KIRTAN STANDARDS BY JAYADVAITA SWAMI

“Srila Prabhupada’s Kirtana Standards” (Draft Preface)

Installment 1: Preface

etan nirvidyamānānām
icchatām akuto-bhayam
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ
harer nāmānukīrtanam

“O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.11)

This is a book about anukīrtanam—chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa by following “the ways of great authorities,” and specifically by following His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the great authority who introduced the chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name throughout the world. We may be full of material desires, free from material desires, or self-satisfied in spiritual realization. But surely by following the way shown by Śrīla Prabhupāda in chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, we can attain all success.

The rules and the essence

As you will find throughout this book, Śrīla Prabhupāda set standards for us to follow in chanting the holy name of the Lord. Lord Caitanya had taught, smarane na kālaḥ, which Śrīla Prabhupāda translates by saying “there are no hard-and-fast rules” for chanting Kṛṣṇa’s holy name. Then how could Śrīla Prabhupāda have given standards—that is, rules?

Explaining Lord Caitanya’s verse, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says:

khāite śuite yathā tathā nāma laya
kāla-deśa-niyama nāhi, sarva siddhi haya

“Regardless of time or place, one who chants the holy name, even while eating or sleeping, attains all perfection.” (Caitanya-caritāmta, Antya 20.18) For traditional Vedic sacrifices one must pay precise attention to the details of time and place. If the details are even slightly off, the whole sacrifice may be spoiled. But for the saṅkīrtana-yajña, the chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy names, rules for time and place don’t matter.

Yet there are ways to chant and ways not to chant, and Śrīla Prabhupāda taught us accordingly.

Because Śrīla Prabhupāda did give us standards and because those standards matter, this book, of necessity, is full of do’s and don’ts. And yet there was more to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings about kīrtana than a mere list of rules. He taught us to chant with feeling—with devotion and love. He taught us to chant with humility. He taught us to chant with life, with enthusiasm. He taught us to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy—and to spread this way of happiness to others. Following these teachings is also part of anukīrtanam, chanting by following.

So we don’t want to live only by rules and miss the essence. Śrīla Prabhupāda taught us that there is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Kṛṣṇa’s holy name (abhinnatvān nāma nāminoḥ). This is not something one realizes merely by following rules. One needs to enter deeply into the service of the holy name.

One gets a taste for the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa by contact with pure devotees who already have such a taste. When Śrīla Prabhupāda came from Vrindaban to New York City with a pair of karatālas and began chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, his chanting spread its influence, and now devotees chant Hare Kṛṣṇa all over the world, and they too inspire others. 

Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam.

The rules and individuality

Śrīla Prabhupāda taught and inspired in various ways. Sometimes he was soft, at other times stern. Sometimes he would accept and encourage whatever way devotees chose to chant, and sometimes when something about the way we chanted veered “off” he would bring even a roaring kīrtana to a dead stop and correct us.

We might usefully compare Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teachings about kīrtana to his teachings about Deity worship. In Deity worship, too, he taught us to serve with devotion, with love, with enthusiasm, with inspiration. And yet he taught us to strictly follow the regulative principles and not concoct or invent. Both are needed—the devotion and the regulative standards. So too in kīrtana.

Cooking for Kṛṣṇa comes to mind as another example. What Śrīla Prabhupāda most commended were the traditional items, cooked with devotion and expertise.

Whether in Deity worship or in cooking or in kīrtana, by serving with devotion within the regulative standards one can perfectly express one’s individuality. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s favorite kīrtana leaders—Vishnujana Swami, Baradraj, Hamsaduta, Yamuna, Madhudvisa, and others—all chanted the same Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, yet each in their own way.

Can you do that? For sure.

Taking teachings to heart

I hope that readers of this book will give pleasure to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, and find pleasure themselves and attract others, through anukīrtanam. We might also hope that the leaders of ISKCON temples and congregational groups will take care to teach Śrīla Prabhupāda’s standards for kīrtana to new devotees (and devotees not so new), especially in flagship temples like those in Vrindaban and Mayapur. And yet we don’t want to smother kīrtana with rules until there’s no life left. The example of pure and enlivened kīrtana leaders who know Śrīla Prabhupāda’s standards and take pleasure in following them will help us most.

Śrīla Prabhupāda had hardly more than ten years in which to teach us to “get it right.” He served as the ācārya—the teacher and exemplar. And the founder-ācārya, the one to establish what should be what. For this he sometimes gave differing instructions to various devotees at different times and places. Yet for the most part his instructions were steady and consistent. He said the same things again and again.

