Baraka

In Sufism and Middle Eastern traditions, baraka is an invisible spiritual grace that can inhabit objects, spaces, or sound/recitation, transforming ordinary hearing into a divine encounter.

What a superb definition of the aim of kirtan! It just shows that an understanding of the purpose of chanting - of sacred sound - transcends time and space! I just love the idea of an invisible spiritual grace that can inhabit sound/recitation, which is literally at the heart of Sanskrit chanting.

Sanskrit is often called the divine language (Devavani or Devabhasha) and its sounds are believed to originate from cosmic vibrations, and its texts are thought to elevate the human mind to a spiritual state. So it’s easy to see how deeply these Sufi and Yogic concepts overlap.

In daily life, you’re inundated with stimulation of all types, including a wide variety of sounds (how often do you venture into stores with music perpetually playing in the background?). The types of music chosen are usually done so deliberately to evoke certain responses in you - such as stimulating your desire to purchase things!

KIrtan is then literally created for an entirely different purpose - that of transforming hearing into a divine encounter. It’s meant to transport you out of your ordinary, mundane consciousness, into the realm of the heart, of your essence, of what’s known as the divine.

That’s why baraka is an inner space, a still place in your heart.