Kirtan
I was part of a Kirtan singing evening yesterday. Kirtan is form of prayer in Hinduism, where gods name is chanted repeatedly, with a person leading a group. The proponent of this form of prayer was 14th century Indian saint and reformer Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who made in popular in current Indian states of West Bengal, Orissa and Republic of Bangladesh. Kirtan is the most visible form of Bhakti Yoga philosophy.
Kirtan does exist in India these days mostly in the small temples of rural India, most of them located on river banks or the edge of village tank. It is treat to listen to evening Kirtan along with setting sun reflected on the river or tank and also chiming of temple bells. Most of prayers in temples in India reflect the the Hindu orthodoxy with a priest facing god and perform rituals and devotees standing in attention with little participation nor understanding.
After attending the Kirtan by Krishna Das, I was elated and refreshed. I also noticed that most of people who turned up for the prayer were White Americans who enjoyed the event in their own way, chanting, singing and even laying down, allowing the magic of evening to seep into them. After the evening I couldn't compare the the form Hinduism I saw there and orthodox form I know. That evening event helped people to celebrate god, celebrate one's life and gain new energy. Orthodox Hinduism is rife conflict based on various ethnicities in India, caste, class etc.
What was surprising was the realization that post independence secular India has not led to serious movement to reform Hinduism. This is mainly due to compulsions of electoral politics regional parties want to Hindus into castes and sub castes to micro target them, putting master in micro targeting Karl Rove to shame. One national party assumes that history of India began in 1947 and doesn't believe in Hinduism and the other National party believes that one and half millennium foreign invasion should be corrected so status quo should continue
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