Knowledge, skills and values: modern education theory fits within Vedic viewpoint

The Vedic literature describes three phases of education in spiritual knowledge. They are:

sambandha or knowledge of the relationship between things, especially between the Supreme Lord and His various energies; abhidheya, or the process of attainment and skills required; and prayojana, or the ultimate goal or value to be obtained.

These three principles of Vedic education can be seen throughout the writings of Srila Prabhupada and the previous acaryas:

The original and primeval spiritual preceptor of the universe, Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, has declared that Vaiñëava theology has three fundamental principles: sambandha, relationships; abhidheya, the means of attainment; and prayojana, the prime necessity and goal.

The Vedas stand as the authoritative guide and reference (pramäëa) and they prove nine different topics, which may be classified into sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana.

Krishna explains in the Bhagavad gita that all souls are on His path.

mama vartmänuvartante

manuñyäù pärtha sarvaçaù

“Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Påthä.”

Thus there is actually only one path of education or upliftment, with Godhead at one end and hellish life at the other; and all living beings are following this path laid out by the Lord.

So if the one path of devotional service can be described by sambandha, abhideya and prayojana, and everyone and everything is on the path described by Krishna, we should also see these three principles in all aspects of the world.

And actually it is a fact: we can see these three principles working throughout the Lord’s creation.

For example, when we meet a new person, we first need to know something about them before we can act in any relationship with them. Srila Prabhupada also gives this example:

Sambandha means we have to understand our relationship with Kåñëa. Just like if we want to make some relationship with a friend, then we must know about him, what he is.

Another example would be a sports team. At the start of the game the relationships are first setup: players on the same team wear the same colour shirt, and different players take different positions in the team. Once these relationships (sambandha) are set up, then only can the actual activity (abhideya) of the game take place within these relationships, to attain the goal (prayojana) of scoring a goal and winning the game.

In discussion of group dynamics, the common aphorism ‘storming, norming and performing’ is used to describe the process of first establishing relationships within the groups (storming and norming – sambandha), before productive activity can occur (performing – abhideya), to achieve the group’s goals (prayojana).

In basic education theory also, these principles can be seen in the concepts of education as being in three phases of knowledge, skills and values.

Sambandha	Abhideya	Prayojana
Knowledge	Skills	Values
What	How	Why

The sambandha principle is then the basic knowledge of a situation, and WHAT are the relationships between the different elements.

Abhideya is the application of that knowledge into action. It is the skills needed, it is the HOW something is done.

Prayojana is then the WHY we act: what is our ultimate motivation, what do we value about the situation.

The whole Vedas are divided into three states. Sambandha, what is our connection God. That is called sambandha. And then abhidheya. According to that relationship we have to act. That is called abhidheya. And why do we act? Because we have got the goal of life, to achieve the goal of life.

So one might ask what is the value in seeing in this way? Why would we want to see the mundane world, modern educational philosophies etc. in terms of the Vedic guidelines of sambandha, abhideya and prayojana?

Firstly, because it is our duty to try and see everything through the eyes of sastra, which gives us practical realization of how everything is actually the Lord’s energy, and is working under his direction, mayädhyakñeëa prakåtiù. If see everything in the way Krishna and the acharyas describe we see things we are always with Krishna.

In fact, we can describe the benefits of seeing in this way by using the principles of sambhanda, abhideya and prayojana themselves.

For example, if we are studying education and we are looking at things in terms of knowledge, skills and values, our sambandha or relationship we are setting up is that we are a disciple of modern educational theory. Acting in that relationship (abhideya), we will be moving towareds the ultimate goal (prayojana) of modern education, which is atheistic, moralistic sense gratification.

On the other hand, if we use the same principles of education given by the modern theorists, and frame them in our own Vedic perspectives, we are setting up the sambandha of being disciples of the Vedas, who simply use the tools of modern theories to further the ends of the Vedas.

