The Hari Kirtan

The sadhu helps the fallen jiva to regain his natural state of freedom from sin, by the constant service of bringing about the descent of transcendental sound in the form of words uttered by his lips and the mahaprasada in the shape of food that is offered by him to the Lord. The sound uttered by the sadhu and the mahaprasada are not things of this world. They are not identical with ordinary sound or ordinary food which are only means for the gratification of our sensuous appetites. The word of God and mahaprasada cannot be enjoyed, or in other words cannot be used for the gratification of the senses, because they are spiritual.

Those who enjoy the kirtana, or any spiritual discourse, or eat the mahaprasada for appeasing hunger or for gratification of the palate are guilty of sacrilegious acts which serve only to prolong the state of sin and ignorance. This is the greatest possible calamity that can befall the human soul.

The kirtana of Hari is the constant and natural function of all the faculties of the jiva soul in the state of it’s freedom from all affinities with this changeable world. Because the absolute truth is identical with Hari, Hari has to be served exclusively, constantly, and by all the faculties of the soul. The only function of the voice is to chant the kirtana of Hari, which is identical with and inseparable from the simultaneous service of Hari by all the other senses. One who does not employ his voice constantly and exclusively in chanting the kirtana of Hari has no access to the service of Hari by any other faculty.

The kirtana of Hari has therefore to be chanted by being humbler than a blade of grass. There can be no trace of worldly vanity. There can be no seeking after any worldly advantage. The only object should be to please Lord Hari.”

The 5 qualities of Kirtan Mantra Meditation

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
I have noticed, and tradition confirms, that the efficacy of mantra meditation depends significantly upon the quality of chanting. It is not that one’s effort creates the effect of the mantra, but one must make the effort not to block the effect of the mantra — to open oneself fully to the mercy within it.
I would like to suggest chanting with five qualities, which I also think of as five “steps” towards efficacious, quality mantra meditation:

1. Be Attentive
2. Be Introspective
3. Be Sincere
4. Be Sweet
5. Have Longing

Attentive Chanting
The main focus of this step is to pay attention to the mantra itself. I have found it most effective to treat each syllable of the mantra as something important – and focus my attention on hearing that I am correctly enunciating each syllable each time I repeat the mantra.
The Hare Krishna maha-mantra has 32 syllables. The two sonically symmetrical lines of the mantra each have 16. Within each line are four word pairs, each with a symmetrical four syllables. Each word in each pair has two syllables. This perfect sonic symmetry will reflect in the sound I produce when I make sure to actually chant each syllable.
Mantras bear fruit when chanted correctly. The maha-mantra is not a mechanical ritual, but the general principle is still valid. Its fruit is the topmost goal of being: selfless divine love, prema bhakti. Be sure to include each syllable in each repetition of the mantra and certainly one will begin to taste its fruit at least in the budding stage.

Introspective Chanting
We must avoid extraneous thoughts when chanting. We do that by becoming more sensitive to thoughts that are directly related to the mantra. I call this “Introspective Chanting.”
Once I am chanting the syllables properly, I direct attention inward to become more aware of how I feel in response to the chant. First I try to literally feel the mantra vibrating in every pore and cell of my body. This focuses my attention on how the mantra is directly affecting me. I also try to listen for any instinctual response to the spiritual sound that is permeating me and vibrating in my being.
Since the sound of the mantra is non-different from Radha-Krishna Themselves, my responses to that sound are the very fledgling beginnings of my soul awakening to krishna-prema. Listen for them introspectively while enunciating the mantra’s 32 syllables.

Sincere Chanting
Now that I am enunciating all the syllables with introspective alertness to the effect of the vibration, the next step is to deepen my sincerity.
To do this, I try to focus on the all-important attitude of love: the desire to serve Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, who are named in the 32 syllables of the divine mantra. I now try to experience the mantra not only as Krishna but also as prayer to Krishna. So, I now turn my ear towards the sound of sincerity within the mantra I am pronouncing. I find that by listening for sincerity, I automatically try to produce more of it. So gradually my recitation of the mantra produces the sound of heartfelt desire to be pleasing and loving towards Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.

Sweet Chanting
The sincerity in my chanting leads me to want to serve and please the object of the mantra: Radha-Krishna. Naturally, then, my next step is to shift the focus from my experience of the chant to Krishna’s experience of it.
Now I open myself to the mantra as the shakti of Krishna. Being Krishna’s shakti it exists for the sake of pleasing him. Opening myself to this, I hope to enter into the ocean of divine loving service that exists within the maha-mantra itself.
My main effort at this stage is to make the sound of the mantra I enunciate more pleasant, beautiful, loving and sweet. I have found it helpful to visualize Sri Krishna and Radha before me, listening to my chanting.

