Diving Into Kirtana With Swamiji

Swamiji says, “Let us have kirtana,” and he starts playing the drum.  He sings solo for quite a few minutes.  He begins with “vande’haṁ” and builds up.  You become a little anxious, hoping that the guests won’t go away.  If they can just wait, everything will be great.  But even if they don’t like it, it’s great.  Finally the Swami begins to sing the Hare Krishna mantra.  We look up to him and sing in response, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

The room is filled with the kirtana, with no energy left over for anything else.  Most of the guests are singing.  By giving yourself to the singing, you go out of yourself.  Swamiji says this is cosmic consciousness.  You can do it without taking any drugs.  Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.  We chant, then Swamiji chants.  His head moves slightly from side to side.  He has very nice fingernails, cuticles, half-moons, and you can see all that as he plays, his hands and fingers working on the drum while he sings.

After the kirtana, there is a transition before he starts to speak.  As people quiet down, he opens the book and starts.  But some people leave because they don’t want to hear the philosophy.  The mood becomes intellectual philosophy, argument, spiritual knowledge.  Swamiji explains that the chanting is Krishna, and Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  It’s all described in Bhagavad-gita.  As he speaks, everything becomes clear and defined: Sri Krishna is the Supreme Person according to the previous acaryas.  “Krishna,” “Vrindavana”, “Goloka,” “Bhagavad-gita” – everything is explained.

I faithfully heard, believing in what he said.  Accepting the arguments I tried to grasp the philosophy, the language; although sometimes missing the finer points. 

Krishna consciousness was substantial knowledge.  It could be reached only by devotion.  There were glimpses – that you could actually obtain pure bhakti and live forever with Lord Krishna.  The Swami explained things which no one else talked about; that life is filled with problems and miseries that no one can solve: birth, death, disease and old age … The atma is free and you don’t die.  We were sharing and accepting what he said.  I couldn’t directly experience much of it, but when he said, “It is such a nice thing” – we all respected that he was in an elevated consciousness beyond us.  He was a self-realized soul.  He was far-out because he had so much devotion and realization of Krishna.  And that was the difference between us.