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TIME HONORED PRACTICES
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CHANTING
Kirtan & Devotional Chanting
Kirtan or ‘chanting’ is another form of yoga which originated from India
many centuries ago. Kirtan is a form of meditation through sound
associated with bhakti yoga, devotional yoga, which involves the
repetition of mantras or divine names. Mantras are sound vibrations that
manifest the Divine presence. In India, it is believed that the Divine,
or God, can manifest itself in unlimited expressions, through the form
of sound, as an act of grace. Different mantras thus encapsulate
different expressions of Divinity, hence practitioners often find
themselves attracted to a particular mantra. The repetition of mantras
provides the platform to surrender to a higher order or power, whatever
that means individually and personally. Kirtan is not a sectarian
religious experience, but a personal experience of a divine order that
is accessed by sound vibration.
In modern times, kirtan is being experienced around the world as a
cross-cultural, non-religious practice that includes musical genres and
western instruments featuring ancient Sanskrit mantras in a call and
response form. The experience one might have after the repetition of
mantras is usually described as a transformed and relaxed state of mind,
and an ease of heart as one feels that one’s burdens are lifted.
Immersed in the ecstasy of chanting, some of the emotions one begins to
feel are those one is naturally born with including: unconditional love,
devotion, bliss and playfulness. Additionally, one often finds blocked
emotions resurfacing and evaporating when one immerses oneself in
chanting. Throughout the world the practice of kirtan has grown in
popularity as practitioners are searching for something more spiritual
and empowering to fulfill them, as has been featured in Time Magazine1.
1
“Can you Sing Ohm? Western practitioners are putting a new spin on the
call- and-response yogic chant known as kirtan”, Time, October 6, 2003.
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