We may notice, however, that Śrīla Prabhupāda seemed more liberal about the standards for kīrtanas held in public than for kīrtanas performed in temples. He allowed adjustments “according to the time and circumstances.” Though “time and circumstances” was not a ticket for “anything goes,” he did give more latitude. Devotees can study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s differing instructions about this and carefully consider how to apply them.

I might wish for this book to capture all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s moods and nuances. Or convey in fullness the subtlety and depth of his personal dealings. Or hurl you into his personal presence to be melted by his affection or withered by his reprimands. It can’t do that. But it goes as far as I can bring it. And it depends on you—with the help of those you trust to guide your spiritual life—to hear about and care about Śrīla Prabhupāda’s guidance and instructions, grasp their essence, and take his teachings to heart, for your own benefit and for the sake of others, now and in generations to come.

1 Padma Purāṇa, quoted in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmta, Madhya 17.133.

2 Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi, etc. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.234), quoted in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 17.136.

3 “We are worshiping the Deity under the pañcarātra-vidhi. So Rūpa Gosvāmī says that ‘Any devotional service which has no reference with śruti, smṛti, purāṇa, pañcarātra, that is simply a disturbance. Simply disturbance, creating disturbance.’ We cannot manufacture. Sometimes we are questioned, ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’ Of course, it is good. But there is no need of manufacturing some idea. Whatever idea is already there, follow strictly.” –Class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, August 21, 1972, Los Angeles.

4 Letter to Bahudak, November 10, 1975.

Kirtana standards: Lost over time?

“Srila Prabhupada’s Kirtana Standards,” installment 2:

Introduction (part 1)

Background

When I first came to ISKCON, in 1968, kīrtana was simple. We chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa in easy-to-follow tunes with karatālas and mṛdaṅgas, with the emphasis on hearing and chanting the holy name. Over time, devotees became more expert in playing the instruments. But we basically followed the simple pattern of kīrtana we had learned from Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Kīrtana now has become quite different—and not always better. Innovations have appeared. Some trends and fashions have turned into norms. And over time the pure, simple kīrtana of the holy name has sometimes become lost.1

At the request of temple leaders at ISKCON Juhu, Mumbai, in 2015 I gave a several-day seminar on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s kīrtana standards. I gave the seminar again in 2019 at the Mayapur Institute for Higher Education. Sometime later my godbrother Tāraka Dāsa asked me to turn the seminar into a book. So here you have it.

“What we’ve always done”
In my kīrtana seminars I gave an example of how something Śrīla Prabhupāda never did and never told us to do can become “what we’re supposed to do” and “what we have always done.” The example has to do with the way we chant japa. Many devotees have been taught that before (or after) each round, one should chant (on the head bead, I’ve often heard) the pañca-tattva mantra: śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu nityānanda śri advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. When I asked for a show of hands in my seminar in Mayapur, about half of the roughly fifty devotees present raised their hands to say that this is indeed what they had been taught. And they had been chanting this way for years.

Of course, there is no harm in chanting the Pañca-tattva mantra. We can chant it whenever we like. In fact, however, chanting it between rounds is not something Śrīla Prabhupāda ever told us we should do. Yes, there is a purport in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in which Śrīla Prabhupāda says that before chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa one should chant the pañca-tattva mantra.2 But this, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, is for kīrtana, not japa.3 What did Śrīla Prabhupāda tell us to do at the end of each round and the start of the next? Just turn the beads around and chant in the opposite direction.4 That’s what he taught us, never anything else. Search the VedaBase and you’ll never find him saying to chant “śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya” between rounds. Yet we read the purport, we do a little creative headwork, and forty years later we have generations of devotees who think you’re supposed to chant “śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya” on the head bead before each new round. “It’s what we’ve always done.” And then we’re shocked—as half my students were—when we discover that “what we’ve always done” is not what Śrīla Prabhupāda told us to do.

So it goes with kīrtana as well.

The cat in the basket
Jayapataka Swami tells a story about a wedding ceremony.5 Everything was elaborately arranged, everyone had gathered, and the wedding was about to begin. But a cat had somehow strayed in and was dashing about and meowing and creating a ruckus. So someone caught the cat and put it in a basket with a lid, and the wedding was peacefully performed. Then some years later came the time for another wedding ceremony—that of the couple’s daughter. Again the elaborate arrangements, again everyone gathered, again the wedding was about to begin. But then the bride’s mother, remembering her own wedding, said, “What about the cat in the basket? There’s supposed to be a cat in a basket. It’s a family tradition.” So they found a cat, put it in a basket with a lid, and once again the wedding was peacefully concluded.

