Journey To Awaken Dharma

Sign in entrance to Yogananda's home. Calcutta, India

Yogananda's childhood home. Calcutta, India

KIRTAN

"Chanting is half the battle."

Paramhansa Yogananda

(Click on images for larger view)

Yogananda's meditation room in the attic of his home.

Michael leading chant at Sacramento Yoga Center

Terri and Prem leading chanting at Sacramento Yoga Center

The Buddha - from the Mahabodhi Temple, on the grounds where the Buddha attains enlightenment - Bodhgaya, India

SAMPLE CHANTS

Please click on the sound links below to listen to demos of chants.

Govinda Hare Gopala Hare

Our good friend and beloved Tabla player Carmenza.

Playing the Tingsha's

Close up of Tingsha's with the mantra "Om Mani Padma Hum" written on them in Tibetan script.

To join us in the joy of Kirtan Chanting
please click the Upcoming Events link on the left side of
the page to view our schedule.

We are available to play for private and public functions, including
in your home. If you would like schedule or inquire about a date please
contact us using the Order/Contact Us link to the left of the page.

I would also like to invite you to explore the website
and enjoy the Photographic Galleries, Audio Visual Previews, the story lines
and educational aspects offered through the links at the left.

Chanting and the
SACRAMENTO VESAK FESTIVAL

In May, 2011 the Kim Quang Temple in Sacramento hosted
the Vesak Festival which celebrated the 2600th anniversary of Buddhism. It was the largest and most comprehensive gathering of the Sacramento Buddhist community ever, celebrating the Buddha's life. Twelve Buddhist Centers from various branches and cultural backgrounds of Buddhism participated.

We had the great joy to participate in this milestone celebration.

Michael was also invited to be Master of Ceremonies for this momentous occasion.

Click on images to enlarge

Kirtan...is a Sanskrit word for devotional singing or chanting. Songs, hymns, chants and mantras are put to music known in India as Bhajans. They come in a variety of forms and languages including Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, Pali and English. Many are ancient chants and mantras given to us by saints, sages, yogis and great masters from long ago and hard to date. Journey To Awaken Kirtan honors the light of spiritual wisdom, rays from the One Light, expressed in its infinite forms, according to the needs of particular times and places and covers various forms of chanting in the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian traditions.

"Few will hear the secrets hidden within the notes."

Rumi

Journey To Awaken Kirtan is devotional Kirtan chanting as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda, sharing techniques he taught and educated the west to as a practice in becoming closer to the divine. He was the first Eastern teacher to make the West
his home arriving in 1920 and as Yogananda himself said he did not come to "Indianize" or "dogmatize" the west but to share techniques in which all may develop a personal relationship with the divine.

Many of the Hindu chants were "spiritualized" by Yogananda himself, chanting them again and again until he had achieved direct union with the divine from each chant. That vibration was infused into each of his chants to be passed on to all who chant them and focus on the universal acceptance of all true paths to the divine. He profoundly encouraged the chanter to go inward with the chant, to focus with deep concentration and clarity at the point between the eyebrows, the spiritual eye, when chanting.

Buddhist chanting has been influenced as far back as sitting and chanting with Ram Dass to working with Tibetan monks as well as my travels to Thailand, Tibet, Nepal and especially India...whose great religious/spiritual richness and diversity has influenced all my chanting.

It is with great joy we share in this sacred practice of honoring the one true light and its many forms together and hope you find it to be an uplifting and rewarding experience in your life.

"If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth.
Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you.
The music from the strings no one touches."

Kabir

Traditional Indian instrument used in Kirtans called a Harmonium.

Guitar and traditional Indian instrument called a Tamboura.

One of many traditional Indian drums called a Dholak.

Journey To Awaken Kirtan

Michael Halfhill - Harmonium/Tamboura/Percussions/Vocals
Christian Salisbury - Guitar/Tamboura/Percussions/Vocals
Prem Kane - Harmonium/Percussions/Vocals
Terri Kane - Tamboura/Guitar/Percussions/Vocals