Mangala arotik

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharaj's, Prabhus, bhaktas...

 

>From the nature of the question itself, the style of the presentation and

the vocabulary, the questioner who asked:

 

> Could someone please post the scriptural significance of performing/

> attending mangala aarti.

 

was, to me obviously a typical new, or newish, devotee wanting to know some

of the historical background of this arotik in ISKCON as well as something

about its spiritual significance. While the answer by Sriman Atul Krishna

das is certainly interesting to someone who might possess some qualification

to understand and discuss the subject of rasa and raghanuga bhakti, in a

public forum in an institution such as ISKCON, directed as it is to the

people in general, it was not an appropriate response. As a member of ISKCON

for more than thirty years I would like therefore to present some of my own

learning, perceptions and realizations on the subject in the hope that they

will help younger temple-dwelling members and house-dwelling congregational

members in their performance and appreciation of this mangala-auspicious

ceremony.

 

First of all, it begins at the beginning of the brahma muhurta -- that time

period beginning one an a half hours before sunrise as it occurs on the

average day in India. (This is the position of texts such as the Sanat Kumar

Samhita of the Narada Pancaratra... the collective body of literature which

is the scriptural authority for all things relating especially to deity

worship in temple or home, festivals, temple affairs, acara for the sadhaka,

etc.) This time period is mangala because the air is still and quiet and all

living entities have now completed sufficient rest from the previous days

activities (so that their bodies and minds are rested and refreshed, all the

toxins that had built up from the days activity have been cleared out of the

bloodstream, damaged and worn tissues have been repaired, etc.). The sadhaka

immediately after awakening thinks of his sambhandha, abhidheya and

prayojana or, if he is not yet on that platform, of his obligatory duty as

an asram-ite to rise and prepare to attend the arotik. After arising he must

evacuate the bladder and bowels, cleanse teeth and tongue, thoroughly bath,

put on fresh clothes, apply telok, go to the temple, bow down and await the

blowing of the conch and the opening of the deities' curtains.

 

The mangala arotik prayer selected by the acarya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is Sri Gurvastakam - Eight Prayers

glorifying the Spiritual Master by Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakkur.

The singing should be led by the most qualified in terms of singing ability;

that is, to sing as His Divine Grace says "in the manner of the predecessor

acarya". When I joined ISKCON, in Montreal in 1969, the most qualified

singer was Bharadraj prabhu, a fine singer by any standard (a former

accomplished rock band musician) and an expert player of the mrdanga,

similarly in the manner of His Divine Grace. (So expert were he and a select

few other musicians in chanting and playing the instruments in the way of

Prabhupada, that once when he and another expert, Candanacarya prabhu, were

doing kirtan in one room [in Boston], I, in another room thought, without

doubt, that Prabhupada was there singing and playing mrdanga.) Of all the

sixty four arts practiced by the gopis and in the vedic culture, among the

topmost if not ^the^ topmost, is singing. Krishna learned how to sing in the

kula of Sandipani Muni. Students of Indian classical music now spend twenty

or thirty years learning how to sing. It is not a question of simply

mouthing the words 'loud and clear'. It required some bhava, devotional

emotion (which one can hear Prabhupada's voice suffused with) or at least

knowledge and obedience to the standards. If there is no one else present

with any devotional idea, then the only devotee present, even though his

voice may be completely untrained, should sing rather than any professional

musician who might be present if the gentleman is lacking in devotion.)

Besides the matter of the high philosophical contents of the prayer being

sung, there is the matter of the singing being an offering to the deities.

Just as there is the injunction (Nectar of Devotion) that no-one can touch

the deity other than a properly initiated person, singing should also be

done by someone who has proper understanding of the purpose of the Krishna

consciousness movement. In other words he should be a devotee.

 

Musical accompaniment should be limited to one or two pairs of karatals (of

the light, flange-less variety, 3 to 4 inches [8 to 10 cm] in diameter), and

a mrdanga. Karatals should not be louder than half the loudness of the voice

and the mrdanga about half of that. Singing and instrument playing should be

melodious and rhythmic, building up slowly in rhythm from very slow at the

beginning to a spiritual culmination ... not a crashing crescendo ... at the

arotik's end. The first verse of the gurvastaka may be repeated after the

fourth and the penultimate eighth. After gurvastaka, the Prabhupada pranams

mantra is sung three times with response after each, then the pancatattva

maha mantra similarly. Then the maha mantra until the final blowing of the

conch. That is the end of the arotik. After prema dvani prayers are recited,

the Nrsimha prayer is sung (without any invocation of Prahlad Maharaj,

Narahari, or any other deities). That is the ISKCON mangala arotik.

 

If the reader has not already, from reading all the above, understood why

Srila Prabhupada was emphatic in his insistence that everyone attend mangala

arotik I will elaborate a little. When performed properly according the

instructions of the acarya, it is very powerfully purifying. The time is the

most purifying as far as the subtle energies that influence our bodies and

minds and the gurvastaka prayer presents the essence of vaisnava philosophy.

When conducted properly in all respects, the mangala arotik is potent in the

matter of awakening the dormant Krishna consciousness and the emotion of

compassion for the fallen conditioned souls in the audience independent of

their knowledge or ignorance of the language of the prayers or any other

conditions.

 

Mangala arotik as I encountered it upon joining ISKCON was so spiritually

purifying that I, already no longer a youngster and without any previous

exposure to sadhana with its early rising and cold bath (and there was no

hot water heater in the temple in the below freezing cold winters of

Montreal either), was encouraged to quickly learn the prayers and

occasionally lead -- with Bharadraj's permission. A few months or years

later, in other temples I would often lead. Now, and for years, I do not

lead at all and have not lead for more years before that. What I consider

the rules for mangal aroti kirtan as I have presented them above are

practically not understood at all in the zone where I have been for the past

25+ years... Maybe at one or two of the big temples, but I am hardly at

those. I deliberately avoid leading even if invited because I have enough

experience of younger know-it-alls, with karatals or other instruments in

hand, revolting -- while the arotik is in progress -- against my

"conservative", "old-fashioned" way. Not only do I not lead but the singing

and instruments are so loud that my body and nervous system cannot tolerate

it. I attend because it is one of the temple "rules of residence" but I

don't enjoy it. I don't appreciate the loudness, the tunes, the style, the

various and changing rhythms, additional mantras, etc. I wear earplugs and

sit an the sidelines. In the face of all this, I have forgotten some of the

words.

 

Your servant,

 

Rasananda das