Kirtan
Watch the video to experience Melanie’s Kirtan
Jai Uttal on the Nectar of Kirtan:
“Kirtan is singing over and over the many names (mantras) of God and Goddess, the multi-colored manifestations of the One. It is said that there is no difference between the name and that which is being named, and as the words roll off our lips in song, the Infinite is invoked, invited, made manifest with our hearts.
Kirtan is part of an ancient form of Yoga known as Bhakti. But in Bhakti we we redefine devotion we expand the meaning to include every shade of color in the palette of human emotion, turned towards God through song, dance and worship. These chants have been sung for millennium by sages, sinners, devotees, and the great primordial yogi alchemists of old. And, as we sing, we touch the spirits of the millions of people across the centuries who have sung the same songs and cried the same tears. As we sing, we immerse ourselves in an endless river of prayer that has been flowing since the birth of the first human beings, longing to know their creator.
Kirtan is a vessel that can hold love, longing, union, separation, lust, despair, mourning, anger, hate, sadness, ecstasy and oneness. Powered by the fire of these emotions, the chants of Bhakti become like a ship, singing us to the other shore. In lightness, in darkness, in despair, in joy we sing the names and turn our human hears toward the One, who is closer to us than our own breath.
Kirtan is for all people. There are no masters of Kirtan, no experts, no teachers, no advanced students, no beginners, The practice itself is the teacher, guiding us to ourselves. Kirtan taches itself by allowing us to enter into a mystery world - a world where all the logic of our minds, the conditioning and learning are left outside - and we allow ourselves to expand into the mystery. And in this mystery we create a temple inside our our hearts, a place of refuge, a place of love, a place of being, a place of sanctity — whatever we need.”
“Kirtan is the calling, the crying, the reaching across infinite space — digging into the heart’s deepest well to touch and be touched by the Divine Presence.”
~ Jai Uttal
Melanie has been playing/studying harmonium and leading kirtan for many years and offers weekly Kirtan at the Ridgway Yoga Shala
