Vishnujana Swami and the bhajans he sang
Vishnujana Swami was one of the best-known singers of the early Hare Krishna movement in the United States. Recordings of his bhajans and kirtans circulated widely in the 1970s and have been reissued since. This page replaces an older one that offered those recordings for download; Bhakti Atlas does not host audio. Instead, it presents the singer and, above all, the songs.
A short profile
He was born Mark Stephen D'Atillo on 2 June 1948 in San Jose, California. He came into contact with the newly founded ISKCON in 1966–67, was initiated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and took the vows of a sannyasi in 1970. In the early 1970s he led a travelling group, the Radha-Damodara party, which toured the United States by bus, holding public chanting and festivals. Contemporaries remember him for his voice, his harmonium playing and the intensity of his kirtans.
He disappeared in India in March 1976, during the Gaura Purnima festival season; the movement's sources describe his departure from the world in devotional terms and the precise circumstances remain unclear in published accounts. Recordings of his singing were later released on cassette and CD.
The repertoire
The songs on his recordings belong to the classic repertoire of Gaudiya temples. Most were composed by three poets separated by three centuries: Narottama Dasa Thakura in the sixteenth century, Vishvanatha Chakravarti around 1700, and Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the nineteenth.
| Song | Author and source | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Shri guru-charana-padma | Narottama Dasa, Prema-bhakti-chandrika | The lotus feet of the teacher as refuge |
| Shri rupa-manjari-pada | Narottama Dasa, Prarthana | Prayer to Rupa Manjari (see our article) |
| Radha-krishna prana mora | Narottama Dasa, Prarthana | Radha and Krishna as the poet's life and soul |
| Gurvashtaka | Vishvanatha Chakravarti | Eight Sanskrit verses in praise of the guru, sung at dawn |
| Damodarashtaka | Attributed to Satyavrata Muni, Padma Purana | Child Krishna bound by his mother; sung in the month of Kartika |
| Manasa deha geha | Bhaktivinoda, Sharanagati | Offering mind, body and home to Krishna |
| Kabe habe bolo | Bhaktivinoda, Sharanagati | Longing for the day of humility and pure chanting |
| Shuddha-bhakata | Bhaktivinoda, Sharanagati | Places and practices that nourish devotion |
| Gopinatha | Bhaktivinoda, Kalyana-kalpataru | A confession of helplessness addressed to Krishna as Gopinatha |
| Radhe jaya jaya madhava-dayite | Bhaktivinoda, Gitavali | Glorification of Radha |
| Nrisimha prayers | Including Jayadeva's verse from the Gita Govinda | Protection by Vishnu as the man-lion |
Alongside these, the recordings include congregational kirtans of the Hare Krishna mantra and of the Pancha-tattva mantra, which names Chaitanya and four of his companions, as well as simple refrains such as Govinda jaya jaya and Gaura-nitai bol.
Bhajan and kirtan
In Gaudiya usage the two words overlap. Bhajan usually refers to a composed song with verses, sung by a lead singer, often in a fixed melody; kirtan refers to call-and-response chanting of divine names, which can last for hours and builds in tempo and volume. A typical temple programme moves from one to the other: a bhajan to set the mood, then extended kirtan.
The instruments heard on recordings of this period are the harmonium, introduced to India in the nineteenth century and now ubiquitous; the mridanga or khol, a double-headed clay drum; and kartals, small hand cymbals. American and European devotees of the late 1960s learned these from Indian teachers and recordings, and in turn influenced the international kirtan scene of later decades.
Where to hear the songs
The songs are sung daily in Gaudiya temples worldwide, and many recordings, by Indian and Western singers, are commercially available. Printed songbooks issued by various institutions give the Bengali or Sanskrit texts with translations.
The poets behind the repertoire
Narottama Dasa Thakura, the oldest of the three main poets, organised the festival at Kheturi around 1580 that brought Chaitanya's scattered followers together; his songs set the standard for Bengali devotional singing for centuries. Vishvanatha Chakravarti, a scholar of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries who lived in Vrindavan, wrote mainly in Sanskrit, and his eight verses to the guru are recited at dawn in many temples. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in the nineteenth century, wrote hundreds of Bengali songs in a deliberately simple style intended for ordinary devotees, and his collections remain the most sung today.
The choice of songs on recordings of the 1970s reflects the teaching of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, who introduced his Western students to a small core repertoire, mostly from these three poets, and explained the songs in lectures. Many Western singers learned the Bengali by ear before learning its meaning.
Kirtan in the American counterculture
Public chanting in parks and streets was the most visible activity of the early Hare Krishna movement in the United States. It drew curiosity, ridicule and sometimes hostility, but also brought recruits from the counterculture of the late 1960s. Sociologists such as E. Burke Rochford have described how chanting parties, often travelling by bus or van, served both as worship and as outreach. Singers who could lead an audience for hours were highly valued, and Vishnujana Swami's reputation rests largely on that role.
The same period saw the first commercial recordings of the mantra in the West, including the 1969 single produced by George Harrison. From these beginnings grew a wider Western kirtan scene, which today includes performers from many backgrounds, often outside any religious institution.
The structure of a kirtan
A typical kirtan begins slowly, with the leader singing a line and the group answering. The drum enters, the tempo rises, and the chant may reach a fast, loud climax before slowing again. Bengali kirtan traditions distinguish many styles and rhythmic cycles; temple kirtans in Western communities usually use a few simple patterns. Bhajans, by contrast, follow the verses of a song from beginning to end and are often sung by a lead singer alone, with the group joining in a refrain. Both are described in Gaudiya manuals as forms of kirtana, glorification, which the tradition regards as the principal practice of the present age, following verses of the Bhagavata Purana discussed in our article on Kalki and the Kali age.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia, "Visnujana Swami" (orientation): en.wikipedia.org.
- Guy L. Beck, "Hare Krishna Mahamantra: Gaudiya Vaishnava Practice and the Hindu Tradition of Sacred Sound", in Edwin F. Bryant and Maria L. Ekstrand (eds.), The Hare Krishna Movement, Columbia University Press, 2004.
- Edward C. Dimock Jr. and Denise Levertov (trans.), In Praise of Krishna: Songs from the Bengali, Doubleday, 1967.
- Shukavak N. Dasa, Hindu Encounter with Modernity, Sanskrit Religions Institute, 1999 (on Bhaktivinoda's song collections).