I went along to my local Kirtan the other night. Just in case you don’t know what Kirtan is, it’s kind of like an uber-relaxed Hindu version of church: Everyone sits around on the floor while a guy with a guitar leads us in a series of chants sung in a call-and-response style. I’ve been to a couple of different Kirtans before, associated with the various different [intlink id=”563″ type=”post”]cults I’ve been involved in[/intlink]; but this was my first time at this particular group.
Kirtan is a lot more fun than this.
Now before my family read this and conclude that I’m going to hell for becoming a Hindu, I should point out that the reason I go to Kirtan is because chanting in a group makes me feel good. That’s pretty much the idea behind the whole thing.
Most of the chants are sung in Sanskrit, which means I have absolutely no idea what I am singing about. The leader explains the meaning of one of them, which is basically singing praise to Krishna. And in case you don’t know who Krishna is, it’s kind of like the Hindu name for God, Yahweh, Jehova, Allah, Darwin, Dawkins… or whatever you choose to call your chosen supreme being.
(more…)
