So, what exactly IS kirtan?
Jai Uttal, a well-known musician and chant leader, describes kirtan in this beautiful excerpt:
Saraswati, goddess of music and language, plays the bina atop her white lotus.
“Kirtan is the calling, the crying, the reaching across infinite space – digging into the heart’s deepest well to touch and be touched by the Divine Presence. Kirtan is part of an ancient form of Yoga known as Bhakti, or the Yoga of Devotion. It is the practice of singing over and over the many names of God and the Goddess, the multi-colored manifestations of the One. It is said that there is no difference between the name and that which is being named, and as the words roll off our lips in song, the Infinite is invoked, invited, made manifest in our hearts.
Kirtan is for all people. There are no experts, no beginners. The practice itself is the teacher, guiding us to ourselves. Kirtan allows us to enter into a mystery world – a world where all the logic of our minds, all the conditioning and learning are left outside. And in this mystery, we create a temple inside of our hearts, a place of refuge, a place of love, a place of just being.”
For more on the practice of kirtan, check out these resources:
Jai Uttal Kirtan at Ananda Ashram on YouTube
