Musical Anatomy

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

There are series of kirtanas some during early morning hours “udilo aruno puraba bhage” and “ Jiv Jago” and Vrindavan mangala arati they sing, Vibhavari sesa, meaning what “Vibhavari Sesa, Vibhavari Sesa, sesa means finished, Vibhavari – night is over and aloka pravesa and light is entering. Light is here, sun is rising and this is time for singing, “Jiv Jago”. What do we say, “jiv Jago”- Why you are plundering in maya? So Jiv Jago and translation also it says, wake up sleeping souls doea not say wake up sleeping bodies, that’s is what we think “Jiv Jago kirtana” means, you go around doing kirtana wake people up and then they come waking up, come running.

This happens on padayatra, padayatra kirtana party right from mangala arati, they are doing kirtana, till they are leaving that village. So that is “Jiv Jago” waking people, deeper meaning is “Jiv Jago” that is wakeup call for the soul. Soul wake up, soul wake up time. So lot of times or every time body is waking up but the soul is still sleeping. Body is up, the soul is still sleeping and where is it sleeping? “pisacira kole”, pisacira is an illusory energy of maya, kole is the lap, the lap of witch called maya. Soul is sleeping, so body is up, body is running, different wanderings going on but still, soul is fast asleep as “Gaurachanda Bole”, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is calling, “Jiv Jago, Jiv Jago”.

We mentioned three songs, they are sung in morning time, traditionally for every kal, there are songs. Asta-kaliya-lila, known as eight periods- Pratah kal, Purvana, Madhyan, Aprahan, Sandhya kal, pradosh kal, ratri kal and usha kal. So like that eight kals, eight periods, these are the technical names and for each kal there are different raga’s, particular raga’s and they create a right emotion, the right moods when these songs are sung in that particular raga.

So there is a whole science which is now becoming lupta, it is disappearing very fast and not so much people are practicing. Only some Gharana’s somewhere are still practising that to this day. Each song has also melody. Melody is one thing and raga is another. This is all science, art which is disappearing very fast. So this all comes under sangeet, bhajan, sangeet and as per definition of sangeet, there is a geet if it is only geet that it is not sangeet, then it is only geet. In order for it to become sangeet then vadaya also has to be there. So geet, vadaya and nrtya, then it is sangeet. So these are the three components of sangeet. Sangeet means geet (the song), musical instrument and also nrtya. So they are integral part, then it is sangeet.

mahaprabhoh kirtana nrtya gita
vaditra madyam manso rasena

Vaditra is also there, Mahaprabhoh kirtana nrtya gita vaditra (vadya), so geet and there are vadya’s musical instruments of various kinds. Basically we use mirdanga and kartal. Mirdanga is representing flute in Krsna’s past times. Flute is appearing as mirdanga in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s kirtana, sangeet. And for dance you need vadaya’s, otherwise you can’t dance. As soon as the vadaya’s is not made properly then it is difficult to dance. So vadaya and nrtya goes together and then there is whole song. Sometimes also there is only vadaya and nrtya but still technically it is not sangeet because geet is missing. In South India there is lot of vadaya and nrtya, but there has to be geet, sangeet.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself and every step is dance and every talk is song. The spiritual sky is filled with song and dance. So that whole spiritual sky descends on the earth, we are goning to experience as there is display, performance of sangeet, geet is there, instruments are being played and then there is a dance like the original dance, rasa dance and gopis dance. They just don’t do the swami’s step- raise your arm, they start there but then devotees do more than the swami’s step. the gopis are very expert dancers specially Radha Rani her abilities to play the instruments. Hey my Radha Rani, the Suka and Sharika they were debating, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard the dialogue and the Sharika was advocate of Srimati Radha Rani. Hey shut up, you know my Radha Rani , she is good at this and she plays music and she does this, she sing songs. And then Krsna is a Nataraj, the best amongst the dance, Nata mean actor and what is nata known for, the way he even walks, you watch the way actor walks. So many are maddened just by seeing their actor or their hero walking watch his steps.

