By Rasananda das
Proper sankirtan – a phrase used by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in his Sri Sanmodana Bhasyam and by Lord Caitanya Himself - means certain tunes, certain instruments, a certain musical style, certain dress and certain kinds of dancing by the members of the chanting party. In Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement, rathayatra and the kirtan that is its soul are for distributing the benediction of the Lord’s own process for spiritual emancipation to the onlookers and participants alike. Understanding this, when sincere organizers of a rathayatra or sankirtan party see to it that the rath and the kirtan are proper, what to speak of people, even the birds and animals that hear and witness it can immediately experience spiritual happiness. Only some impersonalists and hardened atheists present might fail to experience the Lord’s benediction. On the other hand, Kirtan not according to the rules may succeed in entertaining onlookers but being not according to the principles and practices of acaryas and experienced devotees, the greatest result - transformation from spiritual somnolescence to a state of spiritual awakening, of actual Krishna consciousness - will not result. Such kirtans simply lack the potency to enact such transformation. Srila Saraswati Thakur therefore says that kirtan, if it is not proper, is not actually.