Sunday 13 May 2007

Chant in the heart of Oxford

Next chanting session will be on Sunday 20th May. All are welcome!

The April Kirtan

The April kirtan featured talks by Rembert. He has been reading poetry by Northern Indian mediaeval saints, and read a selection to help us get into the mood of chanting. These saints were engaged in constant chanting and expressed their realisations through poetry. Rembert also spoke about the seeming paradox of the 'noise' of chanting, and the internal quiet and silence that it brings. Here are his talks: welcome, talk 1, talk 2, talk3.

This time Meru chanted the invocation.

We sang two slightly difficult mantras during the April kirtan, and Gopal started with:

he govinda, he gopal, keshava madhava dina dayal (re) dina dayal prabhu dina dayal, dina dayal prabhu dina dayal
shyamasundara kanahyalal, girivara-dhari nanda-dulal (re)
nanda-dulal prabhu nanda-dulal, nanda-dulal prabhu nanda-dulal

Rembert then chanted a special mantra for internal and external protection:

shri nrisimha, jaya nrisimha, jaya jaya nrisimha prahladesha jaya padma-mukha-padma bringa

In the end, Rasasthali started with what is called the pancha-tattva mantra, before leading us into a swinging Hare Krishna mantra chant:

sri-krishna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda shri-advaita gadadhara shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

See you next Sunday!