CONNECTING WITH THE DIVINE

Meditation and devotion

One of meditation’s many spiritual purposes is devotion. If you’re interested in this side of your practice, devotional meditation, such as Kirtan, can be a powerful means of spiritual connection.

While some traditions see the spiritual purpose of meditation as purifying oneself or liberating the mind from suffering, others—including Christian Mysticism and the Hindu Bhakti Yoga—see meditation as a means of devotion. This means to focus the heart and mind on the Divine while developing strong religious feeling and surrender, making it a powerful way to explore the spiritual side of your practice.

In Christian Mysticism, for example, meditation helps keep the mind and heart focused on God by repeating a sacred word or sentence or by focusing on a feeling of Divine presence. The Hindu approach includes similar practices, as well as a practice of group chanting called Kirtan, which is gaining popularity in a more secularized form in the West. The Sikh tradition also includes a practice of Kirtan chanting. Kirtan is a particularly good introduction to devotional meditation, as it gives you a direct taste of emotional surrender without asking you to believe in anything specific.

DEVOTIONAL SINGING

Kirtan is a call-and-response chant of the “names of the Divine,” usually sung in Sanskrit or Hindi. It uses the flow of music and emotions to bypass the mind and arrive at a state of stillness or even ecstasy.

As one of the main practices of Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of the heart, Kirtan aims to awaken the feeling of bhakti in the heart, leading to an altered state of consciousness. Bhakti is a feeling of devotion and surrender to a higher spiritual ideal, whatever name and shape you want to give it. The more bhakti is developed in you, the more uplifted you feel, giving you a sense of ease, wonder, and bliss. Kirtan also enhances your sensitivity and soothes the mind. To start with, the best way to experience Kirtan is by joining a session at a Yoga or meditation studio. It is helpful to keep the following guidelines in mind:

Attitude. Bhava—the emotion and attitude behind singing—is the most important element of Kirtan. It brings about the opening of the heart and the release and channeling of your emotions.

Openness. Kirtan leads you to leave the realm of the mind and to connect from a place of openness and surrender, so you might feel a bit uncomfortable at first. This makes it important to choose a group setting in which you feel safe.

Nonjudgment. Your mind may be telling you that your voice is bad or group singing is odd, but you will only have a real experience of what Kirtan can do for you by suspending all judgment for the duration of the session.

Heartfulness. Sound and voice are the vehicles of emotion; the mind just gets in the way. Leave your intellect at the door and allow yourself to experience whatever feelings may come up. Open your heart, be there completely, and let Kirtan lead the way into what might be a new and mysterious place for you.

After a few songs, you may arrive at a space full of silence, openness, and heartfulness. If that happens, you can continue to sit or stand in silence and enjoy the meditation.

“Kirtan helps you connect to something deeper inside yourself. You are singing for the awakening of your own heart.”

Getting connected

If you are seeking spiritual connection from meditation, you may want to experiment with devotional techniques.