This isn’t to say to say that any devotee who uses modern theories is being certainly degraded, because one can still use these theories, or anything in the world for that matter, in Krishna’s service. But it is just to make the point that we should, wherever possible, see the overarching principles of what we are working with in terms of the Vedic conception, or at least use the modern and Vedic terms interchangeably in our teachings. This will keep us focussed in sastra-caksusa, or seeing the world through the eyes of scriptures, and be an example to our students of how one can see everything as working under the laws of God, as described through His most perfect scriptures, the Vedic literature.

If our sambandha is always fixed as a follower of the Vedas, then our path to the ultimate prayojana of the Vedas, loving service to the Supreme Lord Krishna, is always kept clear.

ISKCON’s Future: Could a Bi-cameral GBC Help?

When the founding fathers of the United States gathered to formalize the Constitution in 1787, there was a sharp divide between the proposals put forward by the Union’s larger and smaller states.

The larger states favored the “Virginia Plan” whereby the number of representatives in the parliament was based on population, thus giving stronger representation to the larger states; while the smaller states favored the “New Jersey Plan” which gave equal representation to each state, regardless of population.

After almost six weeks of vigorous debate, the States finally agreed to a compromise: the new government would be a bicameral system made up of two chambers, an upper house, the Senate and a lower house, the House of Representatives. In the upper house, each State would have an equal vote; in the lower house, representation would be proportional to population, with each State having one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants.

Following the example of the United States, federally based systems around the world have adopted a bicameral legislature, where the two chambers have differing methods of representing the constituents. These are generally along the lines of the U.S. system of having an upper house with equal representation for States, and a lower house with representation of geographical areas based purely on population. Examples of this can be seen in the political systems of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and many other countries.

Bicameralism has also been used to fuse together an aristocratic and democratic system. The best known example of this is the British system, where historically the House of Lords was made up of hereditary positions representing the Nobles, while seats in the House of Commons were elected positions, representing the common people.

Underlying all of these uses is the practical fact that having a bicameral system allows for a second chance to modify important legislation, and allows for a different perspective on the legislation.

So how is all of this relevant to ISKCON and how, if at all, could ISKCON take advantage of the political apparatus of a bicameral system?

Many devotees, senior leaders and more junior members alike, are seeing the need for a plan of succession to lead ISKCON into the future, but there are two seemingly opposing imperatives that need to be reconciled: ISKCON needs to retain the strength of its traditions and the maturity and wisdom of its elders, while simultaneously empowering the next generation to take up the mantle of leadership and push on the movement in new and dynamic ways.

In the same way that a bicameral system facilitated representation of both aristocracy and commoners in Britain, and small and large States in the U.S., a bicameral system for ISKCON may facilitate the elders to oversee the ISKCON legacy, while facilitating the younger generation to take the reigns of management with youthful vigor, as their predecessors did in the 1970′s.

So what would such a system look like, and how does it fit in with Srila Prabhupada’s vision for ISKCON?

Srila Prabhupada set up the GBC as the “ultimate managerial authority” for ISKCON, and therefore it would be inappropriate and problematic to set up another body higher than the GBC. However, it would be possible to modify the structure of the GBC while still following Srila Prabhupada’s will of having the GBC as the ultimate managerial authority.

One proposal would be to create a bicameral GBC, with the lower house being called the GBC Assembly, and the upper house the GBC Senate.

The lower house would be comprised of the GBC Secretaries who are directly managing their zones, and the upper house would be comprised of the GBC Senators. Resolutions passed by the GBC Assembly would need to also be approved by the GBC Senate, before becoming ISKCON law. The Senate would be able to make proposals, but they would also need to pass both chambers.

GBC members who don”t want to be engaged in direct management can continue to serve on the GBC Senate and make a very meaningful contribution to the running of the society. At the present moment, the title of GBC Emeritus has been awarded to such senior members, but some of these members themselves note that they are “out of the loop” and don”t have much direct involvement in framing ISKCON policies and laws. Under this system we have had such senior, experienced devotees as Hridayananda Goswami, Mukunda Goswami, Bhurijana Prabhu and Giriraja Swami having little involvement in GBC matters. It may be easier for such experienced devotees to share their vast wisdom and experience with the society, while at the same time not being overly burdened with daily management tasks, if they were GBC Senators.

