|
History of the Prabhupada beat
 Hey,
let me take a moment here and congratulate you so far on a job
well done. Now you're really cooking! I can't believe that you're
ready to learn the famous Prabhupada beat. Wow.
Okay, let's get right into it.
Now look what Prabhupada wrote about playing the mrdanga in his
dedication to the Krsna Book:
"To My Father, Gour Mohan De (1849-1930) - A pure devotee
of Krsna, who raised me as a Krsna conscious child from the
beginning of my life. In my boyhood ages he instructed me how to
play the mrdanga. He gave me Radha-Krsna Vigraha to
worship, and he gave me Jagannatha-Ratha to duly observe the
festival as my childhood play. He was kind to me, and I imbibed
from him the ideas later on solidified by my spiritual master, the
eternal father."
There you have it in his own words, right in the dedication to
the book Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Srila Prabhupada's father was Gour Mohan De. Srila Prabhupada
said that he was a pure devotee of Krsna, and he raised his son as
a Krsna conscious child from the beginning of life. He also taught
Srila Prabhupada how to play the mrdanga.
Not only did Gour Mohan De give Srila Prabhupada Radha-Krsna
deities to worship, but he also gave him Jagannatha deities, and
(as the painting on the right shows) encouraged him to observe the
Rathayatra festival when he was a child.
So there's no doubt that Srila Prabhupada had a special
relationship with his father.
The beat which has come to be known in ISKCON as the
"Prabhupada beat" was taught to Srila Prabhupada by his
father. And now you're going to learn it. If that's not parampara
in mrdanga beats, I dunno what is!!!
|
