Jai Uttal
American kirtan singer, multi-instrumentalist, and pioneer of devotional sound in the West — one of the central figures, alongside Krishna Das, Snatam Kaur, and Deva Premal, in the late-twentieth-century revival of bhakti chanting in the United States. Born 1951 in New York and raised in a musical family, Jai Uttal traveled to India in the early 1970s to study with Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and to encounter the Bauls of Bengal — the wandering troubadour-mystics whose ecstatic devotional song deeply shaped his approach. Through Krishna Das and Ram Dass he came into the orbit of Neem Karoli Baba's lineage, and in the years since has recorded more than twenty albums (Footprints, Beggars and Saints, Mondo Rama, Loveland, Kirtan! — Yo Soy, Kirtan Camp Sing-Along), founded the long-running Kirtan Camp retreats, and become one of the most-toured devotional performers of his generation. He carries the Pardesi Records label and teaches kirtan as a path of heart-opening accessible to anyone, regardless of background or belief.
quotes in library
Quotes by Jai Uttal
103 quotes“Sound goes where words cannot reach.”
“And kirtan is the practice that supports that teaching.”
“Kirtan is the practice of singing the names of God.”
“It is the simplest and most ancient form of yoga.”
“You don't need to know the meaning. The meaning is in the singing.”
“Mantra opens doors in the heart that have been closed for years.”
“You sing because singing is what the soul does.”
“In the call-and-response of kirtan, we remember we are not alone.”
“The leader is just the first singer.”
“My teachers are Krishna Das, Bhagavan Das, and the Bauls of Bengal.”
“Each gave me something different. All gave me kirtan.”
“In the chant, the personality dissolves and the heart sings.”
“Bhakti is not about belief.”
“Bhakti is about the heart turning toward what it loves.”
“You don't have to be Hindu. You don't have to be religious.”
“You only have to have a heart that wants to open.”
“Ram Dass said: 'Just love everyone and tell the truth.'”
“That is the whole teaching of Maharaj-ji's lineage.”
“Bhakti is the path of the broken heart.”
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