What is free meditation music?

Free meditation music? How can one know, when meditation is such a purely personal affair, or is it?

Meditation not only helps one to process their inner feelings, but its also helps one to function in the world, to be a better person, or at the very least, keeps one away from harming others. In fact when I meditate I am setting aside time to remember why I am here, whats happening inside my heart, and deepening my relationship with my deepest inner self.

I don’t know what others do in their meditation time, that's their business, but I have experienced music as a bridge. When talking can't bring harmony between people, I know that music can, for people sing what they cannot say, and music can reach down to places where words dont matter.

So what is meditation music? Some prefer to call it mantra music while the original name in Sanskrit is kirtan which literally means 'Praise music sung loudly’, ‘chanting the name of god’, and is a way of seeking a direct link with the divine, and growing towards that which I meditate upon i.e. infinite consciousness. Kirtan music directly reflects the divine through the use of a siddha mantra or a Sanskrit incantation that has been ‘empowered’ by a someone who has already attained self realisation or the state of infinite consciousness called nirvakalpa samadhi in Sanskrit, yet at the same time is living in this world.

Kirtan is performed (with voice, instruments and body movements) before meditation and assists the person to release emotions, arouse devotion, and make the body flexible for sitting in quite concentration. The music and dance movements may be dynamic, quietly penetrating or very mellow, creating waves of ecstatic bliss, sometimes slow, sometimes with an incredible intensity. Rarhi kirtan for example (from West Bengal, India) which has many kirtan ragas and tala, has great intensity of expression, with soaring vocals, powerful rhythmic beats and frantic dance movements. Western kirtan can also be very emotive as well as spontaneous, for there is great diversity in expression. The kirtan that I perform tends to be a mixture of the two, reflecting my mood as well as spiritual ideation, sometimes expressing Radha bhava, 'being in love with the divine' sometimes with great energy and intensity. The devotional songs from which the kirtan mantra melodies are derived, often reflect various nuances of love in the relationship between devotee and beloved.

The universal mantra, Baba nam kevalam, has no gender, caste, class or religion associated with it. It simply means ‘everything is an expression of divine consciousness or love’ and may be sung at any time or place by anyone, hence the term ‘universal’. Whether sung ‘with veneration or without’, kirtan has a very beneficial effect not only on the singers but also the listeners, and even those who don’t even like it. My experience shows that it also has a beneficial effect on the environment as well, for in Rarh, I saw kirtan bring rain during the summer droughts. I have collected many stories from people both in Asia and the west of their extaordinary experiences performing kirtan. One can sing kirtan on any occasion and it will bring auspiciousness and relief from stress and anxiety, it is the panacea for all disease, say the indigenous kirtan singers of Rarh, India.

The topic of my PhD thesis is based on the Kirtan tradition of Rarh, West Bengal, India and is available on request.