We are a spiritual home for everyone

About us

Bhakti Shala is centred around a diverse community, who regularly come together to share the philosophy and practices of bhakti yoga and kirtan (group mantra meditation). We facilitate warm and inclusive community events which allow new and experienced participants to taste the happiness and clarity that comes from sharing kirtan, yogic wisdom literature, spiritual company and delicious plant-based meals. We are a not-for-profit, volunteer-run project and an LGBTIQA+ safe space. Our intention is to create a spiritual home for everyone, no matter their background, race, gender, sexual preference or religious practice.

Meet our Core Team

  • Srikantha

  • Lalita

  • Arjuna

  • Advaita

  • Tanu

  • Indu

What is Bhakti Yoga?

Bhakti yoga is the ancient science of self-realization, that aligns body, mind and spirit into the most sacred of connections. Sacred texts such as the Bhagavad-gita reveal it to be the highest stage of yoga and the path of the most advanced of Yogis.

‘Bhakti’ refers to a state of devotional spiritual consciousness, that is pure love. The word ‘Yoga’ means "to connect." Although the word yoga is commonly associated with physical health and fitness, the ancient Vedic texts explain that Bhakti yoga is the practice of connecting to the ultimate Divine source through devotion or loving service.

As love is the most fundamental drive of every living entity, we cannot be happy without satisfying this desire to love, and we will not be able to perfectly fulfill this desire without permitting its expansion to the fullest extent. Just as watering the root of a tree nourishes every branch and leaf, by offering love to the ultimate source of creation, we in turn can experience love for everyone and everything.

It is considered to be a universally applicable practice that provides tools to engineer our lives to experience a deep realization of the true self.

What is kirtan?

In ancient Sanskrit, 'mantra' refers to a word or phrase which helps to uplift or free the mind. These days it’s become popular to call anything which is repeated over and over, a ‘mantra’, but an authentic mantra is passed from teacher to student over thousands of years, and through meditation and repetition, can unlock our deepest potential.

Ancient yogic texts tell us that a sacred mantra is like a capsule, carrying a remedy for the frustrations and anxieties that ail us. It has the ability to free us of these ailments, by clearing the consciousness and creating space to connect deeply with our true selves and our Divine source.

If we take a sacred mantra and combine it with music, this is called kirtan. Singing the mantra along with musical instruments is a way to help focus and absorb ourselves in the sacred sound. This practice is not limited to a Vedic tradition, but is practiced in various forms by spiritual communities around the world.

In the tradition of Bhakti, we chant many different mantras. The mantra considered to be the root source of all other mantras is called the Maha Mantra, or ‘Great Mantra’. Many are familiar with it as the Hare Krishna Mantra. Passed down over thousands of years, this mantra refers to ‘Hare’, the feminine Divine, and ‘Krishna’ or ‘Rama’ the masculine Divine. Krishna, as a name also means ‘the all-attractive One or Supreme Person’.

How do you do kirtan?

We understand that to meditate means to focus deeply on something. While great masters of the past were able to sit silently in the forest and concentrate – most of us are navigating the digital jungle, with ‘always-on’ lives and endless notifications to check. In the time we live in now, mantra meditation or kirtan is recommended as the easiest way to achieve inner clarity and focus, because all our senses can become fully absorbed.

So how does one do kirtan? Kirtan is a call and response musical meditation that takes a minute to learn, and makes you feel good just as fast. It is a practice that you can do alone, but there is a wonderful experience to be had in chanting communally. When we sit down in a room of people to practice chanting, we have the opportunity to put self-consciousness aside and enter deeply into a practice of giving and receiving.

The practice of kirtan goes back more than 5000 years and can be done by anyone. You do not need to be a good singer, a flexible yogi, or a follower of any religion or set of beliefs to experience the power of kirtan. An open mind and your attention are all that is required.

Combining music, mantra meditation and full body, mind and heart participation, kirtan offers a rich, immersive experience that is both energising and deeply relaxing all at once. 

Inspiration

Many of our team members found the practice of bhakti yoga and kirtan through the teachings of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (Prabhupada). Prabhupada was a monk from India who traveled to America in 1965, at the age of 70, with the instruction of his teacher to share bhakti yoga with the Western world. Not knowing anyone and with hardly any possessions or money, he arrived in New York City, where he sat in a city park daily and sang kirtan. As crowds gathered by the day, he shared the message of bhakti – that each of us is an eternal spark of the divine.

Prabhupada would speak powerfully on the current predicaments facing the human race including discrimination, anger, frustration, greed, and hypocrisy. He taught that these experiences are a result of our disconnect from the truth known to sages and yogis- that beneath the temporary covering of the body, we are all equal on a spiritual level. By seeing everyone and everything, including Mother Nature, as sacred, all living beings become our brothers and sisters.

Within the final twenty years of his life Srila Prabhupada translated over sixty volumes of classic Vedic scriptures (such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam) into the English language. The culmination of these texts states that ultimately, all material pleasure is temporary and can never bring lasting satisfaction to the heart. By awakening our relationship with our divine source through service and love, anyone can find a deep happiness that will never diminish.

Visiting Us

Kirtan events located at:

Nanda Da Rosa Soul Institute, 4/20 Bay St, Tweed Heads NSW

Chairs provided at our indoor events for those who would like one.

Children are welcome as long as you think they will be comfortable.

Please contact us in advance if you have dietary requirements/allergies.

“Kirtan is food for the spirit. A life raft of song”

— JAI UTTAL