“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 43
From musician to Vaiṣṇava
Coming now to a higher level of musical refinement, suppose one is expert in the techniques of classical Indian music. Does that make one’s kīrtana “better”? It may not, and may in fact make it worse. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in his Jaiva Dharma, tells the story of Kalidasa Lahiri, a wealthy brāhmaṇa from Śāntipura:
Early in his life, while he was still a young boy, experts in the field of Indian classical music had taught him, and he considered that such instruction qualified him to occasionally lead the kīrtana sessions of the Vaiṣṇavas. However, when previously he had led some kīrtanas, the Vaiṣṇavas were apparently not fond of his typically palace-court classical touch. Nonetheless, he had introduced these classical variations into the kīrtanas, oblivious of the Vaiṣṇavas’ feelings. Attempting to parade his musical ability, he had stared at the faces of the Vaiṣṇavas, awaiting a response, hoping for some appreciation. For quite some days now, this had continued. However, quite suddenly, a few days earlier, he had unexpectedly started to feel increasing pleasure in singing harinama. . . .1
He lost all interest in trivial talks, as well as classical music. Thus, a metamorphosis took place in Lahiri Mahasaya. He was now a Vaiṣṇava.2
Kīrtana is not all about the music
Śrīla Prabhupāda taught that the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is a “transcendental vibration” that “springs automatically from the spiritual platform.”3 One advances in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa not by musical expertise but by purity and devotion. The sincere chanter cries out to Lord Kṛṣṇa and the Lord’s supreme pleasure potency to be uplifted from the material platform and engaged in transcendental service. This goes far beyond mere music.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes:
It is to be understood that when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chanted and danced, He did so by the influence of the pleasure potency of the spiritual world. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never considered the holy name of the Lord to be a material vibration, nor does any pure devotee mistake the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to be a material musical manifestation.4
The holy name of Krsna is nondifferent from Krsna Himself.5 And so:
Lord Caitanya never tried to be the master of the holy name; rather He taught us how to be servants of the holy name. If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion, but he will never attain perfection in chanting the holy name.6
“Keep that power”
Along the same lines, Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke in a conversation about the potency of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra:
Now, actually, people are surprised: “What this Hare Kṛṣna mantra has got power that it is changing [people] so quickly?” And on the other hand, it is to be admitted, unless it has got power, how it is changing? So we have to keep that power. Don’t make it an ordinary musical vibration. It is a different thing, spiritual. Although it seems like musical vibration, but it is spiritual, completely. Mantrauṣadhi-vaśa. Even, by mantra, the snakes can be charmed. So mantra is not ordinary sound vibration. So we have to keep the mantra in potency, potent, by offenseless chanting, by remaining pure. If you pollute the mantra, then it will lose its effect.7
Like a good cook, a good kīrtanīya wants to present Kṛṣṇa a worthy offering. And so a devotee tries to sing his best or her best, play the instruments well, and inspire the other devotees in the kīrtana. But, again, what most inspires and what most satisfies Kṛṣṇa is pure-hearted love and devotion.8
Kripamoya Dāsa tells what he does to try to follow Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions:
When I lead kīrtana, I feel I want to serve the devotees that are there. I’m very conscious that there’s a very thin line and you can fall either side of the line. If you can sing in such a way that afterwards devotees come up and say “Nice kīrtana,” you’ve got to be very careful that you don’t allow your artistic considerations to take precedence over the devotional. My devotional considerations are to be thinking of two things–Krsna and allowing the devotees to have space in which to listen to the holy name and reflect. So I try to chant in such a way that I know that everybody can join in. I don’t tend to sing unfamiliar tunes. I sing familiar tunes that I think the devotees will know, just so they can become absorbed. I don’t change the tunes that often. And I just really try to stay this side of the line of modulating the voice too much–that is, not modulating the voice so much that people will treat it as an artistic thing and not a devotional thing.9
Notes:
1 Jaiva Dharma, Chapter 3.
2 Jaiva Dharma, Chapter 4.
3 Explanation of Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana, “Happening” album, CD 2-5.
4 Cc. Ādi 7.95-96, purport.
5 Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. Padma Purāṇa.
6 Cc. Ādi 7.95-96, purport.
7 April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand.
8Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. . . (Gītā 9.26). For the comparison of cooking to kīrtana, my thanks to Mahātmā Dāsa.
9 Personal interview.
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