“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 20
In this book I several times cite or quote an article by Harikeśa Swami, “Important Kirtan Instructions from Srila Prabhupada,” published in 1988. Harikeśa Swami wrote this article when he was a leading GBC member, he wrote it at the request of other GBC members, and we have no reason to believe that later events have diminished its validity. I have included the entire article as an appendix to this book.
In that article, Harikeśa tells especially of instructions Śrīla Prabhupāda gave for ISKCON Vrindāvan:
Although the Vrindavan temple was opened in March of 1975,1 Srila Prabhupada had started establishing the standards of its functioning in the previous year. He was concentrating his energies on creating the proper Deity, kitchen, and economic standards. At this time Srila Prabhupada asked me to be the president of the temple. He was personally instructing me in various aspects of the management. Since we are writing about Srila Prabhupada’s standard for kirtan, I would like to recount his specific instructions in regards to the standards for kirtan which he wanted me to rigidly enforce.
As far as standards go, his instructions could not have been more specific. The exact cause of these instructions was a kirtan in the temple led by Bharadvaja das, the night before. Srila Prabhupada had been in the habit of attending our nightly kirtans and classes due to his being sickly and unable to speak. That evening Bharadvaja chose to sing a song (which he said he got from a book by Gopal Bhatt Goswami) which was a variation on the mantra “krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna he,” but instead of it being for Krsna, Krsna was replaced with Gaura, so that the mantra went, “gaura gaura gaura gaura gaura gaura gaura he” & etc. Srila Prabhupada disliked this extremely, so much so that the next morning he called me into his room and wanted from me an explanation of why Bharadvaja was chanting like that. I could not give a proper explanation at that moment, but Prabhupada said that he never wanted to hear that again in the temple and that I should never allow such kinds of “speculation” in kirtan. He then went on to specifically describe how kirtan should be done.
More or less his exact words were, << Now I want to establish the standards for kirtan. You may chant as follows: for mangala Aratika, the samsara-dava prayer, then sri krsna caitanya, then hare krsna, nothing else. For the guru-puja, the “guru prayer”(that’s what he called it), sri krsna caitanya, hare krsna, nothing else. For evening aratika, the gaura Aratika song, sri krsna caitanya, and hare krsna, nothing else. For all aratikas this basic pattern should be followed. The chanting of sri krsna Caitanya mantra should only be for three times, not more. No one should sing a bhajan unless all the devotees know what the song means. No one should sing songs in Vrindavan temple that are in languages which the people do not understand. Yasomati-nandana may be sung since the people understand that. >> I did not put this section in quotes since it would be highly presumptuous of me to think that I can remember Prabhupada’s exact words after 13 years have passed, but it is close enough for us to learn from.2
The morning tune
Harikeśa continues:
Now there are some other things which he also taught at the same time. The next instance relates to the methods of singing mangala aratika. We were chanting mangala aratika within the room of Snla Prabhupada each morning. Sometimes Prabhupada would appreciate the singing and sometimes not. Later on in the morning after a particularly bad kirtan, Prabhupada called me into his room and complained about the singing. He said, again, more or less,_<<I did not like the singing in the morning. The morning melody must be sung throughout the mangala aratika and no other melody should be sung. It should be sung sweetly and melodiously, like this… [and he proceeded to sing the first verse of the samsara prayer in a very sweet and melodious voice with perfect inflection and musical accent].>> Prabhupada was very insistent that the singing should be done in that way only. He indicated that he wanted me to lead the kirtans in the morning as away to establish the standards within the temple.3
We’ll have more to say about “the morning tune” later in this book.
Jaya Rādhe
Harikeśa continues:
The next morning I led the kirtan in his room duplicating the melodious style which he had shown me the day before. Prabhupada was pleased and seemed to enjoy the kirtan. Unfortunately I fell victim to that demon within the mind and started to speculate a couple of “jaya radhe’s” at the end of the kirtan. This was one of the bigger mistakes made by me at that time. Although there is nothing wrong with ‘‘jaya radhe,” Prabhupada simply didn’t want us to chant it. He once explained that Sukadeva Gosvami did not feel himself qualified to chant the name of Radha in the Srimad-Bhagavatam and therefore only indicated her name with the word “aradhana” while describing the topmost gopi friend of Krsna. . . .
Anyway, to continue the story, I had just started to chant Srimati Radharani’s holy name within Vrindavan dhama, Her beloved Lord’s abode, within the presence of Her most intimate devotee, during the most auspicious hours of the day, when Her most intimate devotee looked at me with eyes blazing like fire and desirous of initiating my immediate destruction. Voice choked and gagging, I ended the kirtan immediately without further formalities, never again to make the same mistake. Prabhupada never ended kirtans with various extra mantras, especially not “jaya radhe,” so why should I?4
Badrinārāyaṇ Mahārāja says, “He told us don’t do it. He was adamant about it. It’s not such a cheap thing. Such a valuable thing you keep guarded, you don’t flaunt cheaply.”5
Bada Haridas comments:
He gave us Rādhārāṇī’s name to chant eight times while chanting the mahā-mantra. It’s not like he didn’t want us to chant Rādhārāṇī’s name and take shelter of her. We’re spending two hours a day expressly taking shelter of her. But there was a way. It’s respectful. It’s appropriate for our level. He was very, very cautious, that “This is the name of Rādhārāṇī. The most sacred thing in the universe, even more sacred than Kṛṣṇa’s name. Don’t just take it cheaply.” Maybe there are people who are qualified to chant her name. I couldn’t say. I’m not.”6
In summary
Śrīla Prabhupāda told Harikeśa in 1974 to institute these standards for kīrtanas at ISKCON Vrindāvan:
- For the maṅgala ārātrika, chant the saṁsāra-dāva prayer, then śrī-kṛṣṇa caitanya, then hare kṛṣṇa, nothing else.
- For the guru-pūjā, chant śrī guru caraṇa padma, śrī-kṛṣṇa caitanya, hare kṛṣṇa, nothing else.
- For the evening ārātrika, chant the gaura ārātrika song, śrī-kṛṣṇa caitanya, hare kṛṣṇa, nothing else.
- For all ārātrikas this basic pattern should be followed.
- The śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya mantra should be responsively chanted only three times, not more.
- The morning melody must be sung throughout the maṅgala ārātrika, and no other melody should be sung. It should be sung sweetly and melodiously.
- “Jaya Rādhe” should not be chanted.
It would be reasonable to assume that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted these standards followed in all ISKCON temples.
Notes:
1 In fact, April. –js
2 Harikeśa Swami, “Important Kirtan Instructions from Srila Prabhupada,” p. 16‒17.
3 Harikeśa Swami, “Important Kirtan Instructions from Srila Prabhupada,” p. 17‒18.
4 Harikeśa Swami, “Important Kirtan Instuctions from Srila Prabhupada,” p. 18. The original spoke of “Srimate Radharani.” I have revised “Srimate” to “Srimati.”
5 Video at https://vimeo.com/111967048.
6 Personal interview, November 9, 2021.
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