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Jiving to soul music kirtan bands

kirtan band ashraya soulful music bohemian new age sound

Have you heard these amazing kirtan bands?

When you are growing up, you’re attracted to music – as you get older, for me at least, it dims in importance. But there are so many beautiful souls out in the world working on sharing their musical ability as a way of glorifying the supreme lord Sri Krishna – so why not support them, get behind their music and let our kids (and ourselves) enjoy the diverse musical arrangements that have only the most positive and beautiful lyrics and meanings!

I personally adore the music of the following bands, and I’d love to hear if you have some recommendations! In fact there are a few friends I need to chase up for I know they’ve had amazing music!

Atmasfera; watch their clips here: YOU TUBE

Buy their music here!

This might be my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naCuh4lWXck

But then I adore this rocking one too!

https://youtu.be/1rYOswLObDQ

 

Ashraya is wonderful!

kirtan band ashraya soulful music bohemian new age sound

They are a kirtan band, so all music is sacred mantra’s, oh you have to watch and hear! And if you ever get the chance, you MUST experience kirtan with Ashraya in person! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VnWvT38E_4

You can keep an eagle eye on their next appearances on their facebook page, and also their website has some music downloads for your listening delights! Go HERE

WAI LANA yoga sound music wailanaThe exquisite music video by great yogi and artist Wai Lana is so beautiful and you must watch it at least once, and then you will be glued to it and watch it a thousand times!

View the dreamy soulful music video here

You can subscribe to Wai Lana You Tube, and she also has a website here https://www.wailana.com/ and a platform on almost every channel! Or should it be a channel on almost every platform? I’m not really sure, but it’s amazing to hear her beautiful songs.

Like her on facebook here

In our life, the kids are starting to develop their own musical tastes and my daughter just adores Atmasfera, and Ashraya! It’s always good to share what and where we can, little life tips – you might enjoy reading this post i put together earlier on blogs to follow

More parenting wisdom acquired with tears and difficulty here. 

kirtan sound band The cute band 4 Jivas has some super sweet music – you can visit their facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/4Jivasband/ and watch their video here 

Another fun band called Modiwo is one my friends only just introduced me to! I like their stuff – check them out: http://modiwo.com/

Man-tra pretty cute kirtan band for you to check out! Follow them on facebook here:

In fact, I was amazed recently to find some people do not sleep with music on auto repeat all night. When I was growing up we always had soft mellow kirtan chanting on repeat all night (on a tape deck at that time), and it’s something I have continued in our home for my children. The beautiful sound of kirtan can be a continuous background to your life, and your children will sleep easy hearing it.

In fact, I’m a little odd because I am happy to sleep with feverish, raging kirtan! My favorite go-to YouTube soundtracks and also for  is Science of Identity Channel! Jumping and dancing and chanting loudly like this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR-l4ACu56E

is a lullaby to me! What about you?

What’s your bedtime soundtrack?

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Photograph Krsna competition Ideas

sweet baby krishna doll resting in a field of tulsi, on a dandelion puff in the green grass with yellow dhoti and bum up
cute balaram krishna jewellery
Baby Balaram pendant resting on a dandelion Krishna doll love

 

It’s been so nice seeing the different photographs people have been taking, staged with my sweet lil Krsna figures.. . You might have seen some of them on Instagram or Facebook – Here’s a few:

So, some of you suggested that I create a competition with a prize, for taking photo captures of my Krishna dolls, Balaram dolls, Radha dolls, & little Nimai dolls! Which I was interested in, but felt that probably the amount of people who have my little Krishna figures are quite limited – maybe 200 people? So I felt like that was too exclusionist for all my worldwide instagram friends! Besides which, for some, it’s simply not feasible to buy my Krsna dolls because of the conversion rate and shipping costs (how am I going to ship cheaper!?! Australia is such a far away place for most of you!).

Well because you guys are basically geniuses you suggested opening up the competition so that it can be ANY Krishna doll. I like it! I’m an inclusive sort of person, not exclusive…

Now all the little details are starting to jostle in my head!

