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WORLD April 8, 1999 VNN3539 Vaishnava Profile: Mahavirya Das BY JAGADANANDA DAS  CANADA, Apr 8 (VNN) — I went to visit Mahavirya das (Robert Lafond) in his home in Ste-Adle, in Quebec's cottage country, the Laurentians. Mahavirya lives there with his wife Gati and two sons, Premanjana, 15, and Sanatana, 13. His 20 year-old daughter, Gauravani, just got married last year. He is home alone today, however.I enter downstairs, where he has his fully equipped digital recording studio. He is reconfiguring his computer after having a motherboard failure. Despite the pressure of this setback, he receives me warmly and takes me upstairs to sit in the living room, which has been converted into a beautiful temple with glorious dancing Radha and Krishna deities. Srila Prabhupada chants a bhajana in the background as we talk. A slight figure with sensitive features, Mahavirya fingers his japa-mala as we speak. I ask him about the deities and he tells me they were made out of resin by devotees in New Vrindavan. They were in a Kirtanananda preaching centre in Laval which closed down several years ago. "The devotees were looking for a home for them and they brought them to me." Mahavirya is 45 years old. He first joined Iskcon in 1976. Though he never had the chance to meet Prabhupada, but took Harinama from Prabhupada in 1977. After Prabhupada's departure, he was given initiation by Kirtanananda Swami in 1977 but, as he says, "I had the great good fortune to have become attached to Srila Prabhupada. At that time the understanding was that Prabhupada was still present and I felt no doubt that he was my diksa guru." I asked him how Kirtanananda's difficulties affected him. "The gurus were not preaching the pure philosophy, because they didn't have the requisite humility. They were trying to establish their own artificial personality cults. They were unqualified and we can see the results. But I don't want to judge them because they did more devotional service than I will ever do in my life. We have to take the lesson and remember that if we are not very careful then we won't be protected. Our spiritual master is the only link we have to spiritual life. Mercy doesn't flow if we jump over in any way." Mahavirya Prabhu never actually lived in the temple as he was already married when he joined. But even as a householder he participated in the temple programs and was a full-time member of the community, engaging in preaching activities from 1976 to 1986. "I was very impressed by then temple president Nandikesvara Das," he recalls. "Nandi was very tuned in to novel ways of expanding the preaching. He organized many cultural and school programs. The temple had a six-piece band of devotees with keyboards, guitars and percussion. We did original Krishna conscious material. The temple also had a theatre troupe and Indian dance with Jai Govinda Prabhu. We would travel and do Rathayatras all over the Northeast. We put on enlivening Sunday feasts which attracted huge crowds. The temple was vibrant, with a community of 80 full-time devotees." Mahavirya remembers fondly the role that Nandikesvara Prabhu played in those days. "Nandi knew how to engage devotees according to their natural propensities so that they would be able to remain in the movement, rather than simply burning everyone out on sankirtana. Prabhupada's original preaching was always that you don't have to give up what you are doing, just add Krishna to your life. Later, when Gopala Krishna took over, the emphasis changed to making everyone fit into the temple program even if they weren't suited for it." Mahavirya recounts that Kirtanananda supported the cultural program as long as he was the local guru, but that things started to go awry when Gopala Krishna took over. Gopala Krishna took away a lot of the temple president's autonomy and placed more emphasis on collections and book distribution. The cultural programs were considered to be a money and manpower loser and thus phased out. Under Gopala's direction, Prabhupada's disciples feel unwelcome. The politics intensified and I felt that I needed to make some changes. "My personal interest in the temple came as a result of my interest in music. I heard Mangalananda's Golden Avatar' record and I thought, I want my music to have a message like that. I wanted to be able to say something uplifting through my music.' So it was very disappointing for me when the cultural programs in the Montreal temple were wound down. Some friends who had moved to New Vrindavan invited me to go there and start a music program. There was talk about a huge organ being installed in the new temple, etc. I sold everything I had in Montreal and moved down to New Vrindavan. But after two months, I ran out of money. I received absolutely no sympathy for my situation as a householder; I was told to ignore the needs of my wife and children and concentrate on my service. It seemed that an artificial mentality was being imposed on us. I realized it was artificial for me with three children to lead a monastic life. "So my wife and I decided to return to Montreal. I started getting organized, getting my musical life back together, reviving the contacts I had made. At first it was a bit uncomfortable, but I was fortunate and got connected quickly. I got a lot of opportunities, composing, arranging and producing. I wrote songs for the French segments of Sesame Street. A big break came when I wrote a song for Cline Dion which went to the top of the charts here in Quebec. There were ups and downs of