Role of the Kirtan Leader

Q.
Dear Bada Haridas,
I led my first kirtan yesterday evening! I was wondering what is the role of the kirtan leader? I know that practically speaking they are playing an instrument and singing the mantra for the group to repeat, but what is their job spiritually?

I felt a little bit nervous to take on the task at first and was wondering if you could share some of your wisdom in that regard. Hare Krishna!

A.
Glad to hear you are leading kirtan. Thank you for asking such a nice question and for taking it so seriously. (Serious doesn’t mean it’s not blissful!)

We could speak about kirtan for a long time. There’s way more to it than it may seem. Briefly, the kirtan leader’s role is to help people connect with Krishna and you can’t do that if you’re not connected. So really the focus is internal. Try to be present in the moment, hearing attentively, sincerely calling out, asking for service and purification, singing for Krishna’s pleasure, thinking of the Lord, and begging for mercy. Chanting is all about re-establishing our relationship with the Lord.

As the kirtan leader it is best to be in the mood of serving the devotees. When Krishna is pleased, as Supersoul within their hearts, He pleases them, and that’s how we serve them. It’s not a show, or a performance.

Srila Prabhupada wrote, “The principle of chanting is to glorify the Lord and not to attract a crowd. If Krishna hears nicely then He will ask some sincere devotee to gather in such a place.” Letter to Subala, November 12, 1967.

Another important thing to remember is that a good kirtan happens by the mercy of the Holy Name alone. We can’t “make it happen.” We can sincerely call out (like a child crying for it’s mother) but it’s up to Him if He will appear or remain hidden. We have to try our best to serve, but we’re completely dependent on His mercy. So kirtan is a dynamic process of experiencing Krishna’s reciprocation in different ways. It’s never the same twice. It’s a discovery process.

Still, the more we actually love Krishna, the more He will want to come to us during kirtan.

One practical point: Try to sing melodies that are fairly easy for people to repeat. At the same time, try to make it musically pleasing and appropriate for the crowd and the circumstance.

Hope this helps. Thank you again. All the best. Hare Krsna!

Your servant,
Bada Haridas

Adi-Rasa - The original love.

I listed to a powerful lecture on Adi-Rasa by HG Urmila Mataji. Thank you for this lecture mataji, this is so powerful. In fact I was there the first time you taught it at NV FOI :)

II encourage everyone to hear the lecture here: https://youtu.be/MTV05xQtTLQ. Also mataji's website is - www.urmiladevidasi.org

Some reflections from the lecture:
Understanding what adi-rasa is and how the jiva by uniting Radha Krsna (by changing the Hare Krsna Maha mantra) experiences it. Now I understand how both the process and the goal are the same. The Goal is to please Krishna. How Krsna is happy? When united with Radha Rani, the pleasure potency. How can we unite them? When we chant the HK mantra, both Radha and Krsna are united and are dancing together on our tongue. The pleasure we get when we see Krsna pleased is adi-rasa.

I was trying to think of this with the co-relation to book distribution and why Srila Prabhupada stressed so much on book distribution. He actually said, Book Distribution is my heart and our main business!

In the CC, it is said Srimati Radha Rani is the tree and the Gopis are like the leaves. Srimati Radha Rani got more pleasure uniting the Gopis to Krsna than her being with Krsna. Seeing this mood, Krsna got more pleasure and in turn Radha rani got more pleasure. It's so deep, I can't even imagine.

So similarly, when we distribute books and spread this message to bring new jiva souls closer to Krsna, Krsna becomes pleased, that we are bringing more souls closer to Him. Seeing Him getting pleased, we feel pleased and that is Adi- Rasa. The pleasure we feel after sex, is momentary, but the pleasure we derive from the bhakti yoga process is permanent and it keeps increasing.The original love.