So Krsna is Nataraj, so He is the original dancer and original dance is rasa dance, in that the dance there is music and song so on. So that’s the original sangeet in the spiritual sky. It is relishable that’s why we will invite people, please come back home. We will not like to miss the music there, real and original music is in the spiritual sky and the soul dance. There are no bodies in the spiritual sky there are no bodies, only spirits or spiritual bodies, bodies are spiritual bodies and they dance. We get to experience that down on the earth here, little bliss as we sing the song given to us by the acarya’s and we sing them and play instruments there is dance also that goes with it for the pleasure of Jagannath. Small Jagannath temple is known for Devdasi’s they dance after shayan arati. At the end of Lord’s big day before He goes to sleep, there are dances for the pleasure of Jagannath. 500 yrs ago Ramananda Rai use to take care of the department, the ladies who will be dancing for the Lord, in front of the Lord, in the darsana mandap, Ramananda rai used to dress them up and make up and different things. So Ramananda Rai although in a male body. We know he is “Vishakha”, so no surprise if Vishakha is dressing up some other gopis, some other ladies, making them ready to dance for pleasure of Jagannath and “Geet Govind” also famous song compiled by Jaidev Goswami, these are very favourite songs of Jagannath.

Jagannath is most pleased when Geet Govind is sung, unto this day I have heard many times, in the evening we go to darsana, go out then on the side there is a little mandap. Where the music is played and they sing different songs but Jaidev Goswami’s, Geet Govind they have to sing every single night this is very beautiful. So geet, sangeet this is the integral part of the spiritual sky. This is the life. Muslims are kind of just opposite to Hindu’s they wanted to do something different. So they banned sangeet. So they don’t sing, they don’t use the instruments there and being impersonalists and against the music and instrument play. That’s the unfortunate part. So Chaitanya Mahaparbhu He brought the spiritual sky down to the earth, Hari, Haribol. So this is a gift of Gauranga for us. He himself always sang and danced even there was no music before, sing and dance. Even of course when Mahaprabhu started his kirtanas , say that talking of Japa and kIrtana. So cause for all this is the Lord Gauranga, cause of all causes, He is

sarve karan karanm
and for the singing that is going on, devotional singing or Mahamantra singing and dancing with it, that goes on , behind this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That’s nice , that He danced and chanted and danced so much that chanting and dancing which caused the vibrations, and those vibrations are still there making us chant and dance because of his chanting and dancing. It is shocking that present batch of devotees are still that trembling is going on. So because He chanted and danced it is cause of our chanting and dancing.

So Mahaprabhu, one time He just came back from Gaya he had received his holy name initiation. As soon as he started chanting and dancing, He returned to Jagnnath to Mayapur ( Navadvip) chanting and dancing, to Gaya He had gone as Nimai Pandit he gone as a pandit but when he returned he was chanter and dancer of the holy name. He transformed “Chant for Change”, Chant for change, He really changed, He is so much changed that he has to ask his Guru Maharaj, He said,

kiba mantra dila gosani
kiba tara bala
japite japite mantra
korila pagala
[CC Adi lila 7.81]

Oh, what kind of mantra have you given so much power is there in this mantra, that you know I am just gone mad from the time I have taken to this chanting. So certainly this is result of sincere chanting, it is result of offence less chanting. Quickly he received all the benediction, all those fruits and pure chanting and dancing, in ecstasy rolling on the ground and shedding tears, trembling body, stunned like a “stambah”, all the symptoms. Then initially he was chanting and dancing with very selected few devotees in “Srivasa Angan”, or courtyard or home, closing doors and windows they will do the chanting and that went on for some time and Advaita carya was not very happy with this. So he said, Prabhu Mahaprabhu this is not the reason why asked you to descend that you will chant and dance only with selected few devotees. What about the whole world is in need of your help, they need you, please come out. Get out of there, So Advaitacarya he had become the cause of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent. So then Lord was in His special class but not for the masses, then Advaitacarya intervened, he had offered prayers, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu opened all the doors. All the devotees come out and more joined and then, they started.

udilo aruno purava bhage
dvija mani gora amani Jage
bhakta samuha laiya sathe
gela nagara vraje

So this is how, kirtna/sankirtana , sangeet sankirtana started chanting and that time they all were chanting, singing and playing instruments and dancing and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu dancing also.

