Mother's Day Kirtan

Last kirtan was on Mother's day (18th March). Jonathan Edelmann gave the talks this time, continuing on the theme of the Yoga-sutras. He explained how the eightfold process of yoga (asthanga-yoga) gradually leads the practitioner to a state of concentrated meditation. Here are his talks: Talk 1, Talk 2, Talk 3.


Claire led the invocation by reciting a mediaeval chant on the power and glories of kirtan meditation. Here is a slightly shortened version.

Meru chanted the om namo bhagavate vasudevaya mantra, which you can find in the post below.


Gopal then led two chants - one (for us) new mantra: jaya jaya shri chaitanya, jaya nityananda, jaya advaita-chandra, jaya gaura-bhakta-vrinda, which is a very sweet and joyful chant - and our special Mother's Day chant! Gopal explained to us that not only do people in India consider us to have many mothers (mother Earth etc), but also that there is a divine Mother, Radha. This mantra thus connects us to our divine mother, Radha (as well as our divine father, Krishna). It is a lovely chant:
jaya radhe, jaya radhe radhe, jaya radhe jaya shri radhe,
jaya krishna, jaya krishna krishna, jaya krishna jaya shri krishna.

Rasasthali led the finale - the hare krishna mantra:
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare