he great power, grace and beauty of kirtan. By Jai Uttal
K
irtan is the calling, the crying,
the reaching across ininite
space - digging into the heart’s
deepest well to touch and be
touched by the divine presence.om spirit
Kirtan: The calling
Kirtan is singing, over and over, the many
names of god and goddess, the multi-
coloured rainbow manifestations of the
beloved. It is said that there is no diference
between the name and that which is being
named, and as the words roll of our lips in
song, the ininite is invoked, invited, made
manifest in our hearts.
Kirtan is part of an ancient form of yoga
known as Bhakti, or the yoga of devotion.
But in Bhakti we redeine ‘devotion’, we
expand the meaning to include every shade
of colour in the palette of human emotion,
turned towards god through song, dance,
and worship. These chants have been sung
for millennium by saints, sinners, devotees,
and the great primordial yogi alchemists of
old. And, as we sing, we touch the spirits of
the millions of people across the centuries
who have sung the same songs and criedthe same tears. As we sing, we immerse
ourselves in an endless river of prayer that
has been lowing since the birth of the irst
human beings, longing to know their creator.World of mystery
Bhakti yoga brings us into the world of
mystery, a realm where the dissecting,
discerning qualities of the intellect are
powerless next to the vast ocean of feelings.
For many meditators and yoga practitioners,
the goal is union, oneness with the supreme.
But in Bhakti yoga we don’t think about
any goal, we weep, laugh, cry, sing and
dance with our beloved, and ask only for
more devotion. Bhakti is relationship; our
stormy love afair with god. And Bhakti is
surrender; surrendering our personal heart
into the great heart, ofering our self will
and all our eforts and actions to that vast