As you sing with each other you experience a deep connection with the musicians, the other audience members and yourself. Based on ancient mantras, it has the ability to quiet the mind if listened to with intention. Though it involves music, the practice of kirtan is not about musical ability or training, it is about the heart. These ancient mantras contain powerful renewing and transformational e
nergies that reconnect us to the ever present and eternal being that resides within us all. The mantras, melodies, and instruments are designed to lead us toward a meditative state. The wallah (leader) sings the mantra, and the audience sings it back. As you sing with each other you experience a deep connection with the musicians, the other audience members and yourself, and when the music stops, your mind is quiet. Although the language of kirtan is often in sanskrit, the true language of kirtan is universal, because it is a language of the heart. Because kirtan has roots in India, many of the songs are sung in Sanskrit. Kirtan is non-denominational, the Universal language of Spirit, the song of the Soul. Excerpts of this "What is Kirtan" description have been borrowed from www.RaganiWorld.com and www.newworldkirtan.com, both are wonderful kirtan resources.
