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.