EXCOGITATION OF KIIRTAN – ‘VOICE OF THE INNER SPIRIT’

by Ácárya Gatimayánanda Avadhúta(CTS, Sweden)

Dear Brothers/Sisters/Dada’s/Didi’s,

On the eve of the excogitation of Kiirtan after 55 years, on October 8th, 1970 at “Amjhariya” Block of Bábá Nagar, Chandwa District, Latehar, near Ranchi, the hub of spiritual vibration, our Beloved Bábá first time introduced Aśt́ákśarii Maha-siddha mantra “Bábá Nám Kevalam”. Those who follow their “Iśt́a” know that for every quantity of love they have for the Lord, the Lord has double love for them. The Lord is great for them; as for the Lord, they are also not small. In a song, a devotee said: “I am very small, O Lord, you are great”. This should not be said. If a father possesses fifty Masters of Arts degree and his son doesn’t know A-B-C at the age of 3-4, should the son be thought of as small and the father as great? No, this is only a family relationship. There is no question of small or great. There is the relationship of father and child only. Where there is the relationship between father and child, where is the question of big and small? The Lord is the beloved one. The Lord is called Bábá. The word Bábá comes from Saḿskrta “Bapra”. It means Loved-Beloved. “Bapra” then became “Bappa”, and then it became Bábá. It took three thousand or four thousand years for “Bapra” to become Bábá. For unit beings, the Lord is the beloved One. (Bábá Nám Kevalam). But for the lord the unit being is His Bábá! When living beings will sing Bábá Nám Kevalam then the Lord will also sing, Bábá Nám Kevalam in His mind. [Ideology, Goal and Devotion, 23 November 1971 DMC, Purnea]

Thus the cosmic Father presaged that great advent of this tantrika order of acoustic expression of brand-new mantra manifestation echoing in all planetary systems from this tiny planet Earth, all throughout celestial stars, galaxies, nebula, supernova with their own planetary universe after AUM pranava. Any acoustic sound is this wave of incantation in every mandala, suktas and rks which have been sung is reverberated with this octilinear inexhaustible power of this 8 syllable mantra that Bábá Nám Kevalam which stands as soliloquy of “Bábá’s Name Only(Kevalam)-BNK”, that is chanted, sang, danced with utmost devotion, taking His Only Name to be everything of one’s life for centuries to come.

Parama Purus’a wants to make the world dance. Everybody will be dancing with His vibrations and in His tune. Parama Purus’a will be enjoying with all. Does He not want this? Why should He live in the dry heart of a yogi?He would like a sweet, loving heart—Sarasa Hrdaya. He will not like the desert. He would like fertile land. So, the heart of a devotee is like the fertile land. That is why Parama Purus’a says, “Mad Bhaktah yatra Ga’yante”, i.e., wherever my devotees perform Kiirtan in full swing at once I reach there. You may say that Parama Purus’a is omnipresent. Now Parama Purus’a is omnipotent, He is also omniscient, it is a fact; but there is a hub of that omniscience, there is a hub of those premonitions and post-monitions of all expressions. A central point is there. Parama Purus’a is omnipresent but He has a Cakrana’bhi (nucleus).

Parama Purusa’ will place that Cakrana’bhi, wherever He likes. He will take it wherever He likes.

Parama Purus’a says, “When my devotees sing single-mindedly Kiirtan (Ananyor Mama’ta Vis’n’ormamata’)” I at once take myself there.This is what I do.”

This morning I said that the practice of Dharma (i.e., Dharma Sa’dhana’) is the characteristic of human beings.

Now I say, “If you want to be established in Dharma Sa’dhana’, then in any case do not forget the importance of Kiirtan, the greatness of Kiirtan, and also the greatness of devotion. Always remember that the devotion begins with aesthetic science and its ultimate domain ends where supra-aesthetic science (Mohana Vijina’na) begins “Victory be to you all.”

This clandestine jewel is resonated in each and every atom of the entire universe, that from here, the blue print idea of new invention was inaugurated that ‘Bábá’ initiated new tradition of invocation in Tantric mantra after thousands of years, teaching such mantra to expounder of Nath Sampradaya, Kriya Sampradaya etc in Yogic way to Totapuri, Shyama Charan Lahiri, as well as numerous luminous beings to get liberation of permanent nature prior creation of this path of infinite Bliss.

While inventing Kiirtan the science of the human body, which is a complex system composed of organs, tissues, and cells that work together like mini universe has to maintain life both external and internal organs like the heart, brain, and lungs, as well key organs which include the skin, kidney, liver, spleen (the largest organ) all get vibrated and nourished, when we raise the hands in the posture of mudra Lalita Mármika that such persons will never suffer from High BP, heart attacks, brain stroke and any related polygenic diseases.

