About Vaisnava's songs and melodies

It's good for the sankirttan movement to say in full swing, cause swing also means to dance. His, and this we have (?) the right word, you could say his joy, his amusement, his entertainment or his if you want to say relaxation, but non of these words seem appropriate, just I think his heart’s joy was, he would sing these songs like privately in his room. And we know, although Sarawati Thakur told us, I mean, we heard it from Srila Guru Maharaj, not to use harmonium, the banga section, the East Bengal, they say, “No harmonium, no rasa.” They say that sometimes. But Guru Maharaj, he didn’t like it, but when Srila Prabhupad Swami Maharaj, someone gifted him a harmonium, it was actually Allen Ginsberg, the famous bit (?) poet, who Prabhupad once said, would be the GBC of Australia [laughs]. And we have two exterior Oz here. It tells us many things. But he gifted Prabhupad the harmonium.

And actually I remember being a thirteen year old boy and watching public television in New York and there it said, “Allen Ginsberg has just returned from India,” and he’s got this little harmonium and he started singing, Hare Krsna, you know, some exaggerated way of chanting, but he was chanting Mahamantra on public television in 1965 or ’66 whatever it was. So, he get some credit. He also when Prabhupad was having visa problems, gonna be has to (?) leave the country, he called Bobby Kennedy, J.F.K’s brother, who was the attorney general at that time and said, “There is this great personality here in New York in Laurieside (?) in the village, he is good for America. And they are telling him, he is going to leave the country, so, if you could do something to keep him here, we want to keep the Swami in America.” So, he get some sukrti, and apparently as legend goes, then Allen said, “I want you to hear something,” and he started chanting Hare Krsna over the phone to Bobby Kennedy, and he is listening, and he said, referring to who was the present at the time, Lyndon Johnson, he said, “I think the guy down the street needs it a little more than me, but thank you.”

But what I mean to say is that he gifted some harmoniums to Prabhupad and you can hear, they have some old tapes in BBT archives, where he is practicing and he’ll play something and start singing a Narottam song and then he’ll stop and say to the devotees, “Does that sound alright?” And they go, “Yes, yes,” and what he’s saying it’s not like the harmonium we hear of the professionals. Again I remember you know, haritala, Gopal knows that haritala, they hire some people sometimes. Cause once I came back on the riksas, and I told Gurudev, little lightly, “Boy, those sahajiyas down the road, they’re having a really reproing  (?) kirttan.” And Gurudev with his classic deadpan he said, “Maharaj, they are not sahajiyas.” I was like, “Oh, what have I done.” He goes, “They are not sahajiyas, they are professionals.” 

Like they have a fake book, the equivalent of the fake book, and it’s talking, “What are we doing?” “Ma Kali, page two hundred and fifty eight,” “Oh, it’s Krsna bhajan.” He said, “They’re professionals.” (?) In that way(?), but when we hear Srila Prabhupad Swami Maharaj played the harmonium, it’s really not of this world, it’s not like what you hear there, and we know we hear there, and we know we hear there and we can say from a melodic point of view we’ve all, I think many of the people in this room have gone to sleep at night listening to those kirttans, we have to admit it, if you’ve been to Navadwip for the Gaura Purnima festival you’ve gone to sleep hearing the professional kirttanias, which is usually their signature is the long, like three minute Hare, cause they have to sing for twenty four hours. So, they’re stretching, you know it’s when they go like this [showing] in media (?) means stretch is, no that’s wrap it up, this is stretch it. So, they are really drawing it out, they train their children, and they. 

I’ve been invited by the life members long ago to go to the villages, and they’d have us come, and we do like a little kirttan or something, and everyone is like, “Very nice.” But then they pull out the harmonium and then one man, he leads the song, and then they pass it to the next person, and he leads, and the drum’s is moving, the drum doesn’t move around that much actually, cause it’s got to be a qualified…but each person wants to get that harmonium and lead a couple of songs. And once we had the good fortune do a program at Srila Prabhupad’s home. He was born, at the time that was called, Harrison Road, later became known as Mahatma Gandhi Road, that stop on the Kolkata metro, Mahatma Gandhi Road, originally it was called Harrison Road, and remember Prabhupad was born in 1898, I forget an exact year, forgive me, six, eight. Six. Guru Maharaj’s four. He is older, cause he’d make that point. Anyway, yes, 1886.

