Kirtan Standards - Srila Prabhupada's Instructions

 
Prabhupada quotes regarding Kirtan standards and the public presentation of Krsna consciousness:

"My opinion is that it is not necessary for us to utilize these different musical talents for spreading Krsna Consciousness. I would rather see people follow strictly the path of Lord Caitanya and His Sankirtana devotees. We are using mrdanga, karatala, that is enough. We are not musicians. We are Krsna bhaktas. Therefore we do not stress so much importance on these different musical talents. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is God Himself. Had He thought it would have been better to spread Krsna Consciousness by another way He would have done so. But no, simply with mrdanga and karatala, traveling and chanting Hare Krsna, asking everyone to chant Hare Krsna, preaching simply Srimad-Bhagavatam philosophy, this is the process. There is no need for us to try and add anything to this simple method. It will only be a distraction." (Prabhupada Letter to Jagadish Pandit 74-12-28)

"I never thought about the audience. I was prepared to chant even if there were no men present to hear me. The principle of chanting is to glorify the Lord & not to attract a crowd. If Krishna hears nicely then he will ask some sincere devotee to gather in such place. Therefore be advised that thousands of centers may be started if we find out a sincere soul for each & every center." (Prabhupada Letter 67-11-12)

"Krishna kirtana is not meant for entertaining the public for demonstration of arts. It is dynamic service to the Lord. We do not therefore mind so much about the artistic presentation of Krishna kirtana but we want to see how much a devotee is satisfying the Supreme Will." (Prabhupada Letter to Jadurani 67-12-12)

"Practicing is already done by kirtana. It is not required for us to become artists. Our main point is service to Krishna, not to please an audience. We shall not divert our attention too much to adjustment of musical sounds. People should not misunderstood that we are a band of musical artists. They must know that we are devotees of Krishna. Our devotional practice and purity shall be so strong that wherever we chant there will be immediately an impression in the audience for devotion to Krishna." (Prabhupada Letter to Tamala Krishna 69-10-30)

"Our process is to show Krishna Consciousness as it is, not as others want to see it. By showing KC in this way, you are making the thing less important. It is not that we should change to accommodate the public, but that we should change the public to accommodate us.. If we simply present Krishna Consciousness in a serious and attractive way, without need to resort to fashionable slogans or tricks, that is sufficient. Our unique asset is our purity. No one any where can match it. That will be noticed eventually and appreciated, as long as we do not diminish or neglect the highest standard of purity in performing our routine work, not that we require to display or announce ourselves in very clever ways to get attention. No, our pure standard is enough. Let us stand on that basis." (Prabhupada Letter to Yogesvara 71-12-28)

"So far the Road Show and this Yoga Village are concerned, these things should be stopped. Simply perform our kirtana. If we divert our attention in this way, the whole thing will gradually deteriorate.. All these things are nonsense inventions. Such inventing spirit will ruin our this movement. People may come to see, some will become devotees, but such devotees will not stay because they are attracted by some show and not by the real thing or spiritual life according to the standard of Lord Caitanya. Our standard is to have kirtana, start temples. What is this "Road Show" and "Yoga Village?" It will be another hippie edition. Gradually the Krishna Consciousness idea will evaporate: another change, another change, every day another change. Stop all this. Simply have kirtana, nothing else. Don't manufacture ideas." (Prabhupada Letter to Sudama 72-11-5)

"So far your road-show is concerned, we are not meant for giving performances, we are simple kirtana men. There must always be kirtana going on wherever we travel, and nothing else. In this connection refer to the GBC letter which will be sent to you shortly by Karandhara and Syamasundara." (Prabhupada letter to Kirtanananda 72-6-25)

