Book IV / I
Kirtan
What passion cannot Music raise and quell?
John Dryden
Ordinarily, when the hymns of the Saints are sung with accompaniment by musical instruments, it is called Kirtan. This music – vocal or instrumental – has a great appeal to the mind because of its power of attraction. It does for a while produce stillness in the mind and the subtle faculties.
Instrumental or vocal music plays an important part in almost all religious congregations of Yogins, Hindus, Sufis, Christians and Sikhs.
Each one of us is attracted by one or the other of two things: beautiful forms or patterns, or sweet music; and the latter is far more magnetic than the former. It has a gripping influence on all living creatures. Take for instance the fleet-footed stag, the antlered monarch; no steed can compete with him in speed. But he is entrapped and captured by huntsmen by the power of music. The hunter blows his horn and the strak attracted by it, quickly surenders himself before the power of music, Similarly, the poisonous snake, for the time being, forgets his nature under the influence of the snake charmer's vina, and spends the rest of his life shut up in a basket. The effect of music on human beings is also tremendous, but one feels enraptured only as long as the music lasts; one does not get beyond the emotional influence and remains in the elemental sphere.
From the study of the sacred lore and the teachings of the Masters, we learn that the Inner Music of the Soul or the Sound Current or Harmony is ceaselessly going on in each individual and can, if contacted and listened to attentively, lead to ultimate salvation.
This Dhun is described in the Granth Sahib as Akhand Kirtan or Unending Harmony.
In this age know ye that Shabd is the Kirtan; devotion to Shabd dispels all egotism.
Guru Amar Das, Asa M3
The blessed Naam is the veritable Kirtan of the Lord in the Kali Yuga (the Iron Age) and is the essence of all devotion, one can engage in Kirtan of Hari Naam through the teachings of the Master.
Guru Ram Das, Kanra War Shalok M4
The Kirtan or Naam or Shabd is the only means to spiritual advancement. The reverberation of this Kirtan is all-pervading and all-embracing, but It becomes manifest only when one, by a process of practical self-analysis and inversion, rises above body-consciousness. It is characterized by a Dhun (Musical Sound), the experience whereof one gets in the Sukhman or Shahrag, the central chord in the forehead.
The Music of Sehaj playing at Thy door doth become manifest in my forehead.
Kabir, Ramkali Kabir
In this Iron Age, the last in the series of cyclic ages, there is no other spiritual practice as fruitful and effective as Kirtan or Naam or Hari Kirtan, and this is the be-all and end-all of all types of religious and meritorious deeds.
In the Fourth Age, oh Man! Naam is a priceless treasure; repetition, strict disciplines and pilgrimages suited the earlier ages, in this age, Kirtan of Hari Naam is the sovereign remedy.
Guru Amar Das, Bilawal M3
This is the season of Hari Kirtan and Hari Naam is the highest devotion, oh sow thy farm with the seeds of Hari Naam, the sowing of all other seeds will be of no avail, a sheer waste of time and of labor.
Guru Ram Das, Asa M4
One can get a living contact or touch with this Kirtan through the grace of some Master-Soul.
The crest-jewel of Ram Naam Kirtan (the Divine Melody) is with the Master, and he who follows the Master's teachings, the Master makes that manifest to him.
Guru Ram Das, Kalyan M4
In the scriptures, it is stated that those alone can practice and commune with Hari Kirtan who come in close contact with some Master-Soul. It is by devotion to the Master that one can contact the Grand Harmony.
He who is devoted to a Satguru, is ever engaged in Hari Kirtan.
Guru Amar Das, Vadhans War M3
*From the day a person comes in close touch with a Sadhu, he takes a turn for the better, ever in bliss, he engages in Kirtan and comes close to the Creator and Designer of destinies.
Guru Arjan, Dhanasri M5
* (This section is adjusted to the Fourth Edition of 1981;
Editor’s Note 2011.)
In this age Hari Kirtan is the highest discipline, for one meets Hari through the Satguru; I shall offer myself as a sacrifice to my Master, for it is He who has manifested in me the hidden Word.
Guru Ram Das, Jaitsri M4
He gets the Food of Unending Kirtan, whoever, oh Nanak! meets a competent Master.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
Blessed is he who serves the Saints, through Saints one engages in Hari Kirtan.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
Through a Saint one gets into touch with the Naam, through a Saint one sings the Hari Kirtan.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
Through a Sadh one sings the Hari Kirtan, Nanak saith – blessed soul gets It.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
Through a Sadh, I have got the merit of Kirtan, the Path of death has faded away from my ken.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
I have got love for the lotus feet of the Lord, through a Saint, the mind has become purified, and I am ever engaged in the Kirtan (Song) of Hari.
Kabir, Gauri Kabir
The mind is dyed in the elixir of Naam and is fully satiated, and through the Grace of a Saint, sings the Song Divine (Kirtan), and the Imperishable dwells therein.
Guru Arjan, Ramkali M5
Through a Sadh, one delights in the holy Music, in this age, oh Nanak! hereafter, he does not return to this world.
Guru Arjan, Gauri M5
They who follow the Satguru ever listen to the Holy Harmony, the elixir of the Word abides in them and they get absorbed in the True Sound.
Guru Amar Das, Vadhans War M3The Holy Music comes from a Sadhu and communion with It is the highest virtue, Nanak saith: he who is preordained alone gets this Gift.
Guru Arjan, Sorath M5
The Hari Kirtan is a pure gift from the Master and one cannot merit It until one transcends the body. Just as a lodestone attracts a piece of iron, similarly the Dhun or the Word emanating from Godhead attracts the soul and pulls her up to the feet of her Lord. The human mind is always hankering after pleasures of one sort or another, but no worldly pleasure can secure for it any degree of salvation. The only remedy for stilling and subduing the mind is Hari Kirtan or Naam, hearing which this hydraheaded serpent gets intoxicated as it were by some magic potion, and lies still as if in a death-trance, unmindful of the sensory organs through which it usually works. Whoever has subjugated his mind has had to do so by means of Hari Kirtan or Naam. With It soul is roused from age-long slumber and rises into cosmic and super-cosmic awareness. This is a new birth, the birth of spirit, called regeneration or resurrection. Henceforth the spirit escapes from the network of Karmic impressions, which get singed and are rendered infructuous. It restores the Kingdom of God to the spirit and grants her everlasting peace and salvation.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.
Ezekiel 36:26
The manifestation of the Sound Current then depends upon the sweet Will and Pleasure of a Master-Saint, and one cannot contact It until one transcends the sensory plane of the physical body. This is the only Way to salvation from the bondage of mind and matter; there is no other Way.
All ecstatic gesticulations and chanting of songs are of no avail to one blind and deaf, full of greed and scepticism within, he cannot have Heaven’s Light to guide him on the Path.
Guru Amar Das, Rag Asa M3
While engaged in sinful pursuits one sings Ragas (songs) and bears testimony to the truth of what they say, little knowing that without the Word all is a farce.
Guru Nanak, Rag Asa M1