Mazzulah Peel at 16:07, 23 March 2026

2026-03-23T16:07:31Z

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{{BLP sources|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Dr Krishna Kant Shukla
| image = 
| image_size = 200px
| birth_name = Krishna Kant Shukla
| alias = KK Krishna
| origin = [[Varanasi]], Uttar Pradesh, India
| instrument = {{flat list|
*Vocals
*[[Tanpura (instrument)]]
*[[Harmonium]]
*[[Western classical guitar]]
}}
| genre = {{flat list|
*[[Indian Classical Music]]
*[[Indian folk oral traditions]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Bindlish |first=Puneet |url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?page_id=5 |title=About – Dr. Krishna kant Shukla |publisher=Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla |date=3 June 2009 |accessdate=2014-05-07}}</ref>
*[[Bhajans]]
*[[Poetry of self-realized saints]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla |first=K |url=https://sites.google.com/site/krishnakantshukla/ |title=Dr. Krishna kant Shukla – musician, scientist, philosopher, poet, writer|publisher=Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla |date=3 June 2004 |accessdate=2014-05-07}}</ref>
*[[Kirtans & Chants]]
*Vedic [[Shloka]]
*[[Sufi poetry]]
}}
| occupation = {{flat list|
*Singer
*Composer
*Poet
*Writer
*Professor
*[[Physicist]]
*Ecologist<ref>{{cite web|last=Uppendahl |first=Daniel |url=http://thankindia.org/about/ |title=Saha Astitva Foundation – Who we are|publisher=Daniel Uppendahl|date=3 June 2007 |accessdate=2014-05-07}}</ref>
}}
| years_active = 1976–present
| label = [[Self Published|Self]] (2008–present)
| website = {{URL|krishnakantshukla.org}}
}}
'''Krishna Kant Shukla''' is a physicist, musician, poet, ecologist and educator.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=About Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?page_id=5|publisher=Krishna Kant Shukla|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> Currently, he lives in [[Varanasi]], [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]] (India) and travels all over the world, giving music concerts and lectures. He is a disciple of the late Pandit [[Kumar Gandharva]] and Ustaad [[Ali Akbar Khan]]. His concerts and interviews have been aired on National Television and Radio in India several times.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bindlish|first=Puneet|title=Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla: Interview on National Television in India|date=4 June 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQyA5bTPvYw|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> His interview on a U.S. radio station has been widely acclaimed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Radio interview|url=http://www.radio4all.net/files/jsmalkin@hotmail.com/295-1-Krishnakant_Shukla.mp3|publisher=Radio|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> His interview has also appeared on the front page of Times of India.<ref>{{cite news|title=America vs Varanasi & Varanasi wins|date=10 June 2006}}</ref>

His music concerts consist of singing the poetry of the self realized saints of India, such as [[Kabir]], [[Gorakshanath]], [[Tulsidas]], [[Tyagaraja]], [[Surdas]], [[Meera]] on a base of [[Indian classical music]]. He has also translated these songs into English and reads out his translation before singing the song in the original vernacular.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beads on one string|date=5 February 2014|url=http://www.beadsononestring.org/education/spain/krishna-shukla/|publisher=Beads on one string|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>

He has also extensively researched and recorded the folk songs of rural India, which are becoming extinct. Some of these songs belong to endangered living oral folk traditions that are over fourteen hundred years old. He also sings these songs.
His lectures on "[[Spiritual ecology]]" have also received wide acclaim in India and abroad.<ref>{{cite web|last=Admin|title=Lecture on Spiritual Ecology & Research Paradigms by Dr. Krishnakant Shukla|url=http://fpmconnect.in/lecture-on-spiritual-ecology-research-paradigms-by-dr-krishnakant-shukla/|publisher=fpm connect|accessdate=8 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508164934/http://fpmconnect.in/lecture-on-spiritual-ecology-research-paradigms-by-dr-krishnakant-shukla/|archive-date=8 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is a newly emerging field in the general area of Religion, Science and the Environment.
He is founding trustee and member of [[Saha Astitva Foundation]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Who we are|url=http://thankindia.org/about/|publisher=Saha astitva foundation|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> a charitable organization that has built a model eco village and organic farm in a tribal area in Maharashtra. This project is the practical aspect of his work on Spiritual Ecology.
Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla is considered by many to be a national treasure. He is an empaneled member of [[Indian Council for Cultural Relations]] (ICCR), an arm of [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)]] Government of India. This entitles him officially to represent India and Indian culture as a Cultural Ambassador in foreign countries.

