Kirtan - Chanting

I was skeptical but it is my sister's birthday and she wanted  go chant with Krishna Das so I went with. She had told me that she had an amazing spiritual experience attending one of his concerts and that there was an incredible energy and power in this chanting. I thought she "drank the Kool-Aid." I went. And I waited. Ready to be wowed. And here comes a guy, plaid shirt, glasses who sits down on the floor behind a harmonium, a woman with a violin, guy on drums, guy on bass and a woman with small symbols, all just sitting there... and I waited...I was holding this paper I was handed entering the room with all these words that I wasn't even sure I could pronounce let alone have any idea what they mean. Sanskrit? My mind is going in all sorts of negative directions, wondering how long this whole chanting thing could last anyway... And then after some silence there's sounds from the harmonium and an "om" rising... the call and repetition for a response begins and I struggle to look at my sheet and figure out where we are and what I'm supposed to be saying... 


I started singing along with everyone and it was ok but I kept finding myself waiting for this great spiritual breakthrough or something to happen... and then it did... for me, there was something about this song - My Foolish Heart/Bhaja Govinda - that I felt deeply connected to and I felt the energy in myself change and became in touch with the energy in the room, everyone chanting together like a unified heartbeat which resonated in the building and every inanimate object in the building seemed to take on this pulse too, everything together, connected, pulsing, connected down into the earth and up into the sky, beauty and light pouring out from everyone and back the universe... and I was full, my heart was open and my light was shining...


When Krishna Das sang 'Hare Krishna' it seemed like the building may explode from all the energy pulsing through it. I remember when I was younger seeing people with shaved heads and dressed in draped robes dancing around on street corners and in airports singing 'Hare Krishna' and thinking they must be part of some crazy religious cult. I remember thinking they always seemed really happy but also thinking there must be something 'funny' going on. I hope that I have learned better than that. I hope I can move beyond those callous judgments and truly be a better, more loving and open person. The practice of love is so much more powerful than the practice of hate and it serves us all  instead of serving the ignorance of a few.


I drank the Kool-Aid. 
Krishna Das is in San Francisco for 2 nights so we will see him again tomorrow.