Ananda Family News
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Shivaratri Kirtan
February 20th this year was Shivaratri, the Hindu festival day dedicated to Lord Shiva. We took the opportunity at Friday’s kirtan of diving a little more deeply into the vast ocean of Indian chants. We had a wonderful turnout of harmoniums, guitars, percussion, and singers filling the temple with devotional chants to Shiva (along with a few to his son, Ganesha).
As Asha occasionally reminds us, our teachings are “about as Hindu as they are Catholic,” and the style of chanting that Master created reflects that uniqueness of his overall mission. But it’s fun sometimes to tip a bit over to one side of the scale or the other. Repetitions of the many many names of Shiva may not be as automatically meaningful to Western ears, but that can also be a good excuse to leave the intellect behind entirely for a time and just become absorbed in the devotional flow of the music.
As Asha occasionally reminds us, our teachings are “about as Hindu as they are Catholic,” and the style of chanting that Master created reflects that uniqueness of his overall mission. But it’s fun sometimes to tip a bit over to one side of the scale or the other. Repetitions of the many many names of Shiva may not be as automatically meaningful to Western ears, but that can also be a good excuse to leave the intellect behind entirely for a time and just become absorbed in the devotional flow of the music.
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2 comments:
What beautiful photos of this event! I just finished reading a biography of George Harrison called "Working Class Mystic" and learned more about his devotion to Krishna and hinduism, as well as to Yogananda. It was quite enlightening and lately I have been dreaming of more chanting in the hindu tradition. What an opportunity to get swept "up" in to It!!
Thank you foor sharing
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