Double voice amplification kirtans and the missing silence
By Chandrashekhara acharya dasa (Cyril Wohrer)
This paper is about what I call “double voice amplification kirtans.” These are
kirtans in which the lead-singer sings into the microphone, after which, on the
response, another devotee also sings into a microphone. The result is an
uninterrupted amplification of two lead-voices throughout the entire kirtan. I think
this type of kirtan is problematic for several reasons, which I explain as follows.
No evidence of such kirtans in Srila Prabhupada’s own teachings nor in his
personal example:
All evidence seems to show that Srila Prabhupada did not approve of double voice
amplification kirtans, and that he himself never performed them. The
Bhaktivedanta Archives reveal only audio recordings of Srila Prabhupada leading
kirtans in which he is singing exclusively alone into the microphone, with no one
singing after him into any microphone on the response. To my knowledge, there is
not a single audio recording (nor video footage) of Srila Prabhupada leading a
kirtan followed by someone else responding in the microphone on the response.
This is significant because the (Founder) acharya teaches by example.
We also have the incident described in Hari Sauri prabhu’s Transcendental Diary.
According to Hari Sauri prabhu, one day in Iskcon Vrindavan during the noon
aroti, there was nobody in the temple except one devotee. This devotee sang into
the microphone on the lead, and then he - again - sang into the microphone on the
response. He was in effect doing a double voice amplification kirtan, by himself.
According to the account, when Srila Prabhupada - who was staying nearby in his
house - heard this devotee singing like this, he told Hari Sauri prabhu to go to the
temple and tell him to stop singing into the microphone during the response. We
thus have evidence that not only did Srila Prabhupada never perform double voice
amplification kirtans, but he did not approve of such kirtans. They never happened
during his time. And when they did - as the example above shows - Srila
Prabhupada disapproved of them.
Double voice amplification kirtans destroy the delicate harmony of proper
śravanam kirtanam.
My understanding of the proper dynamic of kirtan is this: it is responsive kirtan.
When the lead-singer sings during the lead, everyone else present in the kirtan is
supposed to listen carefully to his (or her) voice. At that point in time, the leadsinger is performing attentive kirtanam, and everyone else is performing attentive śravanam. Then, after the lead-singer finishes singing the mantra, there is supposed to be a respite in which everyone is supposed, in turn, to carefully chant and listen to their own voice (as well as to the combined voices of all the other devotees present - I’ll speak about this later). At that point in time, the lead-singer is performing attentive śravanam (by listening to the combined voices of all the
devotees) and everyone else is performing attentive kirtanam by listening to their
own voices and the combined voices of everyone. However, in order for this to
happen - in order for everyone to listen to their own voices and the voices of others
during the response, there cannot be a second amplified voice overpowering their
voices. Indeed, it is very difficult (read impossible) to do attentive kirtanam if
someone else is singing into the microphone at the same time. We end up being
forced to listen to that amplified voice instead of ours. We are thus forced to hear
the lead-singer on the call (that is okay), and then forced, again, to listen to
someone else on the response (that is not okay). What ends up happening, in such
cases, is that instead of performing śravanam/kirtanam, we end up performing
śravanam/śravanam. Two devotees sing alternatively into the microphone, and
everyone else passively hears both of them only, as a concert audience passively
listens to a duo concert of two professional singers doing a performance. There is
no respite, no non-amplified “silence” which enables us to hear our own voices and
the collective voice of the entire group.
Hearing our own voice attentively on the response solidifies the mahamantra which
we just heard from the voice of the lead-singer. Aside from this act of hearing our
own individual voice, there is also something very powerful about hearing the
collective voices of many devotees together. This makes for a very moving,
transcendental experience. In a kirtan where there are several hundreds or
thousands of devotees present, one feels spiritual peace, confidence and enthusiasm when hearing all their voices harmoniously responding to the lead-singer.
However, such an experience is impossible when there is one amplified voice
prevailing over our own voice and the voices of everyone else. In such a situation,
one cannot help but listen to that one amplified voice that is imposing itself on
everyone. In short: śravanam/śravanam is simply not the proper way to perform
kirtan.