*"One night there was a darsana with one musician. I never got the understanding whether this was a person coming to Krsna consciousness or whether this was already a devotee. I always thought it was someone coming to Krsna consciousness that wanted to use their western rock and roll guitar style in service to Lord Caitanya, and Prabhupada was very adamant, and the guy kept bringing the point up two or three times and finally Prabhupada said "No!" and he pointed, there was this beautiful picture of Panca-tattva on the wall of his room. He said "You see Mahaprabhu; kartalas and mrdanga, that is all." (Caturatma das: Memories of Srila Prabhupada DVD 51)

"Regarding your question of dancing-show, whatever it may be, it may not deviate from the real Krishna Consciousness program. We are Hari Kirtana men, that's all. We can attract people by some gorgeous show, but inside there must be strict purity and seriousness, otherwise, we shall be attracted by the gorgeous show only...here in London they had arranged one program of lecturing by me along with a recital by one man playing on the vina just to attract attention to my speaking. I am not in approval of such arrangements, and it will be dangerous thing in future if we begin this type of program just to attract the masses. Already I see this happening practically all over the Society, so better we stop it now and get ourselves firmly on the track chalked out for us by Lord Caitanya. We are simply Sankirtana men, our program is chanting, dancing, distributing prasadam, and speaking high philosophy, that's all." (Prabhupada Letter to Madhudvisa. 72-07-08)

"In India the system is that people go to see the Jagannatha Deity. The Deity is not very beautiful from the artistic point of view, but still people attend by the thousands. That sentiment is required. Similarly with our kirtana we are only using drums and karatalas, but people come to the point of ecstasy. It is not the ornamentation, it is the ecstasy. This ecstasy is awakened by sravanam kirtanam by devotees." (Prabhupada Letter to Dr. Wolf 76-01-29)

"We should not try to become a very popular musical party. Music is one of our items for chanting, but we are not musicians. We should always remember this fact. We take advantage of the typewriter but that doesn't mean we are professional typists." (Prabhupada Letter 69-07-02)

"The chanting is very effective. Along with tampura and mrdanga played very rhythmically, let them chant. Perform this musical demonstration and sell books as far as possible, and feasting." (Prabhupada Letter to Harikesa 76-10-28)

"Another proposal is that I want to form a sankirtana party in which two members will play mrdanga, eight will play the cymbals, two will play on tamboura, and one on harmonium. Besides that there will be the leader of the party. This party will be so trained that exhibitions of our chanting and dancing along with distribution of prasadam will be performed on a stage and for this performance we will sell tickets to the public. It will be known as a spiritual movement". (Prabhupada Letter to Hamsaduta 68-01-22)

"Regarding your question about kirtana, practically we are not concerned with the instruments. They are used sometimes to make it sweeter, but if we divert our attention for using the instruments more, that is not good. We can accept everything for Krishna's service, but not taking the risk of diverting attention to any other thing which will hinder our Krishna Consciousness. That should be our motto, or principle." (Prabhupada Letter to Jadurani 69-5-26)

"The harmonium may be played during bhajan if there is someone who can play melodiously. But it is not for kirtan and aratik." (SP Letter to Bahudak 76-01-11)

"With regard to your question about Bengali style kirtana and mrdanga playing, one or two styles is best. To introduce more styles is not good. It will become an encumbrance. Who is that Krsna das Babaji who is teaching? If we introduce so much emphasis on style of kirtana, then simply imitation will go on. Devotional emotion is the main thing. If we give stress to instrument and style then attention will be diverted to the style. That will be spiritual loss." (Prabhupada Letter to Satsvarupa 76-06-30)

"It is to be understood that when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chanted and danced, He did so by the influence of the pleasure potency of the spiritual world. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never considered the holy name of the Lord to be a material vibration, nor does any pure devotee mistake the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to be a material musical manifestation. Lord Caitanya never tried to be the master of the holy name; rather He taught us how to be servants of the holy name. If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion, but he will never attain perfection in chanting the holy name." (C.C. Adi 7.95-96 p)

