Namaste everyone.
So I was asked to just talk a little bit about Kirtan and since I'm standing up you can figure it's not going to go on for too long.
The modern and when I say modern I'm talking about the last 500 years.
The Vedas they deal with really vast time periods.
The modern Kirtan movement was actually inaugurated about 500 years ago by a great spiritual personality.
His name was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he traveled the length and breadth of India and he would sometimes be accompanied and followed by as many as a hundred thousand people at a time.
It was the most extraordinary thing and he himself manifest his great spiritual opulence in how he would chant and the effect that it would have on on everyone that came anywhere near it.
People were utterly transformed and attained the highest states of enlightenment just by being in his presence particularly during this process of Kirtan.
Kirtan is being described and he would often quote from the Upanishads the Brihadnadya Puranashad where there was a famous verse about the nature of this Kirtan which is called Hariyanam.
This word Hari it is a name of the supreme soul who relieves everyone by taking away their suffering and their pain.
He is also said to be so beautiful and transcendentally wonderful that even the slightest encounter with someone their heart will immediately be stolen.
So this name Hari is this it has this spiritual importance.
So he would often quote this Hariyanam,
Hariyanam,
Hariyanam,
Meeva kevalam,
Kalo na shteva na shteva na shteva gathir anita.
That during this current period is called Kali Yuga that this is the supreme and primary means for the attainment of self-realization and God realization.
These spiritual sounds actually descend into this world from a spiritual platform,
A spiritual dimension and the way in which they descend is through an lineage of great spiritual teachers.
In Sanskrit this is called a Sampradaya,
A lineage and tradition where great spiritual personalities received and experienced the full potency of these mantras,
These spiritual sounds and by virtue of their own purity were able to pass it on with all of its potency intact.
In the Vedas it describes that the mantra is not purchased anywhere,
You don't get it in the supermarket,
You don't get it out of a book,
You don't get it out of here or there or someone that just pulled something out of some unknown place but it is experienced when one has this connection where it has been received in great in full purity and potency and is passed on.
There is a famous Upanishadic verse that says that unless one receives mantra in this way then one will not experience the actual effect or the potency of mantra.
So this transcendental sound is something that has become available to us and if we are intelligent then we will open our heart and allow this transcendental sound to penetrate the darkness and bring light and bring love and bring understanding and spiritual insight.
This is the result and the effect of utilizing mantra correctly.
There are different categories of yogis that use mantra to realize different aspects of Godhead.
There were those who sought to merge into the impersonal ocean of light called the Brahm Jyoti and they use the same mantras to achieve that effect and came to realize their spiritual essence.
There were the majority of yogis since ancient times were actually completely focused on another aspect of the absolute called the Paramatma or the supreme soul who resides within the heart of all living beings and who is able to guide you.
He is called Chetya Guru which means the guru within but because our mind is contaminated we are overwhelmed with so much conditioning it is very difficult to access and to hear with great clarity the instructions and guidance that he gave.
The Ashtanga yogis they would practice and use mantra for the purpose of being able to come to see this transcendentally effulgent and beautiful manifestation within their own heart situated on a lotus flower.
Then there were another category of transcendentalists those who followed the paths of devotion through the practice of karma yoga and bhakti.
Those who followed that process sought to reconnect with this Lord of their heart this divine transcendent personality who is actually the Lord of love.
Our desire to both love and be loved is not a material desire it doesn't arise from the body or mind it actually springs from the soul or the Atma itself it is part of our eternal nature.
Unfortunately because we are lost we consider the body that we have on to be ourself we identify totally with that that's our whole reality and that is extremely unfortunate because then we seek to fulfill the need for love through other material personalities.
You can love a material personality affectionately and care about them but another material personality cannot cannot provide you the experience of love that you actually crave within your heart of hearts.
That can only be satisfied in relation to the eternal Lord of our heart who is called Bhagavan.
These names that we chant are names of this personality of Godhead known as Bhagavan and so for the transcendentalists who seek to experience the total fullness of God realization and self realization through this expansion of loving intimacy.
Their use of mantra during kirtan and japa like this alone is a love song.
It is a crying out of the heart itself to reconnect with our eternal friend the actual true love of our life our spiritual life and so when we chant in this process one should do it with great abandon.
You don't worry about what you look like or what your voice sounds like that's all completely irrelevant.
Drink in and bathe in the ocean of the transcendental sound and it will completely transform you from the inside out and there will be a gradually there will be an awakening of this eternal condition.
The nature of the topmost divine love exists within the heart of hearts of all living beings.
It has simply been covered up since time immemorial and this process of kirtan removes all of the debris all of the things that have covered this part of our heart and will allow the natural condition of love for the supreme soul to shine forth.
So welcome everyone and let's do it.
And now we're going to invite Acharya Das to come up.
Another love song.
Now this one you have to come in close you have to sit down and we're going to turn down the lights and you're going to sing from the heart.
So where's the light guy?
Everyone come in close as close as you can from darvandasya I saw you out the back just because you're old that's not an excuse this is a sitting down one you have to come up to the front and sit down.
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Hey Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh One should chant the holy names of the lord in a humble state of mind healing oneself to be lower than the straw in the street one should be more color than a heart free devoid of all sense of false prestige ready to offer all respects to others in such a state of mind one can chant holy names of the lord constantly oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh hey oh oh oh
