Hanuman
For many years now, I’ve been starting the new year off in New York City at the Dharma Yoga center in NYC chanting the Hanuman Chalisa. Hanuman is a Hindu deity, the Hanuman Chalisa is a devotional song or chant.
I’m not a practicing Hindu, but I do find that chanting, Hindu or otherwise, can clear the mind and can be a powerful form of meditation.
This sort of chanting practice is known as kirtan. Meditation doesn’t come easy for many people, kirtan can bring you easily to a place of quiet and stillness. One of the oldest sacred music traditions of the world, the kirtan call-and-response chanting genre comes from India. Using ancient Sanskrit mantras, the kirtan calls upon sacred energies which serve to quiet the mind, remove obstacles, and bring us back to our center.
Here in the US, the most well known American kirtan leader is Krishna Das, a nice Jewish boy from Long Island, NY who introduced chanting and kirtan to the West. Many others have made kirtan popular in the United States, including Deva Premal, Jai Uttal, Bhagavan Das and Wah! Over the years, I’ve attended many kirtans with these artists in places like Omega Institute, Kripalu Center and loads of yoga venues in NYC.
This year, they are streaming the New Year’s day kirtan live, you can click here to learn more or to watch and listen.