course, but I am very busy now." Mahavirya has had some modest success here in Quebec where his records Extasias and Messagias are regularly featured on Radio-Canada's classical station. His latest records include India, a neo-classical arrangement of Vaisnava bhajana tunes which will be familiar to any Gaudiya Vaisnava, and deceased British rocker Marc Bolan's Beltane, a musical fantasy which he arranged and produced and on which he plays keyboards. An ambitious but as yet unrealized project is a chamber opera based on the Bhagavad-gita. I wondered if Mahavirya had ever been accused by temple devotees of being in Maya when he started doing his kind of original music. He admitted that he had, and that he had faced periods of doubt. He had to go on, however, because of his family responsibilities. The reward, however is greater: "Your talents have to be used in Krishna consciousness. An example is that when your ladder is against a wall, you may climb up very high, but if it is the wrong wall, your effort is useless. To change walls, however, you have to climb down off the ladder before you can climb back up. When I first joined, I sold all my musical equipment. Sinful life is closely associated with what you do. Every time I sat down at a keyboard, I would reach for a cigarette, because the two were so closely connected in my habits. I had to become free from those kinds of associations. "You have to give everything up for Krishna in a quest for the absolute truth. But then Krishna gives back so much in a most fulfilling way. I felt that I was given so much more intelligence after spending all that time in the movement. Even though I had been away from music for so long, I could see the creative direction I wanted to take. The ability seemed to come back to me so easily." I asked him about his music and what spiritual value he places on it. "You get out of it what you put into it. For the CBC I had to write songs for children, so though I couldn't openly preach Krishna consciousness, everything I say corresponds to my values. I have come to feel that who you are is more important than what you say. There is a vibration which corresponds to your level of consciousness. That is why I feel that I have been able to touch people with my instrumental music. One person came up to me and told me that his aunt is severely disabled by arthritis. Though she is a great classical music fan, when she is having her most painful attacks, she listens to my record Extasias and that helps her to transcend her bodily consciousness. It is rewarding to get feedback like that. "The spiritual awareness or sensibility is communicated even though you are not addressing the consciousness directly. Everything comes from the Holy Name. Everything is revealed to you through the Holy Name. If you are working with the energy of the Holy Name, then everything you do will be a reflection of that. Everything you do will be in tune with that original vibration. "When I compose, I pray. I am not the doer. I have to be purified of false ego before the creative process begins. Otherwise you will stare at a blank page for days. At a certain stage of prayer and abnegation. The Holy Name has to go through us, not from us. Dadami buddhi-yogam tam. This made me wonder what he thought about the current standard of temple kirtan: "The kirtan leader brings people to the stage on which he is situated. The kirtans reflects what the people who chant are. Young and enthusiastic singers do a lot of jumping up and down. I think that older and maturer devotees will likely do something different. I am against artificial dancing. If it comes of real ecstasy, that is another thing. Kirtana is a meditation. It should set a mood. It should always be done in a state of prayer. The leader should pray to the Holy Name. The leader should be aware of how false ego affects him. He has to get inside the Holy Name. That takes a lot of humility. External ability is secondary. The important thing is the expression of the Holy Name. If a kirtan leader is overly conscious of his material ego., he won't get inside the energy of the Holy Name. Kirtan has to be driven by emotion. If someone is only expert at the externals, then these take over the internal spiritual working of Kirtan. I asked him about how living outside the temple has affected his spiritual life. "I have to adapt my personal sadhana according to my personal circumstances. 90% of the dynamic comes out of the association of devotees. That is sometimes hard to get way out here. The little sadhana I do is very tasteful. I chant 4-16 rounds every day. I feel most comfortable when I can do 16 rounds because that is the order of my spiritual master. We offer all our food to the deities." About leadership and the future: While talking about Nandikesvara, for whom he has continued respect and admiration, Mahavirya mused about leadership. He said, "The workers cut down the trees and the managers are organizing them. The leader, however, is the one who climbs to the top of the tree, looks around and shouts, Wrong forest!'" He feels that there is a renaissance amongst many of the older Montreal devotees who have long felt alienated from Iskcon. Nandi is leading a movement to purchase a property in the Plateau Mont-Royal district where devotees will run a restaurant and preaching centre. Mahavirya plans to participate in this project, using his talents to help spread Srila Prabhupada's message. Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9904/WD08-3539.html
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