Kirtan Business

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
20 February 2018, Kolkata, part 5

There was one good kirtaniya in Nabadwip, her name was Radharani. Her temple in still there now, on the bank of the Ganges River, near Paramatala. I have never gone inside it, but I saw it from outside when I had some job in that area.

One day, she came to see Gurudev. She is dead now, and at that time she was perhaps sixty. Gurudev was out of India at that time, preaching in the West. What did she come for? That day, the Haritala temple, near our temple, invited her and gave her 10,000 rupees for two-three hours of kirtan—lila-kirtan. I also went there that day—I gave a lecture about Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, etc. A few minutes after I had come from there, she came to the temple and said she wanted to see Gurudev. I told her Gurudev was not there. Then, she asked me where Gurudev lived. I took her to the building, and when she saw the staircase leading to his room, she said, "Oh, his dust is here, I want his feet dust!" Then, she took some dust from the steps and put it on her head.

I asked her a question that day. I said,

"Devi, can I ask you one question? I know you have come to sing kirtan at a temple nearby, at Haritala—I heard you were invited by the temple committee."

"Yes," she said.

"I heard," I continued, "that you are getting 10,000 rupees for two hours' singing (it is very much money). I went there without any payment, and there were 200-250 people there, but I know your kirtan will be held at night time and when you start your kirtan, maybe 3-5,000 people will come. You are doing this kind of kirtan, and you travel everywhere, in every corner of India, outside Bengal too, but how many people have you changed from maya to Krishna consciousness?"

"No one," she said. "I cannot change a single person because I do not do kirtans for changing people—I do kirtans for money. But I know your Gurudev goes everywhere, here, there, and you also go here, there, to change people—you bring people and send them from the illusory environment for the service of Radha Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan."

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