New Age

The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the movement differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of "spiritual" and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, believing that it gives a false sense of homogeneity to the phenomenon.

As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age movement drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions, in particular those that emerged from the occultist current that developed in the eighteenth century. Such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and the Theosophical Society. A number of mid-twentieth century influences, such as the UFO cults of the 1950s, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and the Human Potential Movement, also exerted a strong influence on the early development of the New Age movement. Although the exact origins of the movement remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s, at which time it was centred largely in the United Kingdom. It expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States.

Deva Premal

Deva Premal (born 2 April 1970 in Nürnberg, Germany) is a musician known for her meditative spiritual new-age music, which puts ancient Buddhist and Sanskrit mantras—as well as chants in other languages—into atmospheric contemporary settings.

Biography

Premal met her partner in life and music, Miten, at the Osho ashram in Pune, India in 1990, where she was studying reflexology, shiatsu, cranio-sacral therapy, and massage. They have been touring together since 1992, offering concerts and chant workshops worldwide.

Best known for her top-selling chant CDs, Premal is a classically trained musician who grew up singing mantras in a German home permeated with Eastern Spirituality. Her albums have topped the New Age charts throughout the world since her first release, The Essence (1998), which features the "Gayatri Mantra." Premal and Miten's record company, Prabhu Music, reports sales of over 900,000 albums.

Deva Premal began her journey with mantra in her mother's womb, as her father chanted the "Gayatri Mantra"—one of the most sacred mantras of Sanatana Dharma—to her daily. The mantra continued to be her bedtime lullaby after she was born. Many years later, she heard a friend singing the Gayatri and was inspired to put together an album highlighting its sacredness. Premal and Miten recorded The Essence (1998) in her mother's apartment in Germany, where she was born and where she first heard the Gayartri mantra.

Deva

Deva may refer to:

Religion

Places

Given name

Surname

Age

Age may refer to:

Gayatri Mantra

The Gāyatrī Mantra is a highly revered mantra from the Vedas. Like all Vedic mantras, the Gayatri mantra is considered not to have an author, and like all other Vedic mantras, is believed to have been revealed to Brahmarshi Vishvamitra. It is a verse from a sukta of the Rigveda (Mandala 3.62.10). Gāyatrī is the name of the Vedic meter in which the verse is composed. As the verse can be interpreted to invoke Savitr, it is also called the Sāvitrī mantra. Its recitation is traditionally preceded by oṃ and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, known as the mahāvyāhṛti, or "great (mystical) utterance".

The Gayatri mantra is repeated and cited very widely in Vedic literature and praised in several well-known classical Hindu texts such as the Manusmṛti ("there is nothing greater than the Savitri (Gayatri) Mantra.", Manu II, 83), the Harivamsa, and the Bhagavad Gita. The mantra is an important part of the upanayana ceremony for young males in Hinduism, and has long been recited by dvija men as part of their daily rituals. Modern Hindu reform movements spread the practice of the mantra to include women and all castes and its use is now very widespread.