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Dancing in ecstasy ( by Kadamba Kanana Swami )

Dancing in ecstasy 21 Aug 2012

(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Fruska Gouranga Serbian Camp, July 2012) Final words at 12 hour Kirtan day

(Transcribed by Yamuna Devi Dasi)

Srivas Thakur would lock the doors of his house. The kirtan would take extra-ordinary priorities because Lord Caitanya danced in the greatest ecstasy. Only devotees could be present and no one else... only devotees could be absorbed... envious neighbours tried to stop the kirtan. Finally, Chand Kazi came and broke the mrdanga in the house of Srivas and said: ‘No more kirtan!’

Then the kirtan went to the streets where tens of thousands of mrdangas were playing all simultaneously and perfectly synchronised. It was like thunder and miraculous! People were carrying so many torches that the night lit-up and looked like daylight!

That kirtan of Lord Caitanya conquered the streets. The elders such as Advaita Acharya, who was 75 at that time, and Haridas Thakur, who was in the sixties, happened to be the main dancers! They danced on the strength of ecstasy. The kirtan of Lord Caitanya continued and it echoed in the heart of so many. As it continued through generations, Krishnadasa Kaviraja danced, Narottam Das Thakura danced, and Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura followed by Baladeva Vidyabhushana danced.

The four acharyas met in Sridham Mayapur, in the house of Bhaktivinoda Thakur – Srila Jagannath Das Babaji, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Gaura Kisora Dasa Babaji and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, and all danced in ecstasy. In 1973, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada danced in ecstasy in London. He ran up and down, in front of the chariot of Lord Jagannatha. The world did not exist. Neither could the police stop him. Prabhupada was dancing with Krishna in ecstasy, and was bringing him back to Vrindavan.

At the back of that caravan of the great ecstatic dancing acharyas, the kirtan echoed further. It reached our ears and we also jumped on the dancing floor. We also squeaked a little when it came to producing the transcendental sound of the Holy Name! As Satsvarupa Maharaja once wrote: ‘Lord Ramachandra had the army of the monkeys but Prabhupada had to do it with the hippies from Lower East Side.’

Somehow, his transcendental mantra echoes everywhere as it bounces off the walls of our hearts and before we know it, Narada came into the temple in London to see the dancing devotees, as all the demigods became attracted. Some took birth in this movement, but we don’t know who is here, neither do we know what we are part of. We think that we are having some fun but the whole universe is watching and dancing in ecstasy.

Yamaraja falls unconscious in his chariot, Lord Siva is playing with his drum ‘ding ding dong’... So this is the miracle of the sankirtana movement and don’t ask me how but we are part of it. There is no reason as to why we belong here. The only reason is that the mercy of Mahaprabhu cannot be stopped. So, we are not really stopping the kirtan, because it cannot be stopped!