Tuesday, 8/18
Getting a group of people out the door takes its time (even though half of us, Gaura Vani, Jahnavi and Rasa, are in another part of the world: London and then India), so once everyone was finally in the van, we drove off, hoping to make it on time to Jai’s seminar on kirtan. Two minutes down the road we get a call from Akincana, the only As Kindred Spirits band-member still with us, asking where we are. Yikes, we left Akincana!
He had woken up early and gone with MC Yogi to see the local Vedanta scholars who read the Uddhava-Gita and discourse on it. We pulled over to the side of the road ready to turn around and pick him up, but Yogi ji found us and delivered Akincana to us intact. Akincana reported that he was tired but really happy he’d gone to the Vedanta monastery. The swami brought up the topic of cow dung in Indian village life, giving Akincana the opportunity to speak on the glories of Go-Mata or Mother Cow. For example, the cow is so pure that she eats only grass and then produces nutritious milk, and cow-dung and cow-urine, which have cleansing properties. In India, of course, they use cow dung for various purposes, building huts, cleaning, and making cow-dung patties for fuel. Using the dried cow-dung, Akincana continued, is considered the most high-class form of fuel, wood and gas second, and electric being the least classy. He himself swears by it and shared with the Vedanta group that when he’s in Mayapur, West Bengal, he drinks cow-urine every day.
“Really?!” MC Yogi asked, “What does it taste like?”
“It’s got a pretty intense taste.”
“Was it yellow?” MC Yogi asked.
“Yea.”
“Then you’re in luck.” (i.e. urine-luck)
Which is the type of witty comment MC Yogi throws in at regular intervals. After all that, Akincana reflected that he may have come on to heavy about the cow-issue. But basically it’s inevitable that wherever he goes he brings his hilarious Akincana-comments to the discussion – which in no way undermines their absolute truth.Anyhow, so that was us bonding while driving to the kirtan-seminar.
We arrived on time! and I think we all immediately felt the positive energy of the group gathered there in the small town of San Anselmo. Jai often refers to us, As Kindred Spirits and the Mayapuris, as a tribe, the kirtan-tribe. Though we have separate bands, so to say, we are all part of the same family, going the same direction. And as we walked into Jai’s space, he greeted and welcomed us into his space as if we were part of it, giving us all hearty hugs and then to everyone, “Look who’s here you guys, the Mayapuris! They are going to be sharing some of their kirtan with us today.”
We settled in along with everyone else to experience a day at kirtan-camp with Jai Uttal, day number five for the others. Soon his little Ezra Gopal came running in, his hair tied up into a top-knot, like little Gopal Krishna himself.
After gathering us all together in a melodious chant, Jai opened up the floor for any questions or concerns, while simultaneously attending to Ezra, who wanted to know “When are you done?” and getting his morning kiss.
The first question was direct and dove right in: “How do I memorize the Hanuman-Chalisa?”
Jai answered directly, “Don’t memorize it.” If you feel drawn to it, he continued, then chant. And naturally a day will come when you will know it. Don’t set out to memorize it. Even in India, he offered, the older people who have recited the Chalisa since childhood and who know it molecularly still sit with their books open and chant. There is a beauty and benefit there, because you are engaging several senses simultaneously.
This struck me as such a fitting response, because why demand of yourself a certain thing, and thereby make it a task, a chore, when otherwise it would be a joyful act and a natural response to the call of the heart. By just immersing yourself in a natural manner, you may find one day that the sacred mantra has naturally imprinted itself in your mind, your heart.
Another lady commented that she had been struck by a line in Jai’s kirtan manual that said that God takes on the form of the names we chant, that he is actually embodied through our chanting, that he is the names we chant. And a gentleman in the front added that the ISKCON guys express it in another way, that god actually dances on our tongue as we chant. In this way, this inspired group of people talked casually about these profound subjects. Even Jai was chilling on the stage, laughing, chewing on sugar-free lozenges and sharing his wisdom.
Somehow, Jai began sharing the story of how he became a kirtan-walla. He was part of a spiritual group that planned to send their members to different locations to open ashrams. Picking a note from a hat, Jai got Bakersfield and went there with his sarod. He would chant in the park outside the local University, living on government-issued peanut-butter and orange-peel tea. This was in 1968. Vish and I looked at each other, woah, he’s been doing kirtan since then! That’s practically 20 years before we were born. Prabhupada started ISKCON in ’66, so Jai’s been doing his thing for longer than most of us, and longer than many spiritual practitioners and kirtan-singers that we know and admire.
During the next two hours of discussion, Jai involved the Mayapuris, asking Vish to speak on the difference between Vedic chants and kirtan. The prime difference, Vis said, is that there are no hard or fast rules for kirtan – you can do it anytime, anyplace (Even in the toilet, Kish joked, referring to a story from Mahaprabhu’s time). Then Jai invited the Mayapuris to the stage, but Vish wanted to sit in the midst of the people. As we sat down with our instruments, a few people eagerly called out asking, who are the Mayapuris?
In response, Vish spoke about Mayapur, the place where kirtan as we know it was born, and about Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the founder of kirtan, who embodies the mood of intense love. He started with a sweet “Radhe Radhe Govinda” which broke into Mahamantra and Kish and Akincana played mrdunga. (Vis introduced Akinchana as the “token white-man” of our group, upon which Jai goes, “Can I be a token white man too”) Jambu played kartals, me on whompers, and Gangi chose to dance. After half an hour of rocking it Mayapuri-style, Vish ended and a flow of questions came next, which gave Vish and Kish a chance to speak more about Mayapur, Mahaprabhu, and the history of kirtan.
Kish commented that the workshop reminded him of Caitanya Maharabhu’s “Nocturnal school of Kirtan” where he and his close associates cultivated their kirtan in privacy with great sincerity, individually preparing to take the kirtan out to the streets, to the people. A kirtan explosion! Similarly, Kish compared, the fifty souls attending Jai’s kirtan-camp will soon be in their own corners of the world sharing their kirtan-love.
We had our new Mayapuris cards with us, with Vish, Kish and Bali dancing in the Salt Lake flats dessert, and everyone waved their hands to get one of their own. It was sweet.
Afterwards, several attendees approached Vish. One lady was inspired to go to Mayapur in her next India trip. Another lady, Kari, a pre and postnatal yoga instructor, shared that Vish had brought her back to Vrindavan. During her last India trip, she spent twenty-four hours in Vrindavan, and as much of that time in kirtan as possible. When her friends came to pick her up, they immediately saw a change in her and noted that something special had happened to her. Her kirtans upon her return touched her friends in a special way, and today, she had felt the same way during Vish’s singing. He brought Vrindavan to her.
By this time, the clock was ticking close to five, and in our rush and enthusiasm to attend Jai’s kirtan camp none of us had eaten, and the reality of our bodies’ needs was starting to catch up with us. Regardless, most of us would decline the yellow liquid Akincana swears by!
We left then, happy in our hearts to have met such a great group of kirtan-enthusiast, foremost among them Jai Uttal himself.
A big thanks to Jai for having us with him and encouraging us so sweetly, by word and example.
Thanks also to Russel White for sharing his awesome pics with us!
LOVE – Vrinda
