This is not your ordinary kirtan. This is an extra-ordinary kirtan, meaning to say a kirtan outside the usual kirtan norms. At 7.12 minutes or so for example, it produces a fabulous rhythm that one cannot resist. One is literally forced to join. The pull of this kirtan is irresistible. What an incredible swing!!! And Maharaja goes into ecstasy. When no one or few only would turn up at kirtans, Srila Prabhupada used to console the devotees and say: “Did you not see the demigods like Lord Brahma and big personalities like Narada Muni attending the kirtan? Did you not see them?” I personally admit frankly that I don’t see them, but I trust the wise words and superior vision of my Spiritual Master and I am sure that this particular kirtan was also visited by great invisible personalities from the higher realm. Many people also under-assess themselves in the matter of mystic experience, especially in relation with the practice of Krishna consciousness which is so eeeeeeeasy!!! One can practice Krishna consciousness by eating, one can practice Krishna consciousness by singing and one can practice Krishna consciousness by dancing also. As Srila Prabhupada in His transcendental joly mood used to challenge: “Where is the difficulty?….. It is simply a transcendental recreational system.” Good kirtans attract and this is a very good kirtan. Sometimes, when I am out on book distribution, this particular kirtan, its melody and intensity automatically come to mind. This is, for me at least, the sign of a quality kirtan. And the solos and their tremolos are just catching us like a whirlwind and carry one to the eternal realms of ever blissfulness.. So is the enthusiasm of these Lithuanian devotees! All glories the Lithuanian Krishna Yatra!!! My brand new MacBook Pro, 16 inch, also helps as it produces superior sound.

The leader of this group is also an extra-ordinary devotee, outside the norms of ordinary devotional service, His Holiness BB Govinda Swami of USA. He is in the renounced order of life, a most prestigious position. Why prestigious? Because he is the controller of his senses. The senses do not control him. According to Bhagavad Gita, version 3, chapter 2, verse 58, the ideal of sense control is exhibited by the tortoise:

“One who is able to withdraw his senses from the sense objects, as the tortoise withdraws its limbs within the shell is to be understood as fixed up in his consciousness.”

In the purport, version 3, of the same verse Srila Prabhupada further explains:

“The test of a yogi, devotee, or self-realized soul is that he must be able to control the senses according to his plan and not be the servant of the senses and thus be directed by the dictation of the senses. That is the answer to the question as to how the yogi is situated. The senses are compared to venomous serpents and want to act very loosely, without any restriction. Like a snake charmer, the yogi, or the devotee must be very strong to ever control the serpents. The senses should never be allowed to act independently. There are many injunctions in the revealed scriptures and some of them are do-not’s and some of them are do’s. Unless one is able to follow the do’s and the do-not’s restricting oneself from sense enjoyment, it is not possible for one to fix the mind in Krishna consciousness. The best example set in here is the tortoise. The tortoise can at any moment wind up the business of the senses, and at any time it can exhibit the senses for a particular purpose. The senses of the Krishna conscious persons are used only for some particular purpose in the service of the Lord. Arjuna is being taught herewith to use his senses for the service of the Lord, and not use his senses for his own satisfaction. To keep the senses always in the service of the Lord is the example set by the analogy of the tortoise, who keeps the senses within. “

I met His Holiness some years ago at the New Govardhana, Murwillumbah, NSW, Festival Sacred Sound Kirtan Retreat, Australia, and we chatted. Then suddenly and bluntly, American style, he dropped an artillery shell so to say. He vibrated the following mantra: ” I am a dog”. To be blunt, uncompromising and forthright is often of advantage. One gets to the essence of things very quickly and clears up the matter in seconds. No time wasted here.

But the real question here is what did the HH BB Govinda Swami mean to say? Do we have to take him literally? Please be careful here and to take it literally would amount to a serious offence at the holy feet a truly modern saint. His statement can be interpreted in various ways. In any case, he certainly deserves our unreserved thousandfold dandavats or obeisances.

But what it really means is that in his great wisdom, the Swami is endeavouring to meticulously trying to keep his sense under control at every second of the day. There is a special designation for this type of life. I’ll have to research it. I suspect it can be found in the Nectar of Instruction. That’s why he is honoured as a Swami, the top most position in human society. We are constantly being bombarded by messages of sense gratification and we have to say NO. HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, now departed, summed it up once for me and I still thank him very much for his precious and kind association of a few seconds only (lava matra). His simple but powerful mantra was “I just say NO”. It truly represented a new hint how to say NO to the roaming mind and a new direction in my own life. On the basis of the input of the senses such as the eye and ears etc …the mind will make various suggestion for sense gratification and this is what HH Kadamba Kanana Swami says NO to. I may reveal here another intimate and glorious details about HH Kadamba Kanana Maharaja that at Brisbane Rathayatra, he once asked me to support him from under his arms. We were old acquaintances. He was so exhausted from global travel and Krishna service that he feared to collapse on the spot at any time. All glories to His Holiness Kadamba Kanana Swami and disciples, who sacrificed his everything for Krishna service !!! All glories to Saint Kadamba Kanana Swami!

Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 22.54

sadhu-sanga’, ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

Word for word rendition

sadhu-sanga sadhu-sanga — association with pure devotees; sarva-sastre — all the revealed scriptures; kaya — say; lava-matra — even for a moment; sadhu-sange — by association with a devotee; sarva-siddhi — all success; haya — there is.

TRANSLATION

The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.

Melodious music attracts the mind, whether it be a Chinese military band as described in the previous posting or this wonderful Krishna kirtan. But what is the difference? Both make us feel happy and exhilarant and we may dance at the sound of both. So what is the difference? Can we perceive the difference? Is there a measuring machine that will indicate the difference: saying this is material sound and this is a spiritual sound, some kind of a Geiger counter for spiritual radiations? Empirical approach to spiritual matters is pretty much a hopeless endeavour because there is a fundamental incompatibility between spirit and matter . So no, there is no such machine! So how do we know what is what? We know from Shastra or Holy Scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita As It Is and Srimad Bhagavatam by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He is the bona fide and empowered world teacher in spiritual matters . We accept the authority of Shastra. So a little faith is required. Faith in the authenticity of Shastra and faith in Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada confirms this in BGAII Chapter 2 where He states that there is no other way to know about the soul but through Vedic scriptures. Instead of indulging in “the hidden delights” of the flesh, the wise cultivates the science of self realisation by realising a higher taste and is thus not interested in the realm of enjoyment of the materialists. Enjoying the urinals, or pleasure centred on the urinals, either lingam or yoni, yuck!!! (urinals in the sense that where urine comes from and not in the sense where urine is deposited as my Mac book Pro Oxford dictionary suggests.)

One such self realised soul is Yamunacarya.

{In reference to the low-grade happiness of sex life, Yamunacarya says in this connection:

yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde
nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit
tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane
bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca

“Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krsna, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure, I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.” Yamunacarya had formerly been a great king who enjoyed sexual happiness in various ways, but since he later engaged himself in the service of the Lord, he enjoyed spiritual bliss and hated to think of sex life. If sexual thoughts came to him, he would spit with disgust.} Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.45