Dinavatsala krsnadas: With the causeless mercy of Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan, more than 600 devotees enthusiastically came together to observe the most sacred event of the year – Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the appearance day of the supreme personality of godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, at the Singapore Gujarathi Society on September 4, 2007. The encouraging response was a result of the well coordinated efforts of a couple of devotees, who motivated many others to make personal calls to the aspiring devotees, specifically inviting them to be a part of the grand celebrations.
One of the main highlights of this year’s celebrations was that a close circuit television was installed at the basement so that more devotees could have the benefit of witnessing the series of cultural programmes that was lined up for the pleasure of the Lord. The celebrations kicked off with sweet nectarine kirtans as the devotees gave a rousing welcome to the deities of Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan and Srila Prabhupad. This was followed by a drama – Krishna , The Master if Mystics, put up by the Bhaktavatsalas. The drama wonderfully depicted in a nutshell, the Bhagavat Gita instructions by Lord Krishna to his dear devotee, Arjuna. All the devotees greatly appreciated the theme and this clearly set the scene for the next item by the tiny tots of Gopal’s Garden, who completely mesmerized the audience by their breathtaking and brilliant dance performance. Next was another inspiring dance performance by the combined efforts of Nityalilas and Gopal’s Garden portraying the ten avatars of the Lord and by this time all the assembled devotees were eagerly looking forward to the abhishekh of the Lordships. As the abhishekh and the sweet chanting of the holy names were going on, the devotees, who were not observing the fast, were treated to sumptuous prasadam. As a token of appreciation, all the devotees received a DVD of âHare Krishna Worldâ in order to get a better flavour of the activities that were undertaken by the devotees around the world. After the abhishekh, His Grace Isha Prakash Prabhu, a disciple of HH Gour Govind Maharaj, delivered an ecstatic class on the significance of Janmashtami. Simultaneously, some of the devotees went down to Lakshminarayan temple to chant the holy names for half an hour to an audience of more than 500 people. Now it was time for the main highlight of the evening â the wonderful darshan of the Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan. As the curtains moved, devotees could not take their eyes off the profusely decorated alter and deities and most lovingly chanted the holy names with all their hearts during the Kirtan that followed the darshan arati. By the time the devotees honoured the ekadashi prtasadam, it was well past midnight but the enthusiasm was very much present to blissfully observe another significant celebration for the vaishnavas â Srila Prabhupad appearance day, which was observed in the same venue.
Pictures can be found at the following address:
http://picasaweb.google.com/krsnadasa20/Jam2007
Jai Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan Ki Jai!
Jai Srila Prabhupad Ki Jai!
Your servant
Gokulanandan Gopal das