Do we limit it to Krsna DOLLS only?

What about Deities?

Whose to say whats a doll whats a deity/ Krishna murti? See! Boggled!

Adorably positioned and photographed krishna doll, balaram doll, and radha doll positioned in a little travel cart

And how could I possibly judge all the wonder I just KNOW you creative people are going to come up with…

  1. Should I have a panel of judges (would you like to be on it?) Should I have #peoplesvote (how does that work by the way!)

  2. Should I run it from Facebook (would you keep up with it on Facebook?) & Instagram?

  3. How long would you need to really brainstorm and prep your amazing photoshoot?

  4. Have I forgotten anything????

What excites me about this competition idea is how much fun enthusiasts will have with it!

 

I was so delighted to glimpse all the Lego Krishna pastime settings which my clever friend Kalindi set up in 2016. So I know that the kids LOVE the challenge, and Krishna kids – now that’s my passion!

See how much help I need?!  Please comment with your ideas, or email me!

 

 

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Bedtime story magic

I am so happy that my 8yr old has begun requesting them again – for awhile there, it was no mum, not a Krishna story (break my heart!).
Now tho, we do everything and the final request of the night is a Krishna story, or JUST ONE MORE!

So, as the Krishna story request is usually accompanied by a demand for a NEW story mum, I have been delightfully pushed into reading and hearing more, to keep up with this insatiable thirst for the treasure house of Krsna story nectar (that we both love).

One source of joy has been the new treasure trove of Krishna lore from instagram account @KrishnaEveryday (Oh Hari! What a perfect name!)

Pictures from vrindavan
Krishna instagram account with nice stories of Krsna everyday and beautiful images of Vrindavan and the cowherd boys and other inhabitants. Lots of quotes from various bonafide scriptural sources.

 

As a sidenote, somebody please name their child Hara! I heard a beautiful lecture from the wonderful speaker Acharaya das where he talks about the potency of Hara, as a name for Radharani. Hari and Hara? Oh the beauty. Check out more wonderful lectures from Acharya das, an authority on Vedic wisdom, on The Journey of Life.

Ok back to original thread here, one joy was re-reading the Krishna stories as an adult. Yes I was very fortunate to be born into a nice Vaishnava family (my parents are disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad), and my dad was keen on reading us the Ramayan nightly. I’m pretty sure I learnt to read at 5 just to start reading those stories myself! Anyway it’s amazing how much more you can note and soak up as an adult re-reading Krishna’s pastimes from the Krishna book.

Mostly we switch out the light and cozy up on my daughters bed and I tell her the story as I remember it. I don’t have the worlds greatest memory (it’s wretched), so sometimes I say we are going to have to fact check that in the morning!

I love simple stories, and I love complicated stories! Sometimes you hear snippets studded with wonder from venerable Vaishnava devotees that you haven’t heard elsewhere and we hoard those up like jewels and take them out and marvel at them in story time.

My favorite part of our Krishna playdays is the story telling section. I just love it, and all the kids do too.

Because really, Krishna is for every day! Yay!
Visit @doddyart on instagram for a beautiful stream of Krishna art and all things Krishna related!

What pastime of Krishna do you remember back to front and can tell as you are falling asleep? Me, I like to tell these faves right now: Lord Chaitanya discovers Toto Gopinath in the garden of Gadadhar, and also Mother Yasoda & Rohini call Krishna & Balaram home. My daughter loves to hear how Krishna and Balaram are naughty, and their friends threatening them not to play next time!

As it has just been the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya we have been talking all the stories I can remember of little Gaura – again so much appreciated!

So if you want to enjoy beautiful pastimes of Krishna then I urge you to start reading and hearing, and you will have so many just ready to flow from your lips when your little ones request Just One More at bedtime.