So it goes with kīrtana.

Sargal Singh is dead
While we’re telling stories, here’s one more. Śrīla Prabhupāda told it, but I remember it as a skit performed at an ISKCON Sunday feast.6

A man in the village had shaved his head, as one does when a relative dies, and was lamenting, “Sargal Singh is dead! Sargal Singh is dead!”

“Sargal Singh is dead?” asked the local grocer.

“Yes, he’s dead,” the man sobbed. “He was my dearest friend – so loyal, so faithful. He always just wanted to serve. And now. . . he’s dead!”

The grocer was so moved that he too shaved his head and began lamenting the death of Sargal Singh.

The word spread, men one after another shaved their heads, and soon the whole village was mourning the death of Sargal Singh, that great soul, so dear, so loyal, so faithful. But then one intelligent man asked, “Who’s Sargal Singh?” And no one knew.

So the question went back down the line: “Who’s Sargal Singh?” Each man asked the next, until finally the question reached the original mourner, a simple washerman, and it was discovered that Sargal Singh was the washerman’s ass.

And so it goes with kīrtana too. Misunderstandings, innovations, concoctions, tics, tricks, gimmicks, “wows,” flourishes, pretensions, dovetails, razzle-dazzles, trance inducers, imports from Vrindaban and Bollywood—all find their way into our kīrtana, and soon “This is what we’ve always done” and “This is what you’re supposed to do.”

Today’s trends and innovations and deviations may differ from those of tomorrow, but there’s always a new “cat in the basket,” and word keeps reaching us of the death of a new Sargal Singh. And so the need for this book.

Who this book is for
I have written this book for the followers of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). It is they who will naturally want to know and follow the standards he set. Because kīrtana is for everyone, other Vaiṣṇavas too may wish to know and follow the standards of Śrīla Prabhupāda, who spread the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa all over the world.

I especially hope that leaders of ISKCON at various levels, and especially leaders in kīrtana, will give renewed attention and regard to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s kīrtana standards.

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas
tad tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute
lokas tad anuvartate

“Whatever a leading person does, other people follow. Whatever example a leader sets, the rest of the world pursues.” (Gītā 3.21) Śrīla Prabhupāda is ISKCON’s original leader. May the rest of ISKCON follow.

Purpose
As we learn from the Bhagavad-gītā, teachings may over time be lost. And already much of what Śrīla Prabhupāda told us about kīrtana seems to have been lost or forgotten or set aside. So in this book I lay out many of the standards Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us for kīrtana, and the reasons for them. They are for you to consider. Then do as you think best, ideally under the guidance of your own spiritual master and, if you’re at a temple, the local temple leaders.

Such standards and rules give kīrtana its authorized and transcendental shape, but they are not its essence. As Bhakti Vikāsa Swami writes, “The rules and regulations are to be followed, but not so as to stifle us. Their real purpose is to bring out and enhance the true spirit of devotion in kirtana, and help us become absorbed in the transcendental sound vibration of the holy names.”7

This true spirit of devotion is the essence of kīrtana. For in-depth discussions of this essence, I refer you to the books of Satsvarūpa Dāsa Goswami, Dhanurdhara Swami, Sacinandana Swami, Bhurijana Dāsa, and Mahatma Das listed in the References section. Organizers of public kīrtana can benefit by reading the book by Indradyumna Swami and Śrī Prahlāda Dāsa also mentioned in the References.

Some technical matters—and an offering of respects
For Sanskrit terms with which I assume you’re familiar, I have used roman type instead of italic. Where I quote from previously published writings, I have generally retained their original spelling, grammar, punctuation, and use or nonuse of italics and diacritic marks. For the record, “Bharadvaja” should be “Varadarāja.”8 Aratika should be ārātrika.

I have tried to spell the names of devotees the way the named devotees prefer. When I mention the names of sannyāsīs, I skip the honorific “His Holiness,” perhaps because the sannyāsīs I mention are all my friends, but here let me offer them my respects. May they look kindly upon me, think of me with affection, and forgive my faults. And why only my sannyāsī friends? I offer my respects to all my readers. May I serve you as much as I am able, and with the least offense.

