Report from Times Square

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I remember being told back in 1970 by Tamal Krsna Goswami that Srila Prabhupada authorized Visnujana Swami to compose new tunes for devotees to chant on the street. That was back in the days when we were going out to chant six to eight hours daily. So I would hesitate to say that only tunes introduced personally by Srila Prabhupada should be sung by us.

In our Times Square Harinam Sankirtana party, about 90% of our chanting is the Mahamantra, and about 90% of our chanting of the Mahamantra is Prabhupada's tune, the tune he would always chant in public. The public seems to be very familiar with this tune. It is easy to learn and allows the chanter to instantly experience transcendental ecstasy. Last night a choral group of fifteen college students saw us at Times Square and spontaneously joined our kirtana party. They sang Prabhupada's tune in three part harmony and soon began to dance with abandon. Madhavananda prabhu captured the moment on video. A few weeks ago, a lady in a wheelchair who had no use of her arms jumped up and miraculously danced in kirtana while the devotees chanted Prabhupada's tune. When she got back into her chair, she was handed a magazine and her useless arms were not an impediment. She grabbed the magazine and held onto it between her chin and her shoulder as her caretaker wheeled her away.

On the other hand, I was distributing small books around the ISKCON Harinam party on Gaura Purnima again at Times Square and I was disappointed that they only sang Prabhupada's tune for less than one minute during the hour I spent with them. I was happy to see, though, that the only drums they played were mrdangas -- no African drums. I like joining a kirtana party that emphasizes the traditional instruments of mrdangas (clay or fiberglass) and kartalas and chants Prabhupada's tune. It's the all-perfect formula for spreading the sankirtana movement throughout the world.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Locanananda dasa