Take up this chanting make your country Krishna conscious

Hayagriva Dasa : Many Indians visiting the Frederick Street temple tell us that they've never seen such fiery, enthusiastic kirtans in India nay, not anywhere else in the world. A combination of magic elements is at work. First of all, Swamiji's presence. But remarkably enough, his presence is felt even when he does not descend but stays in his upstairs apartment writing his books. The unison kirtans intensify as new instruments are added flutes and tenor sax, trumpets and kettledrum, cymbals and kelp horn, tambourines, mridangas, guitars and bongos, sitars and castanets. Often we join hands and dance around the walls of the temple, bounding on the floor and daring it to collapse. Kirtan always begins with a rousing Hare Krishna. Then, after Swamiji's lecture, we chant "Gopala, Gopala, Devakinandana Gopala." We first heard this mantra sung by poet Ginsberg, and for a week Swamiji tolerates it. Then he calls me in. "That is not a valid Vaishnava mantra," he tells me. "You may change Devaki's name for Yasoda's. Yasoda and not Devaki is accepted as Krishna's real mother because those matya-rasa pastimes were carried on with her. But best not to chant that mantra at all because it's not authorized. " Still intent on some variety, we chant "Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram. " "One Hare Krishna is worth two thousand Jai Ram's," Swamiji remarks. "So why are you wasting time?" On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Mukunda gives music lessons, teaching different melodies for Hare Krishna. And there's also "Govinda jai jai, Gopala jai jai, Radharamana Hari, Govinda jai jai," which Swamiji sings so beautifully at kirtan and upstairs alone, playing harmonium, his voice full of devotion, alone with all the time in the world, time no more a factor than space. Even on the nights that he does not descend, he listens to the kirtans in his room. Afterwards, he smiles and asks, "It was a good kirtan, yes? The hippies They are appreciating? Yes, if they take up this Hare Krishna, they will become transformed. And they will transform the world. America is such a powerful country that all the world is imitating. So just take up this chanting, make your country Krishna conscious, and all the world will follow."