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Breaking down false ego

In the Caitanya-caritamrta in the chapter called the bheda kirtans we see a description of how Lord Caitanya divided the devotees into various kirtan groups. There were four kirtan groups each having twomrdanga players, and eight kartal players, That's sixteen kartala players and six lead singers, simultaneously singing the lead with six lead responders simultaneously responding.

I have incorporated that standard to a large extent in my own endeavors to perform kirtan, largely because my voice has been destroyed due to so many years of very intense kirtan. My voice has its limitations, but I see that as Krishna's mercy in a few different ways.

I can't be falsely proud about how beautiful my voice is, because it is not anymore. I ask for others to help me sing the lead when I perform kirtan, which helps to generate enthusiasm and bring more devotees on board. Devotees are naturally eager to help when they see someone needs help, and they become enthusiastic when they are part of the leadership. I may still give the impetus to the progressive direction of the kirtan, but for the most part it is other people who are singing more than me. So when we go up to the high parts to, as Jayadvaita Swami would say, “kill my voice,” then other devotees come and kill their voices too. I reason that the louder the voice the more Lord Caitanya will acknowledge our attempt to selflessly cooperate for his pleasure and bestow his mercy on us.

So when I do kirtan, it's not a one-man show. That checks the tendency for one person to exploit thekirtan for personal self aggrandizement. Then even if it is not the pure name, it helps us come a lot closer to the offenseless platform. And others become inspired that the kirtan is selfless.

When Lord Caitanya organized the bheda kirtans not only did he have six kirtan leaders singing, but he had six lead kirtan responders. There is a very good reason for that. The mass of people are not going to be so expert at picking up what tune was just sung, but if there are expert kirtan responders singing the correct tune, the rest of devotees will more likely be able to follow. This is very useful.

“We're all in it together”

If the kirtan leader is singing without playing an instrument, or if he's playing the harmonium, which is not a rhythmic instrument, then the mrdanga player must tune in and pick up on where the kirtan leader wants to go with the kirtan. The idea for the mrdanga player is to serve and enhance the mood of thekirtan leader. Then kartals should follow the mrdanga. The mrdanga player should not be so self centered that his mrdanga playing becomes more important to him then the kirtan forcing the kirtanleader to surrender to whatever he is doing.

I have experienced that with a few different mrdanga players. They are neither interested in, nor capable of, understanding my mood or musical preferences. They just can't pick on what I am doing to effectively inspire and engage others. When the mrdanga or kartal player is insensitive to what thekirtan leader needs, then the kirtan loses direction and the leader becomes very frustrated.

That doesn't mean, however, that there is no room for self-expression, for innovativeness, or for artistic finesse on the part of the different instrument players, because after all, even though the kirtan leader is the person in charge, it is not his performance alone. Sankirtan is a congregational effort. Everyone is in it together.

Love is always a two-way street. In real kirtan there is thus a give and take among the performers. Sometimes the mrdanga player has a good idea, or the kartal player has a good idea. And if it is good idea, the kirtan leader benefits by surrendering to what the mrdanga player has to offer. There is natural reciprocation between good kirtan performers. That's called jamming. It's sharing inspiration with each other. That sharing brings kirtan to another dimension of spontaneous dynamism which increases the inspiration, enthusiasm and appreciation of each other as cooperative constituents in Lord Caitanya's lila.

Playing with expertise and playing in tune

There is place for expertise. Prabhupada expressed great pleasure with Acyutananda's mrdanga playing. At that time Acyutananda was pretty expert compared to most of the rest of us. Prabhupada complemented him, telling him “You are playing just like a professional.” That wasn't a criticism, “what the hell are you doing trying to play like a professional!” He was complimenting him that “you're playing just like a professional.” He was exhibiting a certain level of competence and Prabhupada appreciated it. Not that professionalism supersedes the principle of purity, but there is need to understand the instrument that you are playing.

There is also a need to tune the instrument that you are playing. I personally demand that devotees who are playing the mrdangas understand that the first lesson in playing any instrument is how to tune it. Just like if you are going to play a guitar, or a sitar, the first thing you have to do before you start playing it, is you have to tune the instrument. Similarly a mrdanga needs to be tuned properly to have the proper vibration.

In any musical performance you'll have soprano instruments, mid range instruments and base instruments. The mrdanga is supposed to be a bass instrument. That is madhura mrdanga bhaje, very low and sweet – very moving to the heart. The professional kirtan players, sahajiya as they may be, they know how to tune their instruments. You'll hear them playing very low, very sweet, deep resounding mrdangas. Mrdangas constitute the bottom of the kirtan.

Similarly, it is important to understand what it is to have a tuned pair of kartalas. If one kartal is lower in pitch than the other kartal, if they are not the same pitch, then it can create an awfully discordant vibration that breaks the ear. And rather than attracting people to the kirtan, it drives them away. Kartals constitute the high end.

