Srila Prabhupada’s harmonium playing was very unique. It had so much life to it, like a babbling brook, the water falling and hitting the rocks; and as it falls each rock makes a different sound. He would go all over and embellish in a way that wasn’t Indian or Western or any kind of style—it was his own style—especially when he chanted alone. If he recorded or played in a kirtan, it was different. When he chanted alone, praying to Krishna, it was very special. So on this one morning Srila Prabhupada was alone, and when he started singing the few of us there gravitated to the stairs to listen to him. So right after he finished, he rang his bell, and I came up. He said, “How did you get here so fast?” I said, “Well, we were down the stairs listening to you.” And I asked him what he was singing. He said, “The prayers of Bhaktivinoda Thakur.” And then he continued to explain. “The prayers of Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Narottama das Thakur are so very powerful that they act on the heart just like lightening in a storm.” Then he said, “Have you ever been in a lightning storm, where the lightning came and hit very close by?” So I immediately thought of once when I was in a boat in the middle of a lake and lightening hit very close to me. So then he clapped his hands together and said “Just like lightening, these prayers will act upon the heart.” Then he clapped his hands together again and repeated: “It will act upon the heart.” Then he continued, “Even if you don’t understand the language, it is that strong. The vibration alone carries the potency and the depth of purity of the composer of these prayers.”
Prayer to Bhaktivinode Thakura
Most revered Bhaktivinoda Thakur: Today I fall at your lotus feet because it just occurred to me that of the many gifts you share through your prayers, the gift you taught me is how to pray. If anyone read your heartfelt prayers of longing for Krishna, for Lord Chaitanya, and for your own spiritual preceptors, they would not discover that you were a highly-placed Government officer with unsurpassed responsibilities, or that you possessed a large family and dedicated wife, authored a hundred books on devotional practice, edited several magazines, and were a stalwart defender of vaishnava dharma. Instead they would find a humble soul begging for the chance to make progress in spiritual life and begging for the mercy of the Lord and the Vaishnavas. I pray to you for the ability to increase the sincerity of my prayer from one of pretense to one of actual sincerity, and I thank you with all my heart for the unparalleled gifts you have given to us all.