So, it was Harrison Road a long ago, and we got to go there and see the house of childhood pastimes, and what he’d described, the veranda, where the ladies would be, the balcony. And so they, again, they invite us to give some, do some kirttan class, little Prasad, and they sing, and I’ll never forget, that’s the power of song, so, I’ve heard this in 1974, but I can’t forget, how they sing, the group, cause there was one leader and actually many ladies in the group, but it was if they were trained, they responded very well. And in his melody he sang, it was something like, they sang this song, where it go in like a (?) like serenade, [sings]. That was the basic melody, but then and then they’re all singing, [sings]. You know they sing, Kisna, and it’s very sweet. Please, if someone is watching this, do not. [laughs]. But then, he start like [singing more intense], people jump up and then the drum, you know that beat, de na de ta ka, de na de ta ka. Then they’re really getting into it. He’s pumping, it’s like when he pumps the people get pumped. 

So, but when Prabhupad, again, when he sing these songs, and you listen to them and they are almost each one is unique, there is no consistent sound. He gets some harmonium, he sings like the chintamani, of the Brahma-samhita, and govindam adi purusam, and it’s just, where did this melody come from? It doesn’t resemble music that we’ve heard. And Narottam (?) like Hari-haraya-namah Krsna, he like to sing that Sad-gosswami-astaka of Srinivas Acharya. But he sings this song also, gaurangera-dyuti-pada. And we should say, that now that we’ve said, discussed this these things in that way, then someone could say, “Well, what is the right way? Is there right way? Is there like a particular style, that is correct or incorrect?”

And I recall the first time when I met Srila Guru Maharaj personally, I’d gone to the Math, seeking Krsnadas Babaji Maharaj and I didn’t think at the time it was possible to actually go upstairs and see Srila Guru Maharaj. So, with my friend, we’re in this area, which was previously the room of Haricharan, and some guest dignitaries were staying there too, and found Babaji Maharaj. And I don’t want to tell that particular whole story right now, but part of the theme, and later when he took us upstairs to see Srila Guru Maharaj, we said that, “Because so many god brothers were leaving the world, we’re afraid that the correct way will be lost. Like it wouldn’t make it to the next generation.” And Guru Maharaj became very moved thinking about his different god-brothers, who’d left the world, most recently Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, but others, just before, Madhava Maharaj, and so many others, and he was feeling separation from them and saying, “Yes, so many great souls leaving the world.” But when we cmae to record Babaji Maharaj at first, he’s a very unpredictable personality. And he’s sort of turned and (?) a little harsh, he said, “Important thing is that you chant Hare Krsna! Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna!” And we were like put the tape recorder away. That was meaningful. What are you going to get from recorder? You should, you need to do this.

But again about that spirit, that mood. Once we know there is a song on the disappearance day, that what is called viraha-giti, means he song of separation, so once, someone was singing that, that particular melody, and Gurudev, he could hear it, on his veranda, and he said, “why are they singing viraha-giti?” It was not a disappearance day, “Why are they?” To him it struck a fine court within him. Like Guru Maharaj would say, “Apasiddhanta strikes the nervous system of the refined thinking man.” It’s another Guru Maharaj classic. And he told when Vamsidas Babaji Maharaj was in Vrndavan once someone would sing perhaps the Ye anilo prema dhama, that particular song, but singing it. There is one thing, singing viraha-giti at the wrong time, the separation mood melody, then it’s another thing, singing a song about separation with a happy style. So, guru Maharaj said a Bamsidas Babaji Maharaj, “If you had any idea of what you were singing, of what this rally means, what Narottam Thakur intended in this song, you couldn’t sing like that, you wouldn’t be able to do that.” Again it’s apasiddhanta strikes the nervous system of the thinking man, the refined thinking man. 

