"The kirtan that Swami Rama taught me was from Nada Yoga, the science of sound vibration. We repeat a sacred sound over and over until it creates a groove in the mind. It resets our physiology, the energy, the alignment of our body. When you generate this back and forth groove of call-and-response between the kirtan leader and the participants, it helps to realign the nadis (the currents of energy in our subtle body). Then when you rest in the silence after the singing, you can feel the energy of the vibrations.
"With yoga science you create a pattern in the mind, and you can actually realign yourself mentally and spiritually. I've often compared it to jogging. You wouldn't take a three-minute jog. You need to go longer to get the body into a rhythm. It's the same when you want to bring the mind into a rhythm. Once you get that rhythm going you start feeling the effects of it.
"You don't have to know what we're singing. Asking what the Sanskrit words mean is like saying, 'What does Linda mean?' Even if people come and don't sing, they can still benefit because the sounds they're hearing will draw them into that groove. I suspect even if someone were deaf, their energy would still be affected.
"When people first arrive at a kirtan, the energy is all over the place. People came from work or from school, some people are happy, some are sad. It's a whole room of people talking, just chatter and scattered energy. It feels almost a little edgy. Some people don't want to calm down. If they've never been to a kirtan before they're wondering, 'Is this going to be boring?' They sit in the back to make sure they can escape if they decide to leave. I joke when we start, 'Randy, lock the doors. We're going to chant the same thing over and over again for hours.' You can see the newcomers feeling a little nervous.
"But when we start chanting, it's like a wave. If you start swirling water in the same direction, suddenly all the water in the bowl is flowing together. If the baby is fussing and you rock it, it stops crying and relaxes. Like rocking a baby, this back and forth, call-and-response experience of kirtan soothes and rejuvenates the mind and heart. It has an organizing effect on the mind and body.
"When you have a lot of people doing the same thing energetically, it creates a really powerful force. That's why both kirtan and meditation are even more powerful when you do them in a group. You get this whole force, this kind of ride that's bigger than all of us individually. It takes you right into the center, into that quiet space. It stills the mind."
