Kirtan Confusion

[OmDivine (chris MANNING)]

Hi Everyone.
This is my first post.
I have recently found the AYP path after a decade of Buddhism.
The deeper I went the more I longed for God. So, here I am.
My question is:
I love singing Kirtan and chanting the Divine name.
My songs are to Krishna, Ram, Durga mostly.
I am however confused.
Is it ok to be singing to more that one image of the Divine?
Or do I focus in on only one?
Please help.
Namaste.

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

Welcome to the AYP forums OmDivine!
It is the Bhakti that is ignited when we listen or sing Kirtans that make the practice of kirtans so powerful. Like Krishna Das says…

“The words of these chants are called the divine names and they come from a place that’s deeper than our hearts and our thoughts, deeper than the mind. And so as we sing them they turn us towards ourselves, into ourselves. They bring us in, and as we offer ourselves into the experience, the experience changes us. These chants have no meaning other than the experience that we have by doing them. They come from the Hindu tradition, but it’s not about being a Hindu, or believing anything in advance. It’s just about doing it, and experiencing. Nothing to join, you just sit down and sing.”

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

Here is a piece of an interview with Krishna Das

http://spectrumculture.com/2009/03/interview-krishna-das.html/
Allyn: It’s interesting. I was thinking about the Hindu deities that are revered in the kirtan…
KD: Kirtan has the Buddha too. They consider him one of the avatars.
Allyn: So I got a little bit of an answer to my next question, which is what is your own personal, in heart, relationship to these deities? You sing about Krishna, Durga, and Seta…
KD: All these names mean the same thing to me.
Allyn: So there’s not any particular special facet or aspect that resonated with you?
KD: In the stories of the deities, in the mythologies, you may say the true mythologies, they all have their own characters and they act in their own ways, but for me it’s all about love. All of these deities mean one thing, love. They mean to take you to a place of love. In India that’s what they inspire, love. They don’t inspire fashion or ego tripping on how great we are learning all this stuff. It’s simply love. It’s about love, it’s a religion of love, it’s attached to love. All these deities for me are that place, that place of love. I don’t think about it so much as having different qualities anymore. It’s just a place, it’s a presence. That sweet presence, whatever you want to call it, the divine. For me it’s my guru, it’s all about being in the room with him. He was all that for me. He was that place.

[OmDivine (chris MANNING)]

Shanti [OM]
Much to you for this brilliant answer.
I sort of already thought this but needed my thinking confirmed.
The deities represent windows into the One Divine to me.
I see it like a diamond.
A diamond is completely clear so we need to cut faces into it to reflect the Light. Without the faces we don’t see the Light of the Diamond. Each deity is a face on the One Diamond.
All deities are there to pull us into the Diamond.
Thank you very much.
Namaste [OM]

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

@OmDivine

The deities represent windows into the One Divine to me.
I see it like a diamond.
A diamond is completely clear so we need to cut faces into it to reflect the Light. Without the faces we don’t see the Light of the Diamond. Each deity is a face on the One Diamond.
All deities are there to pull us into the Diamond.

Very sweet!
Thank you!

[Kirtanman (Doug Sandlin)]

@OmDivine

Is it ok to be singing to more that one image of the Divine?
Or do I focus in on only one?
Please help.
Namaste.

Hi OmDivine,
Welcome!
The Krishna Das interview quotes Shanti posted sums it all up very nicely, I’d say.
Ultimately, what we get from kirtan is simply a result of the open-heartedness we bring to it … just like life.
[OM]

[OmDivine (chris MANNING)]

Thank You Shanti & Kirtanman
I love your replies, they have helped me enormously.

[OM]