ISKCONyouth.com

Please copy and paste the below into an email, fill out and return it to us at your earliest convenience :-)

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Application Form For 2008 Krishna Culture Festival Tour
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revised March 23, 2008

(For detailed tour schedule and costs, please see the
News section at Gurukuli.com.)

A Brief Summary of the Tour, its Mission and Purpose

• Accept the Challenge!
The Krishna Culture Festival Tour is a joint outreach program
between ISKCON Youth Ministry and Festival of India to
train, engage, inspire and empower youth in Krishna Consciousness.

• Travel the World! (or at least North America)
We travel all over the USA, Canada, and Mexico for nine weeks during
the summer and participate in Krishna Culture Festivals at Ratha-yatras,
university auditoriums, theaters and temples.

• Chant and be Happy!
We inspire each other by chanting Krishna's holy names, dancing for
Krishna, feasting on Krishna prasadam and serving it to others, acting
out Krishna's pastimes on stage at Ratha-yatras, temples, and theaters
across the North American continent.

• Live to the Fullest!
We engage in selfless devotional service to each member on the tour,
to the devotees we meet along the way, and to the public at festivals.
We stop at beautiful nature spots to camp, hike, swim, raft, and have
many unforgettable adventures.

• Our motto: Serve to Love - Love to Serve
On the tour, we strive to develop unmotivated, unalloyed, selfless loving
devotional service, Bhakti-yoga. This is the means, the journey, and the
destination of our lives. We help each other to learn to serve others with
tolerance, humility and respect, without expecting anything in return.
From this service is born a happiness and joy beyond words, a true
"higher taste" for a life filled with love and appreciation for Krishna and
for His devotees.

• Volunteer!
We are all privileged to come on this tour, volunteering together to
make it run smoothly. Every participant works hard to make the tour
happen with contributions of time, energy, and financial donations.
The total cost for the 2008 summer tour is estimated to be $96,000.
Divided among the participants, this comes to the minimum donation
we each contribute. Everyone helps out. Make a difference in a lot of
people’s lives this summer. Volunteer. You are the bus tour.
It is by your participation, by your youthful enthusiasm, by your mercy,
that this tour and the many festivals it comprises can manifest and
become successful.

• Enjoy the Journey… and the Destination
On the tour, every participant should be prepared to have a lot of fun
while rolling up their sleeves, so to speak, and helping out with daily
chores, responsibilities, services, duties, which are joyfully performed
when we all work together in the right spirit. As the saying goes,
"Many hands make light work." You'll experience the greatest happiness
and fun on this tour just as soon as you allow yourself to relish the
unlimited opportunities you'll have to serve other devotees.

• Learn Life Skills
On this tour, expect to challenge yourself by developing the following
six qualities:

1) Tolerance. Traveling on the tour can be austere at times. No matter what
challenges may come, tolerance is the key to maintaining a positive outlook
and getting the most out of the experience.

2) Humility. Nothing can hinder progress on the path of Bhakti-yoga like an
overdose of pride. So follow in the footsteps Lord Chaitanya – strive to be
more humble than a blade of grass. Accept advice from other devotees,
never consider any service to be too menial for you, and consider others'
needs before your own.

3) Respect. On this tour you will meet all kinds of people. You will see
devotees who somehow manage to run an entire temple with the help of
only a handful of volunteers. And you will see awestruck onlookers constructing
their first impressions of the Hare Krishna Movement as we pour out of our
buses. Krishna resides as Paramatma in every living being, and every person,
place, and thing is in actuality Krishna's property. Learn to respect it all.

4) Selflessness. Performing your duties without expecting rewards is
another key to success on the path of Krishna Consciousness. Engage in
transcendental loving, unmotivated, selfless devotional service on the tour.
Work to your full potential every day (even if no one is watching!) just because
you know that it will please the devotees and Srila Prabhupada.

5) Devotion. Develop a taste for chanting Sri Sri Radha-Krishna's holy names
by chanting enthusiastically in kirtana, on Harinamas, at Ratha-yatras, at
theaters, hall programs, in personal meditation, in chanting daily japa, and by
always endeavoring to serve the Lord's devotees.

6) Leadership. On the tour there will be countless opportunities to develop
leadership abilities. Lead a group in service, lead a kirtan, play a role in the
stage performances, or simply lead by setting a good example for others.
Accept responsibility, inspire others, be empowered!

Thank you for considering coming on this tour.

Please respond to the below questions in detail and return them to:

youth@krishna.com

1) Your name:

2) Your age and date of birth:

3) What section of the tour are you applying to come on?
a) The whole tour - June 21 - August 25
b) The first half - June 21 - July 27
c) The second half - July 26 - August 25
d) The San Francisco Ratha-yatra to Los Angeles
Ratha-yatra, Mexico & Yosemite camping trip
(during Kulimela Radhadesh time)
e) The last three weeks of the tour, August 6 - 25

4) Give us some of your thoughts about the above "Summary of the Tour."
What inspires you about it, and what do you consider challenging for yourself?

5) Why you would like to come on this tour?

6) Tell us about your life. What's your story?

7) Tell us about your hobbies, interests, passions. What
do you love to do?

8) Tell us about your hopes for the near future. What would
you like to do, learn or experience?

9) On this tour, you'll be expected to:
a) follow the four regulative principles (no intoxication, no meat eating,
no gambling, no illicit sex);
b) engage in uninterrupted, selfless devotional service to others every day;
c) have a positive attitude towards the spiritual activities we will engage in
every day (morning and evening spiritual kirtan / bhajan programs and
discussions.)
d) conduct yourself as a Vaishnava lady or gentleman; be courteous, polite,
respectful, clean (tidy), well-mannered.

How do you feel about that?

10) What role does Krishna play in your life?

11) What role does ISKCON / your local ISKCON temple play in your life?

12) What inspires you the most in Krishna Consciousness?

13) Anything else you'd like to share with us to consider why we should
accept you on this tour (we only have space for 50 participants.)

14) Please attach some recent photographs of yourself to
this email when you send us this application.

15) Please list three references who can vouch for your good moral character. These should be people in your community in good standing, such as temple presidents, school principals, teachers, community leaders, or senior devotees, but should not be related to you. Please give their names, email address and phone number and ask them to send us an email recommending you for the tour.

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this initial application
to come on the Krishna Culture Festival tour.

Please email it to youth@krishna.com right away.

Our organizing team of volunteers meet weekly to review applications.
We will let you know if you've been approved.

Once you're approved, there are a few more questions
you'll be asked to fill out - plus you'll need to send us a 50%
non-refundable deposit to guarantee your spot on the tour.