{"id":17889,"date":"2015-06-13T17:21:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T17:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=17889"},"modified":"2015-06-13T17:21:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T17:21:16","slug":"new-vrindabans-24-hour-kirtan-to-transport-partipants-to-vrindavana-dhama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=17889","title":{"rendered":"New Vrindaban\u2019s 24 Hour Kirtan to Transport Partipants to Vrindavana Dhama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Madhava Smullen<\/i><\/p>\n

The ninth annual 24 Hour Kirtan festival in New Vrindaban, West Virginia is set to give North American participants the experience of the 24 Hour Kirtan that runs 365 days a year in the original Vrindavana Dhama, India without having to travel thousands of miles. <\/p>\n

Around 600 devotees from all over the U.S. and Canada are expected to converge in the beautiful rural community that founder Srila Prabhupada called \u201ca new place of pilgrimage for you Western devotees.\u201d During a 1972 visit he also commented, \u201cThis Vrindaban, that Vrindavan, no difference.\u201d <\/p>\n

The devotee participants will be joined by two groups of students, one from Cleveland State University and one from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, attending for the first time.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the festival, Europe-based spiritual teacher Kadamba Kanana Swami will give three morning lectures at Sri Sri Radha-Vrindabanchandra\u2019s temple from Thursday June 18th<\/sup> to Saturday June 20th<\/sup> on the importance of chanting the Holy Name.<\/p>\n

There will also be an inauguration kirtan with Kadamba Kanana Swami, Agnideva Das and other senior kirtaniyas on Friday evening from 7 to 10pm at Srila Prabhupada\u2019s Palace of Gold.<\/p>\n

The 24 Hour Kirtan festival proper will then run from 11am on Saturday June 20th<\/sup> to 11am on Sunday June 21st<\/sup> in the temple, which will be decorated with maha-mantra banners, harinama chaddars and lamps. <\/p>\n

Participants will sit in a semi-circle facing the Deities. Each of the long list of lead chanters will lead for around one hour, and each will bring their own flavor to an event packed full of variety.<\/p>\n

Kadamba Kanana Swami is known for his fired up, rocking kirtans. Agnideva Das \u2013 who has been one of the world\u2019s most popular chanters since the 1970s and is now based in Trinidad \u2013 steals devotees\u2019 hearts with his classic, soulful style. And Brazilian kirtaniya Amala Kirtan Das, now based in Austin, Texas, brings blissful ragas and astonishing virtuousity on the harmonium.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Ananta Govinda and Acyuta Gopi from New York raise goosebumps with their soul folk kirtan; Mayapuri band member Krishna Kishor injects youthful energy into proceedings; and Gaura Mani Dasi from the Vrindavana, India-based band the Vrajadhus dovetails Bollywood songs in Krishna\u2019s service to create new Hare Krishna tunes that take off like wildfire.<\/p>\n

Local New Vrindaban chanters will also lead kirtan, includingRupanuga Das, Abhay Das, Bhaktin Autumn, Ananda Vidya Das, and Lilasuka Dasi. <\/p>\n

And youth and children will get a chance too \u2013 the boys from ISKCON Alachua\u2019s Summer Trip, aged 12 to 15, will chant for 45 minutes, while a group of children aged 10 and under will chant for half an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for them to have that opportunity to sing at a festival,\u201d says Shri-Ram Poddar, 18, who is organizing the schedule for the festival. \u201cThey\u2019ll love it, and it\u2019s just a really good growing experience for them too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shri-Ram is speaking from experience. He first attended the New Vrindaban 24 Hour Kirtan in 2011 when he was 14 and uninterested in kirtan, staying up throughout the night as an experiment. He calls it \u201cthe first devotee festival I really enjoyed\u201d and afterwards became passionate about kirtan. Now he\u2019s helping to organize both New Vrindaban\u2019s summer and fall 24 Hour Kirtans, and is inspired to manage other Krishna conscious events too. <\/p>\n

While many other kirtan festivals follow the two 12-hour days format, Shri Ram loves New Vrindaban\u2019s because it remains a straight 24-hour event nine years in. This features gets participants intensely focused on the Holy Name, and combined with New Vrindaban\u2019s Brijabasi mood it truly recreates the original Vrindavana 24-Hour Kirtan.<\/p>\n

The Vrindavana mood will be particularly evident during the night time hours, when devotees like Amala Harinama and Govinda Das, who both spent time as part of the 24 Hour Kirtan Mandali in Vrindavana under Aindra Das, will chant.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovinda Prabhu has been there since at least the early 2000s, and was with Aindra Prabhu for at least ten years, as one of his main mridanga players,\u201d says Shri-Ram. \u201cHis kirtan really has Aindra\u2019s mood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most devotees will attend only select parts of the kirtan, taking rest in between in the comfortable motel-style rooms at New Vrindaban\u2019s Palace Lodge (now booked up), in local hotels in Wheeling and Moundsville, or in tents on the ISKCON New Vrindaban grounds. <\/p>\n

Every year, however, some brave souls are so inspired that they manage to make it through the entire 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The prasadam helps \u2013 breakfast on Saturday and Sunday will include kichari, granola, yoghurt, chutney, and a drink. For lunch on Saturday there\u2019ll be fancy rice, dahl, two subjis, macaroni, pakoras, puris, chutney, sweet rice, and mango lassi. <\/p>\n

The primetime evening kirtan slots from 6pm to 10 or 11pm on Saturday will be the most packed and energetic, as will Agnideva\u2019s grand finale on Sunday morning, followed by a delicious Sunday Feast at 12:30pm. <\/p>\n

Afterwards, participants are usually left hungry for more \u2013 more kirtan! \u201cPeople always say they feel very enlivened and recharged,\u201d says Vrindavana Das, who organizes the festival with assistant coordinator Gauranga Prasad Das. \u201cThey always look forward to coming back again.\u201d<\/p>\n

And New Vrindaban has what they\u2019re looking for. A fall 24 Hour Kirtan is coming up on October 31st<\/sup> and November 1st<\/sup>, during the sacred month of Kartik \u2013 which, of course is one of Vrindavana, India\u2019s most famous festivals.<\/p>\n

With a more sweet, mellow mood, devotees will get to offer candles to New Vrindaban\u2019s beautiful Deities, and once again get the Vrindavana Dhama experience without having to travel to India.<\/p>\n

\u201cSrila Prabhupada said New Vrindaban is non-different from Vrindavana,\u201d says Vrindavana Das. \u201cSo those who are unable to go to Vrindavana in India, can get the same blessings and mercy of the dhama by visiting New Vrindaban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"Madhava Smullen: The ninth annual 24 Hour Kirtan festival in New Vrindaban, West Virginia is set to give North American participants the experience of the 24 Hour Kirtan that runs 365 days a year in the original Vrindavana Dhama<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17891,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17889\/revisions\/17891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}