Identify and explain the significance of religious music: the Kirtan and Bhakti Yoga

On 18th July 2020, my family and I went to an overnight Yoga retreat in Govinda Valley.

Govinda Valley is run by volunteers who practice a Bhakti Yoga lifestyle, and this particular retreat format basically just invites you to participate in their usual daily life: A vegan diet, yoga multiple times daily, health and wellness workshops and time to enjoy nature. On the particular night we were there, we got to participate in a Kirtan. But before we get into it, I'd like to investigate yoga and critically understand my own approach to it.

My experience with yoga

Yoga is a word and idea that means a lot of different things to a lot of people, ranging from being a spiritual experience or way of life, to pilates with relaxing music. In my context, I first experienced yoga as an extra-curricular activity in high school, and knew it as a form of exercise imbued with relaxation and mindfulness. Our yoga teacher didn't say much more than telling us to breathe deep, feel connected to the ground and to acknowledge each other for turning up to class with a "namaste" at the end. It felt distinctly like an areligious activity to me, likely because I had grown up with my mum (who teaches meditation with a more overtly spiritual vibe), and had gone to a Steiner school, which uses a teaching method steeped heavily in the wholistic study of the world's myths, legends, religions and histories. For me, the attraction was the combination of calmness, exercise and flexibility - I was an asthmatic kid who felt inferior in traditional sports but happened to be flexible. My research now tells me that I would likely have been participating in Hatha yoga, which focuses on physical and mental strength.

The Devil went down to Yoga

When we graduated school, many of us continued to practice yoga, using Youtube videos and occasionally popping into a class. Then one day, one of our friends came to the conclusion that yoga was devil worship! I found out all sorts of things like Bible verse replacement "yoga" and proclamations that when yogis say to "empty your mind" you open up yourself to Satan... I couldn't believe how vehemently some Christians rejected yoga. Eventually I decided that yoga had never seemed threatening or harmful to me because my upbringing about religious practices allowed for experiencing "the divine" in many different routes. Additionally, I considered that the experiences of yoga that I have had are likely still very "whitewashed" to be more marketable - there are no "oms" and little reference to a deity or "the divine". I notice it in my mum too, when she teaches her meditation practice - she shifts from "the universe" to "the divine" to "each other" depending on how open minded her students are. I think given that yoga comes from Hindu traditions and practices, from a less religiously flexible perspective, if you believe that any other religion is a dead-end made by evil/Satan, then I suppose yoga is indeed a Satanic ritual. I guess something I wonder is: Christians have real problems with Christians doing yoga (plenty of sources for this). Do yogis mind that there are people of other religions practicing yoga (cannot find sources for this)? Are we appropriating their practice by doing it and not being Hindu/Buddhist/of a school of yoga?

Enter Vaish: A crash-course in Yoga and Hinduism

At this point in my research I started getting pretty overwhelmed with the world(s) of yoga. According to Wikipedia, there are multiple styles related to both Hinduism and Buddhism, and since its uptake in the Western world its relationship to religion has been muddled by the Western notion of separating religion from culture. So to clarify my understanding I phoned a friend to clarify some essential points. Vaish identifies as Hindu and this was her understanding of yoga she shared with me:

... so basically some questions answered (yoga is not like praying to a god), but also new areas of Karen's mind were also blown (Hinduism can be atheist???).

Bhakti Yoga and the yoga schools

Shrine at Govinda Valley

Well now that we've gone and cleared up that yoga is not of itself related to worship, I'm going to throw the outlier in: Bhakti yoga. According to Yogapedia, there are four main schools of yoga that offer a path to spiritual liberation:

• Jnana: self-knowledge

• Karma: action

• Raja: meditation

• and...

Bhakti yoga, which is the school of yoga that DOES relate to the devotion of oneself to serving God. (At this point I imagine some priest would go, "aha! I told you!".) Some Bhakti yogis devote themselves to a deity (the next day in Govinda Valley we found the shrine for Vishnu as Narasimha). However, the article goes on to clarify that "serving God" is in this instance, is about serving "the Divine" present in all things, which in my experience of Christianity seems suspiciously similar to "seeing God in everyone". In any case, Bhakti yogis practice chanting, mantras, prayers and kirtan as a part of the devotional aspect of their lifestyle.

What is a kirtan?

Govinda Valley describes their kirtan as "a style of singing meditation... a mind blowing deep experience of pure joy and spiritual union". Wikipedia describes it a little less emotionally: "a call-and-response style song or chant, set to music, wherein multiple singers recite or describe a legend, or express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas." A lead singer is accompanied by instruments such as the harmonium and tabla or mrdanga (drums). The article also describes some styles of kirtan as being akin to a theatrical performance, involving dancing, acting and story-telling. Kirtans also exist in Sikhism, but as a recitation/sung performance of Sikh scripture, and may or may not be sung along with. It was noted that Buddhism did not initially have a kirtan tradition, and is hypothesised to be because of its seemingly sensual nature. Chanting was eventually developed, and this along with songs/plays about Buddha became known as Buddha-samkirtan.

