I was just talking to the mrdanga player and how mrdanga playing is the most difficult thing. Why is mrdanga playing so difficult? It's extremely difficult because it's not about different beats or different bauls, or even different mantras - It's not about intricate rythms and so on. That is the secondary part.The primary part is about hearing. It's all about hearing. A good mrdanga player is one who listens, who's totally attentive. He's attentive to the kirtana and he's following very carefully to what he hears. That's extremely difficult. Only possible if one chants attentively. If one is an inattentive chanter, one will be an inattentive mrdanga player. For sure. One will do everything inattentive! One goes through life as in a cloud, and just walking like that in that cloud, one will inadvertently do so many things that one later wonders:
"Why did I do that..?"
Transcribed by Bhakta Frederick
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Sweden 2010)
