GUWAHATI, JANUARY 26 Devotion his sole purpose, he chants for the ideal he reveres. And now this Buddhist lama’s divine melodies have transcended the walls of his monastery in the remote Dahung township of Arunachal Pradesh to bring peace to audiences far away in the West.

Ngawang Tashi Bapu, who has been nominated for a Grammy in the ‘Best Traditional Music Category’, says he is surprised. “But when it is fate, you cannot avert it,’’ he told The Indian Express over the telephone from Dahung. ‘‘I consider myself lucky.’’

Popularly known as Lama Tashi, the 38-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk is based at the Centre for Himalayan Culture and Studies at Dahung, about 350 km from here.

Lama Tashi had been the principal chantmaster of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India before returning to Arunachal Pradesh to take up his present assignment in early 2004.

Having learned the chants as part of the monk’s life, Lama Tashi devoted more time to music after entering the Drepung Loseling Monastery in June 1983. ‘‘It was at Drepung that I got the opportunity to fulfill my desire to perfect my traditional singing skills,’’ he recalls.

The multi-phonic chants for which the Lama has gained so much acclaim are a ‘‘totally different kind of music, ’’ he says; a genre that is already beginning to make waves in the West.

‘‘Multi-phonic chants are not just the normal kind of singing. In fact, you have to create vibrating sounds using your vocal chords, in two different notes at the same time,’’ he says.

Finding an eager reception in the US, the Lama’s chants are collected in Tibetan Master Chants, a CD produced by US-based author Jonathan Goldman, who has written the book, Healing Sounds.

Goldman, who is known for his research in healing through sound, has hailed the Lama’s singing skills and his ability to create amazingly deep sounds. ‘‘He produces multiple overtones as he chants in an ancient and sacred Tibetan technique that gives the impression of several people chanting simultaneously,’’ Goldman says.

Other leading US music critics have also hailed Tashi Lama’s Tibetan Master Chants as a unique musical presentation.

‘‘Fascinating for its vocal qualities and their effect on both the mind and the body, Tibetan Master Chants is an excellent choice for meditation, yoga, or just as background music,’’ said Richard Mackenzie in Mysteries magazine.