As I mentioned in a similar article several years ago, these double voice
amplification kirtans have spread throughout the world of ISKCON. One may add
that this is especially the trend in India (this tendency may have been imported
from various Gaudiya Vaishnava mathas and from the general practice of public
amplified performance of religious functions in that country). However, it has now
spread globally. Very often, at different 6, 12, or 24-hour kirtan festivals around the world, I witness two or more microphones as part of the set-up, amplifying the
lead-singer and - to a lesser or most often equal degree - one or more responders,
in effect creating a non-stop amplification of at least two voices that constantly
drown out all other voices on the response, without respite. Nobody in the kirtan is
able to attentively listen to their own voice on the response. The simple point is
that should be zero amplification on the response. Two devotees can take turns on
the lead. Two or more devotees can even sing together simultaneously in harmony
on the lead. In all cases, however, the lead singer/singers must be fully aware to
always leave room - un-amplified, silent room - for the rest of the devotees to
clearly hear themselves singing on the response, without any amplification over
their head and ears.
In many ISKCON temples in India and in some temples in the West, during the
various arotis of the day, it has become a custom to have two separate microphones
stands, next to each other. Two devotees, standing side by side, take turns singing
into their own microphone. We cannot even ascertain who is leading the kirtan. In
ISKCON Mayapur, devotees have begun performing double voice amplification
kirtans as early as the end-part of the morning Tulasi aroti, not to speak of all
throughout the day, including the evening Gaura aroti. I wonder if they will start
performing double voice amplification kirtans during mangala aroti. At this rate, it
is probable. Indeed, if it is okay to perform such kirtans during the evening aroti,
why, theoretically, is it be wrong to perform them during mangala aroti? Why not
set up two microphone stands, with two microphones, in every ISKCON temple, as
early as 4:30am, and perform only double-voice amplification kirtans throughout
the day, every day? At least we would be consistent.
For as long as I can remember (at least a decade or a decade and a half), during
what one could say is the most important kirtan of the year in ISKCON Mayapur
namely the kirtan during the Abhisekha at sunset on the lawn of the lotus building
on Gaura Purnima day, there are always two devotees singing, one after another,
non-stop, into two (blaring) microphones, throughout the entire kirtan.
Incidentally, these two kirtaniyas alternate every year. Yet they invariably are
always Bengalis. This racial favoritism, however, is another issue for perhaps
another article. Thus, the most significant kirtan of the year literally becomes a
concert of two amplified voices, while all the thousands of devotees present are
forced to submit to a constant amplification of two voices, leaving them incapable
to hear their own voices - nor the collective voices of everyone - on the response.
Again: there should be zero amplification on the response.
One may argue that Lord Chaitanya said that there are “no hard and fast rules.”
Granted. However, we cannot ignore the over-arching theological framework of
kirtan. Proper śravanam/kirtanam is a foundational, sacred, and non-negotiable
principle of kirtan. Moreover, we are duty-bound to abide by Srila Prabhupada’s
specific directives on kirtan. For example, Srila Prabhupada placed maximum
emphasis on the mahamantra over all other names of Krishna. He also stressed the
chanting of sixteen rounds per day for initiated devotees. We cannot ignore his
example nor his commands.
Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami, one of my favorite kirtan leaders in ISKCON,
rightly says that when he is leading a kirtan, he puts all efforts into carefully
hearing the mahamantra coming from his own voice. He adds that when the other
devotees are singing on the response, he puts all efforts into carefully hearing the
mahamantra coming out of their mouths. This, I think, is the ideal meditation that
illustrates the proper mood of proper śravanam/kirtanam. All devotees have the
right to hear the lead singer with attention and devotion. Of equal importance, all
devotees also have the right to hear their own voice on the response, free from the
competition of one devotee’s overbearing amplified voice over theirs.
I humbly appeal to devotees world-wide to make sure that kirtans in their areas do
not become double voice amplification kirtans but, rather, that they continue to be
the responsive, graceful, balanced conduits of proper śravanam/kirtanam, so that
everyone in the kirtan - not only the “fortunate” devotees behind the microphones can dive deep into the nectar of the Holy Name.
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