(5/7) The Meaning of Kirtan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeswar, evening, 27 September 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

What is necessary for the life at the temple? There are many people staying in temples – they do service, but at the same time they also look for faults in everybody, they criticise and gossip about others, so the result of all their service attempts goes out through these 'holes'. Suppose you pour milk into a glass – if there is a hole in the glass, then all the milk will fall through the hole. So, no matter how much service you may be doing, if you do what is wrong, the result of all your service will go out through these holes. That is why Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said, 'Whenever I hear anybody criticise Vaishnavs, I always keep quiet (I do not get involved with such people).'

বৈষ্ণব-চরিত্র, সর্ব্বদা পবিত্র,
যেই নিন্দে হিংসা করি’ ।
ভকতিবিনোদ না সম্ভাষে তাঁ’রে,
থাকে সদা মৌন ধরি’ ॥

vaisnava-charitra sarvada pavitra
yei ninde himsa kari'
bhaktivinoda na sambhase tan're
thake sada mauna dhari'

'The character of Vaishnavs is always pure, so if anybody criticises or is envious of Vaishnavs, Bhaktivinod always keeps quiet and does not speak to them.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru)

If you are constant in your service – if you orderly, methodically do your service, serve the Deities, chant kirtan, and so on, then you will be promoted very quickly. If you do not see others’ faults, you will progress so much. It cannot but be so, otherwise the whole science of devotion would be a lie. There are many examples of this. You show so much effort trying to serve, but everything only comes out through the holes and you keep losing your service. How unfortunate! Because of Vaishnav aparadhas you are burning your own fortune.

Doing your service in any and every situation is the way to attain spiritual benefit. It is not that Sri Gurudev likes dirty, adulterated, and faulty service, but whenever some service is rendered by a soul covered with anarthas, there must be deficiency in it. Seeing our faults, deficiencies and mistakes, gurudev does not reject us. If he rejects such service, then it would be impossible to create a servant, and if it were impossible to create a servant, then the Supreme Lord, the guru and Vaishnav Thakurs would suffer the loss.

Therefore, Sri Gurudev creates servants from contaminated people, and that is why he is extremely merciful. He accepts my impure service, he does not kick us out or reject us; but if we keep doing impure, deficient service, then it means we are taking advantage of his causeless mercy. Then we must remember that even his mercy has a limit. If we carry on making mistakes with deceit, with a wicked mentality, then we will be accumulating offences and eventually end up being removed from practising life.

Suppose you are told to do shopping at the market, but many people see that you steal the money you are given. If you carry on stealing and do not try to rectify yourself, then one day you will be removed from service life.

What is the reward for service to the guru and the temple? Service is rewarded with more service. There are many kinds of service – there are sixty-four limbs of devotion. Honouring maha-prasad is also a kind of service. The whole life should be percolated with Krishna consciousness. When you go to bed to sleep, when you go to the bathroom to pass stool, when you lie down to take rest – everything is part of spiritual life. If you take a shower, serve maha-prasad or do anything else in a proper way, then your service life will be healthy. If your life is not centred around spiritual life – if you do not live by doing what is favourable to spiritual life – then you will come to take prasad and say, 'Oh, they did not give me fried eggplant, but others have got it!' Suppose you are distributing prasad and somebody asks you for some vegetable (patol) that they particularly like: you should give it to them because it is your service to serve them. But if you are distributing prasad and come to somebody who you are angry with, you look down on them and do not give them good prasad, and when you come to those who you like, you give them nice prasad – both kinds of behaviour will remove you from spiritual life. When you are taking prasad, you should be chanting the glories of maha-prasad.

Srila Prabhupad said that singing songs and chanting kirtan are not one and the same. Kirtan means giving happiness to the Lord, to your guru and to Vaishnavs. Kirtan is bhajan: chanting the glories of the Lord is what spiritual life is about. But first you should think what kirtan is actually beneficial for your practising life. When you do arati, you must chant arati kirtans; when you do archan, you must recite the archan mantras; when you honour prasad, you must recite prasad glorification and the maha-mantra. Arati is one of the pastimes of the Lord, so doing arati is also service. Kirtan is not singing songs producing some melodies or tunes, playing the harmonium. It is necessary to be alert and attentive to the kirtans you sing before and after classes. We worship Mahaprabhu's Name, form, qualities, associates and paraphernalia, but the most importance is given to His Nama-sankirtan. Mahaprabhu Himself chanted kirtan, and He told others to chant it, too.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

'Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna. As gardeners, they plant this seed and water it with sravan (hearing) and kirtan (chanting, practising).'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151–152)

When you water a plant, it receives nourishment and grows big, but if you pour too much water, you can kill the plant. So, when we come to water our devotional seeds, we sometimes pour so much water that our seeds rot and die.

Question: Can I ask a question? What does it mean to pour too much water? What is this water in the spiritual sense?

The water is sravan and kirtan!

Question: But how is it possible that if we do too much sravan and kirtan that our devotion can die?

It can! For example, we have no right to enter certain things, but if we go to listen about rasa-lila, if we listen to Panchadhyayi (the canto of Srimad Bhagavatam dealing with Lord Krishna's rasa-lila), if we listen to Jayadev and Padmavati's songs or sing them, we will become sahajiyas. We have no right to sing those kinds of things.

If you do kirtan but your kirtan is not bhajan (worshipping and serving the Lord), then what you are doing is singing songs, not practising Krishna consciousness. Kirtan is service, and through kirtan you can practice spiritual life, it uplifts you. When you sing songs, you please your own senses, others’ senses, but kirtan gives pleasure to the Lord, the guru and the Vaishnavs. If kirtan is not service, it becomes enjoyment. Kirtan is a very special service. This is the special contribution made by Sriman Mahaprabhu. Through kirtan, you can learn how to serve and practise properly – before Mahaprabhu, nobody did it. You must engage singing in service.

The Nama-sankirtan established by the great souls is the best. For those who are barely qualified (kanistha-adhikari), Nama-sankirtan is the best. Many sing, 'Vrndavane chabutara tahe mora manoghera. My entire mind dwells within the courtyard of Vrindavan' (Srila Narottama-giti). But I know very well where my mind lives...

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Length: 74 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Tarakeswar: Turning Point
2) Jewel Devotees
3) Rectifying Stray Temples
4) Disciple's Determination
5) The Meaning of Kirtan
6) Guru-Disciple Sambandha
7) Service Attracts More Service