After Yogananda left the body, a “revised and enlarged” third edition was printed in 1953. Some new Cosmic Chants appeared. By the way, its cost was only 1$.
Recordings
After Yogananda’s own recording entitled Songs of My Heart, SRF published in 1960 its own first recording of the Cosmic Chants entitled “Music For Meditation” and sung by Brother Kriyananda. In 1970 the SRF monks recorded a new album, “When Thy Song Flows Through Me.”
Later many other recordings were published, including chanting of the Cosmic Chants and also instrumental music.
How the standard notation was born
In time, the disciples worked on a new expanded fourth edition of the Cosmic Chants, which appeared in 1963. A special committee of close disciples was formed for that publication. Each disciple played the chants as he or she remembered them. They were compared and one official version was selected. The final decision was made by Daya Mata, Mrinalini Mata, and Ananda Mata (Mataji).
You may read the story here: The Notation of Cosmic Chants. It is written by Dan Hart, an SRF monastic from 1955-1970, who was the musician notating and playing each of the selected versions of the Cosmic Chants.
This new edition of the Cosmic Chants book eliminated some chants previously published, and added many others, presenting altogether 60 Cosmic Chants. Below is the list.
Eliminated Cosmic Chants
- Divine Love Sorrows
- Sitting in the Silence
- My Soul is Marching on
- Om Brahma
- God of Beauty
The contents of the new Cosmic Chants book (in alphabetical order).
The added chants are in bold. The chants from the original 1938 Cosmic Chants book are in red.
- At Thy Feet
- Blue Lotus Feet
- Cloud-Colored Christ
- Come, Listen to My Soul Song (earlier called “Listen to my Soul Call”)
- Dawn Chant
- Deliver Us From Delusion
- Desire, My Great Enemy
- Divine Gypsy
- Divine Mother’s Song to the Devotee
- Do Not Dry the Ocean of My Love
- Door of My Heart
- Ever New Joy
- From This Sleep, Lord
- Hay Hari Sundara (Hindi “O God Beautiful”)
- He Who Knows
- Hymn to Brahma
- I Am the Bubble, Make Me the Sea
- I Am Om
- I Am the Sky
- I Give You My Soul Call
- In Samadhi
- In the Land Beyond My Dreams
- In the Temple of Silence
- In the Valley of Sorrow
- Invocation to the Gurus
- I Will Be Thine Always
- I Will Sing Thy Name
- Jai Guru
- Learn Thou Self-Control
- Light the Lamp of Thy Love
- Listen, Listen, Listen
- My Krishna Is Blue
- No Birth, No Death
- God Beautiful
- Om Chant
- Om Kali
- Om Song
- Opal Flame
- Thou Blue Sky
- Thou King of the Infinite
- Polestar of My Life
- Receive Me on Thy Lap, O Mother
- Rose Chant
- Search Him Out in Secret
- Shanti Mondire (Bengali “In the Temple of Silence”)
- Spirit and Nature
- Swami Ram Tirtha’s Song
- They Have Heard Thy Name
- Thou Art My Life
- Thousands of Suns
- Today My Mind Has Dived
- Wake, Yet Wake, O My Saint
- What Lightning Flash
- When My Dream’s Dream Is Done
- When Thy Song Flows Through Me
- Where Is There Love?
- Who Is in My Temple?
- Why, O Mind, Wanderest Thou?
- Will That Day Come to Me, Mother?
- Wink Has Not Touched My Eyes
Vocal range
Some of the Cosmic Chants have quite a big range from low to high notes, which can make them challenging to sing. If you are just beginning to explore chanting them and prefer to choose those which have a smaller (easier) range, here you have an overview: vocal ranges in Cosmic Chants.