This is an installment of a draft for an upcoming book.
I especially welcome comments—suggestions, criticisms, questions, whatever.

Among other things: If you were personally present with Srila Prabhupada and received or heard instructions from him about kirtana, or were present at an instructive incident, I’m all ears.

I’m also particularly interested in hearing from “second generation” devotees (or third generation)—those born into the Hare Krishna movement or who joined after Srila Prabhupada’s departure. Again, I’m all ears.

Especially welcome: Thoughts or evidence that runs contrary to what’s in the draft or that adds a different perspective or nuance.

The draft has not yet been reviewed for spelling, italics, diacritic marks, and so on. I’ll handle that later. The same goes for formatting—headlines, subheads, and the like. For now, what matters is the content.

You can reach me by the contact form on this site. Or if you have my contact details, feel free to call me, message me, or send me an email.

Thank you very much. And happy chanting!

Kīrtana: Sorting through the evidence

“Srila Prabhupada’s Kirtana Standards,” installment 3:

Introduction (part 2–concluded)

My use of evidence

What right do I have to claim “These are the standards”? In titling this book Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards, I might seem cheeky, presumptuous. Who am I to claim to set forth Śrīla Prabhupāda’s standards?

Good question.

What I have tried to do here is convey instructions received from Śrīla Prabhupāda himself. These generally take two forms. First we have direct statements set down by Śrīla Prabhupāda in his books or letters or preserved through recordings of his classes or conversations. Second, we have testimony from his disciples about instructions he gave and how he did things.

When referring to these sources, we always need to take note of context. To whom was Śrīla Prabhupāda speaking? Why? When? Under what circumstances? And we need to be alert for different examples or conflicting instructions, given to someone else or in a different time or place. We can also ask with how much force Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a particular instruction. And we can give extra weight to teachings he gave more than once, perhaps many times.

The devotees I cite or quote from in these pages are direct disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, unless otherwise mentioned. Apart from their testimony, this book also offers some of their thoughts and realizations.

I have tried not to pose as the final arbiter of what is right and what is wrong in kīrtana. My tastes and opinions are not entitled to special privilege. Sometimes there are points I amplify, and you won’t have a hard time knowing my biases and peeves. But I have tried to make what I say serve what Śrīla Prabhupāda said. You can decide for yourself to what extent that attempt has been successful.

I recognize, too, that other devotees may see things differently. They may sometimes have a different take on how particular instructions from Śrīla Prabhupāda should be understood or applied. Again, I don’t claim to have the final word. Thoughtful discourse should always be welcome.

Negative evidence
Now let’s look at two kinds of what I call “negative arguments.” The first takes the form “Did he ever say we shouldn’t do X?” We don’t want to be fenced in by excessive restrictions: You can’t do this, you can’t do that, “Śrīla Prabhupāda never ate avocados.” We’re not meant to live in a police state. So after a while we say, “Come on, back off. Give me a break.” And we ask, “Did Śrīla Prabhupāda ever say we shouldn’t eat avocados?”

Fair enough.

But this sort of argument—“Did he ever say we shouldn’t?”—has its limits too. One could never compile an exhaustive list of the things we shouldn’t do, or even imagine all that might be on it. “Did Śrīla Prabhupāda ever say we shouldn’t lead maṅgala-ārātrika while standing upside down in our underwear?” Well, no, but. . .

That’s the problem. The mere fact that Śrīla Prabhupāda never spoke out against something doesn’t make it right or mean he would have approved.

But in our Vaiṣṇava system of understanding, where teachings are handed down from master to disciple in an endless line, and where ācāryas teach by their personal example, we naturally place special emphasis on following. So the second, opposite sort of argument has more weight: “Did Śrīla Prabhupāda ever do this? Did he ever tell us to do this? And if not, why should we do it?”

More times than we can count, Śrīla Prabhupāda admonished us, “Don’t concoct,” “Don’t invent,” “Don’t manufacture,” and so on. This was how Śrīla Prabhupāda trained us.

So of the two negative arguments – “He never said we shouldn’t do it” and “He never did it or told us we should” –the first is weak, the second strong. Accordingly, in this book I give little weight to the first but often invoke the second.

What Śrīla Prabhupāda said and did is of course the best evidence, but noting what he didn’t say and didn’t do can also help guide us.

