Om Nama Shivya!
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Apparently 7.5-plus hours of chanting is exactly what the doctor ordered.
What a wonderful, lovely, lively, welcoming group it was, too.
(Even during the super-sleepy points at 1:30am and 4am; there's nothing like chai and a good tambourine to keep one from nodding off).
If only it happened more than once a year.....
You could make it happen more than once a year... not this specific holiday, but an all night Kirtan is within your power... I think Dec. 31 might be a good night for it. Or perhaps 12/21 or 6/21.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe a short kirtan on one of those days....
ReplyDeleteAll night makes sense when there is context and history and meaning. On Shivaratri the swami led us through four pujas (rituals) that are similar to the ones done in India at that time (and adapted for the west by Swami Vishnu-devananda). There was nothing random or haphazard about it. At the same time, it was somehow laid back.