The Kuli Mega-Festival With a Twist

by Baladeva

Kulimela 2006

New Vrindavan, 14^th-18^th June

• A 5-day festival to inspire and connect materially and spiritually.
• Music, Dancing, Theatre, Games, Feasting, culminating in a 24 hour non-stop Music and Dance Festival.
• 4 key networking zones experienced through presentations, workshops, seminars and conferences: Arts & Entertainment; Health & Medicine; Spiritual & Community Development; and Business & Career

The Kulimela is a mega-festival with the purpose of bringing together the largest number of second generation youth and their guests to explore ways in which we can be more productive and successful in our every-day lives and overcome the challenges facing us and our community. We will showcase successful individuals and groups from within our community who are working hard to develop and utilize their talents, who are pursuing their careers and ambitions and who want to help others to be successful in their lives by sharing their experience, knowledge and contacts. The aim is to find the common links and goals that will inspire and motivate us to help each other through better co-ordination and networking and in so doing, help ourselves, our families and friends, and our community to become strong and well-balanced.

Naturally, though, the coming together of such a large group of friends from around the world necessitates a celebration of feasting, dancing, entertaining and enlivenment but with a twist: our celebration is about encouraging a mood of personal (and spiritual) development in which we learn and share together. We can come away filled with new ideas, aspirations and opportunities founded upon greater feelings of togetherness and a shared sense of purpose.

Where did the idea come from?

The idea behind Kulimela is a culmination of feelings and thoughts that seem to have been flowing and developing amongst many of our second generation for a number of years now. Around the time of the Alachua reunion in 2004 a group of us (Kapila, Govinda Syer, Giri, Gauravani, Arjuna, VC, Nitai, Deva, Bimi, Madi to name but a few) began to discuss a common theme amongst ex-gurukulis and Vaishnava Youth, about the powerful binding connection shared between us, the one that causes reunions, parties and socializing to transpire anytime there is a group of more than two in the same place at the same time.

We have all enjoyed and appreciated the binding forces that exist between the Vaishnava generation from all over the world that allow perfect strangers to become close friends after five minutes and ensure that we have some of the craziest and wildest times out there (from raging kirtans to all-night trance raves). But perhaps the years are starting to show? Somehow things like work, responsibility and productivity have became part of our vocabulary along with a growing sense that we each have some talent or purpose that could be put to better use if only we had an example or model to inspire and guide us.

For some this happened many years ago but for others like me this was a relatively new concept, but what was clear was that we all had a desire to somehow gain more out of our experiences together and that perhaps by offering and sharing more with each other we could find a new range of reasons and advantages to come together. Instead of a typical reunion format, which is primarily focused on the social aspect, our thoughts centered on the creation of an event which would allow each participant to take something useful away relevant to their personal goals, whether related to studies, business, arts, entertainment, spirituality, community work or any other such aspirations. We would bring together motivated and ambitious people who were willing to share their experiences and ideas in a structured and professional approach. We would place everyone in a relatively closed environment in which we could create a lively and interactive atmosphere set against a background of festivities designed to express our talents and ideas. Our hope is to build a level of energy and optimism that will encourage us to explore various aspects of our lives and common ties in a fresh and open way with the aim of generating a framework for improved networking to support and promote our professional careers, our artistic development and our communities.

Thus, for the last one and a half years a core team of volunteers (Kap, Bhima Sena, Govinda Ghosh, Govinda Syer, Krishna Das, Chaitanya Mangala, Kamal, Sachi and myself), supported by many others offering advice and assistance, has been working to organize and prepare the Kulimela 2006.

What is Kulimela?

Kulimela 2006 will be 5 days of workshops, seminars, feasting, dancing, music, games, and theatre. Kulimela will be what we as a community choose to make of it. Together we can develop this project into a true representation of who we are and where we are heading. We want you to tell us what you would like to learn or present.

Many have already have come forward and shown their interest in presenting a variety of workshops; from parenting and business plan workshops, to devotional workshops, and community development. What would you suggest?

We are looking for actors, musicians, yoga practitioners, doctors, lawyers, producers, temple management, bhaktas, mothers, psychologists, researchers, businessmen, hospitality providers and any others. We want to know what you are doing, and how we can help one another.

We have focused the seminar conferences on 4 areas:

Spiritual & Community development

Business & Career

Arts & Entertainment

Medicine & Health

Attend for purely material reasons, purely spiritual reasons, or a balance between.

Who should come to Kulimela?

We hope that you will come, along with everyone you know. This is an international invitation to all youth, Second Generation, Kulis, Gurukulis, Vaishnava Youth, Pandava Sena, Alumni, childhood friends, partners, friends, the connected, and the disconnected to attend a grand festival of inspiration and renewal.

Kulimela is for all youth (and former youth) from Russia, India, Canada, Thailand, England, Germany, USA, Australia and every other nation in between. Re-establishing old bonds and forging new connections will unite a thriving international community of friends who can help and inspire one another.

We welcome anyone who is or was a youth in this movement, whether religious, ritvik, Iskcon, a Narayan Maharaj disciple, or completely uninterested in religion. Respect for each other, and the location, should allow us to be open without being challenging or demanding. Whilst this invitation is open to everybody, irrespective of your personal life choices we also ask that for these five days we try to participate together in an atmosphere that is free from alcohol and drugs.

Where and when is Kulimela?

Kulimela will be held in New Vrindavan from the 14-18th of June, 2006 (the week immediately following New York Rathayatra). We have a good support structure there and a wonderful facility. Manu's buses will help in the transportation to provide a cheap travel option to New Vrindavan for those who will be in New York following the Rathyatra on June 10th. If there is demand we can also arrange for a bus to travel between Alachua and New Vrindavan. Details on how to reserve a place will appear on our website in the New Year.

New Vrindavan provides a large number of guest rooms, which have all been reserved for the festival. Participants staying in the rooms will have to pay a minimal nightly charge directly to the Guest Lodge. Priority on reservations will be given to families, handicapped and senior participants. There will also be areas reserved for camping for those who bring their own tents whilst for people who want to stay a little further away from the action there are a variety of motels/hotels not too far away (see our website for links).

What do you need to do for Kulimela?

We are looking for your help! We need representatives to help spread the word, organize travel, answer questions and give us support. We need entertainers who are interested in performing as singers, actors, dancers, and whatever else your specialty might be. We need workshop hosts who have some knowledge to share. We need sponsors willing to help support our endeavour. We need delegates to attend.

For more information and to register to attend, participate or help organize the event please go to www.kulimela.com

We look forward to seeing you there. Haribol!