"When disciples do not stick to the principle of accepting the order of their spiritual master, immediately there are two opinions. Any opinion different from the opinion of the spiritual master is useless. One cannot infiltrate materially concocted ideas into spiritual advancement. That is deviation. There is no scope for adjusting spiritual advancement to material ideas."
(Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 12.9 purport)

"The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life. Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 12.10)

"The service of the spiritual master is essential. If there is no chance to serve the spiritual master directly, a devotee should serve him by remembering his instructions. There is no difference between the spiritual master's instructions and the spiritual master himself. In his absence, therefore, his words of direction should be the pride of the disciple." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 1.35 Purport)

"We will establish hundreds of temples, and they will all be very opulent. But if we do not follow the instruction of the Spiritual Master, they will just be showbottle. Do you know what showbottle means? It means colored water in a bottle which looks just like medicine, but which does not work." (Room conversation NY July 1970)

Rama Govinda dasa: Is the greatest offence to disobey the guru?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes is the first offence. Gurur avajna sruti-sastra nindanam. If you accept guru and again disobey him, then what is your position? You are no a gentleman. You promise before guru, before Krishna, before fire, that I shall obey your order, I shall execute this, and again you do not do this. Then you are no even a gentleman, what to speak about devotee. This is common sense. (75-2-11)

Paramahamsa: Our position in preaching should be to encourage people in all respects to associate with us.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Paramahamsa: That means sometimes we might have to compromise in certain ways.
Prabhupada: Why compromise? You don't compromise. Then you associate with him. If you make compromise, then you associate with him. Then gradually you'll also go down. When we, when we see some person, we do not associate with him, but we give him chance to associate with me. Why you should make compromise? What is the reason? If you know something positively, why should you make compromise? When people come to talk with me, see me, I don't make any compromise. Do I make any compromise?
Devotees: No.
(Morning Walk Paris 74-7-11)

"Real success is how one is faithful to his guru. That is real success." (Lecture, October 4, 1976, Vrindavan)

"To honor the spiritual master means to carry out his instructions word for word." (SB 3.24.12 purport)


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Please see: Srila Prabhupada - No Compromise

Bharatarshabha Dasa (ISKCON Bangalore) Censors Prabhupada's Instructions re. Kirtan Standards

Bharatarshabha Dasa (ISKCON Bangalore) wrote the following article on ISKCON Times but did not include any of Srila Prabhupada's instructions regarding kirtan standards & the public presentation of Krsna consciousness. We sent him many quotes (below) but he refused to publish any of them in his article saying that they were not relevant! Why is he deliberately hiding Prabhupada's instructions from the devotees? Is he acting independently or is this ISKCON Bangalore policy?

Western Music Kirtans at ISKCON Bangalore:

ISKCON Bangalore's 'Yugadharma Band' 2014

Hip-thrusting, rock & rolling bramachari Sarvalakshan Das (Akshaya Patra / FOLK Jaipur) also ignored/deleted Prabhupada's numerous quotes about Kirtan standards:

'Kirtans with Western music - there is no harm' - Srila Prabhupada
By: Bharatarashabha Dasa       

A reply to objections raised by some devotees on ISKCON Bangalore conducting the New Year eve celebrations where Western music accompanied kirtans.

The New Year eve event was organized by ISKCON Bangalore as a means to engage the youth in an innovative manner through which Krishna consciousness is packaged into a programme. It generally starts with playing the recording of a lecture by Srila Prabhupada. It also has many devotees preaching about the importance of Krishna consciousness. Plays are staged by the youth based on Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita. Interspersed between these are kirtans of ISKCON sung to the accompaniment of Western musical instruments with pop or rock and roll music. But some purists, so-called strict adherents of Srila Prabhupada are objecting to this saying that it is against Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. They are even going to the extent of branding ISKCON Bangalore devotees as deviants and not true followers of Prabhupada.

The so-called strict adherents’ assertions on this issue can be summarized as follows: 

1. We should never have any kirtan at any time by using Rock and Roll, and a true follower of Srila Prabhupada never participates in any such event. 