Contradictions and exceptions
While we’re talking about evidence, two more items deserve our attention— contradictions and exceptions. Sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions may seem contradictory: He says one thing here, the opposite there. Why? It may have to do with whom he’s speaking to, or the circumstances, or what he wants to emphasize at the time—or something else. After all, Śrīla Prabhupāda was a person, not a mere rulebook. Sometimes, in fact, when seeing such contradictions, we can’t reliably know what standard, if any, Śrīla Prabhupāda might have intended to set. But most often we can. We just need to patiently look at the evidence, and we’ll see the main current of what he is teaching.

Often, in fact, what he means to teach is loud and clear—yet still there can be exceptions. For example, as we’ll find later in this book, Śrīla Prabhupāda made clear that he didn’t like kīrtana sung with long, extended notes. Yet one melody for Gaura-ārātrika that Śrīla Prabhupāda liked and asked us to sing has some extended notes in it. Under such circumstances, we should understand the rule yet also recognize that rules may have exceptions.

But we should be honest. We should not try to turn the occasional exception into proof that the rules don’t exist.

Traps to avoid
As we become aware of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s standards for kīrtana, there are some traps for us to avoid.

First there is the trap of taking pride in hyper-correctness. Mere following of rules is not a fitting substitute for purity of heart.

Still worse, we may allow ourselves to become prigs and critics. Instead of entering humbly and deeply into the holy name, we assume the air of judges and find fault with kīrtana leaders for transgressing this or that rule. And while others drink the nectar of the holy name, we will drink the poison of our offenses to the devotees who serve the holy name.

To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives to propagating the holy name of the Lord is the first offense in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Let us be careful.

Disclaimer—and an offering of respects again
In this book I’ll have some fairly negative comments to make about various things people do in modern ISKCON kīrtana. Practically all of my friends, all the devotees I most admire, and all my favorite kīrtana leaders regularly do one or another of these things. So I don’t mean to attack anyone or insinuate that anyone is spiritually lacking or defective. But I wouldn’t mind if we were to think again about some of the things we do in kīrtana. And at least I can hope that this book will help carve out some space for devotees who prefer kīrtana performed in a plainer and simpler way.

I offer my respects again to all who chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, my still greater respects to the initiated devotees who chant and follow the regulative principles of devotional service under proper guidance, and my utmost respects to the expert devotees, advanced in pure devotional service, whose hearts are free from such faults as the tendency to criticize others.

[end of the Introduction]

This is an installment of a draft for an upcoming book.
I especially welcome comments—suggestions, criticisms, questions, whatever.

Among other things: If you were personally present with Srila Prabhupada and received or heard instructions from him about kirtana, or were present at an instructive incident, I’m all ears.

I’m also particularly interested in hearing from “second generation” devotees (or third generation)—those born into the Hare Krishna movement or who joined after Srila Prabhupada’s departure. Again, I’m all ears.

Especially welcome: Thoughts or evidence that runs contrary to what’s in the draft or that adds a different perspective or nuance.

The draft has not yet been reviewed for spelling, italics, diacritic marks, and so on. I’ll handle that later. The same goes for formatting—headlines, subheads, and the like. For now, what matters is the content.

You can reach me by the contact form on this site. Or if you have my contact details, feel free to call me, message me, or send me an email.

Thank you very much. And happy chanting!

Kīrtana sadācara (the etiquette of kīrtana)

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 4

There are standards
It’s our premise here that Śrīla Prabhupāda did give us standards to follow in kīrtana. It’s not that we have to do everything precisely as in the 1960’s and 70’s. But it’s not that “anything goes.”

There are standards, there are instructions, and we should know them.

Here’s a quotation from one of my favorite kīrtana leaders, Kripamoya Dāsa from the United Kingdom:

This generation has to be very careful because whatever we set down as a standard is being copied at the moment and we’ll see the repercussions of that in three, six, ten years time. And after we’re all gone, that will be the style in ISKCON.

One thing that constantly surprises me is that Prabhupāda did manage, over those twelve years that he was with us, to keep kīrtana pretty much the same. I never heard Prabhupāda do even “Nitai-Gaura Haribol.”

It’s very important to get it right now. Because although we might not think that we are sufficient parts of the paramparā, whatever we do now is multiplied by the next generation, which will be then multiplied by the generation after that.

