Like you, I love singing and listening to kirtan. While the Bhakti Breakfast Club website presents exclusively kirtan-related courses, in my personal life I listen to all kinds of music, and I bet you do too!

     Sometimes I want to listen to kirtan albums, to remember the divine names and let their energy permeate me. Other times, I want to listen to songs with english lyrics that wrap me up in a feeling. When I was in West Bengal, India, I encountered the Bauls, nomadic musicians who sing romantic songs with hidden meanings. At first glance, their songs are love songs, not so different from love songs on the radio. But listening deeper, it's clear that they are singing of a spiritual love, addressing God in a most intimate way, as a personal beloved. It is... profoundly appealing, and while it might not make sense to my rational mind, somewhere inside I crave this love affair with God.

     Like a musical note rich with overtones, these songs evoke multiple levels. Since the Bauls got me “listening" for that other meaning, I've carried that listening into pop, soul, funk, jazz, any music at all! Many songs can have that deeper resonance. Maybe the songwriter was a mystic, a lover of God, or maybe the sincerity of their songwriting about human love magically works on the bhakti level as well.

     So, with this series of playlists, I'll be sharing with you a mixture of my favorite kirtan music along with songs from other genres that evoke bhakti indirectly, deepening the devotional mood if somewhere within us we're thinking of God as we listen. Each playlist will center around a different theme, or particular divine name, or a favorite musical genre...

I hope you enjoy these! They've been really fun to put together for you.
Lotsa love,

Daniel Tucker
founder of the Bhakti Breakfast Club,
lover of the Source of Music