Tag: kirtan

Posted on

The blessing of kirtan

My town errands took all afternoon and into the evening, so I arrived back at the Village just in time for the beginning of tonight’s Spiritual Renewal Week kirtan.

Ramesha organized it this year, so I really wanted to attend. However, I couldn’t stay for more than two chants (also because I had perishable groceries in the car).

But I’m really glad I made the effort. Largely because it was nice to simply sit in the audience and feel the joy and devotion without being in charge of any of it.

The kirtan is almost always Monday night, with the concert following on Tuesday. So, I’m usually up to my eyeballs in preparations and find it hard to make the time to go. But I’m going to try and change that next year.

Devotional kirtan and chanting to God truly is a wonderful thing.

Posted on

The SRW voyage has begun

It definitely feels like we cast off our lines yesterday (with Sunday service and a thrilling concert rehearsal) and today finds us well underway on our SRW 2023 voyage.

Judging by this morning’s class with Jyotish and Devi; a wonderful lunch with friends from India; and an inspiring kirtan, it’s clear that we’re in for quite a journey!

Posted on

Swimming in details

We are fully back to our traditional (as in “pre-pandemic”) Spiritual Renewal Week, which means a Tuesday night concert with approximately 30 singers from Ananda Village and an additional 35 or so singers from Ananda communities around the world.

And only one rehearsal. Which not everyone will arrive in time to attend.

Then there’s chanting and a song before each weekday class. Plus a kirtan. And an Indian banquet with a musical entertainment component.

I was tempted to title today’s blog: “Drowning in details,” but that would be an exaggeration. I just have to keep going and I’m fine.

But if I were stop and try to tread water, it would be all over.

Posted on

Feeding two birds with one seed

We wanted to create a beautiful ambiance for Ramesha’s holiday kirtan, so this afternoon we pushed ourselves to finish decorating the tree; rearrange the furniture; and establish order in the living room.

End result? The kirtan was as beautiful visually as it was musically AND our home is finally looking like Christmas is less than a week away!

By the way, isn’t that quite an impressive set-up? Getting a good quality livestream is way more involved than one would think. Luckily I don’t have to understand the technology in order to be of assistance; my job was to monitor the comments and answer any questions that came up! 😊

Posted on

The apartment is blessed…

I’m paraphrasing the beautiful quote of Yogananda’s — “The instrument is blessed by that which flows through it” — and applying it to our little apartment.

Lots of music is flowing through our living space as all our music-making happens from home right now. Here are a couple of photos of Ramesha offering a mini-kirtan of devotional chants. It was beautiful.