For the younger generation, a bicameral GBC would allow more scope for them to take ownership of the mission by becoming GBC secretaries, while having the guidance of their superiors above them.

In the legal document “Direction of Management” issued by Srila Prabhupada on May 28th, 1970, which set up the GBC, the document listed 34 centers of ISKCON, and Srila Prabhupada named 12 GBC members to govern the society, a proportion of roughly 3 centers for each GBC secretary. While you would not expect this exact proportion of GBC’s to centers to continue indefinitely, it is interesting to compare this situation to that of today.

Today ISKCON is made up of 300 temples, 40 rural communities, and 80 restaurants in 71 countries; over 400 centers worldwide, with around 40 GBC’s responsible for the entire organization. If the same proportion of GBC’s to centers was maintained as in 1970, the current number of GBC secretaries would be around 130. While this fact alone is not a strong argument to greatly expand the number of GBC secretaries, it does lend weight to the idea of a bicameral GBC with many more secretaries to represent the devotees. Such a system would allow for newer members to contribute and take ownership of ISKCON’s future, while also facilitating much better representation of devotees in GBC decision making processes.

One proposal would be to have a GBC Senate consisting of roughly 40 or so senior devotees, with a GBC Assembly of approximately 80 devotees who have shown their expertise in managing the society.

Varnasrama considerations

This system can also be analyzed as being closer to the ideals of the Vedic social organization as given by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. In a broad sense of social organization, the GBC Senate would represent the brahminical principles of wisdom and guidance without getting too involved in daily management. At the same time, the GBC Senate would institutionalize the notion that the brahmanas can, when required, use their brahminical tejas to rectify the ksatriyas, and ensure they are correctly applying the sastra.

The GBC Assembly would naturally be more akin to the ksatriyas who are engaged in day to day management and leadership, and therefore are working under the principle of utility to get the mission achieved in a practical way.

At the present moment, the same group of devotees is taking the brahminical role of being the spiritual head of society, while at the same time acting as administrators. This is not ideal according to the prescription for peaceful working of society as given in the Vedas, which is founded on a separation of the roles of brahmanas and ksatriyas.

The Srimad Bhagavatam deals extensively with the relationships between brahmanas and ksatriyas, and how they cooperate synergistically to order society in a progressive fashion. While we all have to “do the needful” as the mission requires, in later years especially, Srila Prabhupada repeatedly stressed that he wanted ISKCON to implement the essential elements of the Varnasrama system for the peaceful organization of the society.

There has been much talk within ISKCON about implementing Varnasrama Dharma on many levels, but it can be argued that if Varnasrama is not implemented on the top level, i.e. by separating the brahminical and ksatriya functions of the governing apparatus, then it is almost impossible to implement these principles throughout the rest of the ISKCON society.

The system of bicameral chambers of the GBC also has implications for the functioning of the ashrams. At the present moment, the executive management function is primarily being handled by sannyasis. In the early days of the movement, Srila Prabhupada had his householder devotees perform most of the direct management, and there are many cases in ISKCON history, under Srila Prabhupada, where devotees who took sannyasa also gave up their managerial functions to be free to preach and travel unhindered. Srila Prabhupada also many times stated that the sannyasis are the natural spiritual leaders of society, while the householders were natural administrators, being already involved in the care of the social fabric of families, women and children.

While we have unbounded respect for the individuals who are the spiritual leaders of the society, looking from an objective perspective, it is not ideal to have a society which is primarily administered by (on a purely Varnasrama analysis) persons in the role of sannyasi-ksatriyas. Such a situation can lead to dissatisfaction for all concerned: the sannyasis can get caught up in the minutiae of daily management and dealing with social/householder issues, rather than being free to preach on the spiritual platform and travel with a peaceful mind to enlighten the householders, while the householders may tend to feel that the leadership does not understand their issues. Ideally, sannyasis would act as trusted counsel to householder administrators. In this way, they maintain their influential role in society by giving much needed advice to those who take on the burden of daily management. Moreover, many of sannyasis would act as diksha guru for the grihastha ksatriyas; thus they’d naturally assume a role as a spiritual mentor.

