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Preaching that is so dear to our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada -- Read more › 
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s kirtan leading was always very meditative, deep, and focused. He would often end in a crescendo but it was steady, long, and unrushed.
“Gaura Gopala: I was right next to Prabhupada through the whole ceremony, playing the drum. He particularly liked to sing one tune through the whole time. He put his hands up in the air. He was dancing.” Ref. VedaBase => SPL 44: Let There Be a Temple
We had a kīrtana at the Rāma-līlā grounds, 1976 March, and Dīnanātha was leading, and tens
of thousands were attending and chanting. After the program Śrīla Prabhupāda and I were alone
in the back tent waiting for his servant and the car. As you know, he would often ask rhetorical
questions, and he asked me, “So, what did you think of the kīrtana?” Understanding this was
just a lead-in to his giving me an instruction, I answered with a bland “It was OK.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s definition to me then was as follows: “No, it was not nice. It was clanging
and banging. Kīrtana should be sweet and melodious. Come let us go to the ashram and have
kīrtana.” 
And so we went — Śrīla Prabhupāda, his servant, Baradrāj, and myself. Except for his servant,
the three of us sat in his room and Baradrāj played harmonium on the request of Śrīla
Prabhupāda, and we had a long kīrtana. . . . On Śrīla Prabhupāda’s signal, the kīrtana ended. He
looked at me, smiling, shaking his head a little, and said, “So . . . sweet and melodious.” And
then he moved on with the rest of preaching and hearing. I had heard him say, and heard that
he also said, sometimes stopping kīrtana, “No screaming and shouting.” [remembrance by
Tejiyas dāsa, 12 Nov 2002]
I personally feel that if one becomes more focused on the Holy Name of Krishna with love and worry less on changing the melody their leading of kirtan will become more and more ecstatic. This is especially in the case of those who are new to leading kirtan or who are not regular kirtan leaders. In their nervousness or anxiety, they change the melody, perhaps thinking that others are bored. This changing of melody may happen over 6 times in just a 15 minute period. (BTW I not talking about the different parts of a melody but rather changing to completely different melodies) Whereas kirtan stalwarts such as Indradyumna Swami, BB Govinda Swami, Madhava Prabhu and others keep it very steady and focused.
Once I noticed a devotee chant Hare Krishna for the 30 minute Sandhya Ārati for a total of 2 minutes. First he sang the standard Gaura Arati song and then the Hare Krishna Mantra for 2 minutes. (he also completely changed to different melodies within that 2 minute period) Then he stopped chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra because he wanted to leave enough room for Jāya’ing at the end of the 
kirtan. Śrīla Prabhupāda never was Jāya’er himself, so it is not actually necessary to do a Jāya session at the end of kirtan. But the main thing is not to Jāya at the expensive of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. 
It is called the Maha Mantra for a reason, it is the greatest mantra. So my basic advice to new kirtan leaders is to keep steady the melody, even 
the parts of the melody should be steady, don’t shift it back and forth every few mantras and then run out tricks 2 minutes later.
In the past I have given advice to new kirtan leaders for the arati as follows. Chant the first part of the melody at least 10 times, then second at least 10 times. Then you can go back to the first part and pick up the tempo. The rest is up to you but starting if off like this is a good foundation.
So all the best to you. One simple item to test the efficacy of the one’s kirtan is to see if it creates smaraṇaṁ, even on a material level. Will those who have heard it have it dancing through their minds throughout the rest of the day? From śravaṇaṁ & kīrtanam comes smaraṇaṁ, rememberance.
BTW here is a link to the Harinama Sankirtan Handbook by Indradyumna Swami
We distribute prasadam two days a week to more than 2000 poor and needy villagers from the area in and around Mayapur -- Read more › 
On December 22nd, 2013, Radhanath Swami addressed a gathering of over three thousand guests at Pune’s New Vedic Cultural Centre (NVCC) including visitors from all over the State of Maharashtra.
The NVCC is a project initiated and completed under the guidance of Radhanath Swami’s student and disciple Radheyshyam das. It was inaugurated in February’ 2013 with the President of India, Mr Pranab Muinkherjee attending as a guest of honor. -- Read more › 
The post Makara-sankranti appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.
The post January 14th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.
ISCOWP recently rescued a beautiful Holstein Cow from going to the slaughterhouse. She is not even 4 years old and was going to be slaughtered because she could not get pregnant again.
She is settled in now and is giving about 3 gallons of milk daily, much more than the ISCOWP crew can use.
We would like to offer members of the community Cruelty Free Milk at $8.00 a gallon and also Panir (curd) at $8.00 as each bag of Panir will be made from a gallon of milk.
