From a recent seminar on Kirtan Standards.
Bhaktimarga Swami: “I am going to Montreal on Monday, June 3rd, and if I find Montreal quite suitable, I shall call you and some other students to assemble there to practice Sankirtana in a systematic way. Of course, chanting Hare Krishna does not require any artificial artistic sense, but still, if the procedure is presented rhythmically, then the people may be attracted more by the transcendental music.” (Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Upendra, June 1, 1968)
“Within these Vaisnava standards which I have put forward lies the spiritual strength of our movement.” (Srila Prabhupada, Letter to Sudama, February 16, 1973)
This is the Hare Krishna movement. Thus we are meant to move.
At 26 Second Avenue, Srila Prabhupada was very liberal in allowing visitors to bring whatever instruments they had to play along with the kirtana.
We are trying to reach out and include as many people as we can.
Harmoniums were created by Germans in the 1800s, but the Indians really took to them, like with the British tea.
Comment by Candramauli Swami: Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that the qualification for leading kirtana is trinad api sunicena … [humility and tolerance]
Smiling is important. All of the deities in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition smile. When Krishna hears of Arjuna’s depression, He is still smiling.
Comment by Siddhanta Prabhu: Mukunda asked Srila Prabhupada if he had any last instructions about preaching in England when he sent the three couples there in 1968. Srila Prabhupada told the story of the Charlie Chaplin film in which Chaplin dances so enthusiastically, though his coattails were ripped by a prankster, that others follow him by ripping their own coattails and dancing wildly, considering it a new fashion.
Lokanath Swami says, “Dancing is what makes the sankirtana complete.”
Comment by Candramauli Swami: When you dance, you connect more and more with the spirit of the kirtana.
Srila Prabhupada chanted at a speed that everyone could get into it from the beginning.
Respect the instruments. Have the instruments ready for the beginning of the kirtana. Play them from the beginning to the end. Have a nice place for them. Learn to play them properly.
It would be nice if our dress was more uniform.
It is good to have a few plain-clothed devotees on harinama to encourage onlookers to take part.
Srila Prabhupada did not give us haribol. When devotees went to India in 1974, they picked it up.
Srila Prabhupada was totally against “jaya gurudeva” and “jagat guru.”
An occasional “haribol” or “jaya sacinandana” is not the problem. The problem is introducing it as a regular part of the kirtana.
“But there is no harm chanting ‘Radhe.’ But sometimes it is degraded to make something new, invention. Therefore better to stick to ‘Hare Krishna’ and to ‘Sri- Krishna Caitanya Prabhupada-Nityananda.’ Otherwise … Just like the sahajiyas, they have invented: ‘Nitai-Gaura Radhe Syama, Hare Krishna Hare Rama.’ These things will come gradually. But they are not approved. They are called chara kirtana, means ‘concocted kirtana.’ But there is no harm chanting ‘Radhe, Nitai-Gaura.’ So better stick to this Pañca-tattva, and maha-mantra. Just like ‘Nitai Gaura Radhe Syama, Hare Krishna Hare Rama.’ There is ‘Nitai-Gaura, Radhe Syama,’ but it is not approved. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We have to follow the mahajana. In Caitanya-caritamrita you’ll find ‘Sri-Krishna-Caitanya Prabhu-Nityananda, Sri-Advaita Gadadhara…,’ never ‘Nitai Gaura, Radhe Syama.’ So why should we do that?” (Morning Walk, Mayapur, April 8, 1975)
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Excerpted from the latest entry of Krishna Kripa Prabhu’s Diary, Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk: https://goo.gl/6Mjmis