Other points I liked from the lecture:

1. The gross body fits around the mind. Based on the mind we have, the way we want to enjoy separately from Krsna, we get a particular body (ant body, dolphin body, human body etc.) It's a gross manifestation of our desires in our mind!
2. Krsna is the spiritual cupid and Pradyumna, Krsna's son is the material cupid.
3. They are so similar and hence, we get confused between our spiritual and material desires.
4. So how to convert our lust back to love - by the Bhakti Yoga process.
5. We can't kill it, because it is part of our spiritual body.
6. We cannot kill our desires, but we need to purify our desire to please Krsna by serving Krsna - devotional service. Devotional and service.
7. We need to have devotion and perform service to please Krsna.
8. All our devotional service is meant to spark our desire - "YES WE WANT Krsna", we want to please Krsna.
9. We need to tax our brain not for our material advancement but tax our brain - how can I please Krsna, how can I please Krsna!
10. There is so much to do, we just need to absorb our mind with desire and emotion.
11. We need to get the real experience - don't just lick the outside of the honey jar. We could be in the KC movement, but we could just do it as a ritual but we need to go deep into our practices, try to please Krsna with everything we do with devotion.
12. It's a gradual process - bhakti yoga.
13. As we gradually convert lust into love, we start getting a higher taste, but as we are doing this process, we still have a lot of material taste which we need to deal with still.
14. Two way to deal with the remaining material lust during the devotional bhakti process as we are converting our lust to love:
15. Krsna is very kind - Even though we have stolen this and are trying to enjoy the pleasure potency on our own, He isn't envious and allows us to enjoy. He knows we aren't suited to enjoy separately like this. So even though K allows us to enjoy on our own, he connected it to reproduction. In the spiritual world even though everyone is eternally experiencing this adi-rasa by uniting Radha and Krsna, it doesn't result in birth. By birth, we get responsibility and that is sacrifice. Sacrifice to Wife, kids etc. The all pervading transcendence is eternally situated in the acts of sacrifice. So Krsna is so kind, that even though we have pleasure momentarily, we still end up in doing some sacrifice.
16. Sexual energy is - Connection(yoga);pleasure(ananda); creation(kriya-sakti); life(sat);vitality(virya)

So how to we convert Lust to Love:

1. Celibacy or Renounced Life: From Ayurveda - semen is the last dhatu formed out of majja or marrow. From food rasa is manufacture, from rasa comes rakta or blood, from blood comes flesh, from flesh comes fat from fat comes marrow and then semen. These are the 7 dhatus. Semen nourishes the body, heart and intellect.

One drop of semen is made from many drops of blood. When we waste our semen, its similar to wasting our blood. Maya devi tries to suck our blood when we waste our semen.

The celibate is supposed to rais the semina to the brain, not discharge it but keep it on the brain. ojas and tejas.

"Celibates are meant to bring the butter into the fire of their own sacrifice in their brain. When butter is put into fire it becomes ghee. The ghee is the love for the entire world, trying to bring them closer to Krsna and also its meant to study the philosophy and creativity. Creative means and tax brains on how to preach this KC movement. Use this energy to use for the purpose of preaching Krsna to everyone."

In a nutshell - bring semen up to the brain, preach KC to everyone, helping the world, read scriptures and use energy in spreading KC to everyone.

2. Married life - sex>children>responsibility>yajna. When sex is performed with scriptural injunctions it's Krsna and there is no sin. It's like prasadam. ghee of marriage is the kids and the reciprocation of service and love between husband and wife in the ideal of a household life.

K says in the BG: "If you offer sacrifice in everything you do, then you will achieve liberation." Grahastas are meant to procrate and also share wealth to spreading KC movement. 

But when we refuse to do any sacrifice, then everything is thrown away.

Whether you are in Brahmacharya or Grahasta, its still external, it's just a way to manage our material lust and transform it into love for Krsna, for Krsna's pleasure.

If we are chanting properly with attention, then we are uniting Krsna with His pleasure potency and providing him pleasure. Seeing him pleased we experience Adi-Rasa or Spiritual pleasure potency. This taste is eternal and always increasing and not temporary.

But when we refuse to do any sacrifice, then everything is thrown away.

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Whether you are in Brahmacharya or Grahasta, its still external, it's just a way to manage our material lust and transform it into love for Krsna, for Krsna's pleasure.

If we are chanting properly with attention, then we are uniting Krsna with His pleasure potency and providing him pleasure. Seeing him pleased we experience Adi-Rasa or Spiritual pleasure potency. This taste is eternal and always increasing and not temporary.