Conclusion

It may be observed that when the movement was progressing very dynamically in the 70′s, the system of management was in fact more like the system discussed above. When Srila Prabhupada was personally overseeing the movement, enthusiastic young devotee managers took the role of GBC’s and spread the movement very dynamically, while Srila Prabhupada gave them all encouragement and responsibility, but still oversaw their work and retained the ultimate right to occasionally modify or annul some of their resolutions if he saw the need.

It may be that instituting a bicameral system for the GBC could help to continue a healthy and dynamic managerial process for ISKCON into the future; allowing for the preservation of ISKCON’s strength and traditions, while facilitating the next generation to take responsibility for expanding the mission.

Krishna in the curriculum or the curriculum in Krishna?

This article gives an example of a curriculum planning process that focused on first situating an academic unit in Krishna consciousness, before then proceeding to cover the government Board of Studies’ syllabus outcomes. This led to better outcomes for the students, more inspiration for the devotee teacher and appreciation from the Board’s inspectors.

Introduction

Our Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula school in Murwillumbah, Australia, is a government registered and funded school. Therefore we periodically have inspections by the Board of Studies to ensure that we are achieving the outcomes set out in the Board’s syllabuses. During the initial meetings with staff, in the year prior to our recent inspection, the Board’s inspector made the comment that he could see how the planning documents had the philosophy of Krishna consciousness sprinkled throughout, but he didn’t really see how the whole curriculum was being presented through the cultural vision of Krishna consciousness, as distinct from other non-Krishna conscious schools.

In planning the curriculum for this year (when the actual inspection would take place), we were consciously trying to find ways to present the Board of Studies curriculum through the eyes of Krishna consciousness, rather than adding elements of Krishna consciousness into planning documents which were made in the standard way.

Discussion

In planning units at a government registered Gurukula, teachers may begin with the outcomes required for the government registration, and then try to add as much Krishna consciousness as possible to the planning when they feel they have sufficiently covered the government requirements.

This can subtly give students the impression that the mainstream, mechanistic scientific world view is the foundational world view, with Krishna consciousness being a secondary consideration. It also serves to implicitly communicate the underlying materialistic conceptions of the mechanistic world view to these young devotees, especially in the teaching of science and social studies.

Further, if Krishna consciousness is mentioned later in the unit, it gives the impression that the philosophy of Krishna consciousness exists within the framework of academic knowledge, rather than the other way around. The Vaisnava acharyas explain that empirical or directly perceived knowledge is just a small fraction of the wealth of knowledge offered by the Vedic literature, and the empirical, mechanistic world view, characterized by a belief in the theory of evolution, is a view held by only a tiny fraction of souls in Krishna’s infinite creation.

In contrast, by placing the unit within a Krishna conscious framework and world view from the beginning, and then branching out to the more mechanistic aspects of the unit, and how it relates to today’s world, we subtly, yet powerfully show how Krishna consciousness sits at the top of the tree of knowledge, and that everything exists within Krishna and His philosophy.

It is said that a learned scholar should see everything through the eyes of sastra, and by beginning a unit from the perspective of Krishna, we instill in the students, from a young age, the ability to place all their experience within the context of the Krishna conscious philosophy.

An example

In our science and technology unit for years 5-6 entitled Introducing Energy, one of the Board outcomes was as follows:

PP S3.4
Identifies and applies processes involved in manipulating, using and changing the form of energy.

Some of the indicators for this outcome were:

  Identifies various forms of energy – movement energy, stored energy, wind, solar, fossil
fuels

  Is able to identify the various forms of energy

  Identifies levers and gears in simple machines and can describe the way the energy is transformed.

