Kulimela—a meeting of ISKCON youth and second generation devotees that has taken off around the world—is coming to Australia. Starting December 27th, Kulimela Australia will be held at the Hare Krishna farm community of New Govardhana in northern New South Wales, on Australia’s east coast.

New Govardhana is surrounded by farms in a luscious and picturesque countryside which is embedded with mountains held sacred by Australia’s indigenous Aboriginal population. The farm lies between the Gold Coast and of Byron Bay, two of Australia’s popular tourist destinations.

Starting on the 27th of December 2010 the Kulimela will party on until January 9th, 2011. Split into two distinct parts, the first week will allow participants to recover from the jetlag of their journey. This week will include sight-seeing, organised tours, sports, exploring, adventures, and activities designed to help everyone get to know each other.

Beginning the second week is the formal Kulimela festival with a schedule of workshops, seminars, bhajans and Harinam, Japa walks, and old-school games. There will also be Australian sports, arts and entertainment.

The Australian Kulimela has four key areas of focus which are: arts and entertainment, health and medicine, spiritual and community development, and business and management.

The Mela organizers are looking for participants to conduct workshops and seminars, organise travel, accommodation, and transport, and artists to perform music, drama, and dance.

A special guest of the Kulimela down under is Kurma Dasa, world renowned Hare Krishna chef. Kurma will be conducting cooking classes for three days from the 7th to the 9th of January, 2011. On the last day of the festival Kurma will be organising a wonderful feast.

Australian Kulis are developing the Kulimela event as a spiritual gathering of Kulis from all over the world. The focus is on bringing everyone together to make connections and friends and to inspire one another and help to bring Krishna into each other’s lives.

The entire event will be drug and alcohol free. Each day will be crammed with seminars focusing on health, spirituality and community development. There will be discussions, bhajans, temple programs and other activities. Many senior devotees and Srila Prabhupada disciples are backing the event.

Open to devotees and Kulis from all over the world, the event has been planned to coincide with the New Govardhana Farm Festival which runs from the 27th of December 2010 to the 9th of January 2011.

Australian devotes aim to show visitors their incredible country and to provide a firsthand experience of Aussie culture. There will be excursions to local attractions such as beaches and national parks, as well as bush walking.

Organizers are planning to host a number of local and international artists and special guests. Already confirmed is Gauravani and the Ghost Brothers; devotees are also close to locking in MC Yogi.

Originally the term ‘Kuli’ referred to those who attended a school called ‘Gurukula,’ as part of a traditional Vaishnava upbringing. Even Krishna and Balarama attended Gurukula. The term has grown to cover the second and third generations of Srila Prabhupada’s movement. In the west the term is somewhat ambiguous. It can be said that most of the traditional Gurukula schools have disappeared, so younger Kulis don’t have the Gurukula background, whilst many of the original Kulis are no longer youth.

The first Kulimela event was held in New Vrindavan, in the USA. The original idea was to unify the Kulis, and to cross political and sectarian divisions in order to promote diversity within unity. The Kulimela is based on the principles of love, service and the search for inner spiritual understanding.

Click here to visit the web site: http://www.kulimela.com.au/