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Question: When did you begin to sing and were you a rock musician when
you were young? You have a powerful voice, did you ever take any voice
lessons and was your art changed over the years since you first started
your music career?
Krishna Das: Well, um, I assume you mean to start to do chanting.
I started to get interested in chanting when I went to India and
experienced the power of the chanting there. Of course I was at that
time, not having a career as a chanter, there wasn’t such a thing as
that. I never took any singing lessons. The voice is powerful because of
the power of the Guru.
Q. Tell us, how did you meet your Guru, about your spiritual
tradition and a little bit about your name.
The name Krishna Das means servant of God. The tradition I am part of is
the Hanuman tradition. Hanuman is a being that serves God with complete
devotion and surrender. He is what you call a Bhakta of God, a devotee,
a lover of God and through that love he experiences his oneness with God
as well.
Q. How did you meet your Guru?
I met my Guru when I first met Ram Das, when he came back from India in
1967 or 1968. He had met my Guru Neem Karoli Baba when he was there in
India. When I met Ram Das, I tasted the presence of my Guru.
Q. What is your spiritual tradition?
Meaning what? I am part of the Hanuman sect. I was never initiated in
any particular tradition. I have practiced with Buddhist, Sufi, Hindu,
and Christian.
Q. Your singing bhajans not like traditional Indian singers do,
though the melodies are the same.
The melodies are not the same. The words are the same.
Q. Have you ever made a concert in India, how were you accepted? In
the East, they are used to singing according to traditional rules and
many singers are similar to each other?
I have never done a formal concert in India but I have sung with Indians
many times. They are very forgiving of my lack of training in Indian
music and very appreciative of the devotion in the chanting.
Q. For the last couple of years your albums are number one on the
bestseller list, which makes you the undisputed leader in this industry
and very popular among the people. Does such popularity help you or
interfere with you? What do you think attracts people to your music?
What town is that in Russia? (laughing) The presence of my Guru. The
taste of his presence and the love that I have for him.
Q. So, does this popularity help you?
It doesn’t affect me whatsoever.
Q. What is Nada Yoga? Have you ever heard of this? Is it just a
singing of mantras and bhajans or something more? Is this the same?
Nada yoga is a scientific study of the power of sound. This is
devotional yoga. The practice of the repetition of the name of God.
Q. Do you like traditional Indian music? What kinds? (North, South,
etc.) and what schools? What musicians do you listen to?
I am attracted to the North Indian music, and I know some South Indian.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain,
Sach Dev, Bhimsen Joshi, Sultan Khan... So many great Indian musicians.
Q. How often do you visit India and what places do you like to visit
there? Did India have any affect on your spiritual beliefs at all?
Every couple of years, if not every year. I go north where I used to
live. It totally changed my life, India. Living there I felt totally at
home, I felt accepted there like nowhere else.
Q. Did you perform any kirtans while you were in India?
I sang to my Guru when he was alive and I sing in groups. I like to
disappear when I’m in India.
Q. You often play in public at yoga centers for the western audience.
They sing bhajans, but do they believe in the Gods, whom they praise?
How important is it to know what you are singing about, to whom and why?
Or is it enough just to sing and the blessings with come? What attracts
them to you?
You have to ask them. It’s enough for me just to sing and the blessings
come. I am not on a mission to convert anyone to any path. I am not from
the Salvation Army. I share my spiritual practice with other people.
It’s very clearly a way that we help each other to get a glimpse of
something inside of us.
Q. How can people who grew up in the Western material world come to
bhakti? If you have no religious feeling, it is impossible to force
yourself to believe in God, especially when you have never met an
enlightened person. Do you have any advice to people who still do not
believe in God and are still seeking for their spiritual path?
It’s not necessary to believe in anything. It’s not necessary to force
anyone to believe in anything. Just search for what you want and for
love and happiness and have the courage to search. It’s only required to
get these experiences for one’s self. The desire that each one of us has
to know one’s self and find happiness and love IS the spiritual path.
It’s not necessarily tied to any religion. I am not a Hindu even though
my practice comes from India. It’s never been required for me to be a
Hindu. I’m trying to be a good human being and that’s hard enough.
Q. What kind of other spiritual practices do you do besides singing?
(hatha yoga, japa, meditation)?
(laughing) Eating, going to the movies.
Q. How did you start to learn or study Hindu and Sanskrit?
I only know the prayers I do for my own practice. I don’t know the rules
for grammar OF Sanskrit. I know a little Hindi, just to get by. It’s
enough to know that a door is a door. You don’t necessarily have to know
how to make a door to walk through it.
Q. Pretty much I asked you all the questions that I have. If Russian
readers could hear you, what mantra would you sing to them? What is the
first mantra that comes to mind?
I would sing Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram. I would sing any of
the mantras. They are all the same to me. They are all names of the
beloved described in some way. One person might like the way she walks
or the she talks. Everybody loves something else about their lover. They
are all the same things.
I would just say in conclusion that all paths lead to the same
realization. There is ultimately One. There is only One of us in the
whole universe. The Great Being of which we are all a part. So, we
should practice learning to love our selves and to treat others, as we
would like to be treated. Chanting helps me to do that and be that way,
to develop those qualities of loving-kindness for my self and others. So
if it helps you, then do the same. That’s all I’ve got to say.
Q. Do you have affection for yoga teacher Dharma Mittra? We had a
chance to interview him as well.
He is a good friend. Dharma Mittra is a wonderful yoga teacher. An
honest, righteous soul with great integrity. He has a playful sense of
humor.
Russian
Yoga Magazine #2, 2004
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