Rather than beginning the unit in the standard way of introducing the sun as an impersonal source of energy in the solar system, we began by looking at the Vedic view of energy by discussing:

  Krsna as the source of all energies

  The Vedic concept of energetic source/controller (purusha) and energy (prakrti)

  Krsna’s three forms of energy: spiritual, material and marginal

After this introduction, we then continued with the standard Board content of how the energy of the sun (by now understood as Krishna’s energy) is then transformed into stored energy by trees, then transformed as food, coal and oil; as well as the relative merits of solar, wind and fossil fuel energy sources.

The students then created a poster showing Krishna with His three kinds of energy, showing  how the material energy transforms from the sun to plants etc. In this way, all of the Board outcomes were achieved, but the whole unit became a spiritual experience for all concerned, because we had put Krishna first, and then expanded out, linking all of the energy back to Him.

When we finally had the inspection some weeks later, we displayed the students’ energy posters as part of our class work display for the inspectors, and were pleasantly surprised to see the genuine enthusiasm of the Board inspectors for the posters, who several times mentioned how they really appreciated how we had taught the unit from our own Krishna conscious cultural perspective, while simultaneously covering all of the Board’s outcomes.

Christmas: A Whale of a Time for All But the Animals

Yesterday the Japanese government bowed to international pressure and dumped its plan to kill the humpback whales on its yearly whale hunt. The Japanese whaling fleet still plans to cull more than 1000 other whales, mostly from the smaller minke species.

Much of the diplomatic pressure came from the Australian government, which plans to send customs vessels and navy planes to monitor the whaling fleet’s activities in the Southern Ocean, and collect video evidence which could be used in any future court case.

Japan’s chief government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura pointed out the cultural differences between Japan and countries like Australia over whaling, and seemed nonplussed by Australians’ affection towards the whales.

“Australians consider whales to be very affectionate, something I can’t really relate to,” he said. “But apparently they give names to every whale and there’s quite strong public sentiment.”

Japan says that unlike most other countries, eating whale meat is an important part of its culture. But whales are not the only point of difference between world cultures over what is considered an animal worthy of affection and protection, and one that is simply a source of food, able to be hunted or farmed and killed at will. There are numerous examples of cultural differences which allow slaughter of one species, while another is venerated.

Take the humble dog, which is given an affectionate name and often treated as part of the family in the Western world, while in parts of the East they are just another menu item; or the cow which is venerated and protected in India, but slaughtered by the millions in the West.

While it is certainly good news that Japan will spare the lives of 50 humpback whales this summer, it is ironic that on the eve of Christmas, such a huge diplomatic effort is aimed at saving 50 whales, while millions of other animals are slaughtered. The same governments that lobbied Japan stand strangely mute and indifferent to this slaughter, praising this flesh fest as a wonderful celebration of peace and goodwill.

According to the law codes of Vedic culture, the government must protect all citizens, including the animals, and every animal, no matter what species, should be allowed to live out its life peacefully, working through its own particular karma as ordained by providence. The only exception is a dangerous animal that poses a direct threat to humans.

The Vedas teach us that all life is sacred and that there are serious reactions for taking the life of any animal. These ancient teachings extol the follower to develop eyes of equality, by seeing the essence of life in all creatures. The result of this will be that one perceives the inherent sanctity in all life, and will protect all creatures from harm, not only those that our particular culture cherishes; whether it be the whale, pig, dog, cow or any other creature.

The devotees of the Krishna consciousness movement practice a strictly vegetarian diet, which avoids unnecessary suffering to all. On the anniversary of the appearance of a great saint or incarnation of God, the devotees will prepare a delicious variety of pure vegetarian foods, sanctify them by offering them to God, and then distribute the prasadam (literally ‘mercy’ in the form of sanctified vegetarian food) to all in attendance. Such a feast is truly a feast of peace and goodwill, because no violence is involved in preparing such a feast, and everything is cooked in a spirit of service to God and all His creation.

