"Kirtan" means "भक्ति-bhakti" Yoga.

Coexist Kirtan Center is non-partisan, non-sectarian, non-profit Pennsylvania corporation headquartered in Pittsburgh. Our purpose is to create a movement of compassion, cooperation, and world peace through education, interfaith dialogue, negotiation, and conflict resolution between creeds, sects, colors, casts, ethnic groups, and nations, catalyzed by popularizing the process of kirtan - congregational mantra-meditation, which is the only yoga process recommended for this particular age in authorized transcendental Vedic literature e.g., Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, & Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Since the 60's and 70's, various yoga fads have become all the rage in this country. ("Hot Yoga", "Lamb Yoga", "Heavy Metal Yoga", etc.), All of these are speculations - fanciful concoctions, and none are authorized or recommended in the ancient yoga scriptures like Bhagavad-gita. 

No one can successfully practice the bona-fide yoga process nowadays. The sitting postures and breathing exercises are a mechanical method of focusing the mind on the ātmā (soul) and the Paramātmā (supersoul, or localized aspect of the Supreme - both of which are located in the heart area of every living being.) Etymologically, the word yoga comes from the word "yoke," or connect the soul with the supersoul. First of all, nobody knows that connection with Visnu is the goal of yoga, and even if you did, how can you concentrate listening to heavy metal music or while your face is being licked by a lamb? In this age we have no attention span, because we're to addicted to watching Tic-Tok videos for our overloaded sensory entertainment.

This process provides direct connection with the soul/supersoul in the heart. "Kirtan" is congregational (call and response) mantra meditation on the Holy Names of Kṛṣṇa (God) - or ANY other name of God. Lord Caitanya, a powerful incarnation of the Supreme for this age (yuga-avatar), who appeared in West Bengal and spread this saṅkīrtana (congregational chanting) movement all across the subcontinent of India only 537 years ago. 

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada successfully executed the request of his guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati to bring this yoga process to the English speaking world, in 1966 he started chanting publicly in a park in New York city's lower eastside, it spread world-wide it is available in every town and villiage. This has initiated a temporary golden age during which the conditioned souls in this degraded Iron age of Kali (quarrel & hypocrisy) can float on the ocean of Love of God for the next 10,000 years.

"O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names." -Siksastakam (3)

Check out our Coexist Kirtan Center Facebook group page, and join get notifications of upcoming zoom sessions featuring current events seen through an authorized spiritual/scriptural lens, special event dates, pictures, videos, stories, & realizations. Also please join our other Facebook group page to be notified of our weekly gathering held at the Pittsburgh Kirtan Center every Thursday night at 6:30 pm, followed by a free vegetarian feast.

This is my humble attempt to follow in the footsteps of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who presented the timeless wisdom of the Vedas to the western world, which is currently suffering in the ocean of faults during this age of Kali, filled with quarrel, hypocrisy, deep partisan political divisiveness and hateful violent religious extremism. His gift of this wisdom and the example of his character is urgently needed, because, as he said, "it is a cultural presentation for the re-spiritualization of the entire human society."

Om🕉 tat sat

Peace☮

I host a daily zoom series is called “śāstra-cakṣusā" (seeing through the eyes of ancient Vedic wisdom literature) very evening at 6 pm. Usually, it's a reading and discussion of Thom Hartmann's "Daily Take" article which he posts on weekdays along with his wife's "Daily Song" inspired by that piece which she writes and produces. It also may be based on my own writing or from another contemporary writer. On Thursdays, the broadcast will be limited to 1/2 hour, (6pm to 6:30pm) because I will be driving to the ISKCON Pittsburgh Kirtan Center. All videos of the zoom broadcast are then uploaded to my YouTube channel then posted to this Facebook group. The broadcast is contingent on at least one person RSVPing as "going". If no one does, it is cancelled. If someone RSVP'd as "going" but doesn't show up, after 10 minutes it will be cancelled. If someone actually joins me, we take turns reading, I will play the "Daily Song" or some other method of introduction.

We are currently going through a dangerously fraught period in America right now where migrants are being deported en masse and US citizens are waking up to find themselves in the midst of a highly destructive authoritarian coup. It's not enough to just quote scripture without connecting transcendental knowledge to current events and subsequently using that realization which will lead to activism/practical service to God and man. It’s essential that we talk to each other and build coalitions of support & resistance with a view of how to establish within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of the hero of Gaudiya Vaisnavas, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the pioneer of civil disobedience for the right cause in Whose footsteps I am humbly trying to follow.