In January 2025, Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla was awarded the "UTTAR PRADESH GAURAV SAMMAN" which is the highest honor awarded by the State of Uttar Pradesh, for his work in the fields of Music, Physics and Spiritual Ecology.The award was given to him by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath and also the Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-01-25 |title=Six luminaries honoured with UP Gaurav Samman on UP Diwas |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/six-luminaries-honoured-with-up-gaurav-samman-on-up-diwas/articleshow/117534656.cms |access-date=2025-09-20 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

==Early life==
Krishna Kant Shukla was born in Patna, Bihar, [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]](India) and raised in [[Varanasi]], Uttar Pradesh. Youngest of four boys, both his parents were professors in [[Banaras Hindu University]]. He was musically gifted as a child. Encouraged by his mother, he had taught himself to play several musical instruments by the time he reached his teens. When he was ten years old, he went to U.K. with his mother, who had gone there to pursue her doctorate. There, he studied first in St. Edmunds Primary School and later in Dudley Grammar School. Here, he topped in almost all subjects, including Physics, Math, Music, Latin, Chemistry, Biology, English and French. He recalls how he heard, for the first time, Mozart's [[Eine kleine Nachtmusik]] and, the same evening, he came home and worked out the whole score, by memory, on the recorder. After three years in U.K., at the age of thirteen, Krishna returned to [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]](India) and joined India's top school, the famous Modern School (New Delhi), which was founded by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] to impart the best of Eastern and Western education to deserving children. After graduating with a distinction in Math, Krishna joined India's top institution, [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]] for his undergraduate degree in Physics Honours. He then enrolled in the Doctoral program in Physics at the [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Dr. Krishna Kant|title=About Krishna Kant Shukla|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?page_id=5|accessdate=7 May 2014}}</ref> Here, he was appointed as "visiting lecturer" and taught full courses in undergraduate Physics. He was given an award for "Excellence in Teaching" by his University. While pursuing his doctorate, Krishna started studying [[Indian Classical Music]] with Shrimati [[Lakshmi Shankar]] and Dr. Tapan Bhattacharya. While still a graduate student in [[Buffalo, New York]], Krishna was actively involved in organizing [[Indian Classical Music]] concerts for visiting musicians from [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]](India), many of whom were living legends. In his own words, "This period turned out to be crucial for my later metamorphosis from a Physicist and a Mathematician to a Musician". Krishna would go to each of these visiting stalwarts, and ask them to teach him something of their art. He thus took classes from Ustaad [[Vilayat Khan]], Pandit [[Ajoy Chakrabarty]], Shree [[Vijay Kichlu]], Ustaad [[Rashid Khan (musician)|Rashid Khan]], Pandit [[Sandeep Ghosh]], and several others. During this period, Krishna also became much influenced by the music of the legendary Great Pandit [[Kumar Gandharva]]. In particular, he was entranced by the "Nirguna Bhajans" ("songs of emptiness") of Pandit [[Kumar Gandharva]]. These songs, originally composed several centuries ago by [[Kabir]], [[Gorakshanath]] and others, were and are sung by wandering troubadours in [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]](India) and belong to a living folk [[Oral Tradition]] that is over fourteen hundred years old. Pandit [[Kumar Gandharva]] had brought these songs to the classical stage. In Krishna's own words, "These songs tugged at my soul incessantly until I had no other option but to give my life to them".

==From physics to music==

'''Physics'''

Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla's PhD work is titled "Calculations of Electron Effective Mass based on 3-D Kroenig Penny Model with Application to Solids".<ref>{{cite news|title=Calculations of Electron Effective Mass Based on Three-Dimensional Kronig-Penny Model with Application to Solids.|bibcode=1991PhDT.......129S|work=Physics Abstract Service}}</ref> A pioneering mathematical model to predict the behaviour of electrons in simple crystal lattices. This work was later published in the book "Quantum Statistical theory of Superconductivity" edited by Dr. Van der Meswe; Reidel Kluwer Book co.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=Calculations of Electron Effective Mass Based on Three-Dimensional Kronig-Penny Model with Application to solids.|year=1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ofsPHwAACAAJ|publisher=State University of New York at Buffalo, 1991|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> After his Doctorate, Dr. Shukla joined Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, as an assistant professor in Physics and Astronomy, in 1991. It was here, while teaching astronomy, that his life took an unusual turn.

