In the evening of the 20th of June I arrived in Kharkov/Ukraine - after more than 24 hours of travels from Toronto. The devotees gave me a sweet and enthusiastic welcome, and I was distributing maha prasadam from Toronto temple - mangal artik sweets from Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha's plate. It is always a wonderful loving exchange upon arrival, offering me an opportunity to give a token of attention to each and every person while exchanging affectionate smiles.
It felt good to be back in Ukraine, amongst so many enthusiastic and eager devotees! And my plan was to stay here for a while......
I had only one day to recover from the journey and get used to the new time zone before embarking on yet another transcendental event. Over the following weekend the devotees had arranged for a Holy Name Retreat in a summer camp outside of Kharkov - on the banks of a nice lake and surrounded by beautiful nature with forests and fields. It was a perfect setting for such event - away from all the hustle and bustle of city life. Going in seclusion is a very important part of a Holy Name Retreat, giving us a sole focus on our relationship with the holy name and thus allowing us to enter a different reality. Friday was the day of arrival, and Monday evening everyone returned to their respective homes. In this part of the world, devotees can avail themselves more easily on a Monday, even though being a working day.
On my arrival at the retreat camp I went to collect wild-flowers and arranged the vases for our altar. It is always my favorite service and offers me the perfect start to tune into a devotional mood for the retreat.
Around one hundred serious devotees assembled, mainly coming from Kharkov but also from other cities - even as far as Crimea, which is part of Russia today. Many senior devotees from our Kharkov community also participated, which always uplifts the atmosphere in any gathering of devotees. Especially the evening kirtans were very sweet and deep. Remembering our last retreat we had conducted around 3 years ago, I could clearly perceive a big difference: the devotees had matured a lot within these years and had done some internal work to become more seriously established in chanting the holy name.
The weather was very suitable for our retreat: we had two days of rain! In this way, we were not too distracted by our pleasant environment and maintained a good focus on chanting the holy name - in japa as well as in kirtan. It was Krishna's perfect arrangement.
The weather was very suitable for our retreat: we had two days of rain! In this way, we were not too distracted by our pleasant environment and maintained a good focus on chanting the holy name - in japa as well as in kirtan. It was Krishna's perfect arrangement.
Kirtan is a highly transcendental affair. If we think kirtan to simply be some pleasant or exciting music, and an opportunity to show off our musical abilities - our beautiful voice and our expertease in playing mridanga or kartalas - then we have not understood what kirtan is all about. In this age of Kali-yuga, the tendency to show off is becoming more and more prominent. In material life, success is determined by how expert we are in showing off. This conditioning is very subtle and deep, and thus we also invite it into our spiritual practice. And we easily use kirtan to show off and glorify ourselves, rather than the Lord.
In kirtan we are meant to connect with the Lord, calling out to Him in helplessness. We should fill our chanting with a genuine longing for this relationship with Him. For too many life times we have been turning our back to Him! Now we finally want to put an end to this and mindfully turn to Him. In order to help us cultivate this mood, we can do an effective exercise of imagining that at ten o'clock at night we will have to leave our body. Death has the power to help us feel helpless.
In kirtan we are meant to connect with the Lord, calling out to Him in helplessness. We should fill our chanting with a genuine longing for this relationship with Him. For too many life times we have been turning our back to Him! Now we finally want to put an end to this and mindfully turn to Him. In order to help us cultivate this mood, we can do an effective exercise of imagining that at ten o'clock at night we will have to leave our body. Death has the power to help us feel helpless.
What makes a kirtan to be a good kirtan is, when the kirtan leader is deeply connecting with Krishna. It is not a musical performance, but rather a transcendental affair. Consciousness is a very powerful energy flooding the entire body and emanating from every pore of our skin. Consciousness also travels on the sound vibration coming from our mouth - either by speaking or singing. And thus it travels and spreads through the atmosphere around us and affects every person's heart on a subtle level. If we enter kirtan chanted by a pure devotee, his pure consciousness will reach our heart through the sound vibration and purify us. If we enter kirtan which is performed with the desire to show off, then such material and even lustful consciousness will travel on the sound vibrations and affect us. Therefore serious devotees should not listen to karmi rock music, because it carries passionate and lustful vibrations and will contaminate our heart.
Kirtan should be entered in the mood of service - serving Krishna in the form of the maha-mantra. The maha-mantra has to be the very center of attention - for everyone: the lead singer, the instrument players and the audience. Also for those devotees who are dancing, the maha-mantra should be the main focus. As soon as we are in a mood off showing off - either by singing, playing the instruments or dancing, the highly transcendental affair of kirtan will get contaminated by our mundane consciousness. HH Sacinandana Swami likes to call such kirtan the 'poisonous medicine capsule': chanting the holy name with material motives. Thus entering kirtan brings about a great responsibility for everyone who participates. We have to enter by cultivating the right mood and consciousness.
Once we get some little insights what kirtan is all about, we lose our eagerness to lead. We realize, that it is so much easier to connect with Krishna when we don't lead. And we realize, that our possible frustration or disappointment when not being invited to lead simply indicates, that we are running after the flickering ego satisfaction of leading. The mere satisfaction of leading is not coming from the joy of chanting the holy name. If we truly experience the satisfaction and joy of chanting the holy name, it is not dependent on whether or not we are leading. This satisfaction is always available to anyone who enters kirtan in the right mood and consciousness: connecting with the Lord and longing to cultivate our loving relationship with Him.
Your servant, Devaki dd
Kirtan should be entered in the mood of service - serving Krishna in the form of the maha-mantra. The maha-mantra has to be the very center of attention - for everyone: the lead singer, the instrument players and the audience. Also for those devotees who are dancing, the maha-mantra should be the main focus. As soon as we are in a mood off showing off - either by singing, playing the instruments or dancing, the highly transcendental affair of kirtan will get contaminated by our mundane consciousness. HH Sacinandana Swami likes to call such kirtan the 'poisonous medicine capsule': chanting the holy name with material motives. Thus entering kirtan brings about a great responsibility for everyone who participates. We have to enter by cultivating the right mood and consciousness.
Once we get some little insights what kirtan is all about, we lose our eagerness to lead. We realize, that it is so much easier to connect with Krishna when we don't lead. And we realize, that our possible frustration or disappointment when not being invited to lead simply indicates, that we are running after the flickering ego satisfaction of leading. The mere satisfaction of leading is not coming from the joy of chanting the holy name. If we truly experience the satisfaction and joy of chanting the holy name, it is not dependent on whether or not we are leading. This satisfaction is always available to anyone who enters kirtan in the right mood and consciousness: connecting with the Lord and longing to cultivate our loving relationship with Him.
Your servant, Devaki dd
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