Our home is the Unitarian Universalist Society: East in Manchester, CT. Mark your calendar! Kirtan will be held the 2nd Friday of each month at Unitarian Universalist Society East (UUS:E) in Manchester, CT. Suggested donation $15 (no one will be turned away). So, What Is Kirtan? Kirtan originates in the Vedic culture of India. The Sanskrit root word kirt means to call, name, or praise. When we call or praise God with devotion, especially in song, our hearts open and we connect with the divine. So kirtan is not a performance, but a spiritual practice. We sing mantras, which are the names of God, various aspects of God. The kirtan we have in the United States is Westernized. We use Western instruments and Western modalities of music or a blend of them with Indian ones. And although many of the mantras that we sing are Hindu, I’ve been to kirtans that include Judaic, Christian, Moslem, and Native American names of God as well. Singing mantras invokes in us the higher aspects of our own divine nature. There’s no right or wrong in kirtan. The leader sings the mantra, the group sings it back the best they can. Don’t worry if you don’t get the words exactly right. Don’t worry about what your voice sounds like. In fact, don’t worry about anything. Just sing your heart out. Or if you really do not want to sing aloud, sing in your heart. Let the vibration of the mantra take you to that place within.