Lord Caitanya is the yuga-avatar (one who descends to the material world during this degraded age of Kali - quarrel & hypocrisy to reestablish the principles of dharma), whose yoga practice of Saṅkīrtana (congregational mantra meditation) and teachings are predicted to be in extent in this world for the next 10,000 years. Here's a video of his act of civil disobedience that facilitated the spread of His movement across the subcontinent of India 500 years ago.

 

This tradition is carried to this day by his followers in the west, led by the greatest 20th century saint, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who urged his followers apply the civil disobedience tactics of Mahāprabhu whenever appropriate, and made this comment about an infamous POTUS, a topic relevant when he was on this planet a half-century ago:

Please sign to attend our online discussion group by clicking this link to our Facebook group: Coexist Kirtan Center, check out the page, and if you like the content, consider joining to be notified of future events/podcasts, & postings of illustrative slideshow videos on topics of current events produced from my audiobook narrations of prominent progressive/spiritual best-selling authors, pundits, and historians, as well as my own writing.

If you'd like to join this zoom discussion, first RSVP @ Coexist Kirtan Center 

(This event will not happen unless at least one person RSVP's "going" & actually logs on between the window of 6 & 6:10 pm)

---then---

click here to go online at 6pm

The Peace Formula

"The great mistake of modern civilization is to encroach upon other’s property as though it were one’s own and to thereby create an unnecessary disturbance of the laws of nature. These laws are very strong. No living entity can violate them. Only one who is God conscious can easily overcome the stringency of the laws of nature and thus become happy and peaceful in the world. As a state is protected by the department of law and order, so is the state of the Universe, of which this earth is only an insignificant fragment, is protected by the laws of nature. This material nature is one of the different potencies of God, who is the ultimate protector of everything that be. This earth is, therefore, the property of God, but we, the living entities, especially the so-called civilized human beings, are claiming God’s property as our own, under both and individual and collective false conception. If you want peace, you have to remove this false conception from your mind and from the world. This false claim of proprietorship by the human race on earth is partly or wholly the cause of all disturbances of foolish and so-called civilized men who are claiming proprietary rights on the property of God because they have now become godless. You cannot be happy and peaceful in a godless civilization. Although there are many civilizations, there is only one God, although He may be called many names in different countries. In the Bhagavad-gita, the holy book of India, Lord Krishna delineates the peace formula. He says that He is the factual enjoyer of all activities of the living entities, that He is the Supreme Lord of all universes, and that He is the well-wishing friend of all beings. When the people of the world know this as the formula for peace, it is then and there that peace will prevail.

Therefore, if you want peace at all, you will have to change your consciousness into God consciousness both individually and collectively, by the simple process of chanting the holy name of God. This is the standard and recognized process for achieving peace in the world. We therefore recommend that everyone become Krishna (God) conscious by chanting “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, or any name of God.

This is practical, simple, and sublime. Five hundred years ago, this formula was introduced in India by Lord Sri Caitanya, and now it is available in your country. Take to this simple process of chanting as above mentioned, realize your factual position by reading the Bhagavad-gita- As It Is, and reestablish your lost relationship with Krishna, God. Peace and prosperity will be the immediate worldwide result." - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

For an illustrative video slideshow of on this piece, click here.

Pittsburgh Kirtan Center

The Pittsburgh Kirtan Center hosts Kirtan (musical mantra meditation) and a free vegetarian feast every Thursday night. See Facebook Group Page for details and join to stay informed. 

Thursdays: 6:30pm-9:00pm Kirtan programs followed by a vegetarian feast.

The kirtan center itself is currently open. Here is a short video of the grand re-opening.

The new vegetarian buffet style restaurant "Spice Delight" in the storefront you see at the beginning of the video will be opening soon.

Our address is (click on address below for street view);

Pittsburgh Kirtan Center
3513A Butler St.
Pittsburgh, PA  15201

The current owner of the building is Shyamasundara dasa, the president of ISKCON Pittsburgh.

Phone: (312) 531-0079

Facebook Group Page: Pittsburgh Kirtan Center | Facebook

(click to join and be notified of upcoming weekly/special events)