'''Music'''

In 1992, Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla resigned his job as physics professor and went to [[Ali Akbar College of Music]] in San Rafael, California to study [[Indian Classical music]] with the great Maestro Ustaad [[Ali Akbar Khan]]. He studied Vocal and Sarode here. In 1994, he returned to India to study, research, record and, eventually perform, the [[Bhajan]]s (songs) belonging to the living oral folk traditions of [[Kabir]] and [[Gorakshanath]] and other saints, such as [[Tulsidas]], [[Meera]], [[Tukaram]], [[Tyagaraja]], [[Purandara Dasa]] and [[Surdas]]. Between 1994 and 2004, he also traveled through much of rural Northern India to learn and record the folk songs of the villages. With the advent of T.V. and Globalization, many of these folk songs, and the traditions that nurtured and protected their continuity, have become extinct. In his own words, "These folk songs contain much wisdom, beauty, and spiritual depth. It is this folk music, coming from the timeless soul of village India, that has given birth to many of the ragas of Indian Classical Music." In 2003, Modern School Diaspora Initiative hosted a function in New Delhi where Dr.Shukla was honoured by the ex president of India, [[K. R. Narayanan]] for performing an invaluable service to the country in researching and recording these folk songs.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=About Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?page_id=5|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>

Mr. Shubham Basu, Dy. Director [[All India Management Association|AIMA]] mentions about Dr. Shukla's (physicist and musician) "…there are threads that might open a physicists thoughts on Spirituality and Spiritual seeker's thoughts on Science…and the best part is Dr. Shukla sails on them with his Music."<ref>{{cite web|last=Basu|first=Shubham|title=Dr. Krishnakant Shukla (interview)|url=http://www.shubhambasu.com/2011/06/05/dr-krishnakant-shukla-interview/|publisher=Shubham Basu|accessdate=8 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508223013/http://www.shubhambasu.com/2011/06/05/dr-krishnakant-shukla-interview/|archive-date=8 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Music==
'''Concert Tours''':
* ''[[Kabir in Song: Musical Traditions of a Great Religious Poet of India]]'' (2003) – United States at [[Stanford]]<ref>{{cite web|last=WISDOM|first=Stanford|title=Kabir in Song: Musical Traditions of a Great Religious Poet of India|url=http://www.wisdomportal.com/Stanford/StanfordLectures2001-2004.html|publisher=Stanford|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
* ''[[Poetry of Self Realized Saints of India]]'' (2004) – United States at [[UC Berkeley]], [[Hartwick College]]
* ''[[Poetry of Self Realized Saints of India]]'' (2010)<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Krishna's US Tour in 2010|date=30 April 2010|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=45|publisher=|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> – United States
*''[[Ahimsa Concert: Bhajans of Kabir and Other Saint-Poets from India]]'' (2010) - [[University of California]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Ahimsa Center|title=Ahimsa Concert: Bhajans of Kabir and Other Saint-Poets from India|url=http://www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/conference/conference_10_concert.shtml|publisher=Ahimsa Project|accessdate=14 May 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140514071833/http://www.csupomona.edu/~ahimsacenter/conference/conference_10_concert.shtml|archive-date=14 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ''[[Benefit concert for the homeless]]'' (2011) - United States at Maui(Hawaii)<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Benefit concert for the homeless|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=380|publisher=|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
*''[[Concert with Ram Das and Peter Russell]]'' (2011) - United States at Mauii (Hawaii)<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Concert with Ram Das and Peter Russell|date=26 September 2003|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=398|publisher=|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
*''[[North Indian Devotional Music from the Hindu and Muslim (Sufi) Traditions]]'' (2014) - United States at [[Hartwick College]]<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Evening of North Indian Devotional Music from the Hindu and Muslim (Sufi) Traditions|date=13 January 2011|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=676|publisher=|accessdate=22 May 2014}}</ref>

'''Albums''':
* ''[[Kabir in Song]]'' (2000)<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Kabir - Dr. Krishnakant Shukla|date=27 August 2011|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=123|publisher=|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
* ''[[Live Concert Delhi 2007 Part:1]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Live Concert Delhi 2007 Part:2]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Meher Baani]]'' (2010)

