[Posted August 8, 2008]

Let the throng burst into song

Hansadutta das

All together now

Yahoo! News August 8, 2008 - Associated Press

China opens Olympics with pageantry, pyrotechnics

BEIJING - Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pageantry and pyrotechnics to open a Summer Games unrivaled for its mix of problems and promise.

Now ascendent as a global power, China welcomed scores of world leaders to an opening ceremony watched by 91,000 people at the eye-catching National Stadium and a potential audience of 4 billion worldwide. It was depicted as the largest, costliest extravaganza in Olympic history, bookended by barrages of some 30,000 fireworks. go to story

The Bhaktivedantas World Sankirtan Party and Inside Nam Hatta are hosted by Hansadutta das, a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada and trustee of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Participate or learn more about World Sankirtan Party.

World Peace, Friendship, Prosperity

World Sankirtan Party Hansadutta das

The Krishna consciousness movement is presenting a scientific program for the respiritualization of all of human society. Although man has made rapid material progress, there is a need for a spiritual method by which all men can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity through a common cause. The greatest cause for all men is devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and this is being introduced all over the world by the disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhatkivedanta Swami Prabhupada in a simple, practical and universal way that can be accepted by men of any race, religion or nationality.

Join the World Sankirtan Party!

Simply we ask one thing: chant Hare Krishna two hours per day! Just by doing this one thing, all your desires, both material and spiritual, will be fulfilled. There is no charge, and it is not illegal. You can chant anywhere. Nothing to lose, all to gain!

Become a two-hour link in the chain to circle the globe by performance of Nam Hatta World Sankirtan. Make your home, office or business a chain link in the 24-hour, seven days a week Nam Hatta Sankirtan concert. Engage your friends, workers and devotees to chant two hours daily and distribute prasadam.

We envision three- to four-hour concerts, beginning and ending interlinked so that kirtan is going on uninterruptedly around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, till it becomes a part of the life of this world.

Travelling World Sankirtan Party does not mean we as physical bodies must necessarily travel, but that the sound vibration must travel around the world 24 hours a day, every day of the year. more

Sing, praise and cheer!

excerpt from Kirtan: Ancient Medicine for Modern Man

What do football games, rock concerts, political rallies, boxing matches and revival meetings all have in common? The mass glorification of a person or persons engaged in extraordinary feats—a very exciting, even electrifying experience which can give incredible pleasure to large groups of people. This phenomenon is known as kirtan.

To glorify, reciprocate and communicate with a "super person" is very natural and pleasurable for everyone. But when the politician is scandalised, the football player is injured or the rock star overdoses, the pleasure-giving relationship is broken. Immediately the search for a new, higher relationship begins. This search for unending pleasure in a permanent relationship is going on throughout the creation, manifesting in endless varieties of would-be heroes and their would-be followers. This fundamental desire of the human being can never be satisfied on the material plane where old age, disease, death and dishonour destroy all such temporary relationships.

Glorification of God alone can bring the highest happiness in an unending relationship. Throughout history, singers, dancers, artists, monks, priests and yogis have glorified God with enthusiasm and great satisfaction by chanting His holy name.

In every religious tradition we are encouraged to praise God's names.

From the rising of the sun unto its setting, the Lord's name is to be praised. [Psalms 113:3]

Glorify the name of your Lord, the most high. [Koran 87.2]

All who sincerely call upon My name will come to Me after death, and I will take them to Paradise. [Vows of Amida Buddha 18]

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [Acts 2:21]

Chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of the Lord. In this age of quarrel there is no other way, no other way, no other way to attain spiritual enlightenment. [Brihan-Naradiya Purana]

Kirtan, glorification of God through His names, is not a sectarian religious pratice. It is the natural fulfilment of every person's desire to sing, praise, cheer and chant the glories of a superior person's extraordinary activities. It brings happiness, peace and harmony to all persons who thus find their common object of adoration, God.

Presently, we are travelling worldwide and introducing worldwide kirtan. Now people experience the kirtan of a football game, a baseball game or a concert—the congregation of many people shouting, cheering and singing. These mundane kirtans are only for the body or mind. Because they are material, their pleasure is only temporary. The same principle of these materialistic kirtans exists in Krishna kirtan; only its effect is spiritual and everlasting. When the devotees are performing Krishna kirtan, and everyone is enthusiastically chanting Hare Krishna, it has great potency for invoking the Lord. This is the Sankirtan movement of Lord Chaitanya.

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Sri Guru and Gauranga