Chanting with Longing
As I envision Sri Sri Radha-Krishna near me, listening to my chanting, inevitably I must come to face the objective fact that They are not truly there, at least not in the tangible manner like I am envisioning. My goal at this step is to allow that truth to fill my heart with a bittersweet sadness. Sadness generates need, and need expresses itself as “longing.” In the fifth step of effective chanting I therefore try to focus on and amplify a longing for my hopes and visions within the maha-mantra to become a far more tangibly objective reality.
My main effort at this stage is to ignore all other desires in my heart and find the small voice of desire that longs for perfection of selfless divine love. I speak the maha-mantra to that voice, encouraging it to speak up. Louder and louder I want the maha-mantra to amplify that once small inner voice until it drowns out all other voices within me.
The perfection of my chanting comes when the longing need of that voice bursts through and expresses itself through stuttering and crying like a lost child crying out for her mother.

Conclusion
When I am done with my chanting session, I try not to focus on what I did not accomplish, but on what I did. I want to feel thankful to the mantra and grateful towards Krishna and those who have given me the rare and precious opportunity to attempt to chant it more fully and deeply. I want to feel grateful for whatever small steps they have empowered me to make during this chanting session.
As a practice, therefore, I like to conclude my chanting by folding my hands in prayer and encouraging that gratitude to flow through my hands towards my kind guides and protectors and towards the lotus-like feet of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.
Actually, I would like the mood of gratitude to permeate all the five steps of chanting.
There are no rules about when, where or how to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. You can and should chant the maha-mantra in the way that fits you as an individual. I have personally found that these five steps have significantly improved my own relationship to the divine mantra, and I hope they will also be of help to other servants of the holy name.

Westernized Kirtan

Another comment I would like to make is about westernized kīrtan. From 1991-2010 I was in a band, “108” which composed original bhajanas (devotional songs) in the hardcore punk-metal genre. I’m not a victorian or ultra-conservative. I know that it is quite possible to have a profound spiritual effect using any instrument and any genre.

Nevertheless you have to note that every object has a corresponding psychological-emotional effect. The psychological effect from the sound of a guitar is quite different from the psychological effect from the sound of a clay mṛdanga. The effect, for almost everyone, of hearing a guitar is to feel like rocking out, or hippying out, or whatever. The effect of hearing a clay mṛdanga – for example (or a vina or some other authentic Indian instrument) transports us out of our identity and puts us in an exotic mental and emotional space where it is far easier to realize that “I am not this body, I am a beautiful spiritual being with a specific exciting relationship to that gorgeous, enchanting being, Krishna” Therefore kīrtan with western instruments is not as beneficial as kīrtan with Indian instruments.

Reply to a comment elsewhere:
The clay mrdanga and bell-metal karatala is intimately associated, for centuries, with Kṛṣṇa-nāma kīrtana. The guitar and so on are assocaited with rock and roll. You don’t need pramana to know this, you need common sense. You also need just a slight understanding of how psychology works. Objects produce psychological effects due to their direct or indirect associations. Everyone can experience this first hand. Hearing the khol-karatala played by a person with expertise in the cultural heritige of that musical style, to accompiany ragas that are also of the similar cultural heritage produce an involuntary psychological stimulous that cannot be compared (for its value to the practice of bhakti yoga) to the psychological effect from hearing a snare drum and guitar, etc.

Sorry, prabhu’s – I’ve been there and done that. I was in 108. I know that spiritual effects can be accomplished using a guitar, drums, etc. I know that there is spiritual power and merit in the kind of thing 108 did. However, the effect of an Indian instrument played by a talented player skilled in the art of raga and tala sets the right upddipana for bhakti rasa especially in srngar-bhava. You can study the bhakti rasamrta sindhu to understand this pramana. To equate the spiritual power and merit of a guitar with the spiritual power and merit of a mrdanga and karatala played properly is an artifact of ego.
We are born in the west. Therefore we are attached to western culture. We have yet to realize that we are not these bodies. Our attachment to sounds and tastes etc. that are contemporanous and complimentary with our temporary illusory ego is an anartha.

There is also pramana for this by Viśvanātha Cakravartī but I forget the exact reference. He speaks of the importance of Tāla (tempos, beats) and Rāga (melodic phraseology) in evoking the bhāva that is conducive to śṛṇgar bhakti rāsa. Maybe someone who reads this knows what I am talking about and can clarify. My Gurudev, Dhanurdhara Swami references this frequently when he speaks, for the past few months.

kirtan- The Melody

Recorded in the middle of the Frozen Season (Shishira), this is our first attempt to record Kirtan. We hope that you will all overlook all the flaws and enjoy the honest intention of making a very nice “musical outfit” for the divine name to wear during this cold time of year.

We hope that all who listen to this kirtan will release all other thoughts from their minds – like releasing tension from your shoulders – and let the intention of the sound within the sound permeate their awareness and fill them with uninterrupted connection to the divine couple, Sri Sri Nandini Nandana.

