By Parvati Devi Dasi
Dear Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
As has been the custom for 13 years now, we had a wonderful 2 hour session chanting the Sanskrit of the whole BG for Gita Jayanti, which occurs on Moksada Ekadasi, which took place 13-12-13 this year.
Held in our Vrndavana Krishna Balarama Temple courtyard (with Srila Prabhupada presiding), we began with a small aroti to Prabhupada’s world famous Gita, chanted the Gita Mahatmya, then dove into the whole battlefield.
Separate excellent chanters led the pace for each chapter. We were fortunate to have quite a variety of devotees participating, including 2 sannyasis, 4 Prabhupada disciples, 2 grown-up gurukula alumni, 5 women, a few brahmacaris from many departments, a couple managers, a guru, members of the (Gopiparanadana das) Sansrit school, men from all around India, Russians, Americans, French, Germans.
It’s always good to have something from every group in order to have a balanced diet. Radha Raman Swami gave a 5 minute talk at the end on the importance of BG and Srestha Prabhu (our stand-in president) thanked the host of devotees responsible for pulling the whole thing off. Then the program closed with Ekadasi prasad (raisons and nuts) just as the conch shell transcendentally blasted at the end of the noon aroti.
There were close to 500 devotees and visitors in that courtyard engaged in the recitation. And the incoming crowds were inspired to purchase an enormous amount of Bhagavad Gita’s. By the time we finished, we were all truly thrilled at every moment. We heartily recommend this wonderful type of kirtan yajna Gita Jayanti observance for all our international centers, and everyone else too. I hope this meets you all well.
Your servants from ISKCON Vrndavana