“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 22
Looking into some specifics, seemingly not so important, here leads us to important instructions from Śrīla Prabhupāda about broader principles. Let’s see how the journey unfolds.
The chanting of “Nitāi Gaura Hari bol” is common in Gauḍīya kīrtana. But Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to keep our focus on the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
Śrutakīrti Prabhu writes:
March 18, 1973, ISKCON Māyāpur Candrodaya Mandir
During ISKCON’s first international festival in Māyāpur, many devotees demonstrated how they had become influenced by the Bengali form of kīrtan. Śrīla Prabhupāda expressed some displeasure about the chanting of so many different mantras. “They can chant their ‘Nitai Gaura, Hari Bols’,” he said, “but I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back home, back to Godhead.”
Perhaps if we had understood the translation of “Hari bol,” then we would have known what to do. Śrīla Prabhupāda enjoyed chanting the Mahā-mantra.1
As detailed soon below, Lokanāth Swami relates that when he and his party were chanting “Hari bol!” back and forth at a Rādhāṣṭamī festival in Delhi in 1976, Śrīla Prabhupāda stopped him and said, “Don’t do that anymore.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, however, didn’t always intervene. Harikeśa writes of an earlier incident, from Bombay in 1976:
There was a kirtan in the temple which was basically a lot of hari bols. During this kirtan I was highly skeptical and looked often to Srila Prabhupada to see if he wanted me to stop this kirtan or not. I think that Prabhupada knew why I was looking at him and he specifically avoided me by looking downward or to the side the whole kirtan. At the end when we were walking back to his flat at the back of the land, the following interchange took place. “Srila Prabhupada” I asked, “should I have stopped that kirtan since it was not proper?” “No,” he said, “at least they are chanting.”2
But let us now come to the incident related by Lokanāth Mahārāja, in which Śrīla Prabhupāda did intervene:
The Rādhāṣṭamī festival of 1976 at the Delhi temple was unforgettable. It was a beautiful evening, and despite it being the monsoon season, the weather remained clear and calm allowing us to celebrate outdoors. The devotees had set up a stage outside the deity hall and were holding a paṇḍāl programme. From his vyāsāsana, Śrīla Prabhupāda looked on as we rendered kīrtana on the lawn at the side of the temple. As I led the kīrtana the members of the Nitāi-Gaura World Travelling Saṅkīrtana Party danced enthusiastically around me.
After singing the standard prayers and the mahā-mantra, we began chanting “gaura nityānanda bol, haribol, haribol; gaura śrī-advaita bol, haribol, haribol; gaura śrī-gadādhara bol, haribol haribol.”
The air was surcharged with spiritual energy and our kīrtana became more exuberant. As we chanted we placed great emphasis on “Haribol.” As the kīrtana reached its climax, we gathered around in a group singing “nitāi gaura haribol, haribol, haribol, haribol,” and we went on nonstop. We were completely carried away.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was sitting on his vyāsāsana on the makeshift stage when he gestured to me to stop. He motioned with his hand back and forth and said, “Don’t do that anymore!”
Chanting “Haribol” in this way had become popular in ISKCON. I think most of the devotees had learnt it during Māyāpur festival periods from the Gauḍīya Maṭha kīrtana parties in Māyāpur. We were young and easily influenced, and would therefore pick up such things. . . .
Yet, on 17 November 1975, I had asked Śrīla Prabhupāda’s permission to chant in this very way.
We were on a morning walk with Śrīla Prabhupāda on Juhu Beach when I had asked him, “We chant, gaura nityānanda bol, haribol, haribol. . .” And before I could even conclude the question Śrīla Prabhupāda responded, “That is all right.”
Lokanāth Swami concludes:
Śrīla Prabhupāda had motioned for me to stop when I had led the chanting of “Haribol! Haribol” from the stage and this instruction struck me deeply. I took it very seriously, and to this day I carefully avoid such singing. Several other ISKCON kīrtana leaders also rectified themselves as a result of these instructions.3
The real point: Strictly follow
Although Lokanāth Mahārāja took this instruction seriously, the “Hari bol kīrtana” seems to have lingered on for at least a few more days before he stopped it once and for all. And so, five days later in Vrindāvan, a Hari bol kīrtana led to a discussion between Śrīla Prabhupāda and his secretary Harikeśa Swami.
Hari Śauri writes:
After the temple darśana in the evening there is always a big kīrtana during ārati, especially with Lokanātha Mahārāja and his men here, as they are extremely enthusiastic chanters. However, they have developed a style of kīrtana that is a little different from the ISKCON norm. When the kīrtana reaches its climax, they gather around in a group and start singing “
nitāi-gaura haribol, haribol, haribol, haribol.”
They get completely carried away with chanting haribol. Sometimes they go on for five or ten minutes singing back and forth, “haribol, haribol! haribol, haribol!” Sometimes it even goes on longer than the chanting of the mahā-mantra. Some devotees are not happy about it, although no one can fault their enthusiasm.
Harikeśa Swami objects to it quite strongly, and this evening he went into the garden to ask Śrīla Prabhupāda’s opinion. Since we have never heard Śrīla Prabhupada sing this mantra, Harikeśa had doubts it was actually a bona fide practice. Prabhupāda had stopped Lokanātha’s kīrtana at the pandala in Delhi, but at that time he gave no reason why.
