{"id":8642,"date":"2010-07-15T06:04:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T05:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8642"},"modified":"2010-07-15T06:05:50","modified_gmt":"2010-07-15T05:05:50","slug":"lusty-for-bhajans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8642","title":{"rendered":"Lusty for Bhajans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ishvari Devi Dasi: In my entries Slaughtering Chastity<\/a> and Twilight of Destruction<\/a>, I wrote about some experiences that led me to lose my higher taste for chanting the holy names of Krishna. <\/p>\n

Chanting, the essence of our education, means three things: japa, kirtan and bhajans. Actually, kirtan and bhajans are both harinama sankirtan – congregational chanting – but devotees usually make a distinction between kirtan and bhajans. They classify kirtan as the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamatra and bhajans as the chanting of devotional songs. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the holy names, but I feel this is often misunderstood as a license to engage in inappropriate or sinful behavior while chanting. <\/p>\n

As we all know, there are ten offenses to the holy name. “The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification.” (SB 2.1.11) This is a basic rule for chanting that must not be ignored. Yet, young devotees join bhajan groups and mingle freely among the sexes. It seems as if chanting were motivated by lust to the opposite (or the same) sex instead of love to the holy name, judging by the Bollywood style of dressing, sensual way of singing, and the things they do after the chanting is over. They shamelessly disregard Srila Prabhupada’s words in this regard. “Social freedom of man and woman, especially among the younger section, is certainly a great stumbling block on the path of spiritual progress.” (SB 3.12.28 Purport) <\/p>\n

The other day I watched the Kuli MeLA 2009 DVD. I’m still processing the information, but I can say that it left a very negative impression on me. Everything there looked so banal and vulgar that I cannot accept it as devotional service. They imitated Hollywood’s degradation and did a great job! It seemed as if the gurukulis were enacting their revenge for the horrors many underwent at ISKCON’s gurukulas. <\/p>\n

I can understand the history of child abuse is regrettable and sad – especially when many of the child abusers are still honored as saints – but if we are trying to be devotees, then we must correct our behavior and be an example to other youth. I am also concerned with the proliferation of pictures on Facebook that show devotees engaging in illicit conduct like drinking, smoking, partying almost naked, and much more. Even karmis can behave in a moral way, but these “devotees” show no modesty. What’s even worse is that many of these devotees are famous youth kirtaniyas, and thus set a bad example to other young devotees trying to genuinely understand our philosophy. If we cannot abstain from certain activities, at least we can keep them to ourselves as a matter of social and spiritual responsibility. <\/p>\n

To be honest, I admit a certain attraction to bhajan groups, but the lower taste of these lusty bhajans must be rejected. They remind me of the atmosphere of sex, drugs, and alcohol during the time with my mother. and I want something better for my life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ishvari Devi Dasi: In my entries Slaughtering Chastity and Twilight of Destruction, I wrote about some experiences that led me to lose my higher taste for chanting the holy names of Krishna. Chanting, the essence of our education, means three things: japa, kirtan and bhajans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}