2. Srila Prabhupada by his personal example demonstrated that it is better to do only traditional kirtans all the time and never use pop or Western style because even in the Mantra Rock Dance he sang kirtans with kartalas.

3. Anybody who is conducting an event with Rock and Roll is deviating from his example and is faithless in his words and is a deviant and not a strict follower of Prabhupada.

4. Srila Prabhupada sung some 50 odd melodies and only those should be sung and nothing else.

5. This is the Vaishnava standard of kirtans and we should strictly follow it and never deviate from this and if we do so we are going away from the Parampara.

6. Pop,  etc., should not be used at all for singing songs related to Krishna

The Mantra-Rock Dance poster by Harvey W. Cohen (created December 1966)

Most of the above assertions by these so-called adherents are assumptions and are not directly mentioned by Prabhupada. On the contrary he himself by his personal example authorized packaging of Krishna conscious content with pop and other forms of musical tunes with a view to attract gross outsiders. These so-called strict Prabhupada adherents are adding words into Prabhupada’s words and actions and interpreting it in a particular way due to their bias. They lack faith in the instructions of the spiritual master. There is a clear precedence in Srila Prabhupada’s action itself to prove that he allowed the usage of POP and other forms of Western music to be part of packaging Krishna conscious kirtans and philosophy to attract gross outsiders, but he also warned that these should not be part of regular temple kirtans and programmes.

The most obvious precedent is the Mantra Rock Dance event:

Source: wikipedia

To raise funds, gain supporters for the new temple, and to popularize Prabhupada's teachings among the hippie and counter-cultural audience of the Haight-Ashbury scene, the team decided to hold a charitable rock concert and invited Prabhupada to attend. Despite his position as a Vaishnava sannyasi and some of his New York followers objecting to what they saw as an inappropriate invitation of their guru to a place full of "amplified guitars, pounding drums, wild light shows, and hundreds of drugged hippies," Prabhupada agreed to travel from New York to San Francisco and take part in the event. Using their acquaintance with Rock Scully, manager of the Grateful Dead, and Sam Andrew, founding member and guitarist of the Big Brother and the Holding Company – who were among the most prominent rock bands in California at the time – Shyamasundar and Gurudas secured their consent to perform for charity at the concert, charging only the "musicians' union minimum" of $250. Malati Dasi happened to hear Moby Grape, a relatively unknown group at the time, and she convinced the other team members to invite the band to play at the concert as well.

After a short address by Prabhupada, Ginsberg sang "Hare Krishna" to the accompaniment of sitar, tambura, and drums, requesting the audience to "Just sink into the sound vibration, and think of peace." Then Prabhupada stood up and led the audience in dancing and singing, as the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Moby Grape joined the chanting and accompanied the mantra with their musical instruments. The audience eagerly responded, playing their own instruments and dancing in circles.

Because of their bias, these purists are forgetting that Srila Prabhupada himself authorized an event called Mantra Rock Dance to be conducted for the purpose of raising funds for the temple and he himself attended it. He did not criticize Allen Ginsberg for singing Hare Krishna Mantra in his own musical tune in mantra rock dance. He did not object to the various musicians playing their instruments accompanying his kirtans in the mantra rock dance event.

Please read the following conversation that took place in Vrindavana on Nov 25th 1976.

Prabhupada: No, no. Not in the temple. If the wordings are all right, so there is no... If there is no mistake in the set-up of the wording, the change of musical tune, that is not harmful.

Gopala Krishna: This one tape that Alex has made, he gave me a copy in Bombay to listen. I just played it...

Prabhupada: Hare Krishna, this vibration, you can make in different tune. We are already doing that.

Hari-sauri: We're talking about these songs that they are writing.

Jagadisa: Philosophy songs.

Prabhupada: And therefore we have to see the words.

