Kirtana Guidelines

Locanananda Prabhu, New York: All glories to Sri Krishna Sankirtana! I would like to thank Isvara Prabhu for reading my interview and for posting his comments on Sampradaya Sun. I was very happy to see his enthusiasm to engage in the congregational chanting of the Holy Name. This is the prime benediction and the yuga dharma. There is no method recommended for self-realization in the Kali yuga other than to chant the names of God.

I can identify with Isvara Prabhu’s leaning toward the djembe. What he said about me is true, that today I am an old man, but it wasn’t always so. Before joining the movement at age twenty-two, I was an accomplished musician and played in both the New York Symphony Orchestra and the Maynard Ferguson Jazz Institute as a guest soloist. But when I became a devotee, I understood I had to dovetail my God-given talent in Krishna’s service by playing musical instruments like the harmonium and mrdanga, instruments favored by Srila Prabhupada to help spread the Krishna consciousness movement.

Everyone is raised in a particular culture, but Srila Prabhupada taught us to especially appreciate the uniqueness of Indian culture. Since the time of creation, Indian culture has been a spiritual culture, and the real message of Indian culture is Krishna consciousness. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission was to spread the original Indian culture, or Vedic culture, throughout the world and that mission was executed by Srila Prabhupada, at first single-handedly, but later with the assistance of his thousands of disciples.

Two of the essential components of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Sankirtana movement are the mrdanga and karatalas. Srila Prabhupada mentioned these particular instruments in a beautiful letter written to Gaurasundara on June 2, 1969:

“This kirtana, chanting and speaking of Krishna, is the sure and certain method of propagating Krishna consciousness, and we have already so much experience in all of our centers that if we simply chant Hare Krishna with karatalas and mrdanga, and if we speak from Bhagavad-gita just as we have heard it coming down from the disciplic succession, then automatically the people become attracted.”

“If we simply chant Hare Krishna with karatalas and mrdanga.” This is the success formula for spreading Krishna consciousness. Of course, it is true that Srila Prabhupada introduced the harmonium which blended perfectly with the other instruments to accompany the chant, but that was his prerogative as the Founder-Acarya. We should not think it is also our prerogative to permanently add new elements to kirtana, especially when there is evidence that Srila Prabhupada would not have agreed.

Now the djembe drum has become particularly popular, but it has not been around since the beginning of time, as Isvara prabhu would have us believe. It is originally the drum of the Mandinka people and dates back to the great Mali Empire of the 12th century. The wood from which the djembe was traditionally carved was “dimba,” or devil wood. This information is not my fabrication. It is taken from Wikipedia and other Web sites where djembe drums are advertised for sale by mail order. It is true that the djembe is used in various celebrations in Africa, but not always for the glory of God. In Senegal, the drum is played during the “Sabar” dance, performed by single women of marital age to entice the males of the tribe.

The question of whether to allow the use of other instruments in kirtana came up on several occasions, and Srila Prabhupada’s instructions are quite clear. In a letter to Rupanuga, he wrote: “Regarding instruments for temple kirtanas, karatala and mrdanga are sufficient. There is no need of other instruments.” (dated 2-2-75)

In a conversation on August 15, 1971, Srila Prabhupada said, “As far as possible, simply mrdanga and karatala.”

It is true, as Isvara Prabhu says, that before the first mrdangas arrived from India, Srila Prabhupada played a bongo drum to accompany his earliest outdoor kirtana performances. On his first album produced in New York by Alan Kallman, however, Srila Prabhupada played a mrdanga that was borrowed from a guest, not a bongo drum as Isvara Prabhu claims. The harmonium played on the album was borrowed from Allen Ginsberg. If anyone wants to know just how excited Srila Prabhupada was when the first mrdanga arrived from India, please read the foreword to the Science of Self-Realization written by Mukunda Maharaja.

