{"id":76138,"date":"2019-06-25T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T12:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=76138"},"modified":"2019-06-25T19:22:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T17:22:31","slug":"a-little-story-and-video-about-stonehenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=76138","title":{"rendered":"A little story and video about Stonehenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Saksi Gopal dasa <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since 20 years the English Heritage have invited us to this major festival<br \/>\nBecause we bring peace and joy in the form of delicious Krishna Prasad and<br \/>\nunending spiritual chants and dance<br \/>\nAt midnight the Rathayatra procession begins, and the distribution of<br \/>\nPrasad Feast also begins<br \/>\nLord Jagannath\u2019s cart rests by the sacred stones while the devotees,<br \/>\nheaded by HH Mahavishnu Swami dance and chant throughout the whole night in<br \/>\nabundance<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stonehenge summer solstice 2019\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sk8WdshKQaY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I composed a ballad to commemorate this historic event<\/p>\n<p>1.<\/p>\n<p>There were pagans and potheads and indian chiefs<br \/>\nThere were druids and hippies and mounted police<br \/>\nThere were drinkers and smokers and drummers galore<br \/>\nWho played on through the night til their fingers were sore<br \/>\nThere was dancing, while some lay around on the grass<br \/>\nSome huddled in blankets, some shouted and laughed<br \/>\nSome filmed the proceedings with smart mobile phones<br \/>\nAs everyone gathered around the great stones<br \/>\nThat have witnessed the turning on Salisbury Plain<br \/>\nOf season and century, sunshine and rain<br \/>\nWitnessed chieftains and druids and celts offer thanks<br \/>\nWitnessed farmers and hippies and soldiers in tanks<br \/>\nHave seen tourists and picnickers, bikers in leather<br \/>\nAnd ancient oak avenues pass into heather<br \/>\nSeen wars and invasions, the triumph of thieves<br \/>\nHave seen lovers and losers, but who could believe<br \/>\nThat the stones were now witness to God&#8217;s holy name<br \/>\nAs the chanters in saffron again and again<br \/>\nSang their mantra and danced to the cymbal and drum<br \/>\nThat the people here gathered would eagerly come<br \/>\nTo celebrate Krishna and Ram and Har\u00e9<br \/>\nAs they welcomed the sunrise on Midsummers Day?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/d8iloHJ.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8FcquYU.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>2.<\/p>\n<p>Had they each felt their sanctity somehow restored<br \/>\nAs each innocent celebrant danced and adored<br \/>\nWith a jubilant heart and a gratified eye<br \/>\nThe rythm and mantra as old as the sky?<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 KRISHNA they chant,<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 KRISHNA they pray<br \/>\nKRISHNA KRISHNA they follow with loud<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 HAR\u00c9<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 RAMA the song<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 RAMA the hymn<br \/>\nRAMA RAMA<br \/>\nHAR\u00c9 HAR\u00c9 to drumbeat and ring<br \/>\nOf the karatel cymbals, percussion of old<br \/>\nThe mantra of angels that nurtures the soul<br \/>\nFrom the Lord of Existence below and above<br \/>\nReuniting the spark with the fire of love<br \/>\nAround and within us if we could but see<br \/>\nAttuned to the river within you and me<br \/>\nSome say we are energy, spiritual light<br \/>\nWho\u2019ve forgotten the ocean of endless delight<br \/>\nBut energy means that we flow from a source<br \/>\nAnd that means the Original Person, of course<br \/>\nFor that realm of transcendence is where we belong<br \/>\nWhere each step is a dance and each word is a song<br \/>\nSo chant the vibration &#8212; Ram, Krishna, Har\u00e9<br \/>\nWhen you greet the next sunrise on Midsummers Day<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Rh7dghZ.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ffXRuNJ.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>3.<\/p>\n<p>The floodlights shone out &#8216;cross the fields as they came<br \/>\nIn their hundreds (then thousands) like moths to a flame<br \/>\nFrom the wall to wall vehicles, row upon row<br \/>\nPast the people who joined in the throng that helped tow<br \/>\nOn the ropes of a chariot yellow and red<br \/>\nOf the Lord of the Universe (so the man said)<br \/>\nThe procession proceeded apace through the fields<br \/>\nThen a BBC journalist saw the appeal<br \/>\nAnd recorded the party &#8220;You&#8217;ll see it next year&#8221;<br \/>\nAs she captured some footage and then disappeared<br \/>\nThere were takeaways lined up along the field edge<br \/>\nThough the smell in the air said it sure wasn&#8217;t veg<br \/>\nYet the hunger for food and the hunger for love<br \/>\nAnd the hunger for sharing God&#8217;s gift from above<br \/>\nSaw the Krishna monks giving out hot dahl and rice<br \/>\nAnd those freshly fried papadams &#8212; ever so nice<br \/>\nSo the people queued up with their spouses and mates<br \/>\nAnd feasted from bio-degradable plates<br \/>\nTil the buckets were empty, the tubs were scraped clean&#8211;<br \/>\nAfter two thousand servings, a satisfied scene<br \/>\nCos they&#8217;d called upon Krishna and Ram and Har\u00e9<br \/>\nAs they welcomed the sunrise on Midsummers Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wZPoEja.jpg \"\/><strong>By Saksi Gopal dasa <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  Since 20 years the English Heritage have invited us to this major festival Because we bring peace and joy in the form of delicious Krishna Prasad and unending spiritual chants and dance At midnight the Rathayatra procession begins, and the distribution of Prasad Feast also begins Lord Jagannath\u2019s cart rests by the sacred stones while the devotees, headed by HH Mahavishnu Swami dance and chant throughout the whole night in abundance <!--more--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76138","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=76138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76140,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76138\/revisions\/76140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}