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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | I love doing Kirtan, and I wondered whether others on the board
find it to be a useful part of their spiritual life. If I could find a
venue for it, I'd probably do it every week. As it is, I do Kirtan
several times a year. (And daily in my car, commuting, if that counts!)
BTW, I also just got the new Krishna Das CD, and it focuses on the
new Hare Krishna chant that he was evolving last year. I actually
did a Kirtan with him shortly before the new CD was recorded,
and a version of that chant was part of it. And I did a Kirtan with
him just recently, where the chant came up again. For me, it's
been interesting to hear (and sing) the chant in different forms
as he's developed it.
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| Brother BG:
This is only for your information, not recommendation. You can see regular kirtan in
a) nearby ISKON temple or group.
b) Self Realization Fellowship group.
c) by searching on the net
Next, yes, I do know many people including myself who find that regular kirtan is a great Spiritual Practice.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Thanks, Brother Neel.
So tell me -- ISKON used to have a bad reputation (as a cult),
but I have not heard complaints about them for 20 years or so now.
Actually, I rarely see them in public places the way I used to.
Have they changed, or were they unfairly characterized from the
beginning?
It's a reminder to me everytime I sing "Hare Krishna" -- to remember the
ISKON groups that used to hang out in airports and college campuses.
What is the "truth" about them?
Edited by Bay Guy 2005-09-11 11:01 PM
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| I love mantra chanting and Kirtan. As a tinnitus sufferer (due to dodgy sinuses), I find some meditation techniques nigh on impossible. Kirtan is particularly useful when I'm suffering 'Kangaroo Mind' - you know, when you just can't get your head to shut the hell up and feel it's bouncing around like Skippy on acid? Fee |
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| Fee,
Skippy on acid? That's funny and I don't even know for sure who (or what) Skippy is!! I do, however, know about "Kangaroo Mind." I have found that chanting mantra is EXTREMELY effective for me in dealing with "Kangaroo or Monkey Mind." I have not tried Kirtan, but it looks (OK, sounds) very interesting.
Chanting a mantra or just OM for any length of time seems to relax my mind very quickly and helps me find spaciousness in my meditations.
Namaste |
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| *LOL* Skippy is a Kangaroo who featured in one of those terribly mushy kid's TV programmes when I was growing up in the 70s. Kind of like Australian Lassie. Fee
Edited by Orbilia 2005-09-12 7:01 AM
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| Dear Brother BG:
I do not know much about Hare Krisha Movement and their activities. I know that they chant Hare Krishna Mantram as their main thing. I go to their functions during festivities, such as Shree Krishna Birthday, Shree Rama Birthday. I clearly enjoy what they sing. Now, as to their other activities, of course except the fantastic food they give, I am not much associated with.
peace
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | What is the difference between Kirtan and singing Bhajans?? |
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| Sister Cyndiben:
Bhajan - bhaja means to serve, generally using a prayer or song or chant for that matter. Traditionally Bhajjan is done in a group where one may lead or not, but a group sings, and they use cymbals in the hand.
Kirtan - keerta means to praise, Traditionally in Kirtan, only one person tells stores mixed with songs, etc, wears a particular kirtan dress, and is accompanied by Harmonium, Tabala, etc only at the times when he/she sings. Kirtan person is generally standing. Other devotees sit and listen. At rare times, Kirtan person asks the audience to join.
Again, Kirtan has a theme including SocioPolitical Theme. Bhajan can contain any chants/songs/etc.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| That's very interesting Neel. My swami says 'Kirtan' but we appear to be doing a mixture of Kirtan and Bhajan! It must be another variation in terms between Bihar School of yoga and other traditions I guess *s*. My swami usually leads a prayer or chant whilst playing an Indian keyboard with bellow (apologies as I can't remember the name of the instrument). The rest of us repeat in response and play a variety of percussion instruments. I recently got an intriguing Peruvian instrument. It appears to be some form of nut strung together in clusters onto a brightly coloured ribbon. It sounds similar to a medium weight rain shower hitting a hard surface. I'd love to know which plant the nuts come from as I've never seen anything like them before and both my cats took major offence to their smell. This is pleasant to me, but obvioujsly not to the feline conk! Fee |
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| i love kirtan and bhajan. Generally, i do bhajan in my car or in the afternoons with either bhagavan das or krishna das CDs. I get to go to kirtans about once a month--when it fits my schedule.
the bhajan at the dharma mittra yoga center in NYC on saturday nite was really fun.  and there was a raw food, vegan pot luck. it was great. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | kulkarnn - 2005-09-12 9:58 AM
Sister Cyndiben:
Bhajan - bhaja means to serve, generally using a prayer or song or chant for that matter. Traditionally Bhajjan is done in a group where one may lead or not, but a group sings, and they use cymbals in the hand.
Kirtan - keerta means to praise, Traditionally in Kirtan, only one person tells stores mixed with songs, etc, wears a particular kirtan dress, and is accompanied by Harmonium, Tabala, etc only at the times when he/she sings. Kirtan person is generally standing. Other devotees sit and listen. At rare times, Kirtan person asks the audience to join.
