Some interesting Krsna conscious games to play during picnics with your Bhakti

Vriksha members.

A few games have been suggested here from the book”The book of Krsna conscious
Games”, as well as a few from the “Book on ice- breakers”.Most of them are action
oriented group games and a few thinking games (at the end of the list) have also been
given.
1) Jara Kala kanya
A ball represents Jara kala kanya(Jara, or old age the daughter of time), who is
looking for a husband.(an episode from the Srimad Bhagavatam).

The players stand in a circle. They are all the personalities who do not want to marry
the inauspicious Jara.

By reciting one Hare Krsna mantra a player is chosen to be Narada muni, whom Jara
has asked to marry.Narada muni refuses and throws the ball to a player. Then he turns
his back to the circle so he cannot watch the action. The ball is quickly passed from
player to player, as noone wants to marry Jara.

At one moment Narada muni shouts”King of the Yavanas!”

Anyone caught holding Jara at the moment becomes king of the yavanas. He must
carry Jar and is out of the game. The game goes on until everyone is out except one
player, the winner, who becomes the next Narada muni.

2) Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

A player is chosen by reciting one Hare Krsna mantra. He is then blindfolded with a
cloth and given a stick. The other players march around him in a circle chanting
HareKrsna.As soon as he taps his stick loudly on the floor, everyone stops walking
and chanting. The blindfolded player points his stick at someone and says,
“ShrilaPrabhupada ki !” That persom must answer “Jaya!”

The blindfolded player tries to guess who it is from the sound of the voice. If he
guesses correctly the first time, he trades places with that player, who is then
blindfolded and given the stick; but if he guesses wrong, everyone marches around
him and he tries again.

2) Shrila Prabhupada’s kit-kit

Shrila Prabhupada describes this game that he played during his childhood. There are
two teams of eleven players each.
It is possible to play with more or less than 11 players on each team, but there should be
the same number of players in each team.

Each team stands behind its demarcation line. , about 10 yards apart. A person from team
A runs to the camp of the other team chanting Hare Krsna. The players from Team 2
must try to stop him from entering their camp by touching him all at once. Then he is out
of the game.

But if he manages to enter their camp without being tagged by all of them at once, he
then runs amongst them and tags one of them. Whoever is tagged is out of the game.

Then he returns to his camp and another person from his camp does the same.But if the
second player fails to enter the enemy camp, he is out of the game, and a player from
Team two takes a turn at trying to enter the camp of Team one to tag someone there.

By chanting one Hare Krsna mantra the players choose which team will start the game.

The first team to tag all 11 players from the opposite team, wins.

4) Swans and crows

A leader is chosen by chanting one Hare Krsna mantra.

Then the other players form two teams of equal number.One team is called Swans and the
other crows.

The game represents the swan like devotees trying to bring crow like men to Krsna
consciousness, while the crow like men try to drag the swan like devotees into material
consciousness.

Each team draws a goal line about one hundred feet(30 m)from the other. Both teams line
up behind their goal lines.
The leader stands in the middle of the playing area to one side.
When he calls “start walking!”, both crows and swans walk slowly towards him.
Thw swans chant Hare Krsna loudly while walking, but the crows do not. When they are
quite close to him, he calls out, “crows!” or “swans!”.,and whichever team he names
starts to run for its goal line.

The other team chases them and tries to tag as many players as possible before they are
safe behind their own goal lines and the leader calls again. The game is won by the team
that tags the most players after a fixed number of calls.
 5) Maha – Rathas

This game is for two teams with at least six players each. The players hold hands very
tightly to form a line , facing the other team, with about 50 feet(15 m ) between them.
The two teams represent the pandava and Kaurava armies on the battlefield of
Kurkshetra. The players are Maha- ratha warriors.

One army clls out, “Kuru army, let maha- ratha ____________ come over,” and they
name anyone they wish from the oppsosing army. That warrior runs towards them and
tries to break through the clasped hands of the players. If he succeeds, he returns to his
own army. But if he fails, he joins hands with one of the players on either end of the
opposing army. While their army is trying to break through, the rest of the army chants
very loudly and encourages him to fight strongly.
Then the other team calls out, “Pandava army, let maha ratha __________________
come over.”
Each team takes turns calling out in this way, and the game is won by the army that
succeeds in taking the most players from the opposing army.

