This is where the real nectar and satisfaction in life is:

Kirtan - Sunday Feast Prasadam Melody

This is a recording of a melody that we’ve been singing at the Sunday feast during dinner. It’s a nice soothing one that you sing for a long time and build up and calm down. It came about during one soundcheck when Elliott played the standard part of the melody, and then went on to play another, different kirtan, which has a melody like the one that this kirtan starts with. I still had the first chord progression in my head and I ran out of the kitchen and mashed them up to create this kirtan.

This recording is from the morning program this morning at Red Hill. It’s clipped as the recording level was too high on the device, but it’s still listenable.

Enjoy!

Kirtan is not a sound vibration. We should be very careful not to conceive of it as such. If we think that Kirtan is a sound vibration then we will be deceived. We will accept the sweet sounds of any person as the real thing, when in fact it is not. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said that the so-called kirtan of the impersonalists is like thunderbolts to Krishna’s ears.

Kirtan is not a sound vibration. It is not a movement of air - it is a movement of the heart.

When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was leaving this world he asked for Srila B.R. Sridhar Maharaja to sing Sri Rupa Manjari pada. Kunjabihari prabhu asked Srila Paramananda das brahmacari, who later became Srila B.P. Puri Goswami, to sing instead, as he had a sweet voice, and would do kirtan whenever the devotees of the Math had a radio preaching engagement. Paramananda began to sing, but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta cut him short, saying: “I don’t want to hear a sweet voice - I want to hear him singing.”

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wrote in one letter to a disciple, in regards to kirtan: “Musical ability is nothing, devotion is everything”.

When it came time for Srila Prabhupada to leave this world he had a very sweet exchange with Srila B.P. Puri Goswami. They recalled the past time of their Gurudeva’s passing, and Srila Prabhupada said to Srila Puri Maharaja: “Now it is my time to leave this world, and I would like for you to sing Sri Rupa Manjari pada for me.”

The sound vibration is secondary. It is like a carrier wave that carries with it the real active ingredient of bhakti, or devotion. Medicine may be given with some sweet thing to make it palatable, but the sweet without the medicine is worthless.

One night some young American disciples of Srila Prabhupada went to see Akincana Krishna das Babaji on Ekadasi. The custom of Srila Krishna das Babaji was to chant all night on Ekadasi. Those devotees went there with mrdanga, cartals, and a tape recorder. They found Babaji Maharaja chanting japa (with beads) under a tree. They also sat down and began chanting on their beads. After some time the moon rose, and being enthusiastic to do kirtan (and to record it) they said to Babaji Maharaja: “Maharaja, we have brought mrdanga and cartals - shall we do kirtan?”

Babaji Maharaja, understanding their heart and to teach them something, replied: “Not tonight. Tonight we will have no disturbance - just Harinam.”

Now Kirtan is becoming more popular in the West, but we should be careful to understand what is real kirtan and what is simply apparent. The inner conception is everything. Real kirtan is an overflowing of the heart that is filled with devotion. That is the highest kirtan. The kirtan of those mahatmas, those great souls whose lives are emblems of devotional service, who demonstrate dedicated commitment to the cause of service to their guru’s mission - that kirtan is the real thing.

Another type of kirtan may be that of the beginning sadhaka. That kirtan will not be as potent. This person is practicing the kirtan because they have been given the instruction to do so. Their realization may be incomplete and their dedication to and execution of their Guru’s instructions may be unsteady, but still their aspiration and their desire to advance in devotional service imparts a quality to their kirtan that is missing from the polished kirtan of the professional musician whose very conception is devoid of personal devotion, what to speak of their practice.

Then there is the apparent kirtan of the impersonalist whose real goal is increase their personal name and fame. This kirtan may be musically proficient, musically polished, professional, and adored by many, but it does not have to power to give you Bhakti - because the kirtaniya does not have it.

Fire is present in a latent form in wood, but however many pieces of wood you put together you cannot make fire unless you touch those pieces of wood with another piece that has been ignited. Similarly bhakti is there in potential form in all jivas, but unless they come into contact with a devotee whose bhakti has been ignited, it cannot come out. Bhakti has no material cause - it is ahautuki - “materially causeless”. Bhakti comes from Bhakti, and from no other source.

We should not mistake the sweet sounds of a professional singer for kirtan - they are two different things. We are after the real thing - the deep conception - not some superficial sweet sounds. “Musical ability is nothing - devotion is everything.”

