Bhakti Yoga & Kirtan

You cannot practice Bhakti but there is way to reach Bhakti

• Kirtan is a Sanskrit word that refers to the “narrating, reciting, and describing”
• Musical recitation of hymns, chants and the praise of deities (Rama, Krishna, Shiva)
• Popular spiritual practice during the bhakti (devotion) movement that began around the year 700 A.D.
• Devotional singing then spread like wildfire between the 12th and 17th centuries.
• Kirtan has reached new audiences in America recently, and Western Kirtansingers include Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Snatam Kaur.

What is Kirtan andd Bhajan?

• Kirtan: A call-and-response community-based worship through spiritual melodies creating feelings of oneness and joy.
• Bhajan: A devotional song.
• Kirtans often use short chants or Mantras, often in Sanskrit or Hindi
• Form of collective singing- a call and response song where a lead singer starts with a chant and everyone sings it back

Benefits of Kirtan:

• Simple and powerful way of entering a meditative state through prayer.
• the tradition of kirtan happens spontaneously and everywhere. you go to the temple, and there is a group singing kirtan, also in home gatherings, on the train, in the streets.
• kirtan is a practice of Bhakti (devotion) and it can help us transport through the prayer to our own being, to our heart