{"id":20417,"date":"2015-10-12T17:48:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T17:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=20417"},"modified":"2015-10-12T17:48:32","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T17:48:32","slug":"new-vrindabans-autumn-24-hour-kirtan-to-give-devotees-the-vrindavan-kartik-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=20417","title":{"rendered":"New Vrindaban\u2019s Autumn 24-Hour Kirtan to Give Devotees the Vrindavan Kartik Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Madhava Smullen
\nNew Vrindaban\u2019s autumn 24 Hour Kirtan \u2013 held during the sacred month of Kartik — is rapidly catching up to its summer cousin in popularity. Up from 100 attendees in 2011, this year\u2019s festival is expected to attract over 400, looking for the authentic Vrindavan Kartik experience without having to travel seven-and-a-half thousand miles.
\n\u201cMany devotees go to the original Vrindavan in India for Kartik,\u201d says organizer Vrindavan Das. \u201cBut they can also get the same experience and benefit in New Vrindaban \u2013 as Srila Prabhupada often said, \u2018New Vrindaban is non-different from Vrindavan.\u2019\u201d
\nISKCON devotees will arrive from Toronto, Montreal, New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C. , Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago and beyond. They\u2019ll be joined by several student groups from local schools like West Virginia University and Cincinnati State Community College, eager to see what the increasingly popular practice of kirtan is all about.
\nA special inauguration kirtan will set the tone on Friday October 30th from 6pm to 9pm at Prabhupada\u2019s Palace, where devotees will seek the ISKCON Founder-Acharya\u2019s blessings.
\nAt 9:30 the next morning, everyone will gather outside Radha-Vrindabanchandra\u2019s temple for a tour of Vrindavan\u2019s holy places: Kusum Sarovara, Manasi Ganga, Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda, Radha Gopinath Mandir, and Govardhana Hill, which have all revealed themselves at New Vrindaban too. At each spot, senior devotees will tell stories of the Lord\u2019s pastimes. And of course, no Vrindavan experience can be complete without a visit to Krishna\u2019s cows at His goshala.
\nNext there\u2019ll be a large Harinama Sankirtana procession to Prabhupada\u2019s Palace, where devotees will see the bongo drum Srila Prabhupada played at the Western world\u2019s first public kirtan in Tompkins Square Park, New York. They\u2019ll then escort the drum to Radha Vrindabanchandra\u2019s temple, where the 24 Hour Kirtan will officially begin at 10:00am.
\nA host of renowned kirtaniyas will lead the chanting, switching every hour or half hour, including Ajamila, Agnideva, Amala Kirtan, Amala Harinam, Bhaktimarga Swami, and Karnamrita Dasi \u2013 who is originally from New Vrindaban. They\u2019ll be joined by resident kirtaniyas Rupanuga, Lilasuka, Ananda Vidya and others, as well as a special one-hour kids\u2019 kirtan.
\nThroughout the day, devotees will offer ghee lamps to a special form of baby Damodar and His mother Yashoda \u2013 but the highlights will be the 8:00am and 8:30pm group lamp offerings while the Damodarastakam prayers are chanted. The bonding created by hundreds of devotees offering their glowing golden lamps together in the cosy warmth of the temple room, safe from the chilly autumn weather, encapsulates the sweetness of the Kartik 24 Hour Kirtan.
\n\u201cThere is a transcendental Vrindavan atmosphere,\u201d Vrindavan says. \u201cYou can feel that the room is filled with love and devotion for the Lord and his devotees.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, delicious prasadam breakfast, lunch and evening snack will be served, along with hot tea; and spontaneous sangas with devotees discussing the Lord\u2019s pastimes or reading the \u201cKrsna\u201d book together will pop up throughout the day alongside the kirtan.
\nThe chanting will continue through the night, and finally end at 11 o\u2019clock on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"Madhava Smullen: New Vrindaban\u2019s autumn 24 Hour Kirtan \u2013 held during the sacred month of Kartik — is rapidly catching up to its summer cousin in popularity.<\/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-20417","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\/20417","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=20417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20419,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20417\/revisions\/20419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}