Kirtana: Speaking Your Attraction Into Truth

Mirabai's kirtana—her public singing and dancing—was not performance; it was truth-telling in a context that demanded she remain silent. She sang her love for Krishna when society demanded she mourn widowhood. Kirtana is the practice of giving voice, of making the interior explicit, of refusing the erasure that silence enforces. In attraction, we often internalize conflicting messages: stay quiet about desire, play small, hide your truth. Kirtana invites the opposite: speak what you know, sing what you feel, let your attraction be visible. This is not recklessness; Mirabai knew the costs of her kirtana. But she understood that some truths demand utterance. Modern research on authenticity confirms: people who voice their genuine preferences and desires experience greater wellbeing and more authentic connections. Kirtana is the practice of honest communication within attraction. It means telling the truth about what you feel, what you need, what you will and will not accept. Through kirtana, attraction becomes not a secret shame but a sacred acknowledgment. Mirabai's voice still teaches: speak your truth, and let those with ears to hear, hear.