As a Buddhist, I can somewhat relate to the music for meditation and relaxation. My grandmother who is a Buddhist nun uses music for her meditation, relaxation, and prayer. In a sense, it can still along the lines of being applied to Hinduism. There are many types of Hindu music as it’s an umbrella term for all sorts of sub-genres of this category. But the first thing is to find music that suits the mood.
Music for meditation is supposed to be calm and soothing. It’s supposed to slow down your heartbeat and calm you down. Once you’re in a calm and relaxed state, you can focus on your meditation. In that state, you have a clear mind. If you do not have a clear mind, you cannot meditate. For Hinduism, you will be sticking to the traditional calming and soothing Hindu music.
As there are plenty of genres under this umbrella genre, you can pick one that suits your mood. Each track is going to have a series of chants that make up a song. You have to listen to the chants as your body, mind, and soul will be in sync with each other. If they’re in sync, you can relax and meditate with ease. The music has to be devoted to whatever deity of Hindu that you give praise to. Remember that there will be music tracks with chants and hymns dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Kali, and so forth.
It won’t make sense if you are giving praise to Shiva and the track is giving praise to Brahma. If you’re going to give praise to one deity, you must find a series of tracks that have those hymns giving praise to that one deity.
The next important thing is that you have to understand them. It defeats the whole purpose of relaxing and meditating if you cannot understand the lyrics and hymns in the music. My grandmother listens to Buddhist hymns in Vietnamese when she does daily prayer and meditation. We’re a Vietnamese family of course and it wouldn’t make sense if we were listening to those lyrics if they were in Korean or Japanese. Make sure you understand the lyrics.
Understanding the lyrics will help put everything in sync. In short, pick anything type of Hindu music that fits the mood. Remember that all music used in meditation regardless of faith is supposed to calm and relax your mind, body, and soul. Then pick the music with hymns dedicated to your favorite deity. After that, make sure you understand what they’re doing.
From there, you should be able to meditate and relax.