So you have bottom and high end complementing the mid range, which is the voice. If the mrdanga is not tuned low, then the mrdanga intrudes upon the mid range, where the voices are singing. Rather than enhancing the kirtan of the holy name, an un-tuned mrdanga intrudes on the chanting and spoils thekirtan.

Just like when you are coming down the street and hear a hari nama party, what is the first thing you hear? Kartals because it has the highest range and is automatically louder. The last thing you hear is the mrdanga. You hear kartals the voice and finally the mrdanga.

According to Prabhupada the mrdanga should be half the volume of the voice, and the kartals should be half the volume of the mrdanga. So if you are going to have four mrdanga players, you should have six men leading the kirtan. It is not that there should be four mrdangas playing competing on the mid range, frequencies with a single voice making it difficult for the leader to sing. So mrdanga must be tuned very low. It then not only creates the bass frequencies on the bottom of the kirtan and allows the mid range vocals to shine through, but it is madhurya, very sweet and moves the heart. Most important it t allows the holy name to shine through, which is the whole purpose of the kirtan.

Playing and singing

Prabhupada said that the instruments should not be played in way that one cannot sing along with them at the same time. That's another problem. Sometimes devotees become so absorbed in trying to play their instruments in complicated way that they can't chant while they play. That means they haven't learned to play them properly. If one is not competent, or if one did not learn properly, he may know how to play intricate beats on the mrdanga, but not how to sing at the same time — which is a hundred times the benefit of only hearing.

So if one is playing the mrdanga properly by following the kirtan leader and serving the holy name and at the same time hearing, that's great. But higher than that, better than that, is being able to play themrdanga and sing at the same time, at least as much as possible.

Sometimes when the kirtan gets very heavy and it is really taking off, then the mrdanga player may have to back out of chanting to execute the changes the kirtan leader is putting the kirtan through. But that should be the exception, not the rule. As a general rule, as much as possible, the mrdanga players should also respond with chanting.

As far as the kartal players are concerned – I have seen people playing the kartal, or playing the gong, or playing the whompers, or playing the shakers, or banging on instruments just for their own high, completely oblivious to the fact that they should be chanting. And honestly speaking – that boils my blood!

Play it the Vedic way

If devotees can learn how to play instruments in the Indian classical style, it goes a long way to enhance the transcultural experience of sankirtan. If you learn how to play the mrdanga nicely, according to a traditional mantra system, that generates the type of vibration which takes the kirtan to another cultural dimension. Similarly with the violin—someone may play the violin in a western classical style, but I think for kirtan it is much better to play with an Indian classical style. Have you ever heard ndian classical guitar playing? It's outrageously good, tremendous. Have you ever heard Indian classical clarinet? It's tremendous. Have you ever heard classical Indian flute? Compared to the occidental style of flute or violin playing, the Indian classical style is much more appropriate for kirtan. When you play those instruments in kirtan in a western style, I think it's not as harmonious. The same can be said for harmonium playing. Srila Prabhupada played harmonium in an Indian classical style. He didn't use chords. It's not that the Vedic culture doesn't lend itself to higher cultural expression than other so called cultures of the world. The highest cultural expressions in the world are Vedic cultural expressions. It's not like you are going to lose something by learning how to play the instruments in accordance with the Vedic way.

Harmoniums

I go by Srila Prabhupada's instruction on the matter. First Srila Prabhupada said that the harmonium should not be played in the temple. Why did he say that? I think it was because he didn't like harmoniums being played with western chords.

That becomes evident by the time he wrote the third letter on this point. First Prabhupada said that harmoniums couldn't be played in temples, only for festival programs. Then he said that harmonium could be played in the temple but not during the arati. And then the third and last letter that came out, Prabhupada tells said that harmonium can be played during an arati, but melodiously.” Melodiously means following the melody line, not hanging on chords. Melodiously means following the way Srila Prabhupada taught us to play harmonium. He recorded the harmonium not just that we can enjoy hearing, but so that we can learn how to play the harmonium.

One time Srila Prabhupada was asked “Srila Prabhupada, what kind of instruments are there in the spiritual world?” and Prabhupada answered, “Well, there is mrdanga, there are kartalas,” and then he said, “and there is a little harmonium.” Prabhupada appreciated the harmonium enough to import it to the spiritual world. Prabhupada himself played harmonium. And even members of the Gaudiya Matha appreciated that Prabhupada's playing of the harmonium was very expert. Prabhupada said that the harmonium creates a nice atmosphere.

Therefore I learned how to play harmonium, and I use the harmonium in temple kirtans because Prabhupada said it was okay. He gave his permission. I don't feel that it is altogether wrong to play the harmonium. But I do feel that it is at least somewhat wrong to allow the harmonium to play you. In other words, if you are going to play the harmonium you should be expert enough to play the harmonium like Srila Prabhupada, or at least according to his instructions. Not that you can't get around on the keyboard and that forces your tune to conform to whatever chord you find on the harmonium. Chords destroy the raga system, or imprison it, as Vaiyasaki would say.

