This Cosmic Chant is an English adaption of a famous song by Shankara (Shankaracharya): Nirvana Shatakam (also called Atma Shatakam), verses 1 and 5.
Yogananda also chanted other verses of Shankara’s famous song, as we read in his Autobiography of a Yogi in the chapter entitled I Become a Monk of the Swami Order:
“As I knelt before Sri Yukteswar, and for the first time heard him pronounce my new name, my heart overflowed with gratitude. How lovingly and tirelessly had he labored, that the boy Mukunda be someday transformed into the monk Yogananda! I joyfully sang a few verses from the long Sanskrit chant of Lord Shankara:
“Mind, nor intellect, nor ego, feeling;
Sky nor earth nor metals am I.
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!No birth, no death, no caste have I;
Father, mother, have I none.
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!Beyond the flights of fancy, formless am I,
Permeating the limbs of all life;
Bondage I do not fear; I am free, ever free,
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He!”
The last verse is Yogananda’s free translation of the 6th verse of Nirvana Shatakam. Yogananda most likely chanted them in Sanskrit or Bengali.
In Man’s Eternal Quest (How to Outwit Temptation), Yogananda teaches us to affirm these words frequently: “You have been likewise in a state of hallucination, thinking you are a helpless mortal, struggling and miserable. Every day you should sit quietly and affirm, with deep conviction: ‘No birth, no death, no caste have I; father, mother, have I none. Blessed Spirit, I am He. I am the Infinite Happiness.’ If you again and again repeat these thoughts, day and night, you will eventually realize what you really are: an immortal soul.”
LYRICS:
No birth, no death, no caste have I.
No birth, no death, no caste have I.
Father, mother have I none.
Father, mother have I none.
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He.
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He.
Mind nor intellect, nor ego, feeling,
Mind nor intellect, nor ego, feeling,
Sky nor earth nor metals am I,
Sky nor earth nor metals am I,
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He,
I am He, I am He, Blessed Spirit, I am He.
The lyrics also appear in Whispers From Eternity.
WHEN TO USE THIS SONG:
For overcoming religious, racial or social prejudice, and for achieving non-attachment to all human ties.
SING ALONG:
Swami Kriyananda sings this Cosmic Chant on his album, Music for Meditation.