Yoga means to connect to the spiritual through control of the mind, body and senses. When executed correctly yoga achieves that aim. Bhakti means ” the path of love & devotion,” so Bhakti-yoga is connecting to God through love & devotion.The sacred texts of yoga, such as the Bhagavad-gita address the essential questions of life .
Those texts also speak on the eternal blissful nature of the soul, the all attractive, all merciful, beautiful nature of God, our relationship with God, and the wonderful opportunities to serve God that we have at every moment.
We live in an age which grants us extraordinary conveniences and torrents of information. Yet the very technology designed for our well-being often serves only to isolate us from one another and distance us from the experience of all that is truly divine, so we forget the great treasure of love that is with is ourselves. This love for God is inherent in the heart of every living being & Bhakti Yoga reawakens that dormant love. When we are reawakened to this love of God within ourselves, we express that love through our occupation, through our social position, through whatever we are doing in this world. This path of bhakti is not one of rejection, but how we can best utilize our natural tendencies to serve the Lord. Bhakti yoga is a system of transformation.
A central practice of the bhakti yoga is mantra meditation. There are two types of mantra meditation, Japa and Kirtan. Japa is private, meditation kirtan where God’s names are chanted softly on prayer beads called mala. The main purpose of the beads is to keep track of the number of mantras chanted. Bhakti yoga practitioners decide on a minimum number of mantras they want to chant each day. The focus while chanting is to hear the sound of the mantra. Japa turns the powerful benefits of kirtan into personal development. Kirtan, on the other hand, is the singing of mantras with others. The singing is accompanied by musical instruments and rhythmic drumming and the audience is encouraged to participate by chanting, clapping and dancing. In its heartfelt expression kirtan can induce profound states of meditation, bliss and ecstasy. Kirtan is the number one ingredient in the path of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotional service. Bhakti yoga and kirtan can be easily done by anyone. Anyone can participate in kirtan and immediately experience great benefits regardless if they are young or old, poor or wealthy, scholarly or uneducated. Bhakti is the yoga, the spiritual practice, for all people. People who chant japa or do kirtan are peaceful and equipoised even during apparently distressing situation. Click here to read more about kirtan.
Although kirtan is an eternal principle in the bhakti-yoga, it is acknowledged that 500 years ago Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a revolutionary medieval saint from India, brought kirtan to the masses. By breaking major social trends he made this Divine connection available to everyone regardless of their caste, race, ethnicity, or religious affiliation thus giving everyone the opportunity fully enlightened through this simple and blissful spiritual activity. Chaitanya taught that Bhakti, or loving devotion to Krishna, is both the most effective spiritual practice and the ultimate goal of all spiritual practices. In a beautiful poem he wrote that by uniting together and cleansing the dust from out hearts we can begin to feel what it means to love God unconditionally again. Click here to read more about Chaitanya.
Classes:
- Every Tuesday from 7 to 9pm join us for ‘Bhakti Yoga & Kirtan’. Class includes: a delicious vegan dinner & kirtan. No previous knowledge needed.
- All bhakti and kirtan events are free unless otherwise stated