Advice to junior kirtan leaders

If someone is not expert in following in a kirtan he is actually not an expert leader. An expert leader is expert at both leading and following. It is not that one puts on a big show of being the kirtan leader, but when someone else is leading, he is either disinterested in or incapable of following others. Just like someone is expert in harmonium only by reading music, but the real expert is one who can play just by hearing. He is one who also can follow the tune that the other leader is singing. That is actual expertise.

Why is it that Lord Caitanya organized so that there were six kirtan leaders? First of all there were no microphones, so you need six kirtan leaders to be heard. After all you have four mrdangas and sixteen pairs of kartalas to compete with. And don't think that the mrdangas and kartals weren't played loudly. They were played very loudly. It is described in the sastra how they were played resounding like thunder. It is not that in Lord Caitanya's time the kirtan was only very mellow and contemplative and soft. They didn't have microphones so those who are not so expert can't overkill it with tone deaf singing. Not that Lord Caitanya had to resort to that in organizing his kirtans. Rather he had six expert kirtan leaders who were able to understand themselves enough to go in the next phase of the kirtan, cooperating together to sing louder enough so that the thousands of people who participated in the kirtans could hear.

Supplementary instruments

Instruments are important, but we already have all the instruments we need – we have a tongue, and we have ears. So we have to remember that our performance of nama sankirtan is primarily based on those instruments. Everything else should be seen as supplementary, or supportive, a decoration to enhance. So then any other instruments should actually enhance and not detract from the chanting with the tongue and ear.

That's why I don't allow djembes when I perform sankirtan. At one time I allowed it, but after gaining experience as to what happens when I allow it, I decided that definitely I shall not allow djembe to accompany my kirtan. The djembe has its appeal perhaps because it is easier to play than a mrdanganicely. But the djembe is a tamasic instrument, which totally overpowers and obliterates the beauty of the madhurya mrdanga vibration. Of course someone could argue that Lord Caitanya didn't have a harmonium, but certainly Lord Caitanya didn't have a djembe in his sankirtan parties. If the djembe must be used at all, it should be used outside. But even then the tendency is for it to
overpower the mrdanga and to impede the beauty and sweetness of its vibration to move the heart which in and of itself is a transcendental sound which moves the heart toward Krishna.

Personally, I don't prefer to have a bass guitar cranked up so loud that it obliterates everything else, although it doesn't have to be cranked up so loud. I know that when an expert plays the bass guitar it can be a little tasteful if it is not cranked up very loud. I'm not into enhancing the kirtan with bass guitars. In my opinion it doesn't do much for the kirtan.

I hate accordions. The sound is weird and it brings back memories of Russian bar music. That's why I have developed this other style of small harmoniums, to offer an alternative to the accordion.

The main mantra

One thing is, I always emphasize the importance of chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Although Prabhupada said that the Gosvamis' songs are the extensions of the maha mantra, still more important than all of them is the mukhya mantra, the chief mantra. So many times devotees become sidetracked because of lack of taste for chanting the maha-mantra due to not chanting enough. They are thinking that the kirtan is boring if you don't switch to “Govinda Jaya Jaya”, or “Radhe Radhe”, or whatever jaya,jaya, jaya. Undoubtedly Srila Prabhupada's instruction is that the main focus of the kirtan should be themaha-mantra. Here in Vrindavana for the 24-hour kirtan we exclusively chant the maha-mantra. That is the main and best sankirtan mantra for this age. So even though there is Hari Haraye Namah Krishna, another way of chanting the maha-mantra given by Lord Caitanya, still, the 16-syllable maha-mantramentioned in the sastra is the main mantra.

The 24-hour kirtan

Why akhanda-nama, 24-hour kirtan? Why? People are forced to become pious by even entering into an atmosphere where a kirtan had been performed as the ethereal atmosphere still remains purifying. So how much more one is forced to become pious when one walks into a place where the kirtan performance is going on and one hears the holy name. And how much even more purifying is the place where the holy name is being heard 24-hours a day, nonstop. When you chant non-stop in a place the power of that place simply increases, increases and, increases, but when the kirtan breaks, it loses power.

The akhanda kirtan also forces people to surrender more, because they can't just start talking about something or even stop to eat. One has to sacrifice. There is also a greater degree of responsibility toward the other members of the team as they are working very hard to keep hari-nama continuously manifest in the atmosphere.

If you are doing akhanda-nama-kirtan for years and years, the atmosphere that has been generated by the continuous manifestation of nama becomes so powerful that it not only purifies one from material contamination, but purifies the egoism of the soul, bringing the soul to its original egoism, the mood of a resident of Vrindavana.