What is Kirtan?
Kirtan, or singing Holy names of the Infinite, is such an easy way to have a lived felt sensed experience of Divine Bliss.
Allowing yourself to open into a different echelon of consciousness, opening up to the experience of the sound, letting it vibrate through your whole body, through your energy field and through your mind and soul. It brings inner stillness, and tender feelings in the heart, such as awe, gratitude, love, ecstasy.
Kirtan is not a performance. It is a sadhana. That means it is a spiritual practice. One can feel the difference. Two singers might sing the same devotional song. One is doing it to be on the stage, the other is doing it to merge with the Deity, and has practised through good times and bad, has implored the Divine to be present with them, and in Kirtan, it is so. Sometimes this results in dancing, as the Divine energy awakens within and wants to move our bodies.
When the Divine enters into the sound, time has no meaning. The songs tend to be long, such is the joy that sometimes it is really hard to stop singing.
Sacred Music
Sacred music is such a wonderful way to engage your heart, mind and spirit.
Musicians in Shanti Mission have embodied the skills to weave a high vibrational energy through sound creating a healing and uplifting experience.
Sacred Songs
Sacred Songs
Chanting is a great way to raise your vibration, so at times we use the power of sacred sound to ‘lift and shift’ blockages in our conscious and unconscious landscape. Sound is energy and our system responds to the sounds and vibrations of Sanskrit chants. Listening to these sounds has a rejuvenating effect on the body, mind and spirit.
Often the format of the singing is call and response. This has a meditative effect upon participants and allows us to merge in sound, there is a great feeling of togetherness and cohesiveness in those who come together to sing.
Inspiring, uplifting, high-vibrational music and kirtan allow you to let go of what doesn’t serve you. Feel liberated from old patterns of behaviour and begin to fine tune your connection to your own soul.
Music at Palampur Ashram, India
Bhakti Yoga
Yoga means Union and Bhakti means devotion. The spiritual practice of surrendering the small will of the ego and conscious mind to the all-consuming Divine power of love, is called Bhakti Yoga. It is a tried and tested, simple and beautiful path to self-realisation.
Bhakti yoga is primarily an internal process, a change of state, an opening into something magnificent and wholesome, uplifting and glorious. The practices of bhakti yoga include lovely things like singing to the Divine, repeating the Divine names with a heart filled with love, and performing ceremonies, no matter how simple or how complex, with a loving countenance. Prayer becomes a conversation with the beloved. It is not a distant or cold practice, but one that is heart-warming and nurturing.
One can practice Bhakti yoga alone, or one can attend spiritual events where bhakti is a large part of the intention of the group. Group practice is quite potent, as where two or more are gathered in a devotional bhav (mood) the Divine energy seems to coalesce quite strongly. Somehow the Divine ‘mist’ that brings in bliss is thicker, easier to access. This is even more so if we are with experienced spiritual aspirants who have practiced bhakti for many years. It is easy to ‘catch’ the state of love from those who are in it. This is one of the main reasons that we hold Kirtan (singing to the Divine) Chanting Jappa (repetition of the names of the Divine) and Satsang (being in the company of seekers of Divine love and truth).
Mantra
Mantra
Mantra is an ancient meditative practice that has been used in many parts of the world. It is the repetition of a word or phrase, and a focus upon the mantra that enables a deep meditative experience.
Mantra also has a particular vibration that is uplifting and can be blissful, especially with practice.
At Shanti Mission we use and practice Sanskrit mantras in many of our ceremonies and at times it features in our sunday musical meditations (satsang).