We are not after music - we are after Krishna Bhakti - Krishna’s service. Only those whose lives are dedicated to the service of Guru and Krishna can give us this through their kirtan.

Here are a couple of kirtans from Sunday night.

These are two of the kirtans from the beginning of the program.

Vamsidhari’s Varshan melody (Sita-pati das)
Kirtan (Maha-mantra das)

The cartals feature quite prominently in these recordings, but otherwise they’re okay.

Cristian suggested that the tune that Vamsi sang at the Taupo retreat should be a standard at Sunday Feasts, and I agree with that assessment.

With our new stage setup at the Sunday Feast (check out pictures here) there are some issues. Previously we used the small 15W Ashton amplifier that we use on harinam as a fold back monitor. There is nothing worse than not being able to hear the harmonium when you are leading. With the new stage setup there is no room for this, and besides that, in order to turn it up loud enough to be useful, it becomes loud enough for the audience to hear, interfering with the sound levels.

The solution is to get in-ear monitors - something that we’ve known for some time, but have to face up to soon.

You can hear when Mantra changes key in his kirtan that he has trouble locating the note. While the harmonium is audible in the front-of-house mix that the recording comes from, on stage next to the mrdangas and cartals is a different story. Compounding the problem is that he is over-pressurizing the harmonium in an attempt to increase the volume onstage, with the result that he is deforming the reeds, pushing them off-key. This is the reason why so many harmoniums, played by enthusiastic amateurs all over the world, are horribly out-of-tune. Over-pressurization.

Indulge me in a brief digression before I return to the subject of in-ear monitors.

I went to buy a harmonium from an Indian gentleman who imported them a number of years ago. (If you’ve heard the story before, bear with me). I sat down in front of one and began to play one of the Vaiyasaki tunes that I had spent so long mastering, eager to display my mastery of the instrument.

I was shut down immediately by the irate gentleman who scolded me: “That’s the problem with you ISKCON devotees - you pump the harmonium with no thought and over pressurize it!”

It was a particularly biting reprimand, and one which I have never forgotten. “Aggressive Grace”, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati would term it.

I read a book on driving, and it explained many things, among which was this: if you are driving up a hill, you may be using too much gas. You can tell by easing up on the pedal until you actually notice the engine revs begin to drop. It is possibly to flood the engine with more petrol than it can use.

After reading this, I practiced it and found that yes, you have to be conscious about the amount of petrol that you feed the engine at a given rev range in a given load situation. The same goes for the harmonium. Overpressurizing the bellows compartment results in long-term pressure loss through leaks, and also puts the harmonium out of tune by deforming the reeds. Overpressurizing will also cause the harmonium to play out of tune as the reeds deform immediately.

And worst of all - it cuts a really, really dumb profile. I never noticed it before, but I can see why that gentleman became irate seeing it.

Anyway, now you know the science - pay more attention. When you practice develop the feel needed for the art of harmonium playing. Back off on the pressure, notice when it needs to be pumped. Feel the pressure in the harmonium. Don’t just pump away mechanically with no real idea of what you are doing or why. Don’t overpressurize.

When I studied with Dr Talochan Singh he taught me to hold the heel of the hand that is pumping the harmonium on the top of the harmonium itself. Don’t have that hand “free swinging” - that’s a recipe for over-pressurization, and besides that it’s incredibly amateurish. We’re not about being “professional kirtaniyas”, but there is nothing wrong with doing things properly.

Anyway, end digression and return to the nectar of in-ear monitors:

The ABC’s of Configuring a Personal Monitor System
Can I use more than one Shure PSM receiver with one PSM transmitter? Yes
Shure Guide to Personal Monitors

Just got back from yoga.

Here’s a tip for general skin care, and for mrdanga playing in particular. (A mrdanga is a two-headed drum that can be played standing up and walking, and is popularly associated with nagar-sankirtan, or musical parades where the Holy Names of the Lord are chanted).

What we discovered in playing mrdanga for extended periods regularly is that you get blood blisters and cracked skin. We would use oil, wax, and lanolin to moisturize our hands every day in the morning.

You shouldn’t have bleeding hands playing mrdanga for more than a few weeks. If you regularly do, then you should probably either put in the regular playing needed to develop your conditioning to the level needed to play like that, or else tone it down a little. I don’t mind when someone who is sincerely working to develop to that level bleeds on the mrdanga, but when someone regularly does it (such as every major festival) I begin to wonder about their motives. Bleeding on the mrdanga is not cool. It’s unclean, it’s not good for the mrdanga heads, and it’s a sign that you actually don’t play much.

