The History of Kirtan

In the far off exotic land today known as India, our ancestors lived as yogis in the rural communities called ashramas. These yogis were also called rishis, which means“seer”, because they cultivated their “third eye”. This is the mind’s eye of inner spiritual consciousness, which shone in them like an internal blazing mid-summer sun.

They cultivated their inner eye through meditation practices such as kirtan, and by proper understanding of the associations between the causes and consequences for all things,allowing them to “see” past, present, and future. Although they live simple life, the life of the yogis was rich with the jewels of satisfaction, peace, spirituality, and a universal harmony between humans, animals and the rest of nature.All parties in this relationship flourished like a perennial Spring with abundant beauty, fragrance, vitality, and growth. The yogis didn’t work particularly hard because Mother Earth provided them her rich bounty of sweet juicy fruits, nutritious grains, and juicy vegetables without the need for cultivation and sowing fields with seeds for food. As the yogis were vegetarian so there was also no need to hunt and kill innocent animals.


Additionally, Mother Earth generously sent forth her valuable minerals including jewels and gold to the surface of the earth; these the yogis used for making medicine, ornaments, and for worship - expressing appreciation to the Divine. Mother Earth’s seasons were as predictable as a Swiss watch, such that yogis didn’t need watches, they could accurately tell the time and the date from the weather. In this harmony, the clouds only sent rain at night when the yogis slept, enough to properly irrigate nature’s vegetation, so the sun could shine pleasantly all day long. Without the need for hard work, the yogis devoted their time to nurturing beautiful relationships called yoga or links between each other, with Nature whom they addressed as Mother Nature, and with the Supreme Divine whom, amongst many other Holy Names, was called The Universal Father. They did this through the inner cultivation of spiritual practices that were given by the Supreme Divine at the beginning of time and handed down from one yogi teacher to the next, in an unbroken chain of disciplic succession.

Introduction of Kirtan

 In India, people have been singing about Rama, Krishna, Govinda etc in their local languages or in Sanskrit for millennium.

In the early 1500's, kirtan was introduced by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the recommended spiritual path for the present age. Up until that time mantras were chanted to a meter at Vedic ceremonies, but the particular stressing of the importance of combining mantras with music as the most recommended spiritual discipline for our current times, is due to Chaitanya

  Chanitanya Mahaprabhu

He promoted singing mantras with Indian musical instruments, particularly the khola (mridanga drum) and karatals (brass hand cymbals). Initially there was some resistance from caste brahmanas, the established priestly class. But Chaitanya from the age of 15,he had already defeated in debate the greatest Pandit ('pundit' - scholar) and he was already known as the most erudite and knowledgeable person of his era. He explained on many different levels the benefits of chanting kirtan. Around the world, kirtan was first introduced by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada -the founder of ISKCON - from 1965

Kirtan is a Sanskrit word.The meaning of Kirtan is 'to chant', or it refers to 'the process of chanting', and it includes a sense of 'repeating', 'describing', and 'glorifying'. Specifically, it refers to the glorification of the Supreme. The readers will doubtlessly be familiar with other Sanskrit words such as yoga, Avatar, mantra, guru, and karma which are in use worldwide. In the coming years, we can expect 'kirtan' will become another word that will be more familiar in general usage.

Kirtan and the relation between Hinduism

Is Kirtan a 'Hindu' practise? Well, what is a Hindu? The term has only been in use for less than a thousand years and began more as a geographical term rather than referring to a religious system. The invading Arabs referred to the peoples beyond the Sindhu river as being Hindus. The spiritual texts of ancient India themselves refer to the concept of Sanatana Dharma. This term refers to the eternal constitutional position or duty of the spiritual being.

The essential point is that kirtan is a non-sectarian practice and it does not matter what faith group, or none, one associates oneself with, or is born into.

It is common to designate people according to groups so we can put them 'into a box': he's a Nigerian, an aborigine, she's a traveller, they're Jews, he's a Hare Krishna. Sometimes there may be a motivation that in conversation with others we can group ourselves into a 'better' group or designation (I'm Irish, I'm from Dublin, I'm from Castleknock!). In this way the world will realise that I'm rich, happy, aristocratic, and above these lower persons. In Vedic philosophy, this is all seen as coming from ahankara, or false ego. Subtly (very subtly) Vedic philosophy sees these thought processes or ideas as a desire for the finite living being to usurp the position of the Supreme Being. But we can never do so!

In conclusion, kirtan should never be viewed as a sectarian practice.