Two States of Flow
There is a state in kirtan where the mind dissolves into the sound. The mridanga beats, the kartals ring, and the Holy Name fills every corner of consciousness. There is no past, no future -- only the present vibration.
Programmers call this "flow state." When you are deep in a problem, and the code writes itself, and hours pass like minutes. The parallels are striking.
Surrender in Both
In kirtan, you surrender to the sound. You stop trying to control the melody and let it carry you. In programming, the best solutions come when you stop forcing a design and let the problem reveal its natural structure.
The Daily Practice
I start every morning with kirtan before touching a keyboard. The clarity it brings makes me a better engineer. The problems that seemed intractable the night before often dissolve after 30 minutes of chanting.
Integration, Not Separation
I do not see these as separate activities. They are both practices of attention, focus, and surrender to something greater than yourself.