Does learning kirtan aid in bhagti ?

Is learning kirtan a personal choice or does it help in bhagti ? Has Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh Jee written anything on it ?

Harinder Singh ji,

This might be absoultely my opinion - Learning Kirtan , Tabla , Gatka , PAAATH and so on all helps in the bhagti(getting attached to Gurmat) in one way or the other. Kirtan is one special kind of Gift from Guru Nanak Dev ji which is i think a very precious DAAAT with SIKHs. Most of the time when you are physically tired and lying half asleep - Kirtan(Doing or listening) is one thing i always feel helps you keep attached to BHAGTI/BANI laha.

I am not a Kirtania myself but when i learned it for a bit i felt that its an excellent way to do GURBANI/SHABAD VEECHAR and BANI KANTH. While you try to recite the SHABAD over and over you ultimately start doing VEECHAR of the Shabad and offcourse start to do it KANTH ,which is i believe is biggest advantage of start learning it.

Another thing i feel is that this is one mode of BHAGTI which you can go on for hrs (especially for person like me who starts yawning in 10 mins listening to Akhand Paath Sahib).

Other Gurmukhs will share their views better.

Bhul Chuk Maaf !!

With so much of importance given to Kirtan in Gurbani and sikh society; one must try to find time to learn this art.

i agree with gursewak jee... as we learn keertan, we focus our attention so much more on each shabad. we learn it, our understanding of it grows, even changes as we recite it again and again.

anything that brings us closer to gur-shabad by definition brings us closer to waheguru.

Kirtan is a mandatory rehat to increase ones bhagti; kirtan is the highest karam in Kaljug.

ਕਲਜੁਗ ਮਹਿ ਕੀਰਤਨੁ ਪਰਧਾਨਾ ॥
In this Dark Age of Kali Yuga, the Kirtan of the Lord's Praises are most sublime and exalted.


Bhai Randhir Singh Ji refers to Kirtan as ਸਿਰ ਕਰਮਨ ਕੇ ਕਰਮਨਾ ਹੈ- Supreme Karam of Karams


Bhai Sahib states the following

ਸਿੱਟਾ ਇਹ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕੀਰਤਨ ਗਾਵਨ ਰੂਪੀ ਸਿਫਤਿ- ਸਾਲਾਹ ਕਰਨਾ ਹੀ ਪੂਰਨ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਗਿਆਨ ਹੈ। ਯਦਿ ' ਹਰਿ ਕੀਰਤਨ ', ਸਿਰ ਕਰਮਨ ਕੇ ਕਰਮਨਾ ਹੈ, ਆਰਥਾਤ, ਮੁਖ ਬਿਬੇਕ ਕਰਮ ਹੈ, ਤਦੇ ਹੀ ਹੁਕਮ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ' ਗਾਓੁ ' ਇਹ ਕੀਰਤਨ। ਯਦਿ ਅਜਿਹਾ ਮੁਕ ਕਰਮ- ਬਿਬੇਕ ਹੈ ਇਸ ਕਰਮ ਦਾ ਬਿਨਾਸ ਤੁਰੀਆ ਪਦ ਵਿਕੇ ਭੀ ਜਾ ਕੇ ਨਹੀਂ। Bhai Randhir Singh Ji


According to Bhai Sahib this karam of Kiran does not even end in the highest state turiya pad. How wonderful would it to be in a state on never-ending kirtan? WHere never ending kirtan becomes our sole sustenance?

ਅਖੰਡ ਕੀਰਤਨੁ ਤਿਨਿ ਭੋਜਨੁ ਚੂਰਾ ॥
ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਜਿਸੁ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਪੂਰਾ ॥੮॥੨॥

Kirtan makes one fall more in love with the Gurshabad. Try doing kirtan with sincerity and emotion then do nitnem or any paath rite afterwards and see the difference for yourself. Even if you dont know how to do kirtan on the vaja you should still do it with your heart or mind as this too still counts. Also going to sangat and singing and listening to kirtan is of paramount benefit. Without these acts the seeker does not reach far in Bhagti. Personally I dont know how to do kirtan properly since I have no formal training but I do feel its important to give it a try. you dont need to be a musician or have a perfect voice to do kirtan all you need is a heart and devotion. The more practice of kirtan the more devotion we build up. Naam Abhyiaas, Gurbani Paath, without Kirtan is incomplete rehat.