==Spiritual ecology==
{{Main|Spiritual ecology}}
Krishna has delivered lectures on spiritual ecology all over the globe.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=Spiritual Ecology|url=https://sites.google.com/site/krishnakantshukla/spiritual-ecology|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> The foundation lies in the natural or vedantic worldview.
'''Notable Lectures & Talks''':
* Dialogues with divinity, and their relationship to creativity, in the Hindu tradition<ref>{{cite web|last=Beads on one string|title=Dialogues with divinity, and their relationship to creativity, in the Hindu tradition|date=5 February 2014|url=http://www.beadsononestring.org/education/spain/krishna-shukla/|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
* Spiritual Ecology <ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Medical wastes being dumped into holy river: Expert|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Medical-wastes-being-dumped-into-holy-river-Expert/articleshow/12435605.cms|work=The Times of India|date=28 March 2012|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
* Spiritual Ecology: The Indian Village as a Model of Sustainability.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Spiritual Ecology: The Indian Village as a Model of Sustainability|date=2 December 2010|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=391|publisher=|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
* Spiritual Ecology & Research Paradigms at [[Management Development Institute]] (MDI), Gurgaon [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]] (India).<ref>{{cite web|last=admin|title=Lecture on Spiritual Ecology & Research Paradigms by Dr. Krishnakant Shukla|url=http://fpmconnect.in/lecture-on-spiritual-ecology-research-paradigms-by-dr-krishnakant-shukla/|publisher=fpm connect|accessdate=8 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508164934/http://fpmconnect.in/lecture-on-spiritual-ecology-research-paradigms-by-dr-krishnakant-shukla/|archive-date=8 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Science, Spirituality and the Environment at [[AIIMS]] on 15 April 2010. Event Organised by Center for community medicine.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna|title=Home|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?paged=4|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>
'''Interviews on the subject'''
* Aaj Savere by [[Doordarshan]] (2014) <ref>{{cite web|last=Aaj Savere-Doordarshan|title=Aaj Savere-Doordarshan|website=[[YouTube]] |date=24 July 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4pDIUpxUeE|accessdate=28 Feb 2015}}</ref>
*Dr. Krishna Kant Shukla's radio interview with "Tributaries Radio", Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.<ref>{{cite web|title=KRISHNA KANT SHUKLA – Ecological Spirituality|url=https://tributariesradio.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/krishna-kant-shukla-ecological-spirituality/|website=Tributaries|date=9 April 2017 |accessdate=10 April 2017}}</ref>
'''Spiritual Ecology in Action''':
* Krishna, and his friends Kalyani and Daniel Uppendahl set up a model eco-village in the village of Ganeshpuri, [[Bhārat Gaṇarājya|Bharat]] (India). The Saha Astitva Foundation which is a registered charity creating a model year-round organic eco-farm.<ref>{{cite web|title=Saha Astitva|url=http://www.thankindia.org|publisher=Saha Astitva Foundation|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref> It drew interest of research community too.<ref>{{cite web|last=Garden|first=Mary|title=The eco-village movement: Divorced from reality|url=http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/journal/pdf%20files/pdf%20vol2/The%20eco-village%20movement.pdf|publisher=The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY, Vol. 2, No. 3 (June 2006)|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=Spiritual ecology in action|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?p=411|publisher=Krishna Kant Shukla|accessdate=8 May 2014}}</ref>

==Famous quotes==
His popular quotes<ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=Quotes|url=http://www.krishnakantshukla.org/?page_id=681|publisher=Krishna Kant Shukla|accessdate=6 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Krishna Kant|title=WikiQuote|url=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Krishna_Kant_Shukla|publisher=Public|accessdate=8 August 2014}}</ref> from his lectures, concerts and interviews:-
* "What you don't use, You lose"
* "What you abuse, You lose."
* "Music is not a way to reach god. Music is god."
* "Every single man, woman and child on the planet must, to the best of their capacity, become activists for the environment if we are to reverse our royal collective march to oblivion"
* "Nature is our mother. She is not a resource for human consumption."
* "Western Science, in its present form, is toxic. It must be infused with love and humility, and an ethical code of honor to renounce any experiment or procedure that causes harm to the environment."

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.krishnakantshukla.org Official website]
*[http://www.thankindia.org/about Saha Astitva Foundation]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140509001500/http://www.anandaashram.org/KrishnaKantShukla Ananda Aashram (NY) Biographies]
*{{YouTube|iQyA5bTPvYw|Exclusive Interview on Indian National Television, Doordarshan}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shukla, Krishna Kant}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Indian male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Indian singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Musicians from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Singers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male singers]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Krishna Kant Shukla - Revision history

Mazzulah Peel at 16:07, 23 March 2026