Kaliya Krishna Das: He’s practically born with a mridanga in his hands! He’s been learning, studying and playing mridanga ever since he was a child. Born in a Vaishnava family both his parents are Srila Prabhupada disciples and dedicated devotees who gave him the proper spiritual direction towards Harinam and kirtan from his early years. He loves to play mridanga for Ramaraya prabhu’s kirtans and Ramaraya prabhu also likes that Mangal Arati prabhu can deliver the goods! To quote Ramaraya prabhu: “Mangal is very attentive to play exactly what I want during the kirtan!” A nice symbiotic relationship between a kirtan leader and a mridanga player is essential and they’ve achieved that successfully through the many years of Harinam in the streets and subways of New York. Mangal Arati prabhu has been a staunch full-time member of NYC Harinam since it’s inception over 8 years ago and he puts his heart into it on a daily basis.