In2-MeC

Sridhama Mayapur, West Bengal
7 March 2003

The Gaura Mandala Parikrama begins today. The sound of three different amplified kirtanas reverberates across the landscape as I write this. The vast number of ISKCON devotees who have gathered here from many lands, as well as parties of local Bengali devotees of other Gaudiya institutions, are "patrolling on the Lord's command."

Ajna-Tahal

"The Lord's Order to Patrol Around Town"
from Gitavali by Bhaktivinoda Thakura

nadiya-godrume nityananda mahajan
patiyache nam-hatta jiver karam

In the land of Nadiya, on the island of Godruma, the magnanimous Lord Nityananda has opened up the marketplace of the holy name, meant for the deliverance of all fallen souls.

(sraddhavan jan he, sraddhavan jan he)
prabhur ajnay, bhai, magi ei bhiksa
bolo 'krsna,' bhajo krsna, koro krsna-siksa

O people of faith! O people of faith! By the order of Lord Gauranga, O brothers, I beg these three requests of you: Chant "Krsna!". worship Krishna, and teach others about Krishna.

aparadha-sunya ho'ye loho krsna-nam
krsna mata, krsna pita, krsna dhana-pran

Being careful to remain free of offenses, just take the holy name of Lord Krishna. Krishna is your father, and Krishna is the treasure of your life.

krsnera samsara koro chadi anacar
jive doya, krsna-nam--sarva-dharma-sar

Giving up all sinful activities, carry on your worldy duties only in relation to Lord Krishna. The showing of compassion to other souls by loudly chanting the holy name of Krishna is the essence of all forms of religion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

How long we battled to shake off the heavy metal paralysis of the Western techno-industrial disease! Just to come to this! Just to lift our trembling arms into the air of this holy land, draw a deep breath and with a blossoming smile let the divine names of Sri Krishna burst forth from our throats! An atmospheric burst! A liberating bomb of ahamkara-dissolving spirito-solar energy! (Yes! The Kalisantarana Upanisad describes it like that: iti sodasa kalasya jivasya varanam vinasanam tatah prakasate parambrahma megha paye ravi rasmi mandale veti, that just as the sun burns away clouds in the sky to reveal itself to everyone, so the syllables of the Hare Krishna mahamantra destroys the layers of material consciousness, revealing the divine Form of the supreme absolute truth!)

Let me take liberty with Gregory Corso's 1958 poem Bomb (Greg Corso: another beatnik!). Let me transmute it into a praise of the radiating blast of the holy name across the earth:

KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA

KRISHNA ye skies and KRISHNA ye suns

KRISHNA KRISHNA ye moons ye stars KRISHNA

nights ye KRISHNA ye days ye KRISHNA

KRISHNA KRISHNA ye winds ye clouds ye rains

go KRISHNA ye lakes ye oceans RAMA

Barracuda KRISHNA and cougar KRISHNA

Ubangi KRISHNA orangoutang

RAMA KRISHNA HARE HARE bee bear baboon

ya KRISHNA ye RAMA ye HARE

the drum the cymbals the beads

Yes Yes into our midst a maha-mantra will descend

Flowers will leap in joy their roots aching

Fields will kneel proud beneath the Hare Krishna maha-mantra of the wind

Kirtans will blossom Fauna will perk their ears

Ah many a holy name that day will awe the bird a gentle look

Yet not enough to say the holy name will resound

or even contend celestial fire goes out

Know that the earth with madonna the name

that in the hearts of men to come more holy names will leap forth

magisterial holy names wrapped in silk all beautiful

and they'll sit plunk on earth's grumpy empires

fierce with moustaches of gold

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We've been waiting for this for many decades, many centuries, many lifetimes. Groping for this. Stumbling, lurching to this. John Clellon Holmes wrote in Go, the first Beat novel, published in 1952:

What I mean is that with all our knowledge, things have gotten
worse, more hopeless. We know everything but the one binding
fact, don't you see? The binding, unifying fact of human life
that will make it all real, and not some vicious prank! I finally
realized that so clearly. And that fact has got to be God!

Thirteen years later, Srila Prabhupada came to give us that fact...yes, that FACT! Not just some gossamer idea, some vaporous doctrinal formula, some ephemeral vision of a hopeful world to come.

Yajnaih sankirtanaih prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah. The short-cut method.
Intelligent class of men will take this sankirtana movement for his spiritual
elevation of life. It is a fact, it is scientific, it is authorized. So don't
neglect. Take this chanting of Hare Krsna heart and soul, and anywhere...
Niyamitah smarane na kalah. There is no rules and regulations, that "You have
to chant at this time or that time, in this position or that position."
No. Because it is especially meant for these fallen conditioned souls,
there is no hard and fast rule.

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