That’s why Swarup Damadar, everything has to be approved by Swarup Damodar. Someone will, they will think they have good intentions like the man who wrote the poetry, “Oh, please, let Mahaprabhu hear this.” And they read that poetry for so many devotees, and they’re going, “Oh, very nice.” But when Swarup Damodar heard it he was furious, and even more disturbed at the thought if had this reached the ear of Mahaprabhu and disturb his divine sentiments. So, we can only look to the higher section, for some guidance. We hear evey day the sound of the coquille [pipes as a bird], that bird we hear in the morning every day. So, kujat kokila hamsa sara sagana kirane mayura kule, this is mentioned in the Sanga of Srinivas Acharya, what are birds of Vrndavan, the flower trees, all these things that constitute that. Das Goswami said, yat kinchit drigumate katam mukham gostes smatami tat sarvananda lilanukulam param kukunda doita, said all of the paraphernalia including the birds etc. of the dham they’re mukunda doita, they’re dear to Mukunda  because they’re lila-anukulam, they’re contributing to the lila, to the pastimes. But sometimes told that’s very very sweet, the liquid sweetness of the voice of coquille is that time said to be reminiscent of the ever-fresh liquid sweetness of the voice of Krsna, Sri Krsna Himself.

But Srila Gurudev in Navadwip, he is also, virudha-alankar, opposites, so he said, when he was a child, before in his place they had watches and clocks, that by the sound of the birds, the light in the sky, the position of the stars, he could tell what time it is. So, hearing the sound of the coquille would remind him his duty at that time. But then he quoted the verse, I think it’s Stavavali of Rupa Goswami, this kurvatikila kokila jalpati rsa dam jaimi iti jaimini, forget the rest, saying, Srimati Radharani, now that sweet sound of the coquille, is not being appreciated as sweet to her, She is taking a name of Jaimini Rsi, cause it’s their habit, when there is a thunderstorm to protect oneself from being struck by lightening they’re told, “Take the name of Jaimini Rsi.” So, here the sweet sound of the coquille She is taking the name of the Jaimini Rsi, because that sweet sound remind Her of Krsna in this particular type of separation. It’s like a thundebold striking Her heart. So, just the opposite effect is there. And viraha-bhav. 

And I remember once having heard from Srila Gurudev and at another time, making reference to it, he said, “Maharaj, if I think about that right now, my mind will go to pieces. I can’t think about that.” They’re fine, refined thinkers, what is it to them? Cause we’re telling that story of Kalidas. Or Chandidas? I think Kalidas. When he is enlisted as a palki bear, carrying a palanquin on his shoulder of some King, and that’s dragging into his shoulder, becoming raw, he is not used to this type of the manual labor, slave labor, you can say, it’s tearing his flesh, and he’s blistering and bleeding, but tolerating. Then that King, full of himself and arrogant, he starts composing poetry, not knowing that one of the greatest poets of all time in India is carrying his palki, starts composing poetry, thinking, “This is wonderful, what could be better than this?” And suddenly Kalidas is going, “Oh, I can’t take it! Oh, you’re killing me!” And they stop, and they look at his shoulder, they see how the flesh is torn, it’s bleeding, and they go, “You can’t tolerate this.” And he said, “No, this I can tolerate, but he’s butchering the language, and it’s intolerable, I can’t stand it, it’s killing me!” Then they discovered that he is Kalidas. So, that was about refined thought, sumedhasa. That’s what it means, that’s what is refined theistic intelligence to the extreme. So, what is significant to the higher is not really entirely appreciable to the lower. So, we have to be extra cautious and  careful about that. 

Sometimes we’re told Mahaprabhu, before the birth of Narottam Thakur, like in the song, this line, gaurangera sange sangi gane nitya siddha kori mane, he says, “I take all of the associates of Mahaprabhu to be nitya-siddha, eternally liberated souls, engaged eternally in the nityalila korila prakas, this circular, nitya means circular in one sense also, just as a circle, no beginning, middle or end. So, we can quote Narottam to worship Narottam. But what’s one evidence of his own nitya-siddha position? Not that he need certificate from us, but just to praise him. As Mahaprabhu saometimes said, “Bap, Pundarik!”, my father Pundarik and mystifying his devotees. Sometimes he may have been in Ramkeil and looking in the direction of Keturi Gram, saying, “Narottam, Narottam! Narottam!”,  calling out the name of Narottam Thakur, before he was born. So, we can say, “Oh, that’s also nitya-siddha.” Just anticipating the appearance of Narottam Thakur, Mahaprabhu’s heart is melting. That’s how great Narottam is. 

