If you’ve never heard the word bhakti before, you’re not alone. It comes from Sanskrit and translates roughly as devotion — a path of practice rooted in music, mantra, and the simple act of showing up with an open heart. In recent years, bhakti festivals across Europe have slowly been drawing people who didn’t set out to find a spiritual gathering but stumbled into one anyway and were surprised by what they found.
This article is for those people. The curious ones. The ones who heard a kirtan recording somewhere and felt something shift, or who went to a yoga class and wondered if there was more to it than the physical postures.
What Actually Happens at a Bhakti Festival?
Kirtan is the practice at the center of most bhakti festivals — a form of call-and-response chanting where a musician leads, and everyone sings back. You don’t need a good voice. You don’t need to know the words in advance. Most kirtan sessions are simple enough that you can follow along within minutes, and the effect of a room full of voices singing the same phrase together is something that’s genuinely hard to describe until you’ve experienced it.
Beyond kirtan, bhakti festivals typically include yoga classes across different styles and levels, meditation, talks or satsang (spiritual discourse), and a lot of unstructured time — meals shared with strangers who become less strange, walks, conversations that go somewhere unexpected.
The atmosphere tends to be different from mainstream music festivals. Less performance, less of the social posturing that can make large gatherings exhausting. Many people describe bhakti events as the first time they’ve felt genuinely relaxed around a group of people they didn’t already know.
Yoga Mela: A Bhakti Festival in Sweden
Among the bhakti festivals in Europe, Yoga Mela is one that grew directly out of a living community. Held each summer in Divinya, southern Swedish.
The setting matters. Gardens, parks, orchards, forest paths that actually take you somewhere quiet — the landscape does some of the work before the music even begins. For a week, over thousand people (increasing steadily every year) from across the world arrive, pitch tents, eat together, and find their own rhythm among the program.
Yoga classes, sacred music, workshops and satsang with Guruji Sri Vast form the daily structure —but there’s plenty of room to simply enjoy the setting if one wishes. A beautiful experience is highlighted in this festival, as one gets to live along with the organizing group who consciously chose to live their life in bhakthi in devotion.
The atmosphere at Yoga Mela is one of joyful, unrestrained freedom, no less for the younger attendees, reflecting the pure, unconditional devotion that is the essence of Bhakti. Children move freely through the grounds, exploring every corner, every venue, and every space without a predetermined schedule or the pressure of structured activities. There is no single correct way to spend the day; whether they choose to join a theater performance, play in children’s camp, or simply chase butterflies in the garden, their exploration is encouraged and celebrated. This lack of rigid structure allows their innate curiosity and playful energy to guide their experience, fostering a truly spontaneous and memorable festival experience for them, much like the unrestrained love and surrender found in the path of Bhakti.
Who Goes — and Why They Return
The mix is wider than you might expect. People in their twenties who found kirtan through a streaming platform. Yoga teachers who have been practising for decades and wanted to go deeper. Families. Solo travellers who decided to come alone when their friend couldn’t make it. People who enjoy listening to Deva Premal & Miten, Snatam Kaur, Sacred Earth and many more relaxing music and actually meet their favorite artists for the first time live.
For those new to bhakti, the lack of rigid structure can take some adjustment — there’s no programme you must complete, no certificate at the end, no correct way to have the experience. For many, that’s precisely the point.
And for many, it’s also why they come back. Not because something was left unfinished, but because the experience of practising together —singing, sitting, simply being in a space held by others — is one that doesn’t wear out. Each time carries something a little different, depending on where you are in your own life when you arrive.
Why Europe, and Why Now?
Something has been shifting in European yoga culture over the past decade. Bhakti and devotional music have moved steadily from the margins toward something more visible and sought-after. Artists like Snatam Kaur and Deva Premal & Miten have introduced millions of people to kirtan through recordings and —recordings, eventually, make people curious about the live experience.
The bhakti festival scene in Europe is still intimate compared to its counterparts elsewhere, but it’s clearly finding its footing. For people who have only ever experienced mantra and devotional music alone — through headphones, in a quiet room — these gatherings offer something that a recording can’t replicate. Voices joining together, a shared rhythm, the particular quality of attention that settles over a room when people are genuinely listening. And nonetheless Yoga Mela offers an amazing compilation of top artists from around the world, as well as some beautiful local contributions, which some of their songs one has for sure heard before.
Bhakti festivals are, at their core, an invitation. And there is always a place for one more voice.
FAQ
What is a bhakti festival?
A bhakti festival is a gathering centered around devotion, expressed through music, mantra chanting (kirtan), yoga, meditation, and shared community experiences. Yoga Mela is definitely also highlighted with the daily Satsangs of Guruji Sri Vast.
Which famous bhakti artists have joined Yoga Mela before, and who is coming this year?
Deva Premal & MIten (2023 and 2024), Snatam Kaur (2025), Jai Uttal (2019) Ajeet Kaur (2018) have joined Yoga Mela before, while this year the lineup promises Xavier Rudd, Radhika Das, both for the first time, and Mirabai Ceiba and Sacred Earth returning again.
Is Yoga Mela more like a music festival or a yoga retreat?
It sits somewhere in between. There is live music, including kirtan and concerts, but also yoga classes, satsang, and plenty of space to slow down and simply be.
Will I recognise any of the artists performing at Yoga Mela?
Many people discover Yoga Mela after listening to artists like Deva Premal & Miten, Snatam Kaur, or Sacred Earth. Hearing this music live —and sharing it with others — is often a very different experience. Yoga Mela offers every year prime artists from the scene, while some like Mirabai Ceiba return yearly to the festival. The program is very rich and very fine selected.
Do I need experience with yoga or kirtan to join?
Most people arrive without prior experience —you can simply listen, join in when you feel comfortable, and find your own way into the experience.
What happens during a kirtan, and do I need to know the chants?
Kirtan is a simple call-and-response form of singing. A musician leads, and everyone joins in. You don’t need to know the words —most people pick it up naturally within a few minutes.
What makes bhakti festivals in Europe feel different?
They tend to be more intimate and less commercial than large festivals. At places like Yoga Mela, the focus is less on traditions and performance and more on shared experience, connection, and the atmosphere created together
What makes Yoga Mela different from other festivals?
Yoga Mela is rooted in a living community, with an atmosphere that feels more personal and grounded. It combines music, practice, and nature in a way that invites genuine connection rather than performance. Bhakti can be practically experienced and learned in various forms at Yoga Mela, a good entry point for getting familiar with this term.
Why do people return to bhakti festivals?
Many return for the sense of connection —to themselves, to others, and to the shared experience of music and presence that feels different each time.
