Listening to the Spiritual Dialtone

I enter the Yoga Sanctuary and immediately remove my coat and shoes, then hesitantly shuffle in and out of the dimly lit studio where three musicians are warming up at the front of the room. I'm the first to arrive.

What am I doing here?

It's not long before I'm surrounded by a group of decidedly non-intimidating people, men and women, young and old, even a couple of families with children line up along the edge of the room and bob infants in their arms, dance hand-in-hand with their toddlers. Most of us sit on cushions atop striped rugs, legs crossed. There's a 4 page handout that acts as a songbook and includes the words to 32 different Kirtan chants, plus opening and closing chants. The evening begins with a warm up of Ommmm Ahhhhh Ommmm to open the throat chakra and find one's voice, and I'm immediately awe struck — to sing like this with others is simutaneously invigorating and calming, serious and joyful.

Ever since I moved out of my parent's house 20 years ago, my mom and I have either visited or talked on the phone on Sundays. Though we emailed each other every day, Sunday was the time to really catch up on the events of the week. Halfway through the evening, sitting on my purple cushion and chanting Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram Ommm (a mantra often used by Mahatna Ghandi) it strikes me all at once, what it is I'm doing here, and I think the last line of an article I found about Kirtan chanting today sums it up perfectly...

"This chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for its mother."

I think Kirtan will be my new Sunday night conversation.

Oddly enough, as I left the building (which was closed for the evening and under the surveillance of a security guard who sat at a small cafe table at the bottom of a staircase) I was thinking about my my last post and the word "quest" and noticed that the young guard had brought a a thick paperback along for his shift — Don Quixote!