By Yudhistir Govinda Das
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
On 18th August, ISKCON Delhi celebrated a grand observance of the Krishna Janmastami festival. The festivities began on 7th August with the Bhagavat Katha which continued up to 14th August.
On Janmastami, the temple was decorated with flowers, carnations and ferns many of which were brought in from Thailand. Along with these, several jahnkis were put up which depicted the different pastimes of the Lord. The altar of Their Lordships who were offered 3 new dress, was designed as a Hansa.
The crowd which was thin in the morning, got bigger as the day progressed. We estimate that more than 7 lakh devotees visited the temple on Janmastami day. Several stalls promoting the youth forum, FFL, book distribution were setup for the visiting devotees. Along with these, several counters sold prasad.
For security purposes nearly 700 police personnel from the Delhi police were stationed in and around the temple. Additionally, several notable citizens of the country visited the temple for the darshan of Their Lordships, a few of the names are mentioned below:
Sri Harshavardhan (Union Minister of Health & Welfare)
Sri Amar Singh (Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha)
Sri Satish Upadhaya (President of BJP, Delhi State)
Sri Manish (Deputy Director – CBI)
Sri Saxsena and Sri Mishra (Chief Commissioners – Income Tax Dept of India)
Smt. Jayaprada (Politician and former actress)
Apart from them, CEO’s of several corporates also visited the temple throughout the day.
Gopal Krishna Maharaja who greeted and met these eminent people, briefed them about ISKCON’s activities in India and abroad. Several of them promised to come back again and participate in the temple programs.
On 19th August, the day of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja, Mr LK Advani, who has served as the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Minister and Leader of Opposition in India, visited the temple along with his daughter Pratibha Advani.
Mr Advani said that he considered himself very lucky to be a part of this festival and to be able to have the darshan of Srila Prabhupada and the devotees.
Gopal Krishna Maharaja in return thanked Mr Advani for visiting the temple on this auspicious day and spoke on Srila Prabhupada’s mission of spreading Krishna Consciousness in every town and village.
Later, Mr Advani and his daughter performed an abhishek of Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you.
Your servant, Yudhistir Govinda Das