Philosophy: When in front of the Deities, should a stand up kirtan or sit down bhajan be performed during Arati?

yes i heard that too. what is the proper thing to do?

So is the harmonium is used in kirtan? I always thought it was normally used for bhajan.

i have seen it on harimans too.

haribol.

i wish i had a reference handy for this but I'm quite certain I read a conversation or letter from Srila Prabhupada where he said that the harmonium should not be used during Arati. Rather the devotees should stand up and chant accompanied by kartals and mrdanga.

Nowadays though it seems anything goes. Harmonium, djembi drums (with ghastly slaughtered animal skin head), conga drums. I've even seen and heard a slide whistle (not joking) - I guess someone thought it would be cute.

If I were to even try to suggest that these things aren't appropriate I'd be laughed out of the temple room so I just play it cool and tolerate.

For some reason a lot of newer generation devotees have a phobia when it comes to standards. There's a huge misconception that doing things as prescribed by acaryas is somehow limiting the bhakti. Fact is - its the other way around. We limit ourselves by mental attachments.

Still - its not popular to suggest that there is a 'proper' way to sing kirtana to the deities. Whenever I get a chance to lead kirtana (meaning the 2nd gen devotees aren't there for whatever reason) I do it how Srila Prabhupada said. Maybe its boring for some folks but it really does seem quite adequate for becoming blissful to me.

The rambunctious frothing at the mouth kirtans where everyone pretends to be reaching ever-higher states of mad ecstacy mostly come across to me as expressions of the mode of passion more than suddha-sattva. Proof is when after the program the participants return to all manner of sinful living with disregard to even the basic regulative principles.

Does it sound like I'm on my high horse here? Too bad. Its just the facts.

I don't remember reading specifically about standing up or sitting down, but Prabhupada wrote a letter to all temples informing that arati kirtan is to be mrdanga and cartals only - no harmonium. The background story is that arati kirtans had become more and more musical and a performance, and the emphasis on the chanting had decreased. So the letter said: "No harmonium in arati kirtan".

As far as standing up or sitting down, dancing with mrdanga and cartal is best, and Prabhupada mentioned this in the letter.

There are no hard and fast rules, but this is the general guideline given by Srila Prabhupada.

H.H. Jayadvaita Swami's Kirtan Reform Seminar (http://www.jswami.info/mp3_media and click on Seminars and then click on "Kirtan Reform Seminar") is an interesting and useful resource, as is H.H. Bhakti Vikasa's chapter of his Vaisnava Etiquette book on kirtan (http://www.bvks.com/downloads/kirtana.pdf).

Between these two you should have all the referenced authoritative guidance that you need to become a real kirtan nazi, or to encourage others to keep the right mood in following Prabhupada.

Remember - the sacrifice performed in knowledge is best! :-)

---"djembi drums (with ghastly slaughtered animal skin head),"

That's what mridanga's are, except mridangas are made from slaughtered calves. Yes, they make them from calves because it creates a better sounding instrument.

Welcome to the material world. In your dream land mridangas are made from cows who died a natural death due to old age. In the real world, the sacred calves of Navadvip are slaughtered to fulfill the market demand for mridangas in the west.