When he installed later, it was like when he installed the Deityies in Keturi Gram, what did Guru Maharaj say? Prakat and aprakat net, means manifested and unmanifested pastimes, he said, “The Pancha-tattva of Srivas-angam descended in his kirttan.” That’s Narottam’s kirttan, when he ahs kirttan, the Panch-tattva descend and are singing and dancing. That’s Narottam Thakur. Who, we’re told, his Gurudev, Lokanath Goswami. There are gosthanandi, preacher, grace extender, and a bhajananandi, who is doing  serving, direct service in the upper world. They’re for the most part inaccessible. And in many cases, or most, unrecognizable. Sukadev, could not be properly recognized by people in general. Lokanath Goswmi, what was his nature? Guru Maharaj said, “In his water pot he kept no water.” Because that could lead to some mundane interaction with someone. He kept no water in his water pot [laughs]. 

And humble to the extreme. And saying, he would not take any disciple, and we know, as they’re living under the tree like the other Goswamis. Tree, another tree, some place for a little while. He is passing stool in the forest. Narottam wants to approach him to become his disciple, but he won’t accept. But then Lokanath Goswami he notices, everyday he goes to the forest, where he normally passes stool, suddenly, now everything looks pakka, very nice. Swept, clean, and he’s thinking, he’s little perplexed. And note everyday perfect, perfectly cleansed. He enquires from others, and they said, “That young boy, who wants to be your disciple, he’s doing this type of seva.” We hear Madhavendra Puti [tr. note - Isvara Puri], svahasti marjan, cleansing, similar seva for Madhavndra Puri, in his final days. We’re told, what does this mean? This doesn’t sound pleasant, by local description, but what is the principle? He has so much regard, so much reverence for the least type of service to that higher plane. Extreme. (?) thinking that even that seemingly the most undesirable seva, that he’s accepting happily, as giving himself a dignified position.

Radha-mukunda-padasmbavagama-bindu nirmancha no pakarani krta deho laksam, utunga dohrda visesa rasabdhava galbam devim gunayi sulalitam lalitam namami. 

That Lalita Sakhi possesses the greatest magnitude of eagerness for the least aspect of seva, the greatest magnitude of eagerness to the least. That’s the way to measure the depth, earnestness, sincerity, spiritual substance. So, Lokanath Goswami accepted Narottam, and again breaking the stereotype. Cause Lokanath Goswami has one disciple, that Narottam, he initiates a hundred thousand. Like the whole state of Manipur becomes his followers. I don’t know if now, but we were going to go there in 1974 once, got stuck boarding the airplane, cause they didn’t allow foreigners into there. At that time, everyone in the country wore tilak, everybody. And the Manipuris, they still come to Navadwip to Anu Mahaprabhu, and other places. We have a temple, called Manipuri temple. And you’ll see they go to Radha-kunda, they go to all these holy places, they’re descendants of the followers of Narottam Thakur. So, his guru had once disciple, him. He initiates a hundred thousand. GAurakisor das Babaji Maharaj had once disciple, Saraswati Thakur, he, you know, a thousand, or thousands. And among his disciples, Prabhupad Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, takes it all over the world. 

So, and he writes, his compositions, Srila Guru Maharaj has pointed out, many of them are for the siddha plane. Like we were talking about siddha pranali, siddha svarup. As Gurudev would say sometimes, not siddha, like when they’d say someone is very exalted, he’d say, “What do you say? Sidda-purus?” Boiled man? Not siddha, he’d say, sidda. “Boiled man?” Sidda-purus. [laughs]. Siddha-pranali, what did Guru Maharaj say? It’s for those who are siddha. Hello. Those who’ve reached the perfection stage, they’re told, these are your, there is also some formula there. 

