This week the Kirtan course students are over half way through their course and they had a special visiting teacher in the form of Jahnavi Harrison who took the students through reading and singing the Saranagati prayers of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The students discovered songs from the 6 sections of the Saranagati: 1) Humility 2) Surrender 3) Accepting the Lord as one's maintainer 4) Considering the Lord to be one's protector in all circumstances 5) Accepting those things that are favourable for devotional service 6) Rejecting those things that are unfavourable to devotional service The week's objectives were to: 1) Connect with the author by reading extracts from The Seventh Goswami by Rupa Vilasa dasa 2) Connect with the songs 3) Feel comfortable reading in Bengali 4) Discover how the songs enhance the maha mantra To conclude the week they took a virtual pilgrimage to the samadhi tomb of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, via film footage, and wrote individual prayers of gratitude to offer to him. Each student received a packet with some small chips of his samadhi stone (after renovations), some dust from the floor of his chanting room, and twigs from the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Towards the end of the week, the students were given a short class by HH Lokanatha Maharaja who extolled the importance of proper sanskrit pronunciation when singing. Then, the weekend brought the Radhadesh summer festival where the sun shone brightly and students were very much involved in the festivities - from throwing themselves into the Holi arena and being showered in colour to stepping onto stage with HH Lokanatha Swami and HH Kadamba Kanana Swami to presenting on stage what they'd been learning so far...
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