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Chant for the right SPIRIT
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Devotional rock music is the latest remedy for busting stress and more
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SPIRIT OF YOUTH: Like these devotees dancing at an ISKCON event, the young find spirituality can be a rocking affair nowadays Photo: K.R. Deepak
A Bob Dylan and a Jon Bon Jovi genre to the melodious Krishna saga... with devotional rock becoming a new rage, music seems to be setting the right note that's leading many to an idyllic state.
Keeping up with contemporary beats, singing bhajans no longer seems to be an outdated or mundane activity. "The whole idea is to change people's concept about satsangs, especially for the uninterested youth. For it's not just about sitting and listening to unending spiritual tenets, but about singing and having a blast," explains 28-year-old Delhiite Saket Kakkar, an IT consultant with International Business Machine (IBM), who sings at The Art Of Living (AOL) concerts held in and outside Delhi.
Spiritual organisations have been initiating such devotional concerts, catchingthe fancy of people of all age groups. Keeping in mind the younger generation's fast changing concept of spirituality, organisations aim at `purifying the conscience' through music and chants.
Effective medium
ISKCON looks at it as an effective medium to reach out to the youth. Including a devotional rock evening as part of its yearly youth festival, Umang, seems to have got a splendid response. Says Mohan Rupadas, Director of ISKCON's Youth Forum, "Many young people listen to heavy rock, and with drugs becoming a common practice among youngsters, it is imperative to attract children to spirituality to overcome such dangers."
At AOL, known for its fervour and rigorousactivities and unique breathing technique, the enthusiastic younger lot has been organising these concerts in universities and colleges including NIFT and AIIMS, among others.
With a Western base, the revivifying devotional music is hip and happening, for it declines to be raucous yet feels like a rock concert. Most importantly, it is prodding youngsters to shake a leg, but with a difference.
To another AOL singer, Siddharth, an engineering student, the vocabulary in devotional music is most powerful and energising.
On the other hand, to Sumit, an IIT pass-out and an employee at Sapient Corporation in Gurgaon, satsangs give a sense of security. With cutthroat competition increasing stress levels at the workplace and deadlines becoming harder to meet, listening to such music helps him focus better and not give in to extreme pressure. "The soul gets going, the peppy Western beats refresh the body and the musician in me stays alive," says the chirpy music lover.
For the Siddha Yoga Meditation Centre in Delhi, devotional singing takes the form of an aarti. It is led by a prolific choir of young children, who seem to be seeking solace in it. Avers 20-year-old Madhuri Rawat, a student of The National Institute of Advertising (NIA), "One may get bored with a Bryan Adams number or any such music at some point of time, but devotional music is like soul energy. It's a song from the heart, which unlocks the love within. Accompanying chants with western instruments is also so very innovative and youth-friendly."
NITI PANTA
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