There has been a bootleg recording circulating for decades in the yoga and meditation communities that is rumored to be of the Dalai Lama singing for a dying friend.
It came to me the same way it does to most people: a yoga friend gave me a CD recorded with the following handwritten:
“Song of the Dalai Lama to Cure All Diseases: Please Distribute.”
I immediately fell in love with this powerful chant, and the accompanying story was certainly compelling.
Is that how it works:
The Dalai Lama had a friend who was dying, and His Holiness chanted this healing mantra at his bedside. His Holiness at first refused to allow it to be registered, but then relented on the condition that it never be sold.
What a great story.
Unfortunately, the story of the ‘Dalai Lama’s Healing Song’ is not true. At least not at all.
First, the recording was meant to be sold (all those pirated cassettes, CDs and mp3’s made over the years are illegal copies that infringes the copyright of the singer).
And secondly, the person singing is not the Dalai Lama. It is Hein Braat, a Dutch artist and devout practitioner of mantra yoga.
How can I be so sure?
A while ago, I posted the recording on my yoga website. An authorized dealer of Mr. Braat’s work asked me to remove it. Unbeknownst to me, he had been violating copyrights like so many others have over the years, robbing Mr. Braat of royalties duly earned from him! If he is familiar with the yoga tradition, then he knows very well that there is a principle of asteyaor not steal.
I mean no disrespect to His Holiness (who had nothing to do with the perpetuation of this falsehood), but the myth, and theft, have gone on long enough. Time to give credit where credit is due!
The truth of the rumor is this: the mantra on the recording is in fact a powerful healing chant.
To be precise, it is the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra from the Rig Veda, a prayer that invokes Shiva.
Its roots are firmly in the Vedic tradition, not in the Buddhist tradition of the Dalai Lama. (Buddhism does not recognize the Vedas as authoritative.)
I hope that the fact that I am not His Holiness the Dalai Lama or even a Buddhist does not diminish the appeal of this healing mantra to you.
There are many other quality recordings of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra by other artists, but Hein Braat’s unusual devotion and hauntingly rich voice bring this mantra to life in a unique way.
The repetition of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra over time changes your inner mental and spiritual landscape, inviting direct healing or pointing your intention to where you might find it.
This healing chant is also said to be a “release chant”, leading you away from the cycle of suffering and death into the realm of pure consciousness.
