Gita Jayanti Mayapur
“Anyway, print books, distribute profusely, and that will be the best preaching work. What will your three minutes’ preaching do?—but if they buy one book, it may turn their life. So make this your important task, to print our books…and distribute widely, and that will please my Guru Maharaja. Never mind it takes little time to make progress, our process is slow but sure, and we are confident that if we continue in this way we shall go one day back to home, back to Godhead.”
– Srila Prabhupada in a letter to Bhagavan das, Vrindaban, 5 November, 1972
Over five thousand years ago, Lord Sri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, a warrior prince, on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. Every year on the anniversary of that day, devotees of Lord Krishna gather and recite the Bhagavad Gita.
In Sri Dham Mayapur, seven hundred students from the Bhaktivendanta Gita Academy organize a huge Gita Jayanti festival. They go for mangala arati, then bathe in the Ganga before going to the festival pandal. A beautifully decorated yajna kunda is set up, and oblations are offered into the fire during the recitation of the Sanskrit verses of the Bhagavad Gita. On average, over four thousand devotees gather in one place to recite the Bhagavad Gita in unison. The atmosphere is surcharged. After the recitation of the Gita, a delicious feast is served.
During this time, many copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is are distributed to the visiting pilgrims. This distribution is a combined effort of many of the Mayapur community devotees, as well as some visiting devotees from around the world. Everyone helps in the distribution of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Even little children take part in the distribution of Gitas.
In the Sri Mayapur International School, there is also a Gita Jayanti festival, where all the students and teachers gather and recite the Bhagavad Gita.
In this way, this most auspicious Gita Jayanti festival is wonderfully observed in Sri Dham Mayapur by all the devotees of Sri Krishna.