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Archive for July, 2010

In Memory of Sripad Aindra Prabhu

July 21st, 2010

In Memory of Sripad Aindra Prabhu

(The following is an interview with Sripad Aindra dasa done last year for the forthcoming book  Kirtan Meditations The Mood and Technique of Bhakti Kirtan compiled by Dhanurdhara Swami and Akincana Krishna dasa.  Due to the unexpected loss of this great soul I decided to release his interview quite before the editing has been finished. I hope it gives some pleasure and solace to the congregation of the devotees feeling the loss of this great soul.)

AINDRA DASA

Doing kirtan for Srila Prabhupada

When Srila Prabhupada came to Washington in 1976, we would all briefly stop at his quarters before going to the temple to greet the Deities. One morning, somehow or other, the mrdanga was pushed into my hands and I was told to lead the kirtan. I guess there was nobody else to do it so I was trying to play as best as I could in a very simple way.  I was walking right by Srila Prabhupada's side when he suddenly turns to me, lifts his head in his typical, regal way, and says with a very positive glance of approval “Jaya!” And that's the only word he said to me in my whole Krishna conscious life.

But that one word carried so much inspiration and potency.  How did I get a “jaya!” out of Srila Prabhupada? It was simple–I was performing harinam sankirtan. I thus thought “why not continue to perform harinam-sankirtan, as at the least that simple service got a ‘jaya!’ out of Srila Prabhupada.” And that's been my whole idea ever since.

Chanting with purity

Harinam-sankirtan means to loudly chant the holy name for the benefit of othersWe should seriously consider to what extent we are benefiting others, and also to what extent we are benefiting ourselves. There is apparent kirtan and real kirtan. Only sankirtan where the pure name is chanted is real sankirtan.  If someone is making offenses to the name, simply articulating the syllables “Hare Krishna,” that is not real sankirtan.  One must thus carefully consider the offenses to be avoided in the matter of chanting.

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