So, this Narottam Thakur, his songs, so many for the siddha plane, but then the others for the practitioners and together with the songs of the Bhaktivinod Thakur they form the better part of the Gaudia canon of of songs to be sung by the inspiring servitors. Sri guru charana Padma, this song is glorifying Nityananda Prabhu, we were talking in last few days, nityer koruna habe vraje radha krsna pabe, these are all from Narottam Thakur, and up to and including the anthem of gaudia-vaisnavs, the ultimate song of all gaudia-vaisnavs, Sri Rupa Manjari Pada, came through Narottam Thakur. And Guru Maharaj pointed it out also, interestingly in one of his songs he says, “When will Lokanath Goswami, my guru, come and take me and offer me in service to the lotus feet of Rupa Goswami?” And you hear a line from a Narottam song, and it’ll touch your heart and be with you forever. Thinking back to those Prabhupad Swami Maharaj’s songs, when he would sing, gauranga bolite habe, this song, if you hear him singing that song, you heart will dissolve, it’ll crack open. When he ascends (?), visaya chadiya kabe suddha habe man kabe heroba sri vrndavan, it’s so heartfelt, like they say, it will melt stones.

And I remember years and years ago, just hearing the line of some gaudia kirttan, they’re singing, grhe bha bonite take ha gauranga bole dake narotama magetar sanga, but on a Navadwip dham parikrama in grand procession, grhe ba bonite take ha gauranga bole dake, and they marching along to a Narottam gan (?), great mrdanga players. Who was that group? And what is he saying? Ghe ba bonite, ban, whether you’re living in the grhastha-asram or ban, you’re out in the forest, ha gauranga bole dake, if you loudly take the name of Gauranga, Narottam wants your association. That’s enough for him. Always, je gaurangera nama loi tara hoi prema doi, always praising the name of Gauranga. And Guru Maharaj loved to chant, sing Gauranga. Sometimes you’ll hear on the tape, Guru Maharaj sitting for an extended period of time, just he would just sing, “Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sundar, Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sudnar.” Just repeatedly, “Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sundar,” and sometimes, “Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sundar bara nrtyam nijer nama bi.” What is Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sundar doing? He is taking his own name, nityam nijer nama bi, taking his own name and singing and dancing. 

Siddhanti Maharaj liked this very much, here where it said, “The cause is the effect.” He is taking his name, the effect he is taking his name. That’s why he’s become ecstatic by taking the name, and what’s the ecstatic outcome? Taking the Name. Siddhanti Maharaj said, “I like that very much.” So, first Navadwip Dham parikrama is Nityananda Prabhu and Jiva Goswami. Second Navadvip Dham parikrama is Narottam and Srinivas. Sri gaura mandala bhumi jeba jana chintamani, means gaura mandal. Sometimes I have to remind myself and my friends that Kolkata is also chintamani. Not only from Narottam’s perspective, but the bhakti-kutir (?) of Bhaktivinod Thakur, the Bhak-bazaar Math of Saraswati Tahkur, all the lotus feet of our Guru-varga are dancing in Kolkata. And as I told the other day, I asked Guru Maharaj, “Did Mahaprabhu ever go to Kolkata?” He said, “Viraha-nagar,” in the northern part on his way he went by there. And Guru Maharaj would say anything that’s like non-chinmoy, by appearance, it’s come to contrast what is spiritual substance. Cause sometimes the devotees would come running like, they’ve just been down to Paramatala, or somewhere, and they’d go like, “I just saw…” [laughs]. And he’s saying, “Yes, you can only see the dham, when your real eye has awakened.” How to see that Gaura mandala bhumi je bhajane chintamani. Braja bhumi bas, and see as Vrndavan. 

Once I was doing life membership in Kolkata and I’m preaching to this man. And he is, I can tell, he is tolerating me. He’s behind his desk. And I’m talking about Mahaprabhu this, and Krsna, and at the end he says, he has these two pictures on his desk, he goes, “There is only two people in this world I worship,” turned around and goes, “Ma Kali and my mother.” He said, “But, I think you’re sincere.” Ding, he rings the bell, the guy comes into with the check, and he gave something. Btu the reason I’m introducing this is still in the heart of everything, they hear something about Gaur, Nityananda and Gauranga. They have some appreciation, wherever they are in terms of their own particular connections, they all have some affection, we’re saying, that’s the goal, if we listen to Narottam, to have that. That’s why we have to check ourselves from projective an offensive mentality, however you might see them, whatever way, there is something, when they hear, “Chaitanya Nitai, doyal nitai chaitanya bole nacre amar man,” they hear anything.

