Saturday, February 8

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2010, Sweden)

Mayapur_2009_31I was just talking to a mrdanga player about how mrdanga playing is the most difficult thing! But why is mrdanga playing so difficult? It is extremely difficult because it is not about different beats or different bauls or even different mantras; it is not about intricate rhythms and so on. Those are the secondary parts.The primary part is about hearing! It is all about hearing. A good mrdanga player is one who listens, who is totally attentive.

He is attentive to the kirtan and he is following very carefully to what he hears. That is extremely difficult and is only possible if one chants attentively. If one is an inattentive chanter, one will be an inattentive mrdanga player for sure. One will do everything inattentive! One goes through life as if in a cloud, and just walking like that in that cloud, one will inadvertently do so many things that one later wonders, “Why did I do that..?

 

2 Comments

  1. Mesharlan Nadesan on

    Beautiful- Love how attentive chanting is the solution to everything as beings of this material world.

  2. I totally agree with this. I am a Mridanga student myself and a teacher to few. Without hearing very sharply one can never learn Mridanga. But I’ve a doubt – I hear very sharply in music but I just can’t concentrate or fix my mind for hearing sharply during japa. Could you please help me understand this?
    Cakrapani Dasa, ISKCON Maraimalai Nagar
    Facebook.com/iskconmmnagar