Hari Sauri: Like this "caterpillar had a change of heart."

Jagadisha: If the words are all right, then they can be played in the temple?

Gopala Krishna: Because no one can hear the words. It's the pop music that people hear.

Akshyananda: Actually the words are just like modern pop songs. You can't tell really what it means. I suggested to those people. I said, "Why don't you put music to Prabhupada's books? Take the words straight from your..."

Hari Sauri: No, Prabhupada's approved this method for attracting karmis.

Akshyananda: Yes, not for devotees.

Hari Sauri: But the thing is once you become a devotee, we don't need...

Prabhupada: Yes.

Akshyananda: That kind of music also reminds us of past bad activities, sinful activities.

Hari Sauri: The question is whether should it be played in the temple or not?

Prabhupada: Temple may not be played. What is use of playing in the temple?

Gopala Krishna: I know from practical experience, Srila Prabhupada, that... I just played this Alex's record. It's all current pop music with English philosophy wording. And all the brahmacharis were so agitated, they came to my room to listen and they were, you know, really making fun of it like it was a pop...

Akshyananda: Because that style of music it reminds us of the nightclubs or whatever it might be.

Prabhupada: Therefore I said it is better not to make these records.

Gopala Krishna: Just your these records and parampara records should be played, I think. There are so many tapes of your records.

Hari Sauri: This style that they are doing now, they explain that they wanted that because then that way, they'll be able get them played on the radio. Otherwise they won't play bhajans or anything on the radio. But there's a distinction between that kind of music and pure Krishna consciousness music. Even though the words indicate Krishna consciousness, most of the songs are written in such a way that it's indirect. It's not directly Krishna.

Gopala Krishna: But you can't hear the words.

Prabhupada: Yes, indirect.

Hari Sauri: They give this thing, "The caterpillar changed his mind," like that. It provokes some speculation.

Prabhupada: No, indirect for gross outsiders, not for us. Therefore they should not be played in the temple. Gross outsider only.
<Note by Prahlad Das - As we can see in the Bangalore rock band videos above, there are many Brahmacaris & temple devotees dancing along. Are they also "gross outsiders"? And the poster for SANKALP 2014 actually states "ONLY FOR FOLK MEMBERS">

In this conversation, Srila Prabhupada is authorizing the use of POP music to attract gross outsiders by songs composed in English about Krishna conscious philosophy by his disciples. 

ISKCON Bangalore is conducting a programme on New Year’s eve to engage the youth in Krishna Conscious activities  and we are getting budding musicians to  sing our Narasimha kirtan, etc., in POP or Western style to attract “gross outsiders”. Many of these students sing the kirtans in college on their own and it is making them think of Krishna. They would have anyway heard some hard rock. But instead they have been guided to hear about Krishna and we are thus attracting a gross outsider as mentioned by Srila Prabhupada.

This is one of the many events which ISKCON Bangalore is conducting for the youth. We engage the more serious youth in nagar sankirtan, book distribution, cleaning the temple and other services. Many of them eventually take to serious chanting and take initiation and some even join the temple as sevaites.

On the other hand, ISKCON Bangalore is also sensitive to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions that kirtans in the temple are to be standard. The devotees are using instruments authorized by Srila Prabhupada and are singing tunes as per standard in the temple and festivals. In fact the temple has forbidden using Bongos and other instruments in the kirtans and temple related programmes. 

These so-called adherents should see the context of how a particular instruction of Srila Prabhupada was followed rather than going overboard and branding ISKCON Bangalore as a deviant and not a true follower of Srila Prabhupada.

Hare Krishna. (Bharatarshabha Dasa)
http://iskcontimes.com/kirtans-with-western-music#comment-52083

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The Prabhupada quotes Bharatarshabha Dasa / ISKCON Bangalore / FOLK Jaipur deleted and refused to publish: http://padaproblems.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/srila-prabhupada-kirtan-standards.html