Again, Kirtan has a theme including SocioPolitical Theme. Bhajan can contain any chants/songs/etc.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org
So, basically you are saying that all these Indian CD's and such is really people singing Bhajans. I have several different ones. I like Ravi Shankar's Chants of India, it is my favorite. There are some that the Vedic Temple did that are very nice. Satyam's family sit around the alter during pooja and they sing bhajans. We also do this at the Vedic Temple as well. Yes, I do wear my Sirwal Kirtan or Kirta,  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | kulkarnn - 2005-09-12 9:58 AM
Sister Cyndiben:
Bhajan - bhaja means to serve, generally using a prayer or song or chant for that matter. Traditionally Bhajjan is done in a group where one may lead or not, but a group sings, and they use cymbals in the hand.
Kirtan - keerta means to praise, Traditionally in Kirtan, only one person tells stores mixed with songs, etc, wears a particular kirtan dress, and is accompanied by Harmonium, Tabala, etc only at the times when he/she sings. Kirtan person is generally standing. Other devotees sit and listen. At rare times, Kirtan person asks the audience to join.
Again, Kirtan has a theme including SocioPolitical Theme. Bhajan can contain any chants/songs/etc.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org
Dear Brother Neel,
This is interesting. I hear the term Kirtan used mainly for what you describe as
Bhajan. Krishna Das, when doing what he calls Kirtan, plays the harmonium while
seated, having the audience sing each line after he sings it. Between chants, he
will sometimes speak typically with a theme such as you mention. He is accompanied
by various other instruments, different almost every time I see him; there's always
a drum of some sort, often Tablas (as when Ty Burhoe is with him). Perhaps this is
an American variation on Kirtan/Bhajan, or perhaps he practices a regional variation
that he learned in India? Anyway, I like it very much.
BG |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| I think the term is used that way often (right or wrong). The group we visit has Satsang where they sing kirtan and bhajan as well as western spiritual songs and hymns. Great fun and so inspiring  |
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| Hi BG, just thought I'd mentioned that after initial reservations, I am now totally in love of Krishna Das's music. I am singing to his cd's in my car constantly. I have his latest cd on order from amazon and can't wait to hear it. I can't wait to go to another of his concerts !  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | bomberpig - 2005-09-15 6:13 PM
Hi BG, just thought I'd mentioned that after initial reservations, I am now totally in love of Krishna Das's music. I am singing to his cd's in my car constantly. I have his latest cd on order from amazon and can't wait to hear it. I can't wait to go to another of his concerts !
Hey BP, that's great. I'm really loving the new CD. The last Kirtan I did with him was
really nice... he was in great form and went for more than 3 hours. I'm debating whether to
spend more money travelling to see him again soon, or to wait until he's conveniently
close. Until then, I have him in the CD changer.  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | GreenJello - 2005-09-15 6:31 PM
His Live on Earth CD is wonderful. One of the locals was kind enought to lend it to me a while back. Good fun.
Hey GJ, I like the Ursula LeGuin quote --- I read that novel years ago, but I think it
was probably her best.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Here are a few online clips of Kirtan, since there's been
some discussion of "what is it?"
This link is for Rangani, who is based in Milwaukee. It includes
a Quicktime clip of a Sita-Ram chant.
http://www.raganiworld.com/documentary_movie.html
(I haven't done Kirtan with her, so I can't tell you more than you
see here. Somehow, the energy of Kirtan is hard to carry into video.)
Here's the page for Bhagavan Das, which also has some
video clips
http://www.bhagavandas.com/chant.html
Bhagavan Das is pretty wild looking, but he sings beautifully
and his Kirtans are great. These clips focus mainly on him,
whereas the Ragani clip pans through the audience.
Krishna Das has a web page, but I don't think there's any video
there. Here's a link to an event that recently happened at
Omega involving a number of the mainstream figures in
Kirtan in the US.
http://www.eomega.org/omega/workshops/5eb438e08f1f236f2580b411cbdef2cc/
If you know of other pages with interesting Kirtan links,
please post the URLs.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Well, I just read an article...Bhagavan Das is also coming to Atlanta, Georgia. Although, I do not think I will be able to attend, it looks interesting. I wish he were going to the Hindu Temple of Atlanta rather than the particular Book Store that made these arrangements, that has all these wierd new age people operating it. It really disturbs me the way some of these people act and dress. I'm really uncomfortable being in that atmosphere, it doesn't feel very authentic. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
He's good, and I'd say that he's probably more "authentic" than some
of the better known Kirtan leaders, in the sense of the depth of his
chants and the apparent faith of them. As for your book store, I think
that most people attending Kirtan in the US are not actually Hindu, but
simply spiritual voyagers. |
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| Kirtan. I spent almost a year in a remote ashram in the Canadian mountains where kirtan twice a day was obligatory.We chanted in the Krishna temple and all the deities (in stautue form) became like old friends.
We had a suicide; an ashram friend decided to check out prematurely. We did a special ritual to speed his soul to the other side. The priest, a young yet very sincere Hindu prepared the space; then we chanted "om trayambakam.." for an hour then "om namah shivayah.." for another hour. It was completely electrifying and did bring a sense of closure and yet renewal to our community. We did this at 6 am which is the end of the Brahma hour.
This was many years ago but the power of the ritual chanting and the group intention to heal was extraordinary.
I miss the sense of community that kirtan gave us. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
That's an amazing story, Isha. |
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Kirtan
