CD Review: "Sri Krishna Divya Nam" by
Vaiyasaki das
BY: SATYARAJA DASA (STEVEN J. ROSEN)
Jun 26, USA (SUN) — Vaiyasaki das is among my favorite kirtaniyas, and he is a credit to the kirtan movement today -- a precious gem that shines brightly even in the midst of glistening jewels.
His story is retold in my book, The Yoga of Kirtan (www.yogaofkirtan.com), and readers are advised to peruse those pages to learn his personal history, to see how his natural talents were polished, again, like a fine gem, by his spiritual teacher and by the
process of Bhakti-yoga, how his taste for kirtan developed and how his heart was thereby cleansed.
His numerous CDs are seminal for anyone trying to enter into the moods and feelings of kirtan, and this author recommends his work above all others.
With such high praise as a preface to this review, let it be said that his latest CD may be his best one yet: "Sri Krishna Divya Nam" literally means, "The Transcendental Name of Lord Krishna" -- and this CD indeed brings listeners straight into the magic and life of
Krishna's Name. Over five years in the making, this work is, in many ways, the culmination of all Vaiyasaki has done thus far.
The disk opens with an enthusiastic devotional song in the ancient
tongue of Kannada, from South India. The tune was written by Purandara
Das, a sixteenth-century saint/songwriter widely renowned as "the
father of Carnatic music." On Vaiyasaki's version, he is assisted by
Krishna Presthaya, who sings complementary verse in call-and-response
fashion. Her angelic voice offsets his own, creating an otherworldly
dynamic that transports one to the spiritual world.
Vaiyasaki breaks up Purandara's traditional song with the additional
chanting of "sri krishna divya nam" because of the tune's central
message: "Whatever you're doing, day or night, during your life or at
the time of death -- nothing can save you except taking shelter of
Krishna's Name."
Songs Two and Three are interrelated. This is the Maha-mantra on the
most esoteric level, its inner meaning -- the eight stages of divine
love -- exposed through a specific combination of notes and moods. The
melodies are expressive of both union and separation -- they depict
how one feels when connected to Krishna by His warm embrace of love,
and then the heart-rending emotion of parting, of being pulled away
from that, or from whom, sustains one's life. This magnetic to-and-fro
pulling and its concomitant (and inevitable) ultimate union with
Krishna is fully conveyed in these songs. The sense of love and
longing is palpable.
Track Four, Bhatialli kirtan, is a popular Bengali melody, and of such
melodies Vaiyasaki is clearly a master. He is expert in numerous forms
of kirtan, making good use of his knowledge of languages and dialects,
of moods and nuance. But his special love is Bengali kirtan, and that
is evident from this song. In the mood of Narottama Das Thakur's Garan-
hati style of kirtan, it begins slowly and gradually picks up,
increasing the bhava and allowing the mantra to engulf one's heart --
more and more intense as the rhythm speeds up. Towards the end of the
track, Vaiyasaki hits higher and higher notes, culminating in one
amazing note that has to be heard to be believed: The high point of
the song has been reached -- the listener is almost forcibly brought
into the emotion and tenor of ecstatic chant!!
Track Five, Giti Kirtan, shares with us the life and work of Lalon
Shah (c.1774-1890), a much loved Bengali philosopher/ poet. He lived
in the village of Cheuria in the area known as Nodia in the Bengal
Presidency of British India, corresponding to the district of Kushtia
in present-day Bangladesh. His kirtan poetry is so revered that he is
claimed by all religious groups and denominations in spiritual India:
Muslims and Hindus, Sufis and bhaktas. Everyone wants him as their
own. But, in my opinion, Vaiyasaki wins the battle. His sensitive
portrayal of Lalon's mood and emotion is overwhelming, making the
lyrical poet his own in every way.
Priya Kirtan is Track Six, the penultimate song on this CD
masterpiece. Focusing on the Maha-mantra, this tune is rendered in the
style of a Gaan, a form of musical expression that is particularly
popular in Bangladesh. When cultured Bengali listeners hear these
types of kirtan melodies, they immediately recognize the theme and the
moods evoked by the song. For Western listeners who are not accustomed
to these techniques and to this "science of melodies," however, their
lack of familiarity matters little: the beauty and passion still comes
through, and the heart responds to the tune in any case. Truth is
truth and beauty is beauty, and one need not be educated in the
particulars of Bengali music to appreciate it, at least on the most
basic level.
The final track is the Gambhira lila of Sri Chaitanya. This depicts
those precious moments when the saint/avatara Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
confined himself to the garden house of Kashi Mishra -- he was
experiencing the highest states of ecstatic love and lost all sense of
the external world. So intense was his ecstasy, that he would cry
unstoppable tears of longing and consistently lapse into states of
altered consciousness, his body uncontrollably faltering under the
pressure of divine emotion. The raga is Jai Jayanti and the bhava is
vipralambha, or the mood of separation. The style is Alap with no
rhythm. This song reveals the heart of Lord Chaitanya, or Radharani,
crying in a mood of inconsolable separation from Krishna. Vaiyasaki
expresses this in his own inimitable way, gently carrying his
listeners into the complex and yet simultaneously simple realms of
profound spiritual love.
Again, this is perhaps Vaiyasaki's finest work, and anyone who loves
kirtan should immediately purchase a copy. Indeed, while money
certainly can't buy love, it can definitely purchase a CD -- and if
any CD can buy you love, this one is it!!
To order: www.Myspace.com/vaiyasaki
or www.kirtan.org