Please check out our Youtube video [link below], starting with Jeanne arriving at the ISCOWP Farm. Jeanne’s name has been changed to Vegan Indira by ISCOWP members.
Looking forward to being of service to you all.
My cell phone is 304-281-2689
Home 304-843-1658
ys, Balabhadra das
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
HG Bada Haridas Prabhu’s kirtan in Puskar 31.10.2013
Please click here for all photos
O friend, please control your mind and senses and go and live in Vrndavana, which is a mine of nectar, and which is so glorious that even millions of books by the greatest poets and philosophers cannot describe a single ray of light from the host of the jewels of its virtues.
[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-35 Translation]
Please help our devotee friend, Jahnavi to complete her upcoming music album – an acoustic mix of devotional prayers and kirtan from the bhakti yoga tradition. Her indegogo page has full information on the project, donation amounts and what you will get in return.
Hare Krsna! Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.
Welcome to the BHAKTI CENTRE GOLD COAST Blogsite. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was established in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The “Hare Krsna Movement” has Temples or Centres all over the world today. The mission of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna Consciousness according to Bhagavad-Gita and other Ancient Scriptures.
The sanskrit word “Bhakti” means intense love of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna or, as Srila Prabhupada would often translate the word, pure devotional service to Krishna. Bhakti is the essence of the eternal spiritual relationship we have with Krishna. As “Gold Coast” is a small Town, hence we currently have a “Centre” where the local community can gather and participate in the practice of Bhakti Yoga.
Please preview our Video Lectures, News & Updates and other Pages at your convenience and feel free to post your comments or feedback on the “Contact us” Page.
We also hearty welcome you to our Bhakti Centre Gold Coast. Hope to see you soon.
Chant Hare Krsna and Be Happy….. Haribol!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 15 December 2013, Soweto, South Africa, Lecture)
In this world, we may think that some people are enjoying and that some people are suffering. We may think, “Some people in the world, they are the lucky people, they have everything. The other people in the world, they have to suffer.” We may think like that but I tell you, this is not true! Everybody suffers in this world because the world is a jail. We are locked in the jail and our body is the cell. We are locked in this body, we cannot get out, we cannot escape it! We may try to enjoy it; try… try… try!!
I like the example of The Rolling Stones, ”I cant’ get no satisfaction and I tried and I tried…” They are still trying. Mick Jagger must be eighty by now or something like that and he is still trying, he never stopped. The Rolling Stones, they pumped so much drugs into their veins that every once in a while, they would go on a kidney machine (dialysis) to clean their blood so that they could do it again. All right but still not enough; still not satisfied!
You may have one woman, not satisfied; you may two women – not satisfied; three – not satisfied! Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, he lived one-hundred years ago, he said, “A man may have all the women in the world but still not satisfied.” What can be done!? The mind is not satisfied and this is why we are in jail because of our mind. We are in jail, wherever we are, it does not matter. No money in your pocket, still in jail. Lots of money in your pocket, still in jail, still not free. It is difficult! So this Hare Krsna movement, this chanting of Hare Krsna, is giving us a chance to get free!
Srila Prabhupada describes a story. He described that there is a bird which had lived his whole life in a cage. The one day, they took the cage, put it outside, in the field, and opened the door. The door was opened and out the bird went. The bird was flying around a little bit in the sky but then, he turned around and flew back into the cage. Who is the bird? Are we the bird? The door is open, we can fly out; we have been in the cage so long, ”Actually I like my cage. It is a nice cage. There are many good things. I have different levels where I can sit and tasty things which also I like. It is a comfortable cage, beautiful also. Got a good view from my cage. Ah yes! I like this cage, too much.” It is the body, that is the cage and we keep on trying to enjoy, this way and that way, ”Oh, it is so good!” But why are we not satisfied, if it is so good!? It brings you suffering. Not only we are not satisfied but it brings so many complications.
It is like a man wants a woman and the woman wants a man. The woman wants children and so many things. You have one and then you cannot go anywhere. The thing cries all the time. Get someone to take care of the kid, “Your turn. Who is going to change the nappy today?’” These kinds of scenarios… But what does it all lead to? Then we have a beautiful house, then we have so many bills and then we sit in that beautiful house and it feels just like a cage! Still nothing satisfies us. So the point is why waste our time?
Nityananda Chandra: Every we are visited a blissful group of young students from the ages of 7-13 along with their supportive parents and youth leaders. The students and parents always ask very nice and intriguing questions following by a lovely kirtan.
After the program we always get a lot of thanks about how they enjoyed the presentation and everything else. -- Read more ›