Any tunes can be used

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 46

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Śrīla Prabhupāda once wrote, “Any tune can be used. When it is in relationship with Krishna, that makes it bona fide.”¹

Hayagrīva Dāsa has written that in 1967, in advance of a program at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, Allen Ginsberg asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “Don’t you think there’s a possibility of chanting a tune more appealing to Western ears?” And Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “Any tune will do. That’s not important. What’s important is that you chant Hare Krishna. It can be in the tune of your own country. That doesn’t matter.”²

Again in 1967, the devotees in San Francisco sent Śrīla Prabhupāda a kīrtana recording they had made. Govinda Dāsī writes:

It was a new singsong chant, nothing at all like the morning and evening ragas that Srila Prabhupada had introduced.³ This was an American version for sure: horns blared, drums boomed, and cymbals clanged; it was a festive party sound. Some of the New York devotees were aghast; after hearing the tape through, Srila Prabhupada smiled broadly and expressed his appreciation: “Oh, they have done nicely. Very nice. They are chanting so enthusiastically.” One of the tape hearers protested the modern unauthentic sound. Srila Prabhupada drowned him out. It was, in his opinion, wonderful. He sent a message to San Francisco to let them know he loved their kirtan tape and to go on chanting. Srila Prabhupada then said: “They are chanting Hare Krsna, that is the main thing. It may be this tune or that tune, doesn’t matter – this way or that, but they are sincerely chanting. That is what Krsna wants.”⁴

Similarly, Satsvarūpa Dāsa Goswami writes:

Prabhupāda gave his disciples credit for chanting kīrtanas with heart and soul as he did. One evening we had a small, informal kīrtana in Prabhupāda’s hotel room in Hawaii. Since there was no official program at the temple, Prabhupāda was spending a quiet evening working, and his servants were also busy with their tasks. However, Prabhupāda called us together and asked us to chant. I came from my editorial desk, Pradyumna came from his Sanskrit work, and Bali Mardana and Sudāmā also came. Prabhupāda asked Sudāmā to lead the singing. As Sudāmā began to sing a particular tune, he became self-conscious and stopped. He said, “That’s not the right tune.” He meant that it was not the tune that Prabhupāda usually sang. Prabhupāda encouraged him, “That is all right. That is your ecstasy.” It enlivened us to think that Prabhupāda said we had ecstasy within us, and that even a neophyte devotee’s choosing of a particular tune could be called “his ecstasy.”⁵

In 1970 Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote to Śyāmasundara:

Regarding the presentation of “Govindam’’ as well as other mantras, the vibration is always pure. I will give the theme and if the sound is Westernized that does not matter.

Śrīla Prabhupāda continued, however:

But another point is that this specific sound of Kirtana as I sing is also another introduction of art that can be intermingled with Western art, and such combination will certainly be appreciated.

And finally:

But so far I know that the Kirtana tune is a specific representation of Gaudiya Vaisnavas and this tune is appreciated all over India as unique. They say that the Kirtana tune is the specific gift of Bengal, and that is a fact.⁶

Serving as Śrīla Prabhupāda’s personal secretary, Tamal Krishna Goswami wrote to Kṛṣṇa Kathā Dāsa on July 19, 1977:

Generally I am only reading “good encouraging news” to His Divine Grace, so a letter like yours is not being read at this time, because of Srila Prabhupada’s poor health and His desire to retire from such types of management considerations. However I felt that your question and the answer to it might be of interest to other devotees and therefore I took the time of His Divine Grace. I asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is the status of Krishna das Babaji of Mayapur and listening to his kirtan tapes?” His Divine Grace answered, “He is bonafide. There is no harm in listening to him.” Then I asked your other question regarding the sahajiya groups of Navadvipa and Mayapur. His Divine Grace replied, “Why imitate anyone. Sing your own way and Krishna will accept the feelings and the tune.” From the way Srila Prabhupada said this it was clear that this was also in regard to imitating of Krishna das Babaji. Actually Prabhupada wants us to sing with our own feelings and as the tunes are dictated by our feelings, Krishna will accept. However, if someone wants to imitate tunes of such bonafide persons as Krishna das Babaji, there is nothing technically wrong with this. But Prabhupada has made it clear that it is not essential to imitate such persons and that this does not make the kirtan more bonafide.

Aniruddha Dāsa recalled:

Once, in the La Cienega temple [in Los Angeles], where Prabhupada had a small private room adjoining the main temple room, Vishnujana was elaborately playing his melodies on the harmonium in the temple room when Prabhupada came out of his room and said, “What is wrong with the melodies I have given you?” Today the movement has grown and we have many different melodies, but I’m fond of Prabhupada’s original ones.⁷

From these various quotations it appears that Śrīla Prabhupāda was open to the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa in any tune, he favored the traditional kīrtana tunes of Bengal like the ones he taught us, and most of all he wanted us to chant with sincere devotional feelings.

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Notes:

1 Letter to Ekayani, Aug 31, 1971.

2 The Hare Krishna Explosion, Chapter 7.

3 Technically, Bada Haridas Prabhu tells me, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s tunes were not rāgas. They’re what are called deśī saṅgīt (“folk tunes”). (Personal interview, November 9, 2021) —js

4 Prabhupada Stories. Story #6, “Wild kirtans.” The recording the devotees sent (mentioned earlier, in the section on Rāma mantras) is the same one on which they chanted Śrī rāma jaya rāma and a song by Hayagrīva Dāsa about “Nārada Muni, eternal spaceman.” Śrīla Prabhupāda’s message of appreciation was a letter to Mukunda, June 6, 1967.

5 Prabhupāda Meditations, Volume 3. 1.3: “Kīrtanas with Śrīla Prabhupāda.”

6 Letter to Syamasundara, 25 February 1970. My understanding is that Śrīla Prabhupāda here intends “the kīrtana tune” to mean “the type of kīrtana tune sung in Bengal.”

7 In Remembrances, Siddhānta Dāsa, ITV, Chapter 32. In “The Legend of Vishnujana Maharaja” we find Suhotra Swami relating the same incident.