Book Review: Chants of a Lifetime by Krishna Das

Sometimes when reading a book on a spiritual topic, I realize that I am not really reading to learn something new, but only seeking validation of what I already believe. The author will state a point and my inner judge evaluates it, concluding “Yes, this is consistent with what I believe,” or “No, this is wrong, this is all rubbish.” It is a difficult thing to suspend judgment and simply allow the author’s ideas to flow through my consciousness, particularly when the book is one I have been invited to review. When that does happen, though, I find the inner voice is still there, but in a different tone -- “This Truth feels familiar … This Truth is one I have not experienced yet.” This state in which reactions come more from the higher Self than from the small self is difficult to attain. What surprises me in retrospect about the experience of having read Chants of a Lifetime is that Krishna Das managed to evoke that less judgmental state naturally, without my being aware this was happening. By the time I had finished reading I had accepted his truth -- not necessarily as true for me, but as unquestionably authentic for him; not that these truths are different, but that each of us sees truth from a different angle.

The book includes a CD of Krishna Das performing his moving and powerful music. Yet Chants of a Lifetime is not a book about chanting -- or singing; Krishna Das uses the words interchangeably. Nor is it an autobiography, though it does remind one of Autobiography of a Yogi. It is more in the nature of a memoir, the memoir of a lifelong love between Krishna Das and his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharaj-ji as he is most often called in the book. Maharaj-ji is named in the first sentence of the Preface and in the penultimate sentence of the final chapter. His name is to be found on almost every page. Krishna Das’ devotion to his guru’s physical incarnation is the theme of the first part of the book: how he traveled to India to meet Maharaj-ji; how the experience changed his life; and ultimately, how their separation and the guru’s physical passing threw the disciple into a tailspin that lasted years. In the subsequent chapters, Krishna Das describes how he came to realize that the loving relationship he believed he had lost was just as real and as present as it had been in the days spent in the guru’s entourage in India. Ultimately, we learn how he found peace in the arms of his guru long after the latter had left his physical form.

Except for the accounts of time spent with Maharaj-ji in India, Krishna Das devotes little attention to the actual events of his past, but takes the reader through an intensely open and honest experience of his mental/emotional/spiritual roller coaster of a life. He shares with us the insights he has gained -- purchased at the cost of much suffering, not because of the guru relationship but in spite of it. He paints a picture of Maharaj-ji as almost a reluctant teacher. This was a saint or boddhavista who had chosen to incarnate for the purpose of guiding his disciples to a higher understanding, but who stubbornly refused to spoon feed them. The lessons learned from the guru did not fall from his lips like pearls, but were planted like seeds in the consciousness of the disciple to bear fruit only when the student was ready and able to receive it. It seems that much of what Krishna Das learned about himself from his teacher came to light after his guru’s physical passing, as he reflected upon and experienced the flowering of what had originally seemed relatively inconsequential remarks heard and remembered, but not initially understood.

Chanting does play an important role in the book, as it does in Krishna Das’ life. He is a professional musician and leads kirtan -- “chanting the Divine Name”, according to the book’s glossary -- throughout the world. The defining experience of his time with Maharaj-ji in India was that of chanting the Names of God. Most importantly, chanting became his spiritual practice. Krishna Das describes the ways in which chanting brought him at last to a condition of love and peace. Clearly he believes this practice can do the same for each of us. He describes chanting in the way that others describe silent meditation, which he himself found unsatisfying. It is easy to believe that chanting would provide the same experience to anyone who performed the practice with the same love and devotion as he.

Chanting is well known to us in the West, whether it be the enthusiastic chant of the Hare Krishna movement, the repetition of a guru-given mantra as in Transcendental Meditation, or even the recitation of the rosary. Thomas Ashley-Farrand, a Vedic priest who has devoted his life to teaching Sanksrit mantra, asserts that the very words carry a vibrational energy that in and of itself has the capacity to shape our experience. I believe that Krishna Das would ascribe greater importance to the intensity of feeling with which the Names are spoken or sung. Repeating Om, or Ram, or any of the other Names of God is not the key to a higher experience if performed mechanically; it is the love that the chanter feels for the Divine, and expresses through the chant, that leads to the dissolution of the small self and to the peace and joy that come from the realization of Oneness. The book therefore is a testament to the transformative power of spiritual practice of all kinds, of which chanting is only one. The understanding of what the practice has meant for Krishna Das is the greatest lesson I learned from the book, a lesson that by itself would justify spending the time to read it and get to know this remarkable individual. This experience taught me much about myself as well as about Krishna Das.

When Krishna Das saw his guru in life for the last time, Maharaj-ji asked him “How will you serve me in America?” The disciple replied, “I will sing for you in America.” Many turbulent years passed before this prophecy was realized, but sing he does, and his song resonates in the heart of the reader after the last page has been turned.

Chants of a Lifetime, a book and CD by Krishna Das, is published by Hay House, www.hayhouse.com. It is copyrighted by Krishna Das. Krishna Das has his own website, www.krishnadas.com.

Federal regulations require me to disclose that I received a complimentary copy of Chants of a Lifetime, including the accompanying CD, from Hay House for review purposes.