2007 was another eventful year at ISKCON Youth Ministry. We were able to participate in 28 festivals, chanting, dancing, and feasting, assisting you in spreading the holy name. Seven of those festivals were Ratha-yatras (Festival of Chariots), twenty-one were festivals which the youth conceived, and with your mercy, manifested. View photos | watch video.

During the summer we traveled across the USA and Canada for two months, putting on Krishna Culture Festivals on stage at theaters, at temples, and at Ratha-yatras. Our show was called Devotion, a dance, drama, musical about the nine processes of devotional service to Krishna.

Shravanam, hearing about Him; kirtanam, chanting His holy names; smaranam, remembering Him; pada-sevanam, worshiping His lotus feet; archanam, worshiping His sacred form; vandanam offering prayers; dasyam, becoming the servant of the Lord; sakhyam, becoming the Lord's friend; and atma-nivedanam, surrendering oneself completely unto the Lord.

Devotion seamlessly intertwined mudras (pantomime), Bharata-natyam dance illustrating the pastimes, drama, drums, philosophy and kirtan (devotional chanting and music) into a cultural presentation all about Krishna. At each show we had book tables, and we helped distribute prasadam (sanctified food) to all who came.

Some viewers commented:

“It was awesome. They were very lively, and there was some great singing… It’s cool how you could see the singers off to the side so you could see them singing as well. Some very good stories, some good things to take away from the show.”

“Oh it was like perfect, it was amazing. Oh yeah, I loved the story. The dancing was great. Everyone looked terrific. It was good.”

“I thought it was great. I really, really enjoyed the dancing, and it was really interesting to learn the whole story of Krishna because I wasn’t aware of that before I came, so that was a good benefit.”

“Every year it gets a lot easier to see Krishna. [What did you like about the performance?] Dancing. The dancing was incredible.”

“I liked the acting. It was really expressive. A very wonderful performance. Thank you for sharing your energy and love.”

“The word that caught my eye when I saw the advertisements was “devotion,” because devotion to me it’s very spiritual and [a lot of] energy, and that’s attracted me. Then when I saw the play and I could see the way you were dancing, you were just dancing with that energy, and to me it was beautiful.”

“I [sometimes] go to the astral world and that’s what I always hear, and it’s beautiful. That’s the first time I’ve seen it. I hope to see it again.”

“I really enjoyed it. It was a very high quality performance and music. Very inspiring.”

“It was incredible. It’s amazing to see an inspiring group of youth so devoted, so devoted, and expressing that devotion. We were moved, moved from the heart.”

“Fantastic! I came last year also and I’m going never to miss it. You people do a great job, great music, great performance, great dances, there’s professionalism in everything. So keep it up. Keep blessing us in Thunder Bay.”

During the winter, we traveled through Mexico and Guatemala.

Temples are few and far between in Mexico and non-existent in Guatemala. So we went on Google and serched for yoga studios throughout Mexcio and Guatemala and we contacted the yoga teachers and asked them to put on “Kirtan Yoga” festivals in their locations. We showed the yoga teachers photos of our summer festival tour. We showed them our websites and video clips of our kirtan performances. And we were quite surprised at how eager they were to have us perform at their yoga studios.

Kirtan is apparently a big thing at yoga studios these days, and who better to perform kirtan than the young, enthusiastic Bhakti-yogis of ISKCON, our own ISKCON Youth. I don’t think the yoga teachers had ever seen a kirtan quite like ours before. Plus we brought them Bharata-natyam dance performances depicting the pastimes of Krishna, and we served them delicious prasadam dinners, vegetarian dinners, in many cases prepared and served by the youth.

And we had book tables at each event, with Spanish Bhagavad-gitas, La Sciencia de la Auto-Realizacion (The Science of Self-Realization), Mas Alla (Beyond Birth and Death), and Meditacion y Superconciencia. By the end of the evening, after an hour and a half of a mesmerizing, colorful performance by the youth, with bhajans, kirtans, and beautiful Bharata-natyam dance, and some philosophy explaining what we were doing, in Spanish, the audience were eager for the books. We distributed as many books as we could put out on the table.

At one event in Guatemala I sat down with about twenty people afterwards and chanted a round of japa (mantra meditation on beads) with them. They each had their beads, bead bag and Krishna.com mantra card, and in unison, out loud, we chanted a round of japa together. And I explained the significance of the mantra, and each of the words, and one older lady raised her hand and asked if she could think of Radha kind of like Mother Mary. I guess a lot of people are Catholic in Guatemala.

While in this part of the world, we stopped by some of the natural wonders, some of the beautiful spots, like a hot-springs waterfall river, coming right out of a volcano. The Caribbean Sea and its limestone white beaches and turquoise blue waters. Underground caves filled with water, sacred swimming holes which the locals call “cenotes.” Mayan pyramids and ruins in Tikal. Mayan pyramids in Chichen Itza. All of these pyramids and ruins were legacies of ancient civilizations, hopes, dreams, plans for the future that had been wiped out long ago, and all that was left were a few piles of rock. We talked about the temporary nature of this world, and how really there’s only one reality, there’s only one thing to do: chanting the holy names of Krishna.

At Lake Atitlan in Guatemala we had a three-day Japa Retreat which was a first for the youth on the bus tour. Purusha Shukta Prabhu and his wife, Divyambara Mataji, and Giri Govardhan Prabhu flew all the way to Guatemala City to facilitate this retreat. For three days we had workshops focusing on appreciating the holy name, chanting it with the right mood, and then we had a sixty-four rounds, “mauna vrata” day, a vow of silence except for chanting the sixty-four rounds, which was quite interesting. We had a lot of realizations.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

We spent New Year’s Eve in downtown Mexico City chanting Hare Krishna on harinam (street kirtan procession), and distributing laddu (a sweet) which the youth had made. People would ask us, “What is it?” And we’d have to try to explain in broken Spanish, “Es un dulce del India.”

On another harinam in Los Angeles I asked some bystanders, “What do you think about this?”

“I think it’s terrific! It’s great! I love this. It’s deeper than the ‘robot man.’” [A silver-painted ‘robot man’ was apparently the standard tourist attraction in the location we were doing street kirtan.]

“I think what they’re doing sounds very beautiful. I don’t understand the words. But the energy is very positive. I’m really enjoying it.”

“I think it’s very powerful. It’s very powerful. Very powerful.”

All in all, with all of your help, we had a wonderful year in 2007. We helped you put on festivals in Atlanta, Prabhupada Village (North Carolina), Washington D.C., New York City, Montreal, Brampton, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Ashcroft, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Boise, Denver, Miami, Alachua, Oaxaca (Mexico), Quetzaltenango (Guatemala), Playa del Carmen, Izamal, Mexico City, Tulancingo, Leon, and Monterrey, Mexico.

And with your help, we look forward to performing at a festival in your neighborhood in 2008. Help us rent a hall, book a theater for one of our events. Sell tickets as a fund-raiser for your temple. This is our devotional service for you, for ISKCON, and for Srila Prabhupada.

View photos | watch a video of our 2007 festival tour.

Go to our ISKCONyouth.com website for more information and to get involved.