Once in a while those silly little quiz'es surprise you by being right on the mark...

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Your Birthdate: June 11

Spiritual and thoughtful, you tend to take a step back from the world. You're very sensitive to what's going on around you, yet you remain calm. Although you are brilliant, it may take you a while to find your niche. Your creativity is supreme, but it sometimes makes it hard for you to get things done. Your strength: Your inner peace Your weakness: You get stuck in the clouds Your power color: Emerald Your power symbol: Leaf Your power month: November

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Radha's lustre is like molten gold and Krishna's complexion is a mystical dark blue; combined, the splendor resembles that of an emerald's. Those who wonder the sign on my forehead; it's a tilaka ending with a leaf, and is virtually the only symbol I truly feel as my own.

November is the power month indeed; the month of Kartika, coinciding with October-November, is the yearly time of intense meditation and austerity, pilgrims flock to Vrindavan from all around India for the observance. Those who met me last November at Radha-kunda may remember me as a bit intense; I closed the month with a three-day fast and a daily vow of three lakhs (300K) of names, sleeping two-three hours a night outdoors with a blanket. A beautiful time it was, something I'm much looking forward to again.

And as for the character analysis... Well, suffice it to say that those of you who know me better may be wondering if the description really is off a website or whether I just wrote it up myself.

Kirtan Madhuri Mela is a ten-day gathering in Alachua featuring traditional Bengali devotional music and discourses on the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Narottama Das Thakur. The event is organized to celebrate the beauty of the devotional tradition of the vairagi saints and mystics of Vraja who spent their days and nights in thoughts of Radha and Krishna, worshiping the divine Names.

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-o) KIRTAN MADHURI MELA (o-

- Alachua, Florida - August 4th-13th -

Kirtan Madhuri Mela is a ten-day gathering in Alachua featuring traditional Bengali devotional music and discourses on the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Narottama Das Thakur. The event is organized to celebrate the beauty of the devotional tradition of the vairagi saints and mystics of Vraja who spent their days and nights in thoughts of Radha and Krishna, worshiping the divine Names.

The program will last from Friday 4th to Sunday 13th August. The first official program will be held on Friday evening. For latest news, please see http://www.gaudiyakutir.com/mela.

Location

The program is located at Braja Gopal's place in Alachua, a few minutes from the local ISKCON temple. We will be able to provide assistance with accomodation, transportation, and prasadation. Exact location at 21511 NW 75th street, third plot south from the NW 218th Avenue crossing - you'll find signs out there to help you find the exact location. For maps, please see here.

Classes

Classes are given by Madhavananda Das. Morning classes will be on Narottama Das Thakur Mahasaya's Prema-bhakti-candrika, the aim is to cover the entire text in the course of the upcoming 10 days. Evening classes will feature Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Siksastakam, with emphasis on the examination of the growth of spiritual emotion in the sadhaka's heart.

Schedule for classes and special days during the event


Daily program


Morning bhajan

The carrying theme in the four-hour individual morning bhajan will be accomplishing a lakh (64 rounds) of names, or as much as fits into four hours. We are eager to see everyone dive deeper into nama-bhajan, and the free time everyone has provides an excellent opportunity to at least do it for a while, if not forever, and gain an experience of what to look forward to in the future.

Daytime program

The daytime program is largely improvised. What's in the air is an introductory Sanskrit class, istagosthi discussions and sadhana workshops on themes of choice, bathing in local tirthas, taking prasad and much more! The two weekends will have a bit of a tighter schedule than the week in between.

Evening programs

Some evenings will also see special programs, such as a one-hour non-stop video-parikrama around Radha-kunda with stories of the locations, and possibly a public gathering or two with a broader audience.

Songs

Given that many may not be very familiar with the traditional arati songs and the such, all participants will receive a fine home-made song book that covers all the standard daily songs, as well as most other songs we'll be singing in the course of the event.

Participation

Please let us know in advance if you're coming, we'll put aside an extra plate for you. Contact Braja Gopal Das for information on accommodations, directions and other practicalities at .