Krishna Christmas Carols
BY: HRISHIKESH DASA
Dec 16, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, USA (SUN) — My friend Jagabandhu dasa's suggestion ("Some Krishna Carols") to adopt the melodies of Christmas carols beloved by millions of Christians and rewrite the lyrics to conform to the message of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas and sing them in public reminded me of the New Vrindaban devotees' attempt to do exactly that, more than two decades ago under the direction of Kirtanananda Swami. Our choir, The Krishna Chorale, performed these Krishna Carols and many other adaptations of Western musical classics during my seven-year tenure as the New Vrindaban Director of Music, between 1986 and 1993.
It was around 1985 when Kirtanananda began speaking about creating a Krishna conscious culture which united the East and the West and combined the best of both worlds. After all, he explained, this synthesis had already been accomplished at New Vrindaban in architecture, and it had been a great success, as Prabhupada's Palace was a combination of both Oriental and Occidental architectural influences. Prabhupada himself observed this melding of disparate cultures during his 1976 visit to his Palace-under-construction and approved of the "combination of Eastern and Western culture for the profit of the whole human society." (Prabhupada, quoted by Hari Sauri dasa in A Transcendental Diary, 20)
In addition to architecture, the prasadam at New Vrindaban was also a combination of Indian and American cooking: along with Indian preparations such as chapatis, subji, dal and burfi were also served Western preparations such as green leafy salads, oatmeal, cornbread and cinnamon rolls. Krishna consciousness was universal; devotional service was not limited to the external cultural trappings of India. Clearly, as devotional architecture and cuisine could not be constrained within a certain national style or period, neither should the music (and literature and dress) of the devotees.
Kirtanananda began "Krishna-izing" some of the great classics of Western literature, such as Thomas à Kempis' 1418 book Imitation of Christ and John Bunyan's 1678 book Pilgrim's Progress. Kirtanananda said, "Srila Prabhupada explained many times that Krishna Consciousness is not limited to the cultural trappings of India. All art, science, technology, music, indeed—all of Krishna's energies, should be utilized in His service. We reject only those things which entangle us in the material energy and make us forget God. New Vrindaban hopes to combine the best of both worlds—East and West—in a harmonious chorus of Love of God. Just as I have already Krishna-ized some great Western literatures like Pilgrims Progress, so we will also Krishna-ize the great musical works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, etc." (Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, The Krishna Chorale choir concert program, January 5, 1987)
In October 1986, Kirtanananda called me off full-time traveling sankirtan to return to the farm to start a choir. Our first public performance was singing Krishna-ized Christmas Carols on the sidewalk in front of the Marshall County Courthouse in Moundsville. Umapati dasa drafted a letter titled "Merry Christmas from Krishna" which was printed and passed out as a flyer to passersby. The editor of the Moundsville Daily Echo thought our humble rag-tag performance significant enough to warrant publishing a photo and short article in the newspaper. (see attachment 1).
During subsequent performances The Krishna Chorale presented Krishna-ized versions of Bach's cantatas, portions of Handel's Messiah along with many popular Christian hymns. Devamrita Swami assisted by Krishna-izing several arias from Handel's Messiah. The Krishna Chorale performed regularly at temple services, recorded cassette tapes which were sold at the Palace Gift Store, and traveled on several tours within West Virginia and Ohio.
Kirtanananda explained the precedence of borrowing tunes from other cultures and appropriating those tunes as one's own: (Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, Foreword, The Krishna Chorale cassette tapes, 1988)
"Since the dawn of history, music and worship have been inseparably united. Brahmins in ancient India chanted Vedic mantras. Catholic priests in Medieval Europe recited Gregorian psalmody. The founder of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, said: "Next to theology, I give the first and highest honor to music." Music has the power to transform spoken scripture into a rapturous communion of the soul with the Divine.
As the ages passed, new cultures borrowed heavily from previous civilizations. The high priests of ancient Persia recited melodies which had come from the Vedic brahmins. The Jewish cantors adopted musical styles from the Persians. The Byzantine clergy sang canticles based on the Jewish psalter, and Catholic priests intoned the Mass in Gregorian chants which often were derived from the Byzantine rite.
The great Lutheran composer, J. S. Bach, based many of his works on Catholic plainsong chants, and subsequent Protestant denominations have transplanted entire songs, note for note, into their own hymnals, changing only the words to suit their particular doctrines.
Today, at New Vrindaban, the ancient religion of the East—eternal sanatana dharma, or Krishna consciousness—is now uniting the music of the West with the texts of the Vedic scriptures. The cycle has gone around full swing!"
We hoped to increase our musical preaching to something of the scale of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir (see attachment 2), but that was destined not to be.
The cultural reforms at New Vrindaban were not appreciated by leaders of ISKCON. Ravindra Svarupa expressed his misgivings in a letter to Sridhara Swami dated March 3, 1987: "I fear that Kirtanananda Swami, in accommodating to Western culture and specifically to Christianity, has betrayed Vedic principles. You've probably heard that Kirtanananda Swami has also established a Western choir which at festivals sings the church music of Bach and Handel, lyrics apparently Krishna-ized. He is also composing imitations of Christian devotional literature—an imitation of The Imitation of Christ and another of Pilgrim's Progress. All these things, taken together, indicate that something very serious has gone amiss."
After the GBC voted during March 1987 to excommunicate Kirtanananda, ISKCON spokesman Anuttama dasa, explained, "Kirtanananda had ‘set himself up as an independent authority' and introduced unapproved worship practices, such as using an organ, instead of drums, and singing Christian hymns." (Anuttama dasa, cited by Carole Murphy in "Hare Krishnas in W.Va. Readmitted to Group," The Washington Post (July 18, 1998), C8)
However, after some time and despite our best attempts, we at New Vrindaban discovered that our "Krishna-ization" attempts were not the successes we had hoped for. Some were dismal failures. Granted, many devotees loved singing our Krishna Carols, but we were preaching to the choir, not to outsiders. For the most part, American and Indian visitors were not appreciative. The manager of the Palace Gift Store eventually returned all our unsold cassettes and said, "No one likes these. The Christians are upset that we butchered their sacred music by changing the lyrics, and the Indians are upset that we are not chanting in the tried-and-true traditional Indian style. Our Indian supporters want to hear Vaishnava bhajans, not Christian church music."
Yes, Bhaktivinode (and Martin Luther) advocated adopting popular secular melodies for religious songs and hymns, but I seriously doubt if Bhaktivinode would have adopted popular Muslim religious tunes. Bengali folk melodies perhaps, but religious tunes which were dearly loved by millions of Muslims? I think Bhaktvinode would have realized that appropriating these melodies would be asking for trouble.
One may adopt "styles" of music, or art or architecture, and combine them with one's native style, but stealing an entire "work of art" is another thing entirely. Yes, Prabhupada's Palace combines elements of Eastern and Western architecture, but what if we at New Vrindaban had built an exact replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City? I expect it would not be appreciated.
I think singing Krishna Carols may be fine for sentimental devotees who get depressed during the holidays, those who miss the warmth and love and charity of the Christmas holidays they remember as children, but as far as performing these for outsiders, I think it is simply asking for trouble. As for me, I love Christmas carols and enjoy hearing and performing them, but the choirs I direct perform them as they were intended.
Hrishikesh dasa (Henry Doktorski)
Mormon Tabernacle
April 1988 Advertisement for choir tapes in New Vrindaban World
Krishna Chorale at the Marshall County Courthouse
The debut performance of the Krishna Chorale: Marshall County Courthouse, Dec. 23, 1986
