“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 23
As mentioned above (under “The real point: Strictly follow”), Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed that we should chant “only what the ācāryas have given,” that “the ācāryas only chant all five names of the Pañca-tattva,” and that we should not “chant our own made-up mantras.” And yet we hear:
Jaya Pañca-tattva! Jaya Pañca-tattva!
Jaya Pañca-tattva! Jaya Pañca-tattva!
This is not something the ācāryas have given. It doesn’t include any of the five names. It wasn’t chanted by Śrīla Prabhupāda. And we don’t hear it even in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Our own made-up mantra? So it would seem.
More about this later.1
Better to stick to what’s authorized
In regard to what we should chant, this morning-walk conversation is instructive:2
Jayādvaita: [We have been told to chant] the names of Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master or the ācāryas have chanted them, but sometimes I’ll hear that our devotees will be chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name in different ways that I haven’t heard, in kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: I do not follow what you say.
Jayādvaita: Just like sometimes we’ll hear our men, they’ll be chanting. . . Like yesterday I heard that someone was chanting, “Nitāi-Gaura, Nitāi-Gaura, Nitāi-Nitāi-Gaura.” Like that, I’ll hear different mantras. Someone is chanting, “Rādhe, Rādhe, Rādhe, Rādhe,” like that, at kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: Aha. Well, that is not done by the ācāryas. But there is no harm chanting “Rādhe.” But sometimes it is degraded to make something new, invention. Therefore better to stick to “Hare Kṛṣṇa” and “Śrī-Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda.” Otherwise. . . Just like the sahajiyās, they have invented: “Nitāi-Gaura Rādhe Śyāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma.” These things will come gradually. But they are not approved. They are called chaḍā kīrtana, or “concocted kīrtana.”3
But there is no harm chanting “Rādhe,” “Nitāi-Gaura.” But better stick to this Pañca-tattva and mahā-mantra.
Just like “Nitāi Gaura Rādhe Śyāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma.” There is “Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhe Śyāma,” but it is not approved. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. We have to follow the mahājana.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta you’ll find “Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita Gadādhara. . . ,” never “Nitāi Gaura, Rādhe Śyāma.” So why should we do that?4
In short: On this occasion Śrīla Prabhupāda said that there is no harm in chanting “Nitāi Gaura” or “Rādhe” but better to stick to the Pañca-tattva mantra and the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
Notes:
1 See the section on “Mūrti mantras.”
2 Morning Walk, Mayapur, April 8, 1975.
3 The ḍ in chaḍā represents a Bengali letter for which we don’t have a match in English. But it sounds something like an English r.
4 “Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita Gadādhara. . .” isn’t found word for word in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. But it’s there in essence, and we have received it from our previous ācāryas through Śrīla Prabhupāda.
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