Kirtan, Bhajan, Mantra, and Chanting in Bhakti Yoga
Kirtan & the Power of Sound Vibration
Humans have a long history of engaging in group singing as a form of social bonding and as a way to represent and embody collective harmony and union. Because of sound’s ability to resonate within multiple people at once and elicit a sympathetic response, Kirtan is an incredibly accessible way to tap into the power of group singing— for the power of the wider collective to be felt through music and then for that music to ripple out, reverberate, or echo back the power of the collective vibration as call-and-response.
Bhakti Yoga: Chanting & The Path of Devotion
Vasant Ragini folio from a Ragamala Series (Garland of Musical Modes).
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kirtan, also known as sankirtan, is the practice of collective chanting or group singing, usually in community as a sing-along of bhajans, or devotional songs, and call-and-response of mantra, or sacred sounds. Kirtan is most commonly known within the practice and tradition of Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is a path of devotion that emerged out of the Bhakti movements of 7th century medieval India, beginning in the region known today as Tamil Nadu. During that time, chanting moved from being a ritual injunction of the Vedas to a way of connecting to the transcendent in a more personal and celebratory way where mantra could be practiced with intention and awareness in daily life. The songs became a tool to educate the masses, especially less literate populations of the inner villages. By the time of the Indian renaissance in Bengal, mantras were not just chanted, but set to melodies and accompanied by instruments. Stories of mythology, anecdotes of the lives of great saints and epic stories of the sages were woven around a lyric to create teachings that became reflective of warkari culture or poet-saint tradition. Singing became one of the main modes of devotional expression among bhakti circles, both personal in nature and offered as a means of communing or dialoging with the divine in an ecstatic and participatory way.
Bhakti —
from the Sanskrit root √bhaj:
to be joined or connected with (the divine)
to revere, share in or participate in
Bhakti Yoga as a movement emphasizes equality and harmony within the community as a path of socio-spiritual practice accessible to all and focused around collective participation. The community that takes part in the kirtan satsang is known as the “sangam” or collective. A kirtan satsang, or gathering of song, is lead by a wallah or someone who leads the chant, which is then echoed in the call-and-response format by the collective sangam. Chanting is often accompanied by clapping and playing of musical instruments such as the harmonium, tanpura, drums or cymbals. The songs, chants, and mantras can be a simple name of an archetypal deity or the recitation of a devotional Sanskrit or vernacular phrase honoring or praising some aspect of the divine.
Mantra —
from the Sanskrit root √man: related to the mind
A mantra is an instrument
to concentrate or rest the mind
Mantra is a word or a phrase for the mind to contemplate or rest on. If the mind is restless and scattered with thoughts, it is very difficult to be present and alert. The ability to focus our hearing is known as śravanam. When the mind is agitated, the ability to hear clearly becomes disrupted and the ability to communicate narrows; the sound of the mantra cannot enter into our minds or hearts to do its work. But when our thoughts settle peacefully on the mantra, the sound can seep into our consciousness where purification through vibration can take place as a mantra is repeated in a regular rhythm. In kirtan, the mantras are chanted rhythmically as sound waves permeate the shared space. Practice is all about the repetition which leads to transformation. The consistent repetition of a mantra carried out with meditative awareness is known as japa. Japa is what gives mantra a super-generative power where a profound, trance-like state is induced upon a calm, focused, and attentive mind. In this space of heightened vibration, it becomes easier to slip into a deeply meditative state and directly experience all that is beyond our ordinary existence.
Although such a connection to the universal and the infinite through sound can be easily achieved alone, it is amplified exponentially through the union of many voices into one. There is said to be a merging of the performer and the audience where a heart-felt experience is created collectively. Connecting to a transcendental power by calling out the names of the divine in this manner increases empathetic awareness and opens us up to the possibility of coherence, or co-regulating our nervous systems as a collective.
