Aarti Kirtan

From the Bikram Yoga class dialog this morning:

"Your body - my mind".

The Bikram teachers speak continuously throughout the class. The effect is to replace the internal mental dialog of the student with Bikram's dialog. The teacher repeats exactly what Bikram has told them. There are stylistic variations by teacher, but the essential dialog is the same.

I have a double CD of Bikram himself giving class that I sometimes listen to.

In teaching yoga and attending yoga classes I've seen how the mind of the student gives out before their body does. By getting everyone to work together and having this dialog Bikram Yoga is very effective in controlling the minds of the students.

Similarly, in your preaching programs you need to have a seamless flow of presentation to keep the crowd.

I did the Sunday Feast program in Melbourne while I was there. Aniruddha prabhu knows what to say to inspire me. He said: "It's a real challenge". He and Tri Yuga explained that it is a very distracted environment with people walking in and out all the time.

I had back-up - Aniruddha arranged for the brahmacaris to come to the program and I lead the 4.30pm arati with a harmonium. Under normal circumstances harmoniums are not appropriate in arati kirtans, but for a Sunday Feast afternoon opening it can be nice to engage the people.

After we had some enthusiastic chanting and dancing we had momentum from the opening. People were expectant. Would the rest of the program build on this momentum, or had it peaked?

Normally the devotees would put the Vyasasana in the middle of the temple, and the speaker would then sit there and take some time to get ready to speak.

Three problems with this. Number one: you just forced everyone to physically move, and to redirect their attention to another place - where nothing is happening. Number two: it takes time to set up, and people's attention wanders. Number three: it takes your guy time to warm up, so you're basically starting all over again.

Imagine it like this: you're watching TV (you don't watch TV - and if you do you shouldn't :-) ), and suddenly it goes to static for five minutes. What do you do? You change channels of course. As a television station you know that technical difficulties will kill your ratings.

Instead I told the devotees to forget the Vyasasana and I stayed where I was. I had selected a control point on the room. It's a physical point from which you can control the entire room. You don't need to turn your body to see everyone. I was in the front right corner, near the Deities.

Then I started talking.

From the past few days in Melbourne I had some idea of what the people were into. Stories. Hey, everyone loves stories. Here's the magic formula for a successful Sunday Feast, home program or a megachurch: Good music, good speaker (and good food - but we've got that down). This is something that I've learned from studying things.

I spoke for twenty minutes or so, then I went to kirtan. I made one mistake here. I didn't ask for questions, because I wanted to keep the momentum, but when someone interjected with a request to ask a question, I let them do it. What I should have done is said: "You can speak with me after this in person".

Then I got a classic Sunday Feast crowd question loaded with political controversy. That's when I said: "I can answer that, but it will take some time. Please see me afterwards", and we went to kirtan.

Later on I lead the Gaura arati and the local Indian boys went off. Those guys can dance and they are extremely enthusiastic in the chanting. They wouldn't let us stop and we went for two hours. It was total nectar.

So you can learn something from the Bikram method. You are trying to displace the internal mental dialog of the audience. Don't give them a chance to think: "I wonder what's on the other channel?" Don't give them a chance to ask: "Should we go somewhere else?" Make the program shorter and more concentrated. Leave 'em wanting more and keep them fully captivated for the duration.

Focus on good music, good speaker (short and sweet is best), and good food.

It's a winning combination.

Check out my free e-book on Sunday Feast preaching: Preach on Purpose.