Submitted by Gopal das

The ISKCON devotees here in Pindamonhongaba, Brazil, asked my good friend Brindavan Candra prabhu and I to be a part of the 24-hour kirtan party they were having. This was actually the second time they asked us to come and attend their festival.

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The first time we joined in they gave us (Brindavan and I) a shift late in the evening (11 pm). At first we didn’t think too much of it, but then later through the day we heard they were doing this so many people wouldn’t attend “our” shift. That kirtan was so amazing though! I’ve never been a part of a kirtan like that, it was something magical; something you see on YouTube or something. I was very grateful to be a part of that with my friends.

After that first festival we (Brindavan and I) were getting a lot of attention from the ISKCON devotees there, and they were all very sweet with us.
But then a few devotees didn’t like that we were being a part of this function and brought this to the attention of the Temple President. He had a talk with us and mentioned we may not be a part of the next 24-hour kirtan. Brindavan and I weren’t so bothered by the whole thing; we thought okay, well we will just have kirtans with our friends (the babajis) and do bhajans together, so it wouldn’t make a difference to us really.

After a few e-mails and conversations later, the Temple President said we could join the festival again. Brindavan and I were thinking about it and at the end we thought it would be good to represent Gurudeva there, and as it turned out, when Gurudeva came here for his Vyasa Puja, many ISKCON devotees came and took his darshan and many gurukulis took initiation. One of the gurukulis is a dear friend of Brindavan and I, his name is Thakur.

A few days before the festival took place the 24-hour kirtan schedule came out, which was really big news! We received an e-mail with the shift and Brindavan and I got the 3 am shift. The first thing that came to our minds almost immediately was, “they are doing this on purpose.” But we didn’t have any hard feelings, and thought, “okay, we will still do kirtan for Thakurji.”

Our shift was at 3 in the morning so we were excited thinking no one will be there, we can do some very meditative bhajans. Nothing so hard core like last time. ISKCON had invited many of their famous kirtaniyas (kirtan performers) to attend the festival, which was nice also, one of whom goes by the name Amala and he’s a very, very sweet devotee. Through the day we attended a few hours of their kirtans, and it was very nice! Some of the most talented I’ve seen, of which most are Gurukulis – wonderful!

As the night progressed, many devotees were coming to Brindavan and I asking when we are going to do kirtan. We would tell them they put our shift to do kirtan at 3am. Some kind of laughed, knowing what was really going on underneath it all, and others said, “oh! we will be there no matter what time.”

Hearing that, we become a little surprised, first thinking that no one would be there, but word spread quickly it seemed. Because of Brindavan’s last kirtan at the festival everyone was waiting and wanting more. Brindavan and I showed up about 30 minutes before our shift thinking that not many will be there, only some of our crew (the babajis) and a few others, maximum 30. When we arrived, the Temple was packed especially for 3am. We weren’t really expecting that, so we looked at each other, and then we had a discussion really quick because we felt like we had to do more than some “meditative” bhajans. These people were looking for something to go mad with haha….

Our plans changed. About 7 minutes into the bhajan we thought “okay, lets go mad then“. After a bit of getting into the mood, we gave it all we could give at 3 in the morning. It turned out to be another one of those bhajans that was just electrifying. After this kirtan festival, a few of Gurudeva’s disciples were going around saying some things about us, and bragging to ISKCON devotees, so unfortunately that was our last “performance” at the 24-hour kirtan festival. The Temple President had to talk with Brindavan and I and he let us know that it wasn’t in his hands anymore. He said if it was up to him, he would love to have us back for the next festival, but he couldn’t.

We were okay after the talk. Again we thought this won’t stop us from doing something we love; kirtan!

Radha ramana lal ki jai!