Last time I was there, walking on the park street and someone comes up to me and going like, “Jai Nitai!” Where in the world will someone come up to you and say, “Jai Nitai?!” Whereas Gurudev told about the man in the Paramatala fish market, not Paramatala, but where that fish market, Bakbazaar. You’re knowing instantly. I’m teasing. Anyway, so, the guy has got a big tilak, the big, kanthimala, and he’s got his bag, and at the top of the bag, there is a fish tale going back and forth, and he is going, “Jai Nitai!”  And Gurudev told about that man every year he’s offering goat to Ma Kali, but he got older and older and then in one year he didn’t offer a goat. And they go like, “Baby, this year you’re not offering the goat! We can’t understand why, cause you’re a big devotee of Ma Kali.” He goes, “No teeth.” [laughs]. So, in that land, if suddenly our attention drifts in the wrong way, still that group, if we say something in favor of Gaur, they see especially people from the Western world, they’ve come all the way there from what they consider remote corners of the world to the land of Mahaprabhu, to glorify Gaur-Nityananda, their hearts melt and they have to express some appreciation.

When Guru Maharaj went back to his own village, Hapaniya, after some many years, thirty, forty, maybe more, and Achyutananda was with him, one of Guru Maharaja’s relatives, in (?) said, “We don’t properly appreciate this, what we have, and you, cause Achyutananda was introduced as coming from New York, you’ve come from so far, and you have this appreciation. But we who were born here, we don’t have this type of appreciation. “ And because Achyutananda Maharaj was trained by Guru Maharaj, in addition by Prabhupad, but trained by Guru Maharaj from his beginning days in India, he answered by saying, “Brahmanda bramite kona bhagyavan jiv, guru krsna prasade pai bhakti lata bij,” he said, “It’s not a question of geographical location, it’s a question of mercy.” And Guru Maharaj liked that answer do much, he told this story for thirty years. So, that is our good fortune, that to this day these songs, the concepts in the songs of Narottam das Thakur, are informing the vision of everyone, how to see the devotees of the Lord, how to see Gaur –mandal is being non-different from Vraja-mandal. As Guru Maharaj when he established Sri Chaitanya Saraswt Math, he said, “This is Gupta-govardhan, that kunda is Govinda Kunda, in a Math’s pranam, 

srimacchaitanya saraswati bhara udgita kirtir jayasrim…

It’s location, the location of the Math is ontological spiritual conception location, it’s located on the banks of the Ganga, in Navadwip dham in Gupta-govardhan, that’s where it’s located. It’s not some address, you know, West Bengal, pin code, such and such, that’s not the address of the Math. The address of the Math is given there by Srila Guru Maharaj. Hare Krsna. 

And Guru Maharaj told the story, Narottam’s disciples were so great, like, who was that? Ganga Narayan Chakravarti, and who else? Rupa Kaviraj, I can’t remember the names for sure. But at one time some King, whether it was in Manipur or not, maybe another Pur, like Rajpur or something. The King there, Narottam, there was proposal there will be some sort of the debate, about who’s got the superior conception, Krsna conception. And Narottam send, or some pandits are coming to debate, anyway he places two of his disciples as like pot sellers on the  outskirts of the town. So, the pandits come, and they think, “What is this place, we’ve arrived to?” And the pot sellers, they’re just supposed to be, with a little shop, just like we see here, a little tiny shop, they start speaking fluent conversational Sanskrit. And the pandits think, “If these are the lowest class people in the town, we can’t even imagine how high the actual pandits are. If the pot sellers speaks the fluent perfect Sanskrit.” So, it shows also the devotees are exercising their cleverness in the service of the lotus feet of Gurur and Gauranga. Hare Krsna.