6) The churning of the ocean of milk

Two teams are formed. One team represents the demigods, the other team represents the
demons. A long, strong rope is the serpent Vasuki. A line is drawn at an equal distance
between the two teams. Both teams pull on the rope in opposite directions with as much
strength as possible. They are churning the ocean of milk. The team that succeeds in
dragging the first person of the other team over the line wins. While pulling, both teams
chant Hare Krsna very loudly.

7) Hari ball

Material : a volley ball (or similar ball), a body of water(river, lake, sea or swimming
pool) and strips of clothes (long enough to be tied around the head)

Form two teams(you can give colourful names to the teams). Have wach team tie a
different color around the head(or just one ties the cloth and the other stays without)
keeping it visible on the forehead.

The idea is to pass the ball among team members, each time calling a name of Lord,
trying to complete the Panca tattva and Hare Krsna maha mantra, while the other team
tries to intercept and capture the ball.
When a team captures ball they have to begin the mantras anew. The team that can
“chant” the whole two mantras scores a point. When a group makes a mistake in the
sequence of the names of the mantras, the possession of the ball passes to the other team.
 8) Assist Lord Chaitanya to Capture them all.!

Materials: nothing.
You can introduce this game with this quotationfrom Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta, Adi
lila 7.31-32 . Translation”Seeing that the Mayavadis and others were fleeing, Lord
Chaitanya thought:I wanted everyone to be immersed in this inundation of Love of
Godhead., but some of them have escaped. Therefore I shall devise a trickto drown
them also.”
From the purport: “Here is an important point.Lord. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted
to invent a way to capture the Mayavadis and others who did not take interest in the
Krsna consciousness movement… it is He who proposed to invent a way to capture
those who strayed from Krsna consciousness.”
One volunteer will represent Lord Chaitanya trying to catch all the conditioned souls
who are traying away from Krsna consciousness.When he / she tags someone,
(simply touching the person), they lock arms and jointly attempt to tag some one
else.Whoever is tagged locks arms with them and they continue to try to catch the
remaining players. The game is over when the last person is captured.
In the open you should set boundaries to keep people from going too far.

9) Thinking games

a)Famous Personalities

By reciting one Hare Krishnamantra a person is chosen to think of a famous personality

such as Brahma, Balarama, Yashoda, Kamsa, Putana. The other people sit in a circle, and
in turn, ask a question to find out who that personality is.
The person who decided the name must answer only “Yes” or “No”. Whoever guesses
correctly selects the next personality to be guessed in the next game. Let’s say that
Mother Yashoda is chosen. The questions ansd answers could be as follows: Is it a
woman? Yes. Is she a demon? No. Is she living in Dwaraka? No. Does she have
children? Yes- and so on. You can set a limit of upto 20 questions, or to make it more
difficult , 10 or even 6.

b)Hare Krsna, Hare Rama

Everyone sits ina circle. Then each count one number out loud: the first child counts “
one,” the next child”Two”, and so on. Whoever counts number 5 or any multiples of 5
must say “Hare Krsna” instead of the number. To make the game harder, players can say
“Hare Rama” every time 7 or any multiple is reached.Any player who says a taboo
number instead of “Hare Krsna” or “Hare Rama “ is out of the game. A player is also out
of the game if he says “Hare Krsna” instead of “Hare Rama,” or vice versa. Any taboo
number can be chosen for the game.
 c) Compliments

Material: many small pieces of paper and envelopes(one envelope for each participant.)

The whole group sits in a circle. Give everyone an envelope and various pieces of
paper(three, four or more). Tell them to write one compliment on each piece of paper,
possibly in readable hand writing. For instance:
“You are a good listener.”
“You are very humble.”
“I like your sincerity.”
“The group meeting is more fun when you are here.”
“I like that you are soft spoken.”
“You never lose temper.” And so on.

After a few minutes tell them to put pieces of paper in the center and mix them. Divide
equally all the pieces of paper among the group members.
Then tell them to write their name on the envelope they received at the beginning and put
it in the center.
Nopw ask them to put each of the compliments in their hands in the envelope of the
person who deserves it. At the end, they will all receive their envelope.Give them a
couple of minutes to check what compliments they received.