Giving our kids what they need

The Bhagavad-gita says that when there is an absence of religion, the family traditions break down, there is free mingling between men and women, and the result is unwanted progeny. From the point of view of a child, we can well imagine the negative psychological effects of being told you were unwanted or an “accident”.

The upside of this is that we can have exactly the opposite result by showing our children that they are very much “wanted” and not only that, they are loved and cherished.

Of course our goal is not to have happy children who grow up to enjoy their senses and then take another birth according to their karma. Sastra (scripture) says that the real goal of Krishna conscious family life is to raise children who will attain spiritual perfection and not have to take birth again in this material world. Furthermore, the sastras say that one should not become a guru (spiritual guide and mentor), teacher or parent if one cannot deliver their dependents from the cycle of birth and death.

The role of parent then, is not a trivial one. In a very real sense the parent is the guru (representative of God) for the child. This is confirmed elsewhere in the sastra where it states that a parent takes on the reactions for the child’s activities until the child is 16 years of age, in the same way that the guru takes on the reactions for the activities of their disciples.

This aspect of seeing the parents as guru is very practical, and starts from the very beginning of life. Without the mother’s care and breast milk, the newborn baby would die. So the mother is the affectionate maintainer, representing the ultimate maintainer, God. Naturally the child is submissive to this loving maintainer. Next the child becomes aware of the father who is also the loving maintainer. In the Vedic ideal, the father works to maintain the family, and gives loving protection to the wife and children. Due to this protection and care, the wife naturally is submissive to the husband, and the child sees this reciprocation of submission and loving care. As the child develops, he sees that the father himself is submissive to senior devotees, and ultimately the spiritual master. In this way the child sees the principle of parampara being established from a very young age, and the essential principal that one must be submissive to a loving authority for the blessings and affection to flow. This all begins with the mother being the first guru.

By understanding this truth we can use it to our advantage as parents, in helping our children attain faith in the Lord. Developing faith in the Lord means that we come to rely on Him for everything we need, we accept His love and protection, and we become submissive to His desires. When our children are young and they are freely accepting of our role as their gurus or representatives of the Lord, we can use this time to act as Krishna acts towards us; as a caring guardian who gives everything we need, and is fair and just in his rectification. By acting as proper representatives of the Lord, we greatly help our children develop their natural love and dependence on the Lord. Depending on the Lord and being submissive to His desires will become natural for them as they grow to maturity.

There are many examples in the life of Srila Prabhupada where his father and mother always tried to please him by giving him what he wanted, even if it was a toy gun for each hand, or making his favourite foodstuff in the middle of the night. Of course, they also took the opportunity to encourage his spiritual development by arranging for a toy size Rathayatra chariot to be made for little Abhay to have his own Rathayatra. In this way Srila Prabhupada experienced a loving, caring, spiritual upbringing.

Therefore events where we make a special effort to create a wonderful experience for our children serve to nourish the feelings within the child that they are wanted, loved and cherished. If these can have some spiritual aspect to them, all the better. From this they will feel secure within the family situation, and within the wider association of devotees.

When asked what can be done about the situation of ISKCON youth who were leaving the association of devotees when they attained maturity, His Holiness Jayapataka Swami commented that, in his experience, the best way to keep children connected to Krishna consciousness, was to give them so much love and affection when they are in the home, that they feel so happy and protected that they don’t want to leave.

It is clear that the best way to give our kids the very best chance at being devotees is to firstly be exemplary devotees ourselves, who are happy and peaceful in our spiritual life, and secondly to give our children security, affection and love so that they always feel sheltered in the home.

According to the sastric injunction that we are responsible to see that our children have the very best chance at becoming pure devotees in this lifetime, it is our duty to give them such experiences in their early childhood that they are accustomed to accepting shelter, protection and blessings from superiors, and being submissive to them.

This does not however suggest that we should be accept offensive or inappropriate behaviour from our children, or shower them with so many artificial ‘wants’, but they should always be given what they need.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that to practice sadhana bhakti we first need our physical health, then mental well-being, and then a healthy social or family situation. When these primary needs are met, the conditioned soul can peacefully execute sadhana bhakti and make progress in the pure chanting of the Holy Name.

