The idea of the sankirtan is to sing praises to Krishna by chanting his full name. It can be done continuously for hours on end, and it is considered a great pleasure and merit in Krishna's service. The verse that begins this section of the text (na-a-a-a-yam sri gaura nee kalau) is one such chant. Another popular chant, among devotees who visit the temple regularly, is "Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama" (Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsnanam). These chants are meant to attract Krishna's attention and be pleasing sentiments for him. The goal of this type of chanting is to attain Krishna’s mercy (kripa) and thus be saved from the cycle of birth and death (moksa). Ratnakara makes plain that attachment to Radha is not condoned. He states that "many are the followers of Radha, but only few are the followers of Lord Chaitanya" (sri-chaitanya-padari raganuga). This does not mean however, that Radha was not an important raganuga devotee. Rather it is clear from Ratnakara's description of her palli or playing field in Gauranga Dham, that she was indeed a great devotee. He states that she was a devotional playwright. Tulasidas composed Gaura-kirtana as a song of praise to Gauranga, the child-god who was to appear as the Krsna of the New Dispensation. Like other songs, this song rarely gets sung in its entirety or even from beginning to end. The first part of the song is sung, at least partially, during Krishna's annual festival in Mathura and Vrindavan. This festival is also known as Rama Navami (Rama Night). There are several historical reasons for holding this festival on or around 14th day of the bright half of Karttika (generally October/November) each year. The Gopala Goswami's third year of his mission, which was spent in Mathura after he left Vrindavan, is counted as the first year of the festival. This celebration takes place between October and December. Krsnapriya is a genre of South Indian devotional singing from the Kerala region that emerged from several sources. According to oral traditions, Kshetrapala or Kshetrappattiyar was a Vaishnava saint who lived approximately from the year 1200 to 1250 AD. He is said to have composed the first Kshetrapaali, the title of the hymn. One source is attributed to Kumaran Asan (Kumara Sambandam) in Malayalam script. This source appears to be substantially older than the Tulasidas's work in Sanskrit, though they appear to be based on similar poems. A second source is found in Venkatakrishna Kavi's "Vrindavana Deshikam" (1525) in Telugu-Telangana script, which also appears very similar to Tulasidas's work in Sanskrit. 8eeb4e9f32 57
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