Waves lapped against the gentle beach in the darkness as I listened deeply to the ocean, and the lingering exhalations of the other sixty people around me. The moon was rising over the water behind Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh and Manish Vyas, who watched us silently with light in their eyes as the music slowly faded. They had just finished leading another evening of beautiful kirtan (call and response singing) during their sacred chant retreat in Mexico.

After a few moments, Manish gently broke the silence, "Listen to the waves, and then listen to the space between the waves. Find yourself in that space." This is where the kirtan had carried us, to this space, this deep silence between the waves. As Manish spoke to us, I could still feel the mantra coursing through my bloodstream with each heartbeat, Snatam's voice carrying on into the silence. I felt such a sense of joy, my heart wanted to burst. I looked around and saw my emotions mirrored in the expressions of the people surrounding me. And suddenly, there was no space between the person next to me and me. We became so deeply connected by that shared experience, that there was an intimacy created beyond explanation. I did not know these people before we arrived at this kirtan event, but we left as family.

This experience of deep connectedness and community is being expressed by people attending kirtan gatherings and concerts all over the world. For many, kirtan has become their favorite practice of devotion, but for some, kirtan is a completely new experience. The idea of chanting in a group is completely foreign to them.

Akasha, a yoga teacher in Birmingham, Alabama, went to a David Newman (a.k.a. Durga Das) concert earlier this month. "I brought a bunch of my students to the concert," he said. "They all had strong physical Yoga practices, but had never been to a kirtan event before. We don't get kirtan artists touring through Birmingham. There were some people who came who had never chanted in their lives. Half-way through the night, I saw them rocking back and forth with their eyes closed, singing their hearts out. My students said that they felt electric afterwards. The experience of devotion towards oneness and towards each other was so strong. It didn't matter if you could sing or not, everyone was chanting along." And that's the thing about kirtan; we are carried by the group energy to an exciting exploration into whom and what we are.

Kirtan is a new kind of concert experience here in the West. It's not so much a performance as a journey into the self through the practice of listening and singing. And while there might be leaders at a kirtan concert, everyone is a part of the music. In kirtan, everyone sings. Snatam Kaur calls her concerts "coformances" rather than performances because she says the audience is an equal part of the music. Kirtan is a practice that started in India thousands of years ago, but in the last decade has become a phenomenon across the United States and has transformed musically to appeal to the ears of American audiences. Two recent books chronicle this movement and interview and track the evolution of some of the most popular kirtan musicians including Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Bhagavan Das, Snatam Kaur, Ragani, Jau Uttal, Dave Stringer and Wah! Linda Johnsen, author of Daughter of the Goddess and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism, recently released a book called Kirtan! Chanting as a Spiritual Path and Journal of Vaishnava Studies editor Steve Rosen's (Satyaraja Dasa) The Yoga of Kirtan also includes an audio CD of the music.

There is a theme that runs through the unique stories I hear from people who attend all of these various musicians' kirtan events. People feel like they become a part of something bigger than themselves. Even after having gone to kirtans for years, I will sometimes find myself in the midst of an entirely new energy at a kirtan concert. The first time I saw Dave Stringer perform, I was seriously blown away by it. It was a packed house, and he carried us with him in the progressively building nature that is the trademark of kirtan. In addition to the deeply peaceful feel of some of the kirtan concerts I had been to, at Dave's I got up to sing and dance at the back of the room with a group of strangers – and through that experience, we really connected. It was such a different experience of kirtan for me that I realized I wanted to experience them all. I wanted to feel the uniqueness that each kirtan artist brings to the group.

It didn't matter if you could sing or not, everyone was chanting along. And that's the thing about kirtan; we are carried by the group energy to an exciting exploration into whom and what we are.

I asked Hargobind, my business partner, about Krishna Das' last concert. "Krishna Das is hilarious," he said. "He tells these hysterical stories about India and his Guru and chanting. Through his humor and stories, you feel connected to him, like he's just a guy you might hang out with. And then he starts singing, and his chants are so rich and upbeat and simple, that you feel relaxed and comfortable enough to join in, and so energized once you start chanting that you are really pulled into it. So you chant, even if you didn't expect to."

Karan Khalsa is devoted to sharing sacred music and technology through her writing and her business, Spirit Voyage: spiritvoyage.com

About the Author :

The author is the CEO of Spirit Voyage Records which is engaged in yoga music and healing meditations . The company practices various forms of Kundalini Yoga and meditation music.

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