Callouses will develop that will stop the blood blisters. After some time they will become less noticeable. What causes the cracking of the skin along the lines is dehydration. The way to stop this from occurring is to moisturize your hands while you are playing. And… here it is… the best moisturizer is your own sweat.

Take a break every so often (you can easily do it in big kirtans with multiple mrdangas), and rub your hands over your forehead or your neck. Rub them together so that the sweat goes into them, especially your fingers and base of the fingers, and you’ll be able to play on for hours without get cracked skin. You also won’t get some messy thing like wax or oil on the drum (which will ruin the head).

It took me a while to figure this one out. I figured it out subconsciously at first, and after some time noticed what I was doing. It works.

So there you have it. I remember this right now because with 24 people in the Loft in a Queensland summer you sweat a lot, and I took advantage to transfer it to my knees which are dried out from kneeling and praying so much (ha ha ha! Actually I kneel at my desk to take a break from sitting at one all day, and that dries my knees out).

I’ve uploaded some pictures of the New Year’s Eve Harinam in Brisbane, Australia.

Over the Christmas / New Year period I participated in Harinam in Sydney, Brisbane, and Byron Bay.

I’ve had some further realizations about Harinam lately. Mainly just re-emphasis of the principles that I wrote about in the booklet “Harinam Sankirtan Yajna”.

I remember reading somewhere the opinions of some people (it’s a bit of a meme in some circles) that Harinam is not good preaching in Western cities anymore because times and people have changed. I could never understand what they were talking about. I’ve been going out on Harinam regularly since 1997 and my experience has been of an overwhelmingly positive reception.

I’ve gone on Harinam with His Holiness Indradyumna Swami and seen him go down on one knee to serenade an elderly lady sitting on a bench, and accompanied him as the Harinam party swooped into a beer garden of a pub in a festival. I’ve gone on Harinam with two people, with twenty, and with two hundred; with Kukudmi das on Sunset Boulevard and Jaya Govinda das brahmacari on Venice Beach; in the pouring rain and freezing cold of the Ecuadorian Andes and the dust-choked heat of Peruvian coastal villages. I’ve been on Harinam in downtown Tokyo where you can’t even see or hear the others in the party if you take two steps to the left, and on Christmas Eve in Brisbane where the shops are closed up and everyone’s gone home for the night.

My realization is that Harinam is as all-attractive as it ever has been. Harinam doesn’t offend people. People offend people (to borrow a slogan from the NRA). Boorish and inconsiderate behaviour, sloppy dressing, loud and uncouth “musical” instrument playing, unconscious mob mentality, lack of consciousness and intentionality - these are what offend people, not the Harinam.

When Harinam is nicely executed people appreciate it on so many levels. It’s festive, it’s fun, it’s colorful, it’s a wonderful cultural presentation that adds to the vibrancy and multicultural nature of a city. In a city where Harinam is considerately and consciously performed the residents become proud of “their” Hare Krishnas. They enjoy the humble nature of the devotees and their gentlemanly and ladylike interactions with their fellow citizens. They build relationships of trust and respect.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. When I went out with Indradyumna Swami on Harinam at the Sweetwaters festival in 1999 Maharaja began the kirtan with a briefing for all the devotees. I’ll never forget it:

“Stay in two lines, be considerate of the other road users. Remember to keep smiling. Especially at the end of the harinam when we’re getting tired it’s harder to smile, but we have to keep smiling.”

It just takes some casting of vision. When you take a group of people out on the street, without leadership you just have a mob. Someone has to take charge, and the others in the party have to follow that person. It’s that simple. Otherwise you will have oncoming traffic having to negotiate with a milling bunch of people - a stressful experience. With a leader who is conscious of the overall situation and directing the group as a cohesive unit, interaction with the public is smooth and effective.

Anyway, that’s one point among many. I’ve written a book about it, called “Harinam Sankirtan Yajna”. It’s not perfect, of course, but it represents a starting point. If people want to say that Harinam is not as effective as it used to be, then I call for reformation, not renunciation. Let this book be the starting point.

I’m working on getting this book back into an electronic form (I lost the only copy when my laptop was stolen in Peru). I’ve put the Preface online, and I will put sections up from time to time. So there’s a new category in town, and it’s called “Harinam Kirtan”.

You can also check out the Kirtan page on this site.