Professional kīrtanīyas rejected

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 42

An incident in Māyāpur illustrates Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disdain for mere musical skills without the spirit of pure devotional service.

For the Gaura Pūrṇimā Festival in Māyāpur in 1977, Jayapatākā Swami arranged for a two-day Kīrtana Competition, which, as Lokanāth Swami remarks, “turned out to be the first and last of its kind.^”1 With a view toward attracting kīrtanīyas and other Bengali people to ISKCON Māyāpur from outside ISKCON, various kīrtana groups were invited to take part in the competition, and ISKCON kīrtana groups were invited as well. Lokanāth Swami writes:

Kīrtana groups from all over Bengal came to exhibit their talents—singing, dancing, and playing instruments. Particularly attractive were the special mṛdaṅga beats the native Bengalis knew how to play. Jayādvaita Swami recalls seeing the kīrtana leaders from America hanging around near the stage, picking up on the mṛdaṅga beats that the Bengalis were doing, hoping to take their styles back to the West.

As the groups performed onstage, appointed judges assessed each group, awarding points for excellence in various categories – dress, dancing, mṛdaṅga playing, and so on. Lokanāth Swami continues:

The kīrtana competition went on all day, for two days. Each group performed for about half an hour, trying to put on the best show. The local Bengali singers were smartly dressed, with bright yellow and blue sashes, and they played great mṛdaṅga beats and even cried and howled during their kīrtanas.

While this was going on, Śrīla Prabhupāda was staying in his quarters in the Lotus Building, somewhat indisposed. And after a while, word came down that the amplifiers should be shut off. Śrīla Prabhupāda had said, “This is not nāma-saṅkīrtana. It is nāma-aparādha. They are simply singing for money.”²

Notes:

1 The Māyāpur-Vṛndāvana Festivals with Śrīla Prabhupāda (1972-77). In the section of Chapter 10 called “The First and Last Kīrtana Competition,” Lokanāth Mahārāja tells about the event.

2 The quotation is given by Lokanāth Mahārāja. I too recall “They are simply singing for money.” Jayapatākā Swami has written me that the competition offered a cash prize, and he confirms, “Srila Prabhupada called me and said, what is this? They are not chanting, they are chanting for money.” (personal communication, October 6, 2021)