Imagine being on a week long retreat to deepen your relationship with the holy name. It's the last evening of the retreat, and you've been chanting japa, meditating, and praying throughout the week with more sincerity than you knew you had. The vow of silence is over, and everyone is sharing their realizations. Now it's time for kirtan. A soft, sweet kirtan led by Bada Haridas, with Sacinandana Swami, Giriraja Swami, and more than fifty devotees singing in response. As the kirtan builds in tempo and intensity, let yourself dance into another dimension.
For countless ages, seekers have journeyed to the Ganges, or to similar holy places, to absorb themselves in sacred mantras, hymns that have been passed down for generations. These same seekers would often perform kirtan, celebrating special mantras with song and dance. Much to our good fortune, through the Herculean efforts of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, these mantras have finally come West, and kirtan now contributes to the rhythms of modernity. As a result, an exotic musical movement is emerging worldwide, turning age-old sacred chants into a new cultural phenomenon.
The Hare Krishna maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—is known as the greatest (maha) of all mantras because it contains the potency of all other spiritual sound.
Kirtan is the call-and-response form of chanting that characterizes the Hare Krishna movement. It is the fundamental religion of the age – the soul crying out for God as a means to reunite with Him.
What do yoga, spiritual music, and Hare Krishna have to do with Barack Obama? At first blush, not a whole lot. Sure, Obama carried around a Hanuman trinket for some time, as indicated by Time Magazine. But there’s no direct evidence -- as far as we know -- that our new president has a penchant for boogying down with eastern rhythms.
Kirtan
