I’ve been attending and participating in kirtans recently. They are Hindu based participatory sacred chant and dance gatherings. Several musicians with instruments typically lead the group. I love it.
Kirtans usually open and close with everybody chanting Om together as in Ooooooooooommmmmmmm, typically three times. Om is a sacred Hindu/Buddhist symbol and sound for the eternal, omnipresent, and divine source of life- Brahman is the Hindu word or God is the Judeo Christian term. If you’d like to try it, just sing Oooooooommmmm 3-4 times. Tens if not hundreds of millions of people sing it everyday around the world.
Om is basically the deepest place where we feel at peace and one with universal source. When you chant it together with many people, you definitely feel it. You may have heard Tibetan Buddhist monks chant it.
Many people discuss spirituality as coming home to one’s true source. It dawned on me that if you add an “H” you get the sound/word home (silent “e” too), which is our word for our place of comfort and peace. Home or Om, it’s the same sound and intention. And, sounds in and of themselves have certain frequencies and power that resonate within us. Sound healing is thousands of years old with modern scientific research supporting it.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy gets home by repeating (essentially chanting) “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
So, a Kansas farm girl chants just like Hindus in their sacred kirtans to connect with the place/energy of peace and comfort- Home/Om. And, incidentally, have you ever repeated to yourself, “There’s no place like home?”
We are so much more alike than different. What divides us is small compared to what unites us.
P.S. I just finished writing this then clicked over to my AOL homepage. Staring at me was the main news item about The Wizard of Oz being a dream with a big picture of Dorothy laying in her bed after having just repeated “There’s no place like home…” and returned to Kansas. Wow. I’ve been debating and procrastinating whether to write about spirituality and my experiences. I’m taking that as a confirmation from Spirit that I’m on the right path and to keep going.
Blessings,
Jon