There are so many thing Bhai Gurdas Ji says about kirtan in Sadh Sangat I would suggest you read these verses privately.

Just to clarify kirtan is not a personal choice but a requirement for every Gursikh since its Guru Jis Hukum. It helps but you dont need a vaja to fullfill the requirement of doing kirtan. Going to Sadh Sangat and partaking of kiran even if you do it silently also counts. When In Jail Bhai Sahib still fulfilled this most rewarding rehat and used his karha as a Vaja.
Kirtan turns Kaljug into AKalJug.

I will speak from personal experience when I say that learning keertan does aid in our bhagti.
When you do keertan, with your eyes closed, reading the shabad in your eyes mind, screaming your pukaar to your beloved, there is a prem felt that is not comprehendible. Especially when you do keertan in sanagt, it amplifies the bairaag because every gursikh is singing through you. Imagine if we were fortuned enough to sing a shabad that a gursikh in sangat is dying to sing, the blessings that that guru pyara will give you can only benefit you in your bhagti.

Take for example when you read a shabad that is very bairaagmi the bairaagmi lines, if sung instead of just read, become a channel to express your joy/bairaag/prem ect. It is not the same as just reading the lines. Singing them brings on a whole new level of ras. Even if we are not blessed to be able to use saaj or raag to sing gurbani, we should always sing the bani, with whatever tune guru sahib gives us in that moment, instead of just reading it.

Kirtan is mandatory for a Gursikh as Veer Sukhdeep Singh has pointed out from Bhai Sahib's writings. It is important to learn Kirtan because in Kalyug, if the mind does not come under control by any other mean, it easily gets tamed with the aid of Har-jass roopi Kirtan. A Gurmukh must make an effort to learn Kirtan, if he is serious of getting somewhere spiritually.

For Gursikhs who are members of Akhand Kirtan Jatha and don't know Kirtan, should think how can they be members of Akhand Kirtani Jatha and not know how to do Kirtan. It is a very self-contradicting concept. It's like saying that one is a Taksali but have never studied Gurmat Vidya in Taksal or saying that one is a member of so and so Gatka Akhara but don't know how to even hold a Kirpan.

It is one thing to not do Kirtan in Sangat but at home every Gursikh should know how to do Kirtan. Sitting alone, in deep Bairaag, the way one can express one's deepest yearnings for Vaheguru through Kirtan, one can do no other way. So Kirtan is a must to learn.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh

Bhai Kulbir Singh ji! Please allow us to hear your kirtan. Please have mercy on us!

Hahahahaha

Bhai Kulbir Singh jeeo, you have dug your own hole, now sangat wishes you to do keertan seva. Sangat daa hukam taa manna paina.

My friends often ask me why I don't cook at home. My answer is that Shrimati jee doesn't want me anywhere near the kitchen. During early years, I tried to help and the experience for her was so terrible that since then, I am not even allowed to enter the kitchen. I put salt in milk and sugar in daal. You can imagine how awful the taste would have been. I got reprimanded that day but since then I have been very Sukhi.

Now coming back to my Kirtan skills, believe me, the Kirtan that I do can be tolerated only by Vaheguru because Vaheguru has a very big heart. Anyone else would have to endure torture listening me sing Kirtan. Everyone is a Bathroom singer. I too do Kirtan but Kirtan is such that it is suitable only for Big-hearted Vaheguru and definitely not for Sangat. Sangat comes to Samagams to get Anand and not get tortured or sleep.

Bhul Chuk dee Maafi jee.

Kulbir Singh

So (hopefully) When the KIDS dont sleep, BHENJI must be giving this SEWA to you do the job with your KIRTAN

Bhul Chuk Maaf !!

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So (hopefully) When the KIDS dont sleep, BHENJI must be giving this SEWA to you do the job with your KIRTAN

hahahaa! One good thing about Daas' kirtan is that it can cure insomnia.

Kulbir Singh

Sangat should not let Bhai sahib wiggle out of this one so easily.