The raga (melodic base) of the Kirtan is Chandra Lekha – which can mean “The Moon’s Melody.” You will probably find that your mind sinks most pleasantly and deeply into this kirtan during the later hours of the night, for the raga is specially attuned to those hours. Perhaps this kirtan will be gloriously successful in bringing to our minds thoughts of Sri Sri Nandani-Nandina dancing amidst the most excellent kirtana in the spiritual forests surrounding Ter Kadamba in the wee hours of the divine night?
The recording contains a single clay Bengali drum – a Khol Mrdanga.This is a special Mrdanga made for us by a very accomplished and excellent kirtan musician and wellwisher in Vrindavana, India. You can hear four pairs of hand-cymbals, timekeepers called Karatala.Of these, two are from Vrindavana, the others are from South India, donated to Ter Kadamba Mandir by two different kind friends. One set of much larger cymbals also enter the sound-scape midway through the kirtana. Around that time you can also hear two strands of dancing bells, also from Vrindaban. A single stringed percussion instrument also enters the sonic picture here, an Ektar. There is a Harmonium, Bina Model 8, selected for and delivered to us by our very dear friend and godbrother whose dedication to kirtan is most sublime and pure. You can also hear the temple Conch shell, and altar bells.

The voices of several Ter Kadamba Mandir characters make up the response group. They are idealic personalities who prefer to go unnamed..

The kirtan was recorded using two microphones – a Sure SM57 and Blue Baby Bottle, plugged directly into a Digidesign 002 audio I/O feeding into ProTools LE 7. The mix was done using only the stock Digidesign EQ and Compression on only a few of the tracks. Some yellow T-Racks equipment was used on the master track as well. The idea was to keep the recording and mixing as simple and transparent as possible.
We do not mention these details to inflate the importance of what is most clearly a very humble first attempt at recording Kirtan. Rather, it is out of childish enthusiasm that we enumerate all these facts, or even post the kirtan for the public ear. Still we hope you somehow find the Kirtan fascinating and deeply enjoyable.

Kirtan the music

Therefore it is an act of love to learn a bit about the basics of music, and employ that in one’s nāma-kīrtan. The most sophisticated form of music in human history is Indian music. By comparison, western music, even in its high classical form, is very simple and rudimentary. Indian music, being so sophisticated, allows more freedom of expression and has more emotive power than any other system of music. For this reason, we should prefer to learn Indian music theory to make our Kīrtan more beautiful.
Another reason to prefer Indian music is that it is more sattvika. Because it is so sophisticated and subtle it evokes more clarity and pensivity — the character of sattva. Western music theory, by comparison, is inspiring and stirring — the character of rajas. Items of the sattva nature are more amenable to spiritual application.

Another reason to prefer Indian music is that Krishna reveals his personality through the ancient Indian culture. Therefore the ancient Indian culture has a more direct link to the divine svarūpa than any other form of human culture. Since the whole aim of kīrtan is to become closer with Krishna, it makes sense to evoke the musical culture most closely associated with his dhāma-svarūpa.

Kirtan the Maha Mantra

In the Sanskrit language 'Man' refers to 'manas' - the mind (from where we get the English word 'mind') and 'tra' means 'to free' or 'to liberate'. Wikipedia: "A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of creating spiritual transformation". The word 'maha' means great, so the maha-mantra is seen as the Great Mantra for Deliverance.

 

The maha-mantra is generally written in simple English as: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. According to tradition, this mantra is a way of communicating with Krishna, the supreme intelligent force in the universe. It is said that Krishna is attracted to bhakti (devotional love), and higher qualities can be revealed in the heart of one who chants with attention, sincerity, love and determination.

The mantra can be sung along with musical instruments (kirtan), can be chanting softly on wooden prayer beads (japa), or can be meditated upon in the mind (manasa).

Different Quotes of Kirtan

"There is no vow like chanting the divine names, no knowledge superior to it, no meditation which comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result. No penance is equal to it, and nothing is as potent or powerful as the divine name.
 Chanting is the greatest act of piety and the supreme refuge. Even the words of the Vedas do not possess sufficient power to describe its magnitude. Chanting is the highest path to liberation, peace and eternal life. It is the pinnacle of devotion, the heart's joyous proclivity and attraction, and the best form of remembrance of the Supreme Being"

"Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship kali-yuga because in this degraded age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by performance of sankirtan"

"Whatever result was obtained in other ages by the recommended spiritual path for that age - namely Vishnu meditation in Satya Yuga, performance of Vedic ceremonies in Treta Yuga and temple worship in Dvapara Yuga - can be obtained in the present Kali Yuga simply by Krishna kirtan. Thus, kirtan is the yuga dharma for this age"