. (1) Please tell us about yourself, your occupation and your involvement in charity work, if any. You must provide this information in a regular letter (not email) to our HQ in California. Please also include a family photo. Application without family photo will not be considered. (2) If you like to be involved in any voluntary work (not a requirement) please tell us what you would like to do. (3) With your letter you must send a non-refundable set-up fee of US$65 (Sterling £65 in Europe) and a refundable deposit of US$200 (Sterling £200 in Europe). (Also see next para). If you like to pay these online Click Here. If you like to see one or both DVDs before you apply, please send a donation. Thank you. To donate online Click Here. 9. You can send the full deposit amount with your application OR you can send US$50 (Sterling £50 in Europe) with application and the balance from the commission you earn. 10. Sending your application does not guarantee your acceptance. After very careful consideration, if we do not appoint you, we will immediately refund in full, the set-up fee and the deposit and also return your family photo. 11. If appointed, you can quit and we can terminate you at any time with or without any reason. If that happens, you will immediately send all donations you may have received and return all DVDs you may have. Thereupon we will refund your deposit in full.