"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."