 

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Craft activity – creating hanging fish

Krishna craft activity playday

See post on the fun had during the reenactment activity here

Craft for kids, krishna fish making activity diy tutorial
Setting up the activity table with all the required paints, papers, cutting tools and precut fish shapes makes the craft go smoothly
Krishna craft precut shapes for kids to make into their activity
An assortment of fish shapes, cut out from brown (natural) paper plates and turtles, ready for kids to decorate and IMPORTANTLY some examples so they have an idea to springboard their imaginations off
Creating craft essentials with Krishna accessories and tools like cardobard for DIY
Googly eyes, precut baby turtle shapes from green cardboard, twine, a carved wooden turtle inspiration and some cut off egg carton cardboard are the perfect tools to create some marvellous sea creatures.
krishna kids craft activity playday making turtles for Krsna activity
Making turtles, cut out the silhouette from paper plates first and decorate with “scales” from bits of mini muffin liners
homeschooling kids craft activity Krishna centred play
Preparing in advance is key to quick and easy craft activities for kids, easy for them to grab the materials and away they go!

 

Krishna craft activity playday
These fun fish have a destination! Were made using brown paper plates and little “boats” dishes for food.
Krishna craft turtles with glitter and googly eyes
Creatively decorated with glitter, big and little turtles – and adorable googly eyes
Turtle DIY craft
Letting the kids DIY craft is most of the fun. See how creatively adorned with shiny metallic foil wrappers this turtle is? The paper plate base makes nice texture on his flippers and fins
Krishna craft activity playday
An assortment of fish created using eco-disposable serving ware, these fish are made with little wood paper boats, and covered in silver and gold foil cupcake wrappers for a fish scale effect that catches the light and is shiny

 

DIY Krishna kids play dress up crafts for Varuna play fun
A little stage was set using the fish craft.
A throne was made for Varuna, and paper streamers and balloons were hung to give the underwater world effect, as well as all the crafted fish the kids had made during the activity section of the Krishna playday.

 

 

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Krishna activity play day

Krishna playday activity free time

Every so often we are welcomed into a world of delight! This beautiful play day was organised by some homeschooling wonderwomen & shared with me. It’s got craft, dress ups, and role playing – what an adventure!

The schedule for activities is one which I have found generally works, and you can shake up the order as needed, to keep kids attention and make sure they are well fed & happy:

Offering: Have a romp around and play while the guests drift in, and once all are assembled have an offering to Krishna and all chant. It’s very encouraging to round up all the little ones for this, and give them different instruments to shake bash bang or play. Even the youngest can take part if they can shake a tamborine.

DIY krishna kirtan offering activity
offering to Krishna with Love and kirtan

Storytime:After a kirtan, relaxed and fun, tell or read a Krishna story. Kids relate much better to something which is a lively and animated retelling, and enjoy a group story-telling session where the storyteller  interacts with them and gets them involved by asking questions. We don’t have a video of this part, but we are working on a collection of Krishna storytelling videos! Stay posted.

Craft: Set up a craft activity for the kids to do, related to the story. (Click here to see the DIY kind of tutorial for this Krishna craft)

Craft krishna kids activity fish craft DIY
set up activity area ready for bombardment of mini people and their enthusiastic minders.

Lunch: While the craft is drying is the ideal time for a lunch break.

Krishna prasadam time offering DIY
Lunchtime with some freshly offered banana muffins prasadam from Lord Krishna

Story re-enactment: Dressing up and decorating themselves and each other the kids have a lot of fun retelling the story they have learnt.

DIY Krishna kids play dress up crafts for Varuna play fun
A little stage was set using the fish craft, and a muslin bed canopy suspended from the overhead mango trees.
A throne was made for Varuna, and paper streamers and balloons were hung to give the underwater world effect, as well as all the crafted fish the kids had made during the activity section of the Krishna playday. This can work just as nicely inside a house don’t worry!
Play acting out the pastimes of Krishna activity
A full cast of actors for our Krishna drama

 

Wild playtime: the culmination of the day time to bond with each other and relax in their environment and free play.

Krishna playday activity free time
Free play time in the wonderland of the outdoors and a rustic homemade treehouse/ sandpit complete with a wobbly walking bridge