By fulfilling these basic needs of our children, we are doing our duty of providing the physical, mental and social support needed for them to feel secure within the association of devotees. When our children grow up feeling secure in the association of devotees, they have an incredible chance to perfect their lives by chanting the Holy Name and serving the Lord in such saintly association. By perfecting their lives in Krishna consciousness they will never have to take birth again, and we will be unlimitedly blessed by the Lord for serving His devotees in such an intimate and loving way.

Kirtana… the ‘next’ big thing

When Srila Prabhupada sat down in Tompkins Square Park, New York in 1966, pulled out a small pair of hand cymbals, and began singing kirtana, nobody in the small crowd that gathered had heard this chanting before. It was a sublime, yet strange experience, as the listeners heard the exotic Sanskrit mantras for the first time.

Fast forward to the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, and the most likely place that you would expect to hear kirtana was on the sidewalks of the world’s big cities, where ISKCON centres would regularly pour forth devotees onto the streets to dance and chant in ecstasy, fulfilling the prediction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoken some 500 years earlier, that the holy names of Krishna would be chanted in every town and village of the world.

Now, as we head further into the new millennium, an interesting phenomenon is taking place, and it seems as though that most ancient of religious practices – kirtana – is rapidly becoming the next big thing.

In yoga studios across the globe, rooms that had been presided over by silent concentration as practitioners focussed on the postures of hatha-yoga, with the occasional hush tones of ‘om’, are now resounding with the sound of Hare Krishna kirtana, and professional kirtaneers such as Krishna das and Jai Uttal are playing to packed houses in yoga centers across the globe.

While the Vedic scriptures recommend that the serious practitioner should exclusively hear the Holy Name vibrated by one who is a pure devotee of Lord Krishna, the Nama-Acharya Srila Haridas Thakur has explained that if one chants the Holy Name to refer to something other than the Lord, but without any obvious offense to the Name – as in the case of Ajamila who chanted the name or Narayana, even though he was using it to represent his son – one will experience the second stage of chanting, technically known as nama-abhasa or the clearing stage of chanting. This stage is characterized as giving an experience of liberation from the material pangs, thus giving a feeling of relief and bliss to the practitioner.

In a Time magazine article on the explosion of kirtana, those who attended the chanting reported that they felt relief from their stress, and a feeling of well being and peace from the external influences of their lives, just as Srila Haridas Thakur has described.

It is interesting to note, however, that these practitioners did not describe an awakening of devotion to the Supreme Lord Krishna, the actual object of many of the prayers that they are singing.

Srila Haridas has explained that to reach the third stage of chanting, suddha-nama, or pure chanting, the practitioner has to become completely freed from the ten offenses to the holy name, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has also explained that to achieve pure devotion for the Lord, one must first receive the seed of devotion from a pure devotee, or his representative.

Once a person has received this seed of devotion, they must become a gardener, carefully culitivating this seed of devotion, by watering it with the hearing and chanting of kirtana until it grows big and strong, and eventually bears the fruits of love of Godhead.

Thus the devotees of ISKCON continue to have a unique role to play in the evolution of ‘kirtana consciousness’ in the Western world. While the popular kirtaneers draw crowds with their polished musical kirtana presentations, devotees who have received the seed of devotion, in disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya, the predecessor acharyas, Srila Prabhupada, and the current spiritual masters, have the special ability to pass on this seed of devotion to sincere seekers of the real bhakti-rasa that is contained in the holy names of the Lord, when chanted in kirtana by His loving devotees.

Qualities attract our emotions

All-famous yet shy, heroic yet respectful, happy yet grave, the supreme controller yet controlled by love; these are just some of the transcendental qualities found in the person of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such combinations of qualities rock the very foundation of our materialistic experience of qualities exhibited within the three modes of material nature, and meditation on such qualities elevates the consciousness to the transcendental abode of the Lord.

