Hare Krsna mantra should or should not be loudly chanted in kirtan?

[Guest guest]

HG Vaiyasaki Prabhu writes:

 

> He cited the Caitanya Bhagavat as pramana. I asked him to

> show me the sloka as I know Bengali. The word in question was nirbandha

> which he said meant 'silently'. I suggested nirbandha meant without

> stopping and I broke the word down etymologically. 'Nir' means without,

> and 'bandha' means to stop. I gave the example that when there is a bandh

> in the city all work stops, like a strike. He gave me a quizzical look and

> said nirbandha could also mean that but in this case it meant without

> sound.

 

We have to understand the mind of Lord Caitanya from the acaryas. I hope

Kapoorji accepts the authority of Thakura Bhaktivinoda, his guru's guru's

guru. Thakura Bhaktivinoda explains the meaning of 'nirbandha' in

Hari-nama-cintamani:

 

>From Caitanya Bhagavata:

 

prabhu bole-harin€ma ei mah€mantra

ih€ japa giy€ sabe kariy€ nirbandha

ih€ haite sarva-siddhi haibe sab€ra

sarvakaŠa bala ithe vidhi n€hi €ra

 

[LC here instructs everyone to chant a minimum of one nirbandha which is

explained by Thakura Bhaktivinoda to be equal to 64 rounds. Chanting in a

'nirbandha' will give us sarva-siddhi according to Lord Caitanya.]

 

>From Hari-nama-cintamani:

 

c€rib€ra m€l€ phirile eka grantha haya.

eka grantha niyama kariya kramaah vddhi

karite karite 16 granthe eka laka n€ma nirbandha haibe.

Samasta purvamah€janagaŠa prabhura ei €dea p€lana kariya sarvasiddhi l€bha

kariy€chilena.

 

Translation

 

BVT explains that four rounds=1 granthi, 16 granthis=1 nirbandha. He says

that all the previous acaryas have emphasized that following this order of

Mahaprabhu to chant mininmum one nirbandha will give us sarva-siddhi.

 

Besides that Kapoorji's argument can be refuted by the song of Thakura

Bhaktivinoda, Sri Nama from his most beautiful composition Gitavali:

 

g€y gor€ madhur sware

hare kŠa hare kŠa kŠa kŠa hare hare

hare r€ma hare r€ma r€ma r€ma hare hare

 

(1) Lord Gaurasundara sings in a very sweet voice, Hare KŠa, Hare KŠa,

KŠa KŠa, Hare Hare/ Hare R€ma, Hare R€ma, R€ma R€ma, Hare Hare.

 

How can Kapoorji refuse to accept the authority of this song which is the

composition of his guru's father? And how can Bhaktisiddhanta propogate

something which is exactly opposite of what is maha-bhagavata father Thakura

Bhaktivinoda taught and what Srila Rupa Goswami & Srila Prabodhananda

Sarasvati taught:

 

Cc Madhya 7.37 purport:

 

In addition to other duties, ®r… Caitanya Mah€prabhu introduced the system

of chanting the holy name of the Lord a fixed number of times daily, as

confirmed in this verse (tom€ra dui hasta baddha n€ma-gaŠane). Caitanya

Mah€prabhu used to count on His fingers. While one hand was engaged in

chanting, the other hand kept the number of rounds. This is corroborated in

the Caitanya-candr€mta and also in ®r…la R™pa Gosv€m…’s Stava-m€l€:

 

badhnan prema-bhara-prakampita-karo granth…n ka˜…-dorakaiƒ

sa‰khy€tuˆ nija-loka-ma‰gala-hare-kŠeti n€mn€ˆ japan

(Caitanya-candr€mta 16)

 

hare kŠety uccaiƒ sphurita-rasano n€ma-gaŠan€-

kta-granthi-reŠ…-subhaga-ka˜i-s™trojjvala-karaƒ

(Prathama-caitany€˜aka 5)

 

----------------------

 

>From the first verse from the Caitanya-candramrta by Srila Prabhodananda

Sarasvati we see that Lord Caitanya was doing japa of the Hare Krsna

maha-mantra a fixed no. of times. From the second verse from Rupa Goswami's

Prathama-caitanyastaka we see that the japa he was counting and chanting

loudly ***"UCCAIH"****. So if Lord Caitanya was doing his japa (of Hare

Krsna) itself loudly why can't you have loud kirtan. Lord Caitanya was doing

loud kirtan also as confirmed by Thakura Bhaktivinoda. So Dr. OBL Kapoor's

statement that loud kirtan of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra has been disallowed

by Lord Caitanya by the use of the word 'nirbandha' is unfounded and has no

sastric basis whatsoever.

 

Infact in Chaitanya Bhagavata itself it has been described that Haridasa

Thakura was loudly chanting the maha-mantra and an arrogant brahmana forbade

him to do so and it was then that Haridasa Thakura quoted the verse that

loud chanting is 100 times more powerful than silent chanting. There are

many other instances & verses which can be quoted. Someday I want write a

paper with all the proof against this statement that the maha-mantra should

not be loudly chanted. I personally feel that silent chanting is for very

very advanced devotees and that also they do it sometimes. I have seen the

devotees who do not move even their lips while chanting. Many of them appear

very morose throughout the day, don't look very inspired, get deviated

easily, associate with the opposite sex etc. This is just an observation.

 

> In Vrindavan one time, I mentioned to Dr OBL Kapoor that this was not a

> bona fide mantra and he answered that it was not a mantra, it was a song

> that instructed us to worship Radha Govinda and Gaura Nitai, and to chant

> japa of the maha mantra.

 

I thought Bhaktisiddhanta said that bhaja nitai-gaura radhe shyam is a

rasabhasa because they are including Nityananda Prabhu's Name in the same

line as Radhe Shyam. Bhaktisiddhanta did not say that it was song but

considered it a man-made, chora nama:

 

"Sarasvati Thakura also told his disciples: "You should make a written

notice and put it on every tree in every village, that this Nitai Gaura

Radhe Syam is not a proper mantra, and is apasiddhantic. This is man-made,

chora nama (not mentioned by any acarya). The real mantra is Hare Krsna Hare

Krsna..."

 

"Another chant popular in Bengal and Orissa was "Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu

Nityananda, Hare Krsna Hare Rama, Sri Radhe Govinda," which was not objected

to by Sarasvati Thakura, though he never chanted it himself. He never said

that this was rasa bhasa, saying that Nitai Gaura Radhe Syam was rasa bhasa,

as they put Nitai Gaura and Radhe Syam in one line together, whereas the

Hare Krsna Hare Rama, Sri Radhe Govinda is on a separate line."

 

>From Bhakti Vikasa Swami's notes on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

 

Your servant,

Nayana-rañjana d€sa