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Dear Devotees,
Please accept our most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

With great joy in our hearts we would like to announce the First Worldwide Kirtana Mela, to be held in a beautiful festival camp near Leipzig, Germany,
from August 29 through September 4 this year.

We will have

* Five days of twelve-hour kirtanas with a number of respected gurus and ISKCON's best kirtaniyas.

* A huge Ratha-yatra with hundreds of devotees singing and dancing through the historic town of Leipzig, flooding it with the Lord's holy names.

* Nectarian association.

* Invaluable inspirational talks.

* Nice accommodations in a camp surrounded by nature.

* Childcare facilities.

*Tasty prasada

This will be a week of ecstasy that will help us deepen our understanding of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's ongoing lila.Each day we will have several sets of kirtana with short inspirational talks given by the kirtana singers to help tune the devotee participants.The list of singers will be available to the devotees on a day-to-day basis.

Invited respected gurus and kirtaniyas:

H.H. B.B. Govinda Maharaja
H.H. Bhaktivaibhava Maharaja
H.H. Bhakti Vijnana Maharaja (confirmed)
H.H. Devamrta Maharaja
H.H. Indradyumna Maharaja
H.H. Kadamba Kanana Maharaja (confirmed)
H.H. Kavicandra Maharaja (confirmed)
H.H. Lokanath Maharaja (confirmed)
H.H. Niranjana Maharaja (confirmed)
H.H. Radhanatha Maharaja
H.H. Sacinandana Maharaja (confirmed)
H.G. Krsna Ksetra Prabhu
H.G. Srimati Dina Sharana devi dasi (GBC) (confirmed)
H.G. Aditi Dukhaha Prabhu (confirmed)
H.G. Badahari Prabhu
H.G. Madhava Prabhu (confirmed)
Mayapuris
H.G. Sacidevi dasi and others.

Please come and participate! Don't miss this unique opportunity!

For detailed information, please go to www.kirtana-mela.com

Hoping to see you during the Kirtana Mela,Your Kirtana Mela Team

Some words of inspiration:

As Srila Prabhupada said, chanting is our most important business. In the course of our preaching, we are swamped by so many important and urgent services. Sometimes we have no quality time for our most important activity. Festivals like this are the best chance we have to revive our taste for chanting and to invigorate our spiritual life.
(H.H. Bhakti Vijanana Gosvami)

When the Vaisnavas assemble and chant kirtan for the pleasure of Krishna,then the atmosphere becomes magical, the spiritual world manifests, and Krsna is present. As different birds fly at different heights in the sky, different devotees are on different levels of realization. Some may feel the presence of the
Lord and others may actually see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates while chanting and dancing in kirtan. When Narottama dasa Thakura performed
his kirtan festival at Kethuri after Sri Caitanya Mahprabhu had disappeared from is world, the devotees present could see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and
His associates chanting and dancing in the greatest ecstasy. They themselves were then swept up in waves of transcendental love.When Vaisnavas gather for kirtan, it is not only a festival of temporary inspiration but an eternal benediction of lasting benefit.When Vaisnavas gather for kirtan, it is an event not to miss!
 (H.H. Kadamba Kanana Swami)

Mahaprabhu spent 24 years together with His associates and then suddenly in the middle of the night He left and decided to take sannyasa. Prior to His departure, He gave a speech to pacify and console. "No no! I will live with you in two forms! The first one, I will stay in the form of the holy name
(chanting). Even when I am gone, keep chanting". Caitanya Mahaprabhu is non-different from the holy name. So, one avatar of Mahaprabhu is the Holy Name.
"In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kr?s?n?a mah?-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Kr?s?n?a. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered. (CC Adi 17.22)

The Lord appears in every age. But in the Holy Name, He appears to all of us, unlimited, everywhere, everyday for each and every one of us! The Lord appears at midday (Rama), in the middle of the night (Krsna) and during dusk (Caitanya Mahaprabhu/Nrsimhadeva) and so on. But Krsna's holy name is ready to appear every day! Everywhere! And to Everyone! It is the beauty, the Lord making Himself accessible to everyone and we all, each one of us, have our very own Lord. In this form He can become our cherished property.

The second form in which Caitanya Mahaprabhu said he will stay is "Ananda" - Bliss! This Bliss comes from chanting Hare Krsna. Therefore Chant Hare Krsna
(first form) and be Happy (second form). (H.H. Lokantha Maharaja)

When we chant to please Radha and Krishna, that chanting bathes our hearts in such a way that it awakens our dormant love of God. This type of chanting
must be practiced day and night.

A family that prays together stays together.
A family that dances together advances together.
A family that sings together clings together.
(H.H. Radhanatha Maharaja)

The Kirtan Mela is a unique opportunity to receive and distribute the highest possible blessings in Krishna consciousness. At least three types of audiences will supremely benefit from our daily twelve-hour kirtans: all the participants, our movement, and the world. As Srila Prabhupada explained so succinctly, "The conclusion is that one should learn the art of chanting the holy name of Krishna 24 hours a day, and that alone is the remedy for all problems of material existence."
(Letter, August  29, 1973)
Please come, and invite everyone to join us!
(H.H. Sacinandana Swami)

From the Kheturi festival of Narottama dasa Thakura and Jahnava Devi to the Tompkins Square Park chanting of Srila Prabhupada and his followers to the
upcoming kirtan festival in Germany, congregational chanting of hari-nama has been and continues to be the nourishment, tonic, and the very life-blood
of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's followers. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has sung,upon witnessing the whole universe enlivened by the chanting of Narada Muni,
"And the whole universe became ecstatic. Then my desire was satisfied and I therefore pray unto the lotus feet of Rupa Gosvami that let this chanting of
hari-nama go on nicely like this." Following our acharyas' guidance and encouragement, let everyone join happily in this festival of spirit.
(H.G. Krishna Ksetra Prabhu)