Kirtan Yoga

KIRTAN / BHAJAN / MANTRA

Kirtan (Sanskrit – “to repeat”) is call-and-response chanting performed in India’s devotional traditions. When this chanting is done as a private meditation it is called japa but performed congregationally with instruments, and often dancing, it is called kirtan or sankirtan (from san (complete) kirtan). The person performing the Kirtan is known as a Kirtankar or Kirtaniya.

In the ancient Sanskrit text the Bhagavad-gita (9.13) Krishna states that great souls are always engaged in glorifying him with kirtan. The practice was popularized in the Hindu devotional revival of the fifteenth CCE.

Kirtan practice involves the chanting of hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, the two-headed mrdanga or pakawaj drum and karatal hand cymbals. It is a major tenet of Vaishnava, Sikh, the Sant traditions, some forms of Buddhism, and other sects.

Kirtan, also known as sankirtan, is the call-and-response chanting inspired and popularized by the great saint Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The roots of kirtan go back over 500 years to Renaissance India. During this period the influence and style of kirtan became the focal point for the upsurge in religious expression in Bengal led by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This joyful mood quickly spread throughout India, where today kirtan is accepted as one of the surest paths to enlightenment. The singing is accompanied by the ancient musical raga musical tradition with a rhythmic drumming style that transports the chanters to profound spiritual realms. In its religious fervor, it has been likened to modern American Gospel music, and in its heartfelt expression it compares to profound states of deep meditation.

Kirtan is practiced traditionally by a diversity of India’s spiritual traditions, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, etc. In the 20th century, kirtan was introduced to the western hemisphere by many of the yoga masters that visited from India, including Paramahansa Yogananda, Srila Prabhupada and the Hare Krsna Movement, Swami Muktananda, Swami Rama, Yogi Bhajan, Swami Satchidananda, among many others.

During the 1980’s, kirtan had become a regular practice in many of the western yoga ashram communities, and by the end of the 20th century, the experience of kirtan in the West had started to travel outside the traditional yoga ashram communities and into the public sphere. With increasing interest in and attention to the world’s sacred traditions, and following on the heels of the yoga movement in the West, the experience of kirtan continues to rapidly grow, extending across cultures, races and religions, and offering a profound experience of an ancient sacred tradition to the greater human community. Kirtan offers a means to connect to the heart, to the divinity that lies within.

Today, tens of thousands of people are participating in kirtan events around the world, and many new kirtan events are emerging.