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My experience: reflections on music in religion

After dinner, the yogis at Govinda Valley announced that they would be holding a kirtan around a fire that night. They described the kirtan as an evening of singing together, and added that people who didn't wish to sing were just welcome to come and sit. My family and I decided to come along to see what it was all about, and I managed to record a little bit of it, plus an intro from one of the yogis themselves.

You may notice the recording was a bit long.

We stayed for an hour, and in that time we got through just three kirtans. It was indeed very repetitive but I noticed that the lead singer occasionally added variations to his melody that some people occasionally sang back in the response. It was just enough to keep things moving along, and he also varied the tone of his voice to make each repetition seem like a new facet of the same thing. It only worried me momentarily that I didn't really know what I was singing (though I did notice that it wasn't really explained - I googled it here). I thought maybe I wasn't really thinking hard enough about what I was doing, but this article reassures me that I probably was doing it right:

"The key to success in any form of mantra practice is repetition. When you’re sitting in a kirtan, gently bring your wandering mind back to the chant over and over again."

I definitely did have a wandering mind, but since I didn't really know what I was singing I spent my time wondering at this diverse group of people whose beliefs I knew nothing about, that all decided to be a part of a kirtan.

The article goes on to say:

With regular, sincere practice over time... you may notice that “thoughts don’t grab you so deeply. Emotions don’t wipe you out so completely. It changes your psyche.”

Whoah! That got a bit intense a bit fast. Does this sound like brainwashing? Yikes!

...Except it sounded a lot like church! It actually surprised me how much it reminded me of Hillsong, a church environment I had experienced intermittently with my curious family. As a musician I am geared to analyse the musical devices used by worship music, and I found that a couple of elements were responsible for making kirtans feel Hillsong-ish.

• Repetition of chords: both songs have a cyclical, repetitive nature that accelerates a "stranger's" confidence and familiarity with the song, leading to a sense of belonging

• Repetitive melody line: creates a memorable "takeaway" that extends the influence of the song (and its words) past the musical event

• Strong rhythmic pulses: contributes to cyclical feeling and generates a sense of momentum. Assists in group cohesion (more singers = more difficult to sing at the same time). Perhaps the low tones of the drums makes the experience feel grounded? (as opposed to airy-fairy snake-charmer hypnosis)

• "Sense" of the song is maintained through spoken passages using quiet chords in the background, maintaining a sense of "togetherness" and the attention of the group whilst in a heightened emotional state (this is probably the part that is most brainwashing-y to me).

• Major key: creates an uplifting mood and sense of positivity

And finally:

• It's so simple to sing, it is probably more difficult to not sing along than it is to let yourself start to hum, and then eventually, sing the words.

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Conclusion

So I feel as if I'm now able to talk about the significance of the kirtan, and I think ultimately it has led me to consider music (generally) in religion and spirituality (also generally) as a tool for lifting words and ideas out of ordinary speech into a ritualised, enjoyable setting in which repetition is natural, expected, and not seen as maliciously hypnotic. Importantly, there is no room for debate with the leader of the song or kirtan. In the case of some styles of religion I might venture to say that this aspect of song is to their advantage: music with religious lyrics can appeal to anyone's emotional wish to be unified with others, and encourages dissenters or doubters to put aside their verbal arguments and simply "join in". Perhaps that is their intention - but perhaps it only feels that way when you feel more disconnected to the experience. The kirtan we sang simply used the names of God in the context of a religion I have never identified with, and yet I felt its intentions to be benign - its significance seemed to lie in the appreciation of interconnectedness, and the presence of holy words seemed only to relate to the recognition of the Divine in us all. But perhaps I would have felt less comfortable to participate if I had not grown up feeling as if all religions were facets of the same concept.

More ramblings

Now what about Hillsong? I grew up (open-minded) Catholic, and know these songs and others as a part of my life experience, but they register more like nursery rhyme or folk song rather than religious act. Except when we go to Hillsong - where I am profoundly terrified! Perhaps due to the sheer number of people going (it's literally a stadium) the elements of "brainwashing" become heightened. I particularly find hard to stomach the break they take in the middle of the song for the pastor to say pastor-y things with the chords still going, people nodding vehemently with eyes closed and hands up. The kirtan was an exchange of the same lyrics between speaker and audience - you knew what you signed up for at the beginning, and it didn't change. The point of the activity is very openly expressed as a moment to experience and praise the Divine in each participant, and to reflect (personally and privately) upon a mantra within the umbrella of time the kirtan granted you. The use of music in Hillsong is introduced as a way to praise the Divine, but feels like a way to get you emotionally hyped to receive whatever words the speaker decides to say willingly and without question. Ahhh!