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KIRTAN

WHAT IS KIRTAN?

Kirtan is not about how you sound, it’s about how you feel. Let your heart sing and the rest will follow.
– Mantra Meditation By Radhika Das

Kirtan is call-and-response mantra meditation: simple, joyful, and open to everyone. It lets the heart sing, settles the mind, and connects us with something bigger.

Sound Alters Reality

We are shaped by sound: music, speech, laughter, the constant hum of modern life. Sound doesn’t just move our emotions; it moves matter. From singing glasses to healing instruments and ultrasound, vibration changes things. Spiritual sound, mantra, goes further still: it can transform consciousness.

Transformation Through Spiritual Sound

In the Bhakti tradition, sacred sound appears as mantras: pure, love-surcharged syllables said to originate beyond the material world. Mantra is love arranged as sound, carrying peace, presence, connection, vision and fearlessness to any ear that receives it.

So What Exactly Is Kirtan?

Kirtan comes from kirti, to glorify. It’s the practice of praising the Divine through mantra in song, usually with instruments and call-and-response singing. You don’t need to “be musical.” Bring your voice and an open heart. Together we create a shared meditation where egos soften, joy rises, and community forms.

Kirtan means to glorify the Divine through mantra in song – a meditative practice that unites voices, hearts and purpose.
– Mantra Meditation by Radhika Das

What You’ll Experience at Our Gatherings

Our kirtans are living rooms for the soul: drums, harmonium, strings and voices weaving something both ancient and fresh. People arrive as strangers and leave as friends, often describing calm, grounding, and an “unexplainable joy.” The practice feels modern and accessible, yet timeless: an immediate way to nourish the heart and uplift the mind.

Mantra gives us shelter and respite in a moment of timelessness.
– Mantra Meditation by Radhika Das

Origins & Lineage

Historically, poet-saints like the South Indian Āḻvārs sang their love in local tongues, opening sacred song to all. In the 16th century, Śrī Chaitanya carried kirtan across India with sweeping compassion, uniting people beyond boundaries through ecstatic chanting. Today, kirtan is global, bridging languages and cultures through the universal language of mantra.

From the poet-saints of South India to Śrī Chaitanya’s ecstatic chanting across villages, kirtan has always broken barriers and carried divine love to all.
– Mantra Meditation by Radhika Das

Why It Works (the inner mechanics)

Vedic wisdom holds that creation begins with sound (AUM). Sound shapes thoughts, thoughts shape desires, and desires shape our lives. Spiritual sound soothes our inner dialogue, calms the body, realigns desires around love and gratitude, and gradually blooms the heart’s natural virtues: care, service, clarity and courage.

Mantra soothes the mind, realigns the heart, and gently reshapes our desires towards love and gratitude.
– Mantra Meditation by Radhika Das

Everyone, Everywhere

Unlike complex Vedic formulas, kirtan mantras are intimate, compassionate names you can chant anytime, anywhere. No prior qualification needed. Even imperfect pronunciation carries benefit when chanted with feeling. Start where you are; let your voice meet the sound, and let the sound meet your heart.

Kirtan mantras can be sung by anyone, anywhere. No rules, no barriers. Just heartfelt calling to the Divine.

– Mantra Meditation by Radhika Das

Come join us for our next kirtan

If you can’t attend in person, you can still listen in.

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Kirtan is the key that unlocks the door to inner joy. With each chant, we surrender to the music of our souls, igniting a sacred fire that burns away worries, awakens gratitude, and fills our hearts with pure bliss.