And Párvatii, the spouse of Shiva, invented lalita mármika, which means “voice of the inner spirit”. The dance used for kiirtan is lalita mármika. It represents the inner voice of the spiritual aspirant. The main thing in lalita mármika is the expression through mudrá [gesture]. [Párvatii, Consort of Shiva – Excerpt H – 4 December 1978, Madras]

Organizers of HPMG and HPMG(L) have to determine the length prior to its commencement. Akhanda Kiirtan always must be organized with one prahar, then may continue uninterrupted for stipulated hours, i.e., eight prahars or with as many as prahar as one organizes. One prahar equals three hours. Kiirtan is that once it begins it must not stop before the end of period already fixed, but some devotees who are ignorant must help the organizers. In no circumstance it should end midway or prior to the fixed time. If done so, such Akhanda Kiirtan has lost its ineffectiveness of breakdown and that Kiirtan has attack of negativity falling trap to sudden mental and other related problems and diseases. A Maha-siddha mantra, it must necessarily have eight syllables – it must be aśt́ákśarii which has its own significance as each and every syllable of an Iśt́a mantra has got its own importance. Thus, Bábá nám kevalam is a siddha spiritual mantra.

[In the beginning, karma seemed to be against prapatti, but karma is not antithetical to prapatti. It is definitely in conformity with prapatti. So, a boy or a girl who does work is surely following the path of prapatti. Even if there is any room for indolence while enjoying the flute of Vraja Krśńa, there is not the least room for inaction in the clarion call of the karma yoga of Párthasárathi Krśńa. It is said, “Kiirttaniiyah sadáharih”.

What do we mean by “kiirttaniiyah”?

When someone’s qualities are sung aloud and highly praised, it is called “kiirttaniiyah”.

In Saḿskrta, the root verb “kiirt” means “to utter something loudly in praise of someone”.

It is something that is uttered loudly enough to be audible to others.

If uttered very softly, it will be audible to oneself, and if uttered mentally, it will be audible to one’s own mind, but will not be audible to others.

Kiirtan should be sung loudly enough to be heard by others.

“Kiirttaniiyah sadáharih”.

Kiirtan should be done on Hari and on no other entity. One should not praise oneself or any other person. There are many people who are very fond of praising themselves by telling everyone what wonderful things they have done, but, as mentioned in this sloka, kiirtan is not for one’s own self but for Hari. Even though people are taught to do kiirtan for Hari, they still make the mistake of praising themselves too much.

Sometimes their self-praise is so intense that others are obliged to say, “Please stop praising yourself so much.”

They forget that their self-applause is rather boring for others.

Human beings should realize that no one likes to hear the self-praise of others. It requires systematic organization in order to enjoy the sweetness of kiirtan.[The Lord Should Always Be Praised, 11 January 1979, Kalikata]

For this various types of Kiirtan program can be organized such pada kiirtan, pala kiirtan, avarta kiirtan, Nagar kiirtan, kátha Kiirtan etc., The overall spirit being to please Bábá by singing and dancing this spiritual cantillate with others will create a tremendous benefit throughout cosmos, and after Akhanda Kiirtan there should be special prasad, cakes or sweets which makes delightful and joyous celebration.

Tulsidas, Su’rdas, Mira’, Kabir, Chaitanya and Nának were world-famous who are known by their indelible spiritual Kiirtan lovers.

Rabindranath was a great poet. Had the poetic genius in him not got expression and remained latent, the world would not have taken him to be a great poet. Had he composed his poems in his mind and not written them, he would not have won acceptance by the people as a great poet.

In the same way, when the namer does not name, the named is powerless. Therefore it is said that the name has greater power than the named.

For example, Parama Puruśa – He is the beloved of all. In [old] Sanskrit there is a word bapra. Bapra means “dear”. Bapra became bappa in Prákrta. In Ardha Prákrta it first became báppá, and then changed to bapu and then to Bábá. So the meaning of the word Bábá is “dear”. As Parama Puruśa is the beloved of all, so all are beloved for Parama Puruśa. So when Parama Puruśa is “Bábá” for units, for Parama Puruśa the units are also Bábá. This is because the relationship is that of love, in which there is no scope for superior or inferior, higher or lower – all are equal. Whether the devotee is greater or God is greater, each is Bábá for the other. Why wait for the decision of the fight?[Náma and Námii, 19 October 1971 DMC, Bombay].