Now this evening, Prabhupāda, although not too upset by it, made it clear that such chanting was not approved by him. He told us that we should mainly chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. He said “nitāi-gaura haribol” is all right, because they are bona fide names of the Lord, but the real point is that we should strictly follow only what the ācāryas have given. This is the process. He said that the ācāryas only chant all five names of the Pañca-tattva, not just two. So although there is no offence in chanting the names of Gaura Nitāi, if we deviate and chant our own made-up mantras then this is guror-avajñā, or disobeying the orders of the spiritual master, and the line of ācāryas. To make advancement in spiritual life one must always follow the line of ācāryas.4
Better the simple thing
Hari Śauri Prabhu continues:
Svayambhūr wanted more clarification on what Śrīla Prabhupāda had said about the chanting of nitāi-gaura being a deviation. In his mind there was some contradiction, and he put it to Prabhupāda to resolve. “Prabhupāda, you wrote in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that the Caitanya mahā-mantra,śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda. . . . there is no offence to that. And so therefore in the Kali-yuga it is actually more beneficial. . .”
Prabhupāda repeated his comments made to Harikeśa Mahārāja. “Offence is that what is spoken by the ācāryas, if you do not follow, that is offence. Guror avajñā. To chant Gaura-Nitāi is no offence. But if our previous gurus have chanted śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita—why should we go beyond that? That is guror avajñā. Even there is no aparādha, because guru, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, has sung like that and my guru has sung, we should follow that. We should not make any deviation. That is guror avajñā, śruti-śāstra-nindanam; nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. So it comes to be one of the items of the daśa-vidha-aparādha [ten offences in chanting]. Guror avajñā.”
“Is it more beneficial for people to hear the Pañca-tattva mantra than the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra?” Svayambhūr asked.
“Oh, yes,” Prabhupāda told us. “You are going to Hare Kṛṣṇa through Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāiyer karuṇā habe braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe.” But he added, “The principle is don’t try to manufacture. Because you are not experienced, so what nonsense you will manufacture, that will be offensive. Better go on, the simple thing.”5
Maintaining the kīrtana standard
Perhaps, then, Śrīla Prabhupāda merely disapproved of “Hari bol! Hari bol!” but appreciated “Gaura Nityānanda bol!” But “Is this chant or that chant okay?” may be too small a question. There are larger issues at stake here. Let us read on.
Harikeśa Swami writes:
One morning in the winter of 1975, after the temple was opened, Ananda prabhu was leading the kirtan. Ananda prabhu was a godbrother of Srila Prabhupada who had been living in our temple for many years, humbly engaged in serving the devotees with great love and devotion. He was the personal cook of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and was extremely expert in preparing emergency medicinal herbs when the need arose (as when Saurabh das was bitten by a scorpion but was saved by Ananda prabhu’s timely herb application). He was also an enthusiastic kirtan leader. Srila Prabhupada was in his room as usual during the mangal Aratika kirtan and I was in the room next to his waiting some order or command. I was not to be disappointed. The kirtan was loud and the speakers, combined with the reverberation of the hall, projected the sound into Prabhupada’s room with great ease. Prabhupada called me into his room. I already knew what was going to happen since I was trained by him the previous year and knew his standards for kirtan. Ananda prabhu was chanting “gaur nityananda bol” & etc. I knew that this was not what should happen, but I was Prabhupada’s servant at this time and not the president any longer.
Much to my surprise he more or less (again, sorry) said the following. << Go to the temple room and stop him from singing the kirtan. Tell him that this is your temple and that you will lead the kirtans the way you want. >> Well, this was quite a shock. It was the first time that I ever had to stop one of his own godbrothers from singing a kirtan, but I dutifully marched off to the temple room to fulfill the order. I was not at all feeling good about this as I was afraid of making some offense or being crass or crude about it. Being fallen I just couldn’t bring myself to say it exactly as Prabhupada had said it, but I managed to mutter out some words to the effect that Prabhupada didn’t want this mantra in the temple and that would he please chant hare krsna instead? This made a little scene with the devotees not understanding what was taking place, so I managed to explain something to some others since the kirtan was still taking place without interruption, but soon the kirtan was stopped and taken over by others.
Prabhupada was never abrasive towards others and especially I had never seen him act like this in the temple, but he was so determined that the kirtan standard be maintained and not changed by the introduction of “other” mantras which were commonly heard in other temples and maths, that he sent me to stop his own godbrother from singing in the temple. This incident impressed me greatly as to his determination in this regard.6
In summary
“Hari bol” and “Gaura Nityānanda Bol”—As mentioned above, looking at these particulars has led us to broader principles. To summarize what we’ve found out about both:
- Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us mainly to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
- Although he didn’t always intervene, he disapproved of long, extended chanting of “Hari bol, hari bol!”
- We should strictly follow only what the ācāryas have given.
- The principle is “Don’t try to manufacture.”
- Chanting our own made-up mantras will be offensive.
- Better to go on with “the simple thing” Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us.
- Although Śrīla Prabhupāda sometimes said that chanting of “Gaura nityānanda bol, haribol, haribol. . .” was “all right,” he was so determined to maintain a “kīrtana standard” that he once ordered his own godbrother stopped from chanting “Gaura nityānanda bol” in a kīrtana at ISKCON Vrindāvan.
- Again: Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us mainly to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
Notes:
1 Śrutakīrti Dāsa, Śrīla Prabhupāda Uvāca, 44.
2 Harikeśa Swami, “Important Kirtan Instructions from Srila Prabhupada.”
3 In Conversation with Śrīla Prabhupāda, chapter 28: “End of Haribol! Haribol!”
4 Transcendental Diary, Vol 4, p. 361. Entry for September 6, 1976. VedaBase reference: 760906G1-VRNDAVAN. Also, in the present book, for balance see the subsection “Jaya Śacīnandana, Nitāi Gaurāṅga, and Prabhu Nityānanda” in the section “Approved.”
5 Transcendental Diary Vol. 4, p. 361‒62, Entry for September 6, 1976.
6 Harikeśa Swami,“Important Kirtan Instructions from Srila Prabhupada,” p. 18‒19.
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