tathai tathai bajala khola
ghanna ghana tahe jhajhera rola
preme dhaladhala sonara anga
carane nupura baje

So, all the instruments, the manjira, jhanj, and khol and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu “preme dhola dhola sonar anga” His golden body dancing and “carane nupura baje” tinkling of the bells. So I was thinking that those instruments players must be playing instruments very expertly. So in order for this nupur, sound of nupur, also they are able to hear. They are making sure that the sound of nupur is no drowned. It is called drowning the sound that sound is not being drowned while the louder sounding instruments, must be playing very expertly. They will have little pause, so that nupur also could be heard. Sound of nupur could come across. So this is Bhakti Vinod Thakur making this observation. Mahaprabhu is dancing and all instruments are being played and including these bells around his ankle are also that can be heard and then sound cause hmmm

mukund madhava yadava hari
boleno bolo re vadana bhori

So this is how vadana bhori comes and this is repeated in many places this “vadana bhori.” Indradyumna Maharaja says, singing should be whole hearted, full throated, full throat then it comes “vadana bhori”and it is full voice is coming in full force when, full heart is open and then throat is open and then mouth has to be full and then opened and if it is not opened then whispering is going on.

So this song compiled by Bhakti Vinod Thakur here, this is the pastime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The description, dairy, observation, notes what He used to do during those kirtana and nagar kirtans.

gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
grhe thaka, vane thaka
sada hari’ ba’le daka
sukhe duhkhe bhule na’ka
vadane hari, nama kare re
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
mayajale baddha ha’ye
acha miche kaja la’ye
ekhanao cetana py’ye
radha
madhava nama bala re
gaya gora madhura svare
jivana haila ‘sesa
na baajile hrsikesa,
bhaktivinoda-(ei) upades’a,
eka-bara nama-
rase mata re
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare

What is this called, nagar kirtana, gaye gora madhura svare then hare krsna, hare krsna, grhe thake, vana thake, so some advice preaching is done, with the song like this. sukhe dukhe bhula na’ka, vadana hari namm kara re and “jivana haila sesa, na bhajila hrsikesa”. So this dvital, we play mainly in trital. As it is one, two, three; one, two, three; so there are many many tals, our Vrindavan team, Aindra Prabhu and company, they kind of getting so much different tals. It creates more variety more appeal. “Svara” and “tal”, svara is like the beads and tal is like a string, a svara is like a flowers and tal is like a thread. So what keeps the flower together or beads together is that string, without that string, it is just bunch of scattered flowers. Some shape is given to those with the use of that string and then there is a garland. So just the svaras with no proper tal, could not sound good. It is more pleasing when this system is followed, svara and tal, tal badha, tal and sura. Singer is singing that is svara and there is kartal or the mirdanga provides tal, should go hand in hand and make a very pleasing offering for the pleasure of the Lord. Singer is playing with his voice or singer acts with his voice, the regular actor acts with his body or face and the singer acts with his throat. There are different kind of acts

One has to be careful, translating mantras or songs. This is also very sweet song, different flavour. goplala govinda ram sri madhusudana”, so we sing mostly first two lines. Prabhupada recommends like that during kirtans and more “sri caitanya nityananda sri advaita sita, hari guru vaisnava bhagavat gita.” It is not Bhagavat Gita, Bhagavat is one scripture and Gita is the other one. But everyone says Bhagavat Gita (laughter) so both scriptures.

gita bhagavat karate sharavan, akhanda chintan vithoba che

Tukamane, kaun mane tukamane. So one should study both scriptures. So, sri rupa sanatana bhatta raghunath, sri jiva gopala bhatta dasa ragunath. I was just there, I was going to Bangladesh for the first time, when I have been travelling around the world, but I never been to Bangladesh. So two weeks ago, I have been to Bangladesh, that is so special, I didn’t spoke about. So we went to Rupa, Sanatana’s birth place, Jiva Goswami, of course, he was also from the same family and who was the fourth one? Anupam. Not much of their remnants, there is not much to see, there is Rupa Sanatana Smriti Mandir ISKCON has build not far from that place, I also went to Narottam Dasa Thakur’s birth place. One day I went to Rupa Sanatana and the next day was Lokanath Goswami’s birth place, I must go, I am Lokanath Swami (laughter). So we drove many hours and we went to the village of Lokanath Goswami and there was nothing just the place where his house one time, there is another building construction, but that is new. Radha Vinod temple they have built some distance from this spot in the same village.

