Bhajan
Devotional songs of praise, sung individually or in community, expressing love for the divine.
Maiya Mori Main Nahi Makhan Khayo – Surdas
Surdas's most loved pad of child Krishna: caught with butter on his face, little Kanha argues his innocence to Yashoda — he was out with the cows all day, his arms are too short to reach the pot, his friends smeared it on him. Both well-known versions of the pad, their meaning, and the vatsalya bhakti behind them.
Read more →BhajanPayo Ji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo – Mirabai
Mirabai's joyful pad about the one treasure that no thief can steal and no spending can exhaust — the jewel of the Name, given to her by her satguru. The full text, line-by-line meaning, who Mira's guru was, and how this bhajan travelled from Rajasthan to every Indian home.
Read more →BhajanShri Ramchandra Kripalu Bhaju Man – Ram Stuti
Tulsidas's Ram Stuti from the Vinay Patrika — 'O mind, worship the compassionate Shri Ramchandra, remover of the dreadful fear of worldly existence' — together with the Ramcharitmanas verses of Gauri's blessing to Sita that are usually sung after it. Full text, word-by-word sense, and why the two are joined.
Read more →BhajanRaghupati Raghav Raja Ram – Ram Dhun
The Ram dhun "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sitaram" in its traditional form, attributed to Lakshmanacharya — what its lines mean, and how Gandhi's adapted version became the anthem of the Dandi March.
Read more →BhajanThumak Chalat Ramchandra – Tulsidas Bhajan
Tulsidas's picture of the infant Rama toddling with anklets jingling, falling and being scooped up by Dasharatha's queens — one of the sweetest pads of bal-leela. The text, what each line shows, and how it is sung.
Read more →BhajanHari Tum Haro Jan Ki Bhir – Meera Bhajan
Meera's short pad asking Hari to take away his devotees' distress, as he did for Draupadi, Prahlada and the elephant Gajendra. The text, its three stories, and the place of this bhajan in Gandhi's prayers.
Read more →BhajanChadariya Jhini Re Jhini – Kabir Bhajan
Kabir's weaver's song about the fine sheet of the body — woven on a spinning wheel of eight lotuses from five elements, worn carelessly by fools, and returned "just as it was" by Kabir. The text, what each image means, and how it is sung.
Read more →BhajanVaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye – Narsinh Mehta
Narsinh Mehta's 15th-century Gujarati bhajan describing a true devotee — one who feels another's pain — loved across India and sung daily by Mahatma Gandhi. The full text, its meaning stanza by stanza, and the poet behind it.
Read more →BhajanHare Krishna Maha Mantra
The sixteen-word chant central to Krishna bhakti, sung in temples and kirtans worldwide.
Read more →Bhajan versus aarti and mantra
A bhajan is a devotional song of praise — distinct from a mantra, which is a fixed, precisely worded formula, and from an aarti, which specifically accompanies the lamp ritual. Bhajans are freer in form: they can be composed in any regional language, not only Sanskrit, and are often set to popular or folk melodies that make them easy for a whole gathering to sing together.
A living, growing tradition
Unlike scripture, whose text is fixed by antiquity, new bhajans continue to be composed even today, alongside centuries-old classics by poet-saints like Tulsidas, Surdas and Meera Bai. This means a bhajan page here might carry either a well-known ancient composition or a widely loved modern one.
Community singing (kirtan)
Bhajans are especially associated with kirtan — communal devotional singing, often with a call-and-response structure, harmonium and tabla — a practice explicitly listed among the nine classical forms of bhakti described in our introduction to Bhakti Yoga.