Healing the Collective Through Sound
Synchronizing consists of responding to the call and amplifying the response which is not only heard through the ear, but felt within the body. The coherence that happens through group singing has been shown to enhance physical and emotional well-being. As we connect to our fellow humans, our body systems flood with feel-good biochemicals like endorphins and oxytocin. Endorphins are a pain-relieving neurotransmitter with psychoactive properties responsible for the “reward response” which triggers the release of dopamine leading to feelings of euphoria and sensations of pleasure. Oxytocin is a hormone related to reduction of anxiety and stress.
The vibrations of the mantra and the music carry a pulse and move energy from the mind to the heart with resonance that brings coherence to each individual heart. This state of coherence amplifies the collective pulse and can be felt as an ecstatic response called samavesha. This expansion and contraction of energy is referred to as spandha, the greater vibration expanding outward from the seed pulsation of the heart within every being and it transports chanters to profound spiritual states.
“Voices merge into one. All comes to stillness in a space empty with the fullness of charged silence.”
Feeling the collective pulse brings the mind’s attention to the moment, with heart open in receptivity, experiencing the full power of the grace of being in the here-and-now. This master pulse activates the subtle body at the heart chakra, the seat of divine love where one can experience the divine directly through personal relationship and emotional connection, if not by the union of hearts through the union of voices in harmony with each other. The pulsation of divine love is felt as a rippling force of purification, or shuddhi, within the soul of all being.
Everyone's experience with kirtan is highly personal and individualistic; it is not necessarily a 'religious' experience. With that being said, if you’ve ever felt the powerful energy in the vibration of collective voices amplifying a room full of people, you’ve most likely experienced a felt sense of awe. When we connect to song or dance, we become entranced. In this space, our thought process calms, we become more fully available to the present moment and worries more easily slip into the periphery while joy takes center stage. The emotions, moods or feeling states that develop during a kirtan are known as rasa and bhava. Rasa is the emotion transmitted by sound through melody (raga) and rhythm (tala) while bhava is the emotion-state that participants co-experience.
The harmonium is a common accompaniment in kirtan circles
Starting a Chanting Practice
If you are new to chanting in a kirtan setting, know that most of what you will hear in a kirtan session is in the ancient language of Sanskrit. Yes, it might be uncomfortable to chant in an unfamiliar language and yes, it can take some time to pronounce foreign sounding words— this is common and you are certainly not alone. It may be helpful to know that you can leave all judgement behind. You don't have to pronounce the words correctly, nor do you need to be worried if you don't think that you can sing. Chanting is less about technical singing ability and more about the feeling or spirit in which you are calling out. It is a lighthearted practice meant to relieve stress and ease our mind away from any striving or straining. In Kirtan you are not only lifting your own voice, but lifting the voices of the community as well as being a voice for the voiceless. What matters most is your intention and a devotion that reflects a joyful desire to connect to the universal in all things. Practice chanting like you do yoga āsana… with consistency and without expectation.
On a personal note— I feel most connected with my heart when I cultivate enough of a sense of safety to let vulnerability in. Overcoming the fear of discomfort brought up by vulnerability is a constant practice. The breath helps. When I feel safe, I can relax and listen. When I soften into vulnerability, I can feel into my humanness in a heart-opening expression of gratitude. Practicing being more attuned with my own heart has allowed me to connect more deeply with others and kirtan is the perfect expression of this type of bhakti or "heart’s sacred longing."
Bhakti sounds to chant to:
Resources and Further Reading:
Music and Mantras: The Yoga of Mindful Singing for Health, Happiness, Peace & Prosperity by Girish
Tradition and Modernity in Bhakti Movements, edited by Jayant Lele
http://www.bu.edu/asian/2018/01/02/yogic-traditions-and-sacred-sound-practices-in-the-united-states/
Keeler JR, Roth EA, Neuser BL, Spitsbergen JM, Waters DJ, Vianney JM. The neurochemistry and social flow of singing: bonding and oxytocin. Front Hum Neurosci. 2015 Sep 23;9:518. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00518. PMID: 26441614; PMCID: PMC4585277.
https://ideas.time.com/2013/08/16/singing-changes-your-brain/
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200518-why-singing-can-make-you-feel-better-in-lockdown
This article was first published on Nov 5, 2015 and last updated July 26, 2022