The third day we went to Haridasa Thakur, where he was tested by, what you call Laksha-Hira, the prostitute. So that place is Binapur. Binapur very nice place. Then fourth day, every day we were going on pilgrimage. Fourth day we went to Kechari Gaon, Narottam Dasa thakur’s birth place. Now that palace is not there, just some new building and properties in the same land. We stayed; we spent one night there and with Hari Sauri Prabhu and some other devotees we went to Padmavati river, to take a holy dip. That’s where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had left Krsna prema for Narottam Dasa Thakur. So he left that in Padmavati river, so we tried to explore are there few more drops of Krsna prema still around in the waters hoping that, so we also took a dip. So those are few of the places of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s past time places of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu associated, they all have appeared in different part of Bengal and they later on migrated to Navadvipa, Mayapur as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appears.

So mention of sri rupa sanatana bhatta raghunath, sri jiva gopala bhatta dasa ragunath, Vande rupa sanatanau raghu yugau sri jiva gopalkau, all six of them, so this, vande rupa sanatanau raghu yogau, two raghu’s gopalkau, sri jiva gopal bhatt, sri jiva gopal gopalkau, so au. It means two, in pair. So krsnau means two krsna’s ramau, so as the reason au, au is used here meaning two in pairs, refer the two Goswami’s.

ei chay gosai kori carana vandan
jaha hoite bighna nas abhista puran

jaha hoite bighna nas abhista puran, abhista, Sri Chaitanya mano bhistam, that bhistam, puran means complete. ei chay gosai jar mui tar das, mui has to be pronounced properly mui – I am tar das, your servant. In Guru puja also there is mui.

bando mui savadhana mate

bando mui, means I worship, savadhana mate, with all precautions I worship,

tadera carana sebi bhakta sane bas
janame janame hoy ei abhilas
ei chay gosai jabe braje koila bas
Radha Krsna nitya lila korila prakas

Gaudiya Vaishnav songs and bhava, there is nothing like that in the world, in Brahmanda on this planet, all Gaudiaya Vaishnav’s Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has presented to us and then acarya’s are presenting the top class, highest thing,

radha-krsna-nitya-lila korila prakas
anande bolo hari, bhaja vrndavan
sri-guru-vaisnava-pade majaiya man
sri-guru-vaisnava-pad-padma kori as
nama-sankirtana kohe narottama-das

So many songs, this is one of his favourite one. Then je anilo prema dhana, that is also contribution of Narottam Dasa Thakur, reason why he has to compiled this song was, he was the last one, he goes to Vrindavan, hoping to meet so many of these great personalities, that he had heard about. So travelling and travelling, as he arrives, first he arrived in Mathura, as he arrived there, he received the news, oh this one is not there, that one is no more, long time gone. This one, that one. So Narottam Dasa Thakur was heartbroken and he was thinking there is no use of me surviving. All these vaishnav’s were my life and soul and they have all gone. Why should I survive, Why should I be? So that is his mood here.

se saba sangria sange je koila bilas
se sanga na paiya kande narottama das

So, as he was aspiring to have sanga of these, different devotees were not getting that association, I am simply kande, means crying, I should simply weep now. pasane kutibo matha anale pasibo, I break my head against that rocks enter the fire, guranga gunera nidhi kotha gele pabo, I cannot find Gauranga anymore, nowhere to be found so I would enter the fire. So these are his inner deep, within are his emotions, feelings and he had expressed those in this particular song. He is deprived of the associations of vaishnav’s so like that it goes on.

dhule dhule gaura chand, the complier of this song in not known, not one of our acarya’s. So bhajahu re man, radhika satva, by Rupa Goswami also, jaya jaya madhava dayite, gokula taruni mandala mahite, then Madhurasthakam also.