In a letter to Krishna dasa, His Divine Grace wrote, “So both mrdanga and Back to Godhead is our life and soul.” (dated 2-13-69)

And in a letter to Bahudak, he explained “Regarding the instruments, stringed instruments are Vedic, but the real Vedic instrument is mrdanga and karatala.” (dated 11-10-75)

So some stringed instruments are Vedic and can be used to attract people to Krishna consciousness, but they must blend nicely with the other instruments. Srila Prabhupada spoke about traveling with a world sankirtana party and said the group would include a tamboura player. In another letter, he ordered a wooden Maharastrian mrdangam.

Isvara prabhu says he is sure Lord Caitanya would have made use of the djembe if it had been available in India at the time, but I disagree. There are many other kinds of Indian drums that were being played during the time of Lord Caitanya, but His kirtana party did not make use of any of them. Why would Lord Caitanya want to drown out the sweet sound of the mrdanga with a djembe when its sound is as auspicious as the sound of Krishna’s flute? Of course, if there is no mrdanga drum available, some other percussion instrument may be substituted, but nowadays, that is rarely the case. And if two mrdanga drums are played, Srila Prabhupada said they should be equal, meaning of equal loudness, tuned together, and playing the same beat. He said that only a few different drum beats should be played so as not to distract from the focus on chanting. I may be mistaken, but I do not think the djembe players can play simple mrdanga beats, and that would automatically cause even more distraction.

Isvara prabhu is very concerned about inspiring the younger generation of devotees to dance in kirtana, while I am concerned with keeping all generations of devotees inspired to take part in kirtana. I cannot begin to tell you how many complaints we have received in connection with these non-Vedic drums. I also cannot remember us ever having a problem inspiring young people to dance to the beat of the mrdanga. To illustrate, just take a look at our YouTube clip entitled “Hare Krishna Explosion at Times Square.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA40nHG13lQ&hl

I recently came across a conversation that took place in Bombay on December 26, 1976, where Srila Prabhupada was discouraging the use of instruments that require one to focus too much on playing a melody, thus diverting one’s attention away from the chanting of Hare Krishna:

“Our concentration should be hearing Hare Krishna. That is bhakti. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, simply this karatala, khola (mrdanga), that’s all. In those days…. Of course, there was no harmonium, but many stringed instruments were there. Sitar, esaraja, but these things were not used. Sometimes we do use to attract, but it is not required.”

Srila Prabhupada did at one time consider whether to allow someone who was a very expert musician to play some other instrument in kirtana, but he said we have to judge whether it might detract from the principle of hearing and chanting the Holy Name. I would say that the most definitive instruction on this matter was contained in a letter written to Jagadisa Pandita on December 12, 1974:

“My opinion is that it is not necessary for us to utilize these different musical talents for spreading Krishna consciousness. I would rather see people follow strictly the path of Lord Caitanya and His Sankirtana devotees. We are using mrdanga, karatalas, that is enough. We are not musicians. We are Krishna 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 Krishna consciousness by another way, He would have done so. But no, simply with mrdanga and karatala, traveling and chanting Hare Krishna, asking everyone to chant Hare Krishna, 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. Therefore, I request you to follow the simple path of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and help me spread this wonderful mission all over the world.”

These words should be our guiding light in this regard: “There is no need for us to try and add anything to this simple method. It will only be a distraction…. Simply with mrdanga and karatala.”

Devotees all come from one culture or another, but who can say their culture is so rich that it should be given to the whole world? Or that their culture has been around since the time of creation? As followers of Srila Prabhupada, we must now act as the guardians of Vedic culture. Because the chanting of Hare Krishna is at the very heart of our movement, based upon all of the above references, I believe we must be very careful not to disturb anyone’s focus on chanting by adding elements from any culture other than Vedic culture. That is not our prerogative, and it is not ordained by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Let us instead become more and more dedicated to propagating the Sankirtana movement as it has been practiced since the time of Lord Caitanya, following the guidelines enunciated by Srila Prabhupada, who is the spiritual master of the Hare Krishna movement.

New York, May 17 2009