By Ekalavya das
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
This message is also in an attached .doc file with active links and formating. Also linked is a poster to help you advertise the event in your community. We have more posters on our website.
World Holy Name Festival 2010 is from September 17 – October 2, 2010.
Please visit our website: www. worldholyname. com to download the latest posters, banners, stickers, and other goodies.
You can also upload reports, blogs, photos, videos, etc yourself directly to the site.
You can view the schedule online here: https://docs. google. com/Doc?docid=0AS6kJ9ks75AAZGdkemJrenNfMWhwdzdwOGMy&hl=e n
There is a text version of the schedule at the bottom of this letter.
The World Holy Names Committee proposes the following initiatives:
1. Japathon
2. Harinam Sankirtan
3. 12-hour Kirtans
4. Global Prayer
5. Reciting the Glories of the Holy Names
1. The Japathon starts on the auspicious Disappearance Day of Namacharya Srila Haridas Thakura (see Calendar) and continues for 10 days until the anniversary of the arrival of Srila Prabhupada, The Ambassador of The Holy Names, to the West. The Japathon is a chance for congregation members to join full-time devotees for japa. Haridas Thakura chanted more than 300,000 names of Krishna daily and was awarded the title Namacharya by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Last year during the Japathon, ISKCON Pune’s congregation chanted 70 million Holy Names daily. None of us can be Haridas Thakur, but, collectively, we can chant millions and billions of Holy Names.
2. Last year, we encouraged temples to participate in a 50-man Harinam to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s Sannyasa. Some temples organized Harinams on a daily basis, one temple organized a 500-man party, and some temples joined together for Harinam. This is a coordinated effort to push back maya and deliver the Holy Names into the hearts of every city. We suggest a 51-man Harinam for each Friday of the Japathon
(see Calendar).
3. 12-hour Kirtans. We suggest inviting your congregation to the temple for a day of kirtan, from 10 AM to 10PM (local time). We have scheduled these “sankirtan yajnas” on each Saturday of the World Holy Names Week (a week which has now expanded to include two Ekadasis). We will post the schedules online as they become available.
4. Global Prayer – all the initiatives are meant to unite ISKCON and even non-ISKCON devotees in prayer. The more devotees that participate, the better. Instead of one temple doing a 12-hour sankirtan-yajna, we want to encourage *all* the temples to do a yajna (or going on Harinam) at the same time. With the different time zones, however, this becomes complex. This “Global Prayer”, however, will take place on the Disappearence Day of Srila Haridas Thakur, Tuesday, September 21st, at noon GMT and go for 10 minutes. We ask all devotees everywhere to stop what they are doing (even if they are sleeping) about 5 minutes before 12:00 PM GMT: wash your hands and mouth, then chant for 10 minutes. If you find this enlivening, feel free to continue throughout the remainder of World Holy Names Week.
5. Reciting the Glories of the Holy Names – we ask that devotees who are giving class during World Holy Names Week to speak about the glories of the Holy Names. Please visit our website to access some nice quotes about the glories of the Holy Names.
www. worldholyname. com
We welcome your comments and suggestions and look forward to joining with you for successful World Holy Name Festival 2010.
Thank you very much.
Your servant, on behalf of the World Holy Name Festival Committee,
Ekalavya das www. worldholyname. com
September 12 Srimati Sita Thakurani (Sri Advaita’s consort) Appearance
September 13
September 14 Appearance of Sri Lalita
September 15 Radhasthami
September 16
September 17 Harinam
September 18 Ekadasi
12-hour Kirtan
(10 AM to 10 PM)
September 19 Appearance of Jiva Goswami
Appearance of Lord Vamanadeva
September 20 Appearance Day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
September 21 Disappearance Day of Namacharya Srila Haridas Thakur
1. Begin Japathon
2. Global Prayer at 12 PM (noon) GMT September 22
Full Moon, Autumn begins
3rd month of Chaturmasya
Japathon
September 23 Japathon
September 24 Japathon Harinam
September 25 Japathon 12-hour Kirtan
September 26 Japathon
September 27 Japathon
September 28 Japathon
September 29 Japathon
September 30 Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival to the West
Japathon
October 1 Harinam
October 2 12-hour Kirtan
October 3 Ekadasi