Our acharyas advise us to meditate deeply on the Lord’s nama (Name), rupa (form), guna (qualities) and lila (pastimes). As devotees of ISKCON, our daily activities given by Srila Prabhupada are built around remembrance of these aspects of the Lord. We chant a prescribed number of rounds to meditate on the Lord’s holy name, we see the Deity form of the Lord in the temple to fix His form in our minds, and we can read and hear about the qualities and pastimes of the Lord from books and classes.

While all these aspects are essential, we can discern that they appeal to different aspects of our being in different degrees. The Lord’s form is especially pleasing to our eyes and sense of artistry. The holy name is not only pleasing to hear, it is like a shower of cooling rain for our whole being, soothing the pangs of material tribulations. The pastimes of the Lord are especially pleasing to the mind and intelligence, enlivening us with the wonder of the Lord’s activities.

The special attraction of the Lord’s qualities, however, is in the attraction to our emotions and our innermost feelings for exchanges of love with other people. By meditating deeply on the Lord’s qualities of compassion, mercy, strength, happiness, shyness, respect, truthfulness etc, our emotional attachments, that have been battered and troubled by material attachments from time immemorial, find their true repose in the deeply satisfying qualities of the Lord.

In the world of business, it is said that people will buy on emotion, and then justify later with logic; it is emotion that impels people to take action and make a change in their lives. It is also said that family affection is the basis for economic development, because it is the emotion that the parents feel for the child that is the real motivation to work for the child’s future, not merely the intellectual understanding of the child’s dependance on them.

Discussion of personal qualities is the most intensely personal experience possible, because only a person has personal qualities. Even in mundane dealings, people are not as interested in the quantity of a famous person’s wealth or achievements, as they are in the discussion of their qualities. There is some enjoyment in hearing about the inventions of a famous scientist, or the compositions of a famous musician, but people’s ears really spring up when there is some inside information into the actual person’s qualities, whether honest or cheating, religious or irreligious, expert or clumsy, forgiving or quick to bear a grudge, self-controlled or having uncontrolled senses.

Similarly, in spiritual life, it is the personal qualities and emotional exchanges between the devotee and the Lord, or between devotee and devotee, that really touches the heart and gives an intense desire to further experience this sweet exchange. The other side of this is the message that comes from devotees who have unfortunately drifted away from devotional service. They often say that they felt emotionally unfulfilled in the association of devotees, even though they believe the philosophy; again it is the emotional exchange or lack thereof, that impels people to act.

Krishna gives us the insight in the Bhagavad–gita where he explains that we can only give up the lower taste of material rasa or relationship, when we experience the higher taste of spiritual emotion. Rasa varjam raso py asya, param dristva nivartate. Knowing our true existence as infinitesimal spirit souls, who are prone to be attracted at any time by either spiritual or material emotions, we can take proactive steps to ensure that our minds always stay fixed in the thought of the qualities of the Lord.

Krishna gives another indication of how important qualities are by exlaining that the cause of our future happiness or suffering is a direct result of the qualities we are associating with right now, either materialistic or spiritual. Karanam guna sango ‘sya, sad-asad yoni janmasu. At any moment we can decide to replace our association with the various material qualities, or gunas, and associate with the transcendental gunas of the Lord.

This experience is open to us at every moment, we merely need to take advantage of the opportunity to immerse our minds and emotions in the sublime qualities of Lord Sri Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has mercifully given us the Nectar of Devotion which is full of the descriptions of Sri Krishna’s loving dealings and relationships, and chapters 21 and 22 are dedicated entirely to the qualities of Sri Krishna. The constant remembrance of these qualities is both the means to attain perfection and the goal of our lives as aspiring devotees of the Lord.

O Lord, we pray that You let us be born in any hellish condition of life, just as long as our hearts and minds are always engaged in the service of Your lotus feet, our words are made beautiful [by speaking of Your activities] just as tulasi leaves are beautified when offered unto Your lotus feet, and as long as our ears are always filled with the chanting of Your transcendental qualities.

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.15.49 (The four Kumaras speaking to Lord Visnu)