Vrindavan. 2015.11.19 (VT): At Fogla Ashram on Thursday night, Vrindavan residents and visitors to the Dham had the privilege of participating in a concert given by numerous groups from different parts of the country doing sankirtan or folk music forms derived from the pan-Indian Harinam Sankirtan movement.
Vaishnavacharya Abhishek Goswami’s concept of a sankirtan festival, in the spirit of music and folk festivals that are held around the world. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is primarily known for spreading the chanting of the Holy Name and the mood of love of God exemplified by the gopis of Vrindavan. To a greater or lesser degree, this mode of devotional culture, the bhakti movement, has spread to every corner of Indian and taken different forms, but which have recognizable connections to one another.
The effect of globalization is that various cultures come into contact with one another and influence each other. Now that Vrindavan is becoming accessible to the world and is ready to take its position as the world capital of bhakti yoga, and the opening up to different cultural influences is inevitable.
Vaishnavism and all traditional cultures are basically conservative. They are bound by their own past. But Chaitanya Vaishnavism has spread into foreign lands… even Vaishnavism itself has appeared in the various regional cultures of India and taken on unique forms in all of them. As they become influenced, they in turn will inform and enrich other areas of Vaishnava culture, especially here in Vrindavan.
Though this was the first such festival in Vrindavan and clearly there are many complications that arise when something new is being organized for the first time, but I would personally like to felicitate Abhishek for his determination to realize his vision and I hope that he will continue to promote this kind of cultural program dedicated to expanding the culture of Harinam sankirtan.
The opening performance was from the Warkari performer Yogiraj Gosavi Paithankar, the 14th descendant in the line from Ekanath (1533-1599), the Marathi saint who translated the Bhagavatam into the Marathi language. He is also the president of the Shantibrahma Shri Eknath Maharaj Mission.
Appearing with a group of 50 young men who accompanied with dancing and thick concave tal cymbals, in the distinctive Varkari style. The songs mostly written by Ekanath were separated by a discourse that glorified the Holy Names and the saints. Yogirajji said, “Maharashtra is known as the land of sants.”
The Warkaris hail from Pandharpur in Maharashtra and are famous for singing the name of Vitthala.
The second group to appear was the Baul ensemble from Murshidabad, WB. After hearing the Warkari group, I was looking forward to being able to understand more of the lyrics and indeed I was not disappointed. Lakkhikanta Chattaraj, the lead singer, broke into a song about following the guru and wanting the company of Vaishnavas. But subsequently the mood was broken by poorly conceived lighting, which treated the performance like some kind of psychedelic show. Once I was distracted, I found it difficult to find the same level of absorption in the singing, despite the beauty of his voice.
Later, in talking with Lakkhikanta, I realized how difficult it is for a group singing meaningful lyrics in one language to communicate with others of a different language. He admitted that they are trying to modernize the Baul culture, and to a great extent they have succeeded, but unless the divide of language can be crossed, it will remain a colorful curiosity. This is why the first wave of sankirtan will of necessity be the Holy Name in its simplest forms.
The third act I had the fortune to watch was the Sri Khol group of Harekrishna Haldar. This was high intensity testosterone stuff. I did not count to see if there were 108 players on the stage, there seemed to be a lot of young boys with drums standing on one side waiting to join the main group, but they never got the call. The video from Youtube gives a bit of an idea of what they do.
Though there were more acts, I only stayed until the end of the third act. This was a Pung Cholom, the traditional drumming with acrobatic dance performed by a Manipuri group. They prefaced and concluded the performance with the Hare Krishna mahamantra.
There were a number of other performances that followed, including dhrupada and sitar musicians. After all that percussion, though, I was a bit exhausted and left. Many of the performers join Abhishek Goswami each morning for sankirtan procession to the seven ancient temples of Vrindavan.
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