So: purity in consciousness, purity in philosophy, theology—but also purity in musical expression, choice of instruments. Purity—and faithfulness to what Prabhupāda has given us is equally important because that will go on for generations and if we make a mistake now it will be difficult to correct. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Purity of consciousness
Kripamoya Prabhu speaks of “purity of consciousness.” In Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how a devotee in pure consciousness chants Lord Kṛṣṇa’s holy names:

A bona fide spiritual master chants the holy names Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, and the transcendental sound vibration enters the ear of the disciple, and if the disciple follows in the footsteps of his spiritual master and chants the holy name with equal respect, this chanting constitutes worship of the transcendental name. When the transcendental name is worshiped by the devotee, the name Himself spreads His glories within the heart of a devotee. When a devotee is perfectly qualified in chanting the transcendental vibration of the holy name, he is quite fit to become a spiritual master and to deliver all the people of the world.

Our process works by purity, by paramparā.

A classic guide to writing says, “Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there.”2 One might say the same thing about kīrtana. After all, what is purity? It’s having nothing there that shouldn’t be there. Water is pure when there’s nothing in it but water, gold when nothing in it but gold. Similarly, kīrtana is pure when there’s nothing extra in it—no tricks, no gimmicks, no inventions or concoctions, nothing picked up from the street, no displays of false ego, only the pure holy name of the Lord, as received through the line of pure devotees.

It’s the holy name that makes kīrtana relishable. That’s where the potency is. That’s where the enlightenment is, and the ecstasy. That’s where everything is. It all comes from the holy name. And if we can just leave other things aside, serve the holy name purely, and let the holy name manifest his magnanimity and attractiveness, the kīrtana movement will spread all over the world.

This is an installment of a draft for an upcoming book.
I especially welcome comments—suggestions, criticisms, questions, whatever.

Among other things: If you were personally present with Srila Prabhupada and received or heard instructions from him about kirtana, or were present at an instructive incident, I’m all ears.

I’m also particularly interested in hearing from “second generation” devotees (or third generation)—those born into the Hare Krishna movement or who joined after Srila Prabhupada’s departure. Again, I’m all ears.

Especially welcome: Thoughts or evidence that runs contrary to what’s in the draft or that adds a different perspective or nuance.

The draft has not yet been reviewed for spelling, italics, diacritic marks, and so on. I’ll handle that later. The same goes for formatting—headlines, subheads, and the like. For now, what matters is the content.

You can reach me by the contact form on this site. Or if you have my contact details, feel free to call me, message me, or send me an email.

Thank you very much. And happy chanting!

Kirtana standards and purity of consciousness

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 5

Guidelines from His Holiness Bhakti Chāru Swami
In a course on Vaiṣṇava Etiquette, Bhakti Chāru Swami has given the following guidelines.1 Here and there in this book I will discuss most of these points, with references from Śrīla Prabhupāda, but I want to include them now all together.

1. Kīrtana means glorification of Śrī Hari by means of singing. (When only one devotee sings, it is bhajana.)

2. Glorify Śrī Kṛṣṇa, not yourself.

3. Sing with sincere devotion for the pleasure of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His devotees.

4. When singing in a group, one or two persons should lead and other devotees should follow.

5. The instruments that Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed for accompanying kīrtana were karatāl, mṛdaṅga and jhampa (whompers). He didn’t approve of harmonium for kīrtana. For bhajana it is all right. The instruments, especially jhampa, should not drown out the holy name or cause pain to the ears. The instruments should follow the kīrtana leader.

6. Use simple melody and preferably the appropriate melody (rāga) for the time of day.

7. Don’t think that you are the best singer and therefore you should lead. Vaiṣṇavas are by nature humble. They naturally want to follow, not lead. However, if they are requested to lead by the Vaiṣṇavas, then they are happy to serve.

This is an installment of a draft for an upcoming book.
I especially welcome comments—suggestions, criticisms, questions, whatever.

Among other things: If you were personally present with Śrīla Prabhupāda and received or heard instructions from him about kīrtana, or were present at an instructive incident, I’m all ears.

I’m also particularly interested in hearing from “second generation” devotees (or third generation)—those born into the Hare Krishna movement or who joined after Śrīla Prabhupāda’s departure. Again, I’m all ears.

Especially welcome: Thoughts or evidence that runs contrary to what’s in the draft or that adds a different perspective or nuance.

The draft has not yet been reviewed for spelling, italics, diacritic marks, and so on. I’ll handle that later. The same goes for formatting—headlines, subheads, and the like. For now, what matters is the content.

You can reach me by the contact form on this site. Or if you have my contact details, feel free to call me, message me, or send me an email.

Thank you very much. And happy chanting!