The Bird has Sung

While attending a 12 hour kirtan in Barasana, I had one of the deepest spiritual experiences of my life. After silent japa (quiet recitation of the Hare Krishna maha mantra) in the rickshaw (Indian cab) to the beautiful ashram where the event was taking place, I arrived in high spirits. To my surprise, despite what seemed like the remote location of the ashram which was situated in one of the beautiful forests of Vrindavan, there were much more westerners than native Indians, all of whom were joyously engaged in chanting the transcendent maha mantra. They were led by a man of about 25 years old who with great reverence expressed his deep longing and appreciation for Krishna through chanting of the sacred mantra to an intense beat. This performance deeply moved me as I had not been accustomed to such powerful kirtan which evoked an immediate heart felt response. Amidst my ecstatic clapping and chanting,  I noticed a female devotee with a shaven head across the room smiling blissfully as she also chanted along, I could tell we were experiencing similar ecstasies. To my surprise the woman who I would come to know by the spiritual name Prasant took over the singing when the first kirtaneer finished, I sensed this would be a beautiful performance. Prasant closed her eyes and slowly began reciting the maha mantra as the group of devotees playing a variety of instruments accommodated her slow but powerful melody. The haunting melody turned into a reverent up beat expression of conjugal love which was catalyzed by a joyous conviction and deep compassion. As I listened I came to terms with the fact that this woman was in a state of transcendence and she was bringing the about 200 attendants of the event with her to a place not subject to the polluting material forces. I looked around and noticed how happily entranced so many people were as they listened and chanted along, people of all different backgrounds, ages, etc. all joined together to express their true blissful nature that is universally inherent yet dormant due to the conditioning of the material world. This inspired such deep powerful thoughts about the power of music as a universal unifying and enlightening force due to the impact it has on the listeners both consciously and subconsciously. Most of the time at least in the mainstream it's used to promote the mundane, things that are "quick fixes" for happiness such as money and sex but ultimately lead to attachment and despair. I thought about how the reason this maha mantra and kirtan in general have such profound effects on people is because they express something which is eternal, beyond the effects of time which lead to decay and the end of all things. Nothing is eternal, or lasts forever, everything must come to an end except of course God and the part of us which is of the same quality of God. The more we identify with these things that are temporary, the further we run from our true self which leads to unhappiness and confusion. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada said, "Simply by cleansing the birdcage one does not satisfy the bird. Similarly, without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply by gratifying the body and mind."(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.8)  By partaking in kirtan or japa, not only are you maintaining the bird, you're letting to bird sing which can be said is the bird's inherent nature. Anyway the more I let myself go, the further I fell into an oasis of pure transcendental thought and the more I became overwhelmed with feelings of ecstatic love and appreciation for the Supreme and his grace in allowing all of the people from all over the planet access to feelings of divine happiness and clarity simply by chanting his name. My words trembled and I could hardly contain myself nor did I have the least bit of desire to. When you can forget about all of the things that everyone is telling you are the most important and instead focus on what actually is wholeheartedly and humbly, then you can begin to see the truth. Until then our thoughts and what we consider to be intelligence and knowledge will always be tainted by our wavering perception and an intelligence that is completely vulnerable to our false sense of pride and proprietorship. When listening to music that deeply speaks to us we are almost in a state of trance, we are not thinking about the future or the past, which is usually what our minds are busy doing. Instead we are just in a state of pure listening and feeling the emotions being conveyed by the artist. Kirtan is designed to bring the listeners to that state but instead of bringing their attention to topics that are subject to the sands of time and ultimately lead to despair, they bring the mind to something that lasts forever and has no past or future thus feeding the bird and disregarding the cage.