STEPS BACK TO GODHEAD GAME

By reciting one Hare Krishna mantra a player is chosen to be the mother of devotion. She stands about fifty feet (15m) away from the others, who line up in a row. She calls out the name of the first player, saying, for example: “Madhava may take two giant Vamana steps back to Godhead”. Madhava answers, “Mother of Devotion, may I?” and takes two very long strides forward. The Mother of Devotion then calls the name of the next player, saying, for example, “Lalita may take ten tiny baby Krishna steps back to Godhead”. Lalita then says, “Mother of Devotion, may I?” and takes ten steps forward, as small as possible. The Mother of Devotion may also tell the child to do Trinavarta steps, which means to twirl around as many times as the number of steps requested. The Mother of Devotion can mix the various steps and say, for example, to do one Vamana step, three baby Krishna steps, and two Trinavarta steps from each player until one player is close enough to tag her. He is then back to Godhead. That player becomes the new Mother of Devotion and calls the steps after all the others have returned to the starting place. But if any player moves forgetting to say, “Mother of Devotion, may i?” he loses his turn and must stay where he was until the next turn.