Wednesday 29 September 2010

September's Celestial Kirtan


O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
-
William Blake

Our September kirtan, replete with autumn fruits and flowers, was sung with 'jolly voice'! Although there were several 'new' first-time chanters, everyone joined in with gusto and the result, as one chanter described it, was a 'celestial atmosphere'.


Our very newest chanter was little Ananya, whose mother brought her to her first kirtan. She was as good as gold the whole way through and charmed us with her smiles. Her mother, Swetha, covered the cost of the refreshments afterwards, in honour of the event. Thank you Ananya and Swetha!


Gaura, brought two friends from Cambridge, and the three of them took turns in leading the chants. Craig and his Croatian wife Dunja are planning to start kirtan programmes in Cambridge - and we hope to join them there sometime, to return the compliment.

Gaura hari sings Govinda jaya jaya...

Dunja, who has a lovely voice, singing the ancient chant 'om namo bhagavate vasudevaya'

We finished up with autumnal mulled apple juice, nut biscuits and coconut sweet balls.

We're very grateful to Gaura, Craig, Dunja and friends who travelled so far to bring us a wonderful experience of chanting. Thanks chaps!







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