What Is Kirtan?

One of the first spiritual figures from India to introduce chanting to American audiences—as far back as the 1920s—was Paramahansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, who is widely regarded as the father of yoga in the West.

In banishing the greatest obstacles to spiritual enlightenment—such as inertia, indifference, lack of devotion, sad moods, and blind attachments—Yogananda taught that “chanting is half the battle.” Chanting opens a way through which the joyous presence of God can be felt.  [Listen to the chant "Thousands of Suns" here.]

According to Vedic philosophy, our innate nature as souls is joy. It is not something we have to find or create, but rather something that we have forgotten through our identification with ego and the material world. So, how can we reawaken this joy? One effective way is through kirtan—the act of performing devotional chants with others—because it quiets the mind and opens the heart, helping us to go within and rediscover our innate blissful state of being.

In distinguishing between ordinary singing and devotional chanting, Yogananda wrote, “Popular songs are usually inspired through sentiment or passing interests. But a song born out of the depths of true devotion to God and continuously chanted, audibly or mentally, until response is consciously received from Him in the form of boundless joy, is a spiritualized song.” These experiences of deep devotional joy are the essence and purpose of kirtan.

In his acclaimed Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda wrote, “Hindu music is a subjective, spiritual, and individualistic art, aiming not at symphonic brilliance but at personal harmony with the Over-Soul. All the celebrated songs of India have been composed by devotees of the Divine. The Sanskrit word for ‘musician’ is bhagavathar, ‘he who sings the praises of God.’” [Listen to the chant "Sri Guru Charanam" here.]

Kirtan as a Spiritual Discipline

Yogananda wrote that kirtan is “an effective form of yoga or spiritual discipline, necessitating intense concentration, absorption in the seed thought and sound … Great religious music of East and West bestows joy on man because it causes a temporary vibratory awakening of one of his occult spinal centers [chakras]. In those blissful moments a dim memory comes to him of his divine origin.”

This vibratory awakening of the chakras happens when we chant with deep concentration and, as Yogananda says, “drop your mind into the bottomless well of your heart.” We throw ourselves into a chant expecting nothing in return. We make our chanting a sincere offering. From that attitude, devotion naturally arises, helping create a pathway to receive chanting’s benefits.

The five senses we use every day to perceive our experiences all keep the body engaged in the outer world. Devotional chanting helps us turn those searchlights of the senses inward to perceive our inner environment. We start with a bjia (a “seed” sound) or a simple phrase set to music, which allows us to concentrate our attention. By repeating the chant sincerely, it kindles a sense of devotion. As we continue to chant, we move into subtler states of consciousness, which helps activate the higher energy centers located in the spine and the brain. This ultimately leads to a spiritual experience of deep peace and joy. This natural process is an integral part of yoga science.

Kirtan to Create Positive Change

Paramahansa Yogananda often spoke of the immense power of vibration, referring to it as the most powerful force in the universe. He explained that sound, specifically the primordial vibration of Aum (as described in the Vedas, India’s sacred scripture), is the very fabric of creation: “The basis of all sounds.” If we know how to attune ourselves to this vibration through chanting, we can harness its power to remove obstacles and create positive change in our lives.

The power of sound can also be effectively applied to words alone. In his popular book Scientific Healing Affirmations, Yogananda wrote, “Words that are saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs that have power to remove the rocks of difficulties and to create the change desired.” Thoughts, words, and music are all imbued with the qualities we put forth, consciously or not.

“May the Aum vibration, conjoined with the music of the spheres, dispel all your darkness and bring joy and understanding in your heart.”—Paramahansa Yogananda

How Kirtan Came to America

Paramahansa Yogananda was one of the first yoga masters to introduce kirtan to Americans. During a series of talks on yoga and meditation at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 1926, Yogananda decided to invite the audience to participate in a kirtan.

“One evening I started to chant ‘O God Beautiful,’” he recalled, “and asked the audience, who had never before heard the song, to join me in chanting it. For one hour and 25 minutes, the thousands of voices of the entire audience chanted ‘O God Beautiful’ in a divine atmosphere of joyous praise.” [Listen to the chant "O God Beautiful" here.]

Yogananda continued, “Even after I had left the stage, the audience sat on, chanting the song. The next day many men and women testified to the God-perception and the healing of body, mind, and soul that had taken place during the sacred chanting, and numerous requests came in to repeat the song at other services.”

In the prelude to his book Cosmic Chants, Yogananda wrote, “This experience at Carnegie Hall, the music temple of America and the scene of the triumphs of many great singers and musicians, was a spontaneous tribute to the universal nature of soul music and to the untutored understanding of Westerners regarding the Eastern chants.”

The 5 Phases of Kirtan

In addition to being one of the first to bring kirtan to the West, Yogananda was most likely the first to distinguish five phases of chanting: loud chanting, whisper chanting, mental chanting, subconscious chanting, and superconscious chanting.

People familiar with kirtan generally know the first two phases. Loud chanting focuses the mind inward, away from external distractions. Then, as our concentration grows, we shift into whisper chanting. From there, we move into mental chanting, so we are no longer chanting aloud but only within. This leads naturally into the next phase, subconscious chanting, when chanting becomes automatic, with internal consciousness only. The final phase is superconscious chanting, when there is a deeper realization and experience of the meaning of the chant. At this level, the chant is no longer a mental concept but a living reality; a merging of consciousness with divine vibration. [Listen to the chant "Light the Lamp of Thy Love" here.]

Yogananda taught: “Progress from low voice to loud, then loud to whisper, and lastly from whisper to mental chanting, until you feel that you are repeating the words and music with soul feeling—that is, until you finally realize the meaning of your utterance in every fiber of your being. The devotional thought in a song should be predominant, while the sound of the words meekly, gently follows the increasingly warm feeling of love for the Lord.”

Article courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship.