Rayananda and Vicki lead kirtan chanting at yoga studios, churches, and spiritual centers. They accompany the chants with harmonium, shruti, and percussion. Joining them is a wonderful group of musicians -- The Wandering Sadhus -- who play guitar, bass guitar, violin, and drums.

Kirtan, an ancient spiritual tradition of devotional call-and-response chants to the Divine, is an integral aspect of the path of Bhakti, the yoga of love.

The words chanted during kirtan are usually sacred Sanskrit mantras from India, though chants from other religious traditions are also used. Often the chants invoke the name of a specific deity such as Krishna, but it is always the one God, the one Divine Presence, that is being worshipped, regardless of the name in a particular chant.

The purpose of kirtan is to bring us closer to the Divine. Chanting opens and purifies our hearts and allows us to experience the constant flow of love that surrounds us. Through our devotional chanting, we come to experience that wellspring of love within and to realize our ultimate oneness with the sacred.

It is said that God dwells where His Name is sung. Let us sing!