There is something magical that happens in one of those long, succulent chants. You know, the ones that start as a low, slow prayer, then gradually build, notch by notch, every musician in sync, the crowd tuned in to the rhythm, before exploding into a frenzy of ecstatic trance/dance rhythms that make you want to jump up and whirl like a dirvish. The Bhakti Build.

Govindas & Radha are realllllly good at this! See for yourself…

They closed their set at Bhakti Fest Spring OMmersion with this tradiitonal Shiva chant, which takes you along on that roller coaster ride on the bhav. Then it winds you down ever so gently with Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, a beautiful prayer of peace for all beings. Magical.

It’s a nice long 12+ minutes, because these chants should really be experienced in their entirety to grasp the full energy of them. But, if you’re like me and suffer from intermittent ADD (also known as multitasking), you can skip ahead to about 4 minutes in, where it starts to heat up. But I really recommend you don’t miss a minute.

Govindas & Radha’s third CD is Light Inside You: Kirtan Vibrations. Check out their Web site to sample their music and buy their CDs. They are also the brains and beauties behind Bhakti Yoga Shala, Santa Monica’s temple to kirtan love, where there is an amazing line-up of bhakti yoga, asana classes, and full-on rockin’ kirtan day and night. My dream is to have a Bhakti Yoga Shala in every city. Starting with my hometown.

Maybe we could replace every McDonald’s with a Bhakti Yoga Shala, where you’d be served lovelovelove instead of greasy fries and factory-farmed meat.

You want bhakti with that?