SRI KRISHNA JANMASTAMI & SRILA PRABHUPADA’S VYASA-PUJA AT SRI SRI RADHA RADHANATH TEMPLE, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

By Champakalata dasi

A month long of preparation culminated in the biggest ever Sri Krishna Janmastami festival celebrated at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple, in Chatsworth (west of Durban), South Africa when over 20 000 guests thronged to the temple to perform their worship on this most auspicious occasion.

Festivities commenced on Saturday when 50 huge pots of breyani and dhall were cooked and served to impoverished areas. Over 10008 plates of prasadam were distributed by blissful devotees who performed harinam as the meals were served.

On Sunday morning the temple was packed to capacity as devotees gathered to witness a very special mangal arati – the unveiling of the deities in a totally new altar! A month ago, the deities had been moved from the altar which had been Their home for the past 23 years to enable a total refurbishment of the altar. A traditionally carved wooden altar imported from India had arrived and required assembly. Devotees took the opportunity to retile the entire altar, paint the new wooden carved structures and embed it with precious stones and gems. So, finally the much anticipated wait was over when Their Lordships mercifully took Their rightful positions and revealed Their presence in the Lord’s most special “birthday” gift!

The rest of the day saw a constant stream of guests enter through the temple doors where they were allowed to make offerings of fruit, arati, perform abhishek and swing small deities of Radha and Krishna.

The temple was transformed into a spiritual wonderland, with the temple draped with thousands of rope fairy lights depicting a space ship and dozens of tents around it adding to a spiritual fair atmosphere. These tents housed various activities such as the 108 japa steps, Eastern wear and gift shop, Srila Prabhupada’s books, etc. The temple’s farming project was launched, showcasing the temple’s vegetable and flower gardens, encouraging everyone to adopt Srila Prabhupada’s “simple living, high thinking” lifestyle. The cow protection arena saw all the kiddies have lots of fun feeding the cows whilst they learnt the value of respecting the cow as a mother.

The public also had an opportunity to participate in the Gopal Sahasra Nama havan ceremony. And from mid-day until midnight there was a continuous cultural entertainment programme with local and international singers, musicians and dancers. Talks were presented by senior devotees and the hour long main talk by H.H. Partha Sarathi dasa Goswami Maharaj was broadcast live on national radio with thousands listening in!

Eastern Mosaic, a lifestyle magazine TV programme spent 12 hours with the devotees capturing the event and will broadcast it shortly SABC, the national TV broadcaster. Apart from the aforesaid, there were several favourable reports in the local newspapers.

Although the festivities concluded at 1am the following morning, about 3000 devotees again gathered from 4.30am and began celebrating Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja. Mr Champak Soni, who met Srila Prabhupada on his arrival in South Africa and who assisted the pioneer devotees in establishing ISKCON in Durban was present and expressed his amazement as to how the Society has grown in the past 33 years here in Durban. A magnificent Vyasa-book book containing 520 homages and more than 1008 bhoga preparations were offered to Srila Prabhupada. The programme culminated at 2pm with a sumptuous feast.

The festivities however, continue next week when H.H. Lokanath Swami presents Bhagavat Katha from Wednesday, 3rd to Saturday, 6th September - and then the most glorious festival of Sri Radhastami on Sunday, 7th September!!!

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