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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
Report from Times
Square