Rare Opportunity

Its been almost 1 year since I started associating with ISKCON. It was these very days since I had been initiated into the most sublime method to purify oneself and live a perfect life by constant chanting of the holy names of the lord.

I remembered the winter mornings when I was in middle school and got ready for the school. My mother used to play a very nice cassette. It had a hymn as follows:

Sri Krsna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda
Sri Advaita Gadadhara, Srivasa Adi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda

Taking it to be a hymn in praise of Lord Visnu, I memorized it and over the years forgot it. Then when I entered ISKCON Delhi for the first time, the sound of kirtan hit me like shock waves. I was disoriented for a few seconds. I have a very hazy picture of what I could see around, the sound was so blaring loud. I felt as if something awakened inside me. The kirtan was so ecstatic and nice, that I could feel my hair standing and I nearly cried. Though now that I know the importance of these mptoms, they are totally absent.

So here I heard the hymn again and gradually got to know its real meaning. Some devotees say that I had already connected to the movement of Sri Chaitanya in childhood, it was just a matter of time to actually physically associate. Mahaprabhu had already showered his mercy.

I downloaded gaura arotik, heard it over and over and memorized it too. I loved all the kirtans and arotiks so much that it was a matter of time, I learnt all of them.

Deep inside I had this urge to sing the glories of my beautiful lord. When I closed my eyes and sang, I used to imagine a group of people sitting and listening to what I was singing and the kirtan would be so potent that people would not be able to stop themselves from going into the sweet trance of love for govinda.

Got to know that no matter how well you sing or how many orchestras u take, if it doesn’t pleases Krishna it won’t please any devotee. So our service is to attract Krishna, not the crowd by our singing.

Then in Pune, the fortunate day: 25^th of November came, I visited temple. Gaura Arotik went nicely. We all danced. Then what happened next was so exhilarating, that I could not stop and take a toll of what was going on in my head. I was asked to sing Narsimha Pranaam. Yes, Narsimha Arotik, that too alone. I took the service and started singing. I felt good about thinking the wonderful opportunity I got to sing for my thakurji. So its true, that only a devotee can show true mercy to a beginner, and I sincerely thank that prabhuji to give me that rare opportunity.

I hope I will get such chances again and next time, I will concentrate more on pleasing HIM rather than myself.