{"id":17453,"date":"2015-05-20T14:37:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T14:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=17453"},"modified":"2015-05-20T14:37:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T14:37:34","slug":"endless-festivities-in-bali-gita-nagari-baru-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=17453","title":{"rendered":"Endless Festivities in Bali & Gita Nagari Baru, Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Akincana Krishna Das<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I would have been among one of those who would have wondered with astonishment and disbelief at the statement made by one of our Acarya\u2019s, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, that the Sankirtan movement started by Lord Caitanya would spread to every town and village across the world. I was pleasantly proved wrong when I found myself between one of the most surcharged and ecstatic kirtans in a small little city nestled amongst so many islands, Bali.<\/p>\n

A group of disciples and well-wishers of HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami along with His Holiness are currently on a short yatra to Indonesia, visiting temples and farm communities in the vicinities of this island country. Our journey started at Bali, where the devotees serving at Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple in Gianyar are so kindly looking after us.<\/p>\n

The yatra began with the grand celebrations of Narsimha Caturdashi on May 3rd. The temple was so beautifully decorated and with flowers and vibrant colors. You could find devotees of all ages beaming with ear-to-ear smiles. The magnificent abhishekam of the Lord and roaring kirtans were the highlight of the night. With everybody jumping through the roof to the beats of the kartals and mrdnga, maha mantra was echoing throughout the neighborhood. After all the dancing and singing, sumptuous Krishna maha-prasadam was served which had some local Balinese varieties of dishes with gado-gado with sweet peanut chutney topping the list.<\/p>\n

Next day, May 4th, we took a tour of the community and visited the go-shala, which is housing two beautiful cows, Kartika and Nandani, and one massive bull, Gopal. In the evening we headed towards a nearby temple, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, to partake in the chandan yatra festival. The temple was bursting with enthusiastic devotees, and majestically decorated swan shaped boat carrying the beautiful Sri Sri Radha Gopinath deities. As the boat circled the small pond, devotees offered the sweetest smelling flowers found in Bali to their Lordships and sang with their hearts out. To our good fortune we had the presence of HH Kavichandra Swami and HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami. Importance of cow protection was echoed along with the need to move towards a more simple and sustainable lifestyle. The message was well received and HH RP Bhakti Raghava introduced the devotees to the Sri Surabhi Campaign, which is a 12-year initiative to educate and make devotees aware of the need to revive our integral connection to mother cow Surabhi. Following we had traditional Balinese dance performance which left the devotees in much appreciation of the rich culture of the island.<\/p>\n

On May 5th as part of the global strategic planning for Om Sri Surabhi Campaign, we had the arrival of few more devotees from USA and India along with the ISKCON Cow Protection Minister for India, HG Damodar Dulal Dasa, the North American Continental Coordinator, HG Sri Krishna Purushottama Dasa and the Asian Continental Coordinator, HG Sri Rama Dasa. After the morning Srimad Bhagavatam class given by HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami, we headed to visit the Mother Temple of Besakih, a 2000-year-old temple located on the slopes of Mount Agung in eastern Bali. The Mother temple is a complex of 22 temples built on six levels, terraced up the slope. With split entrances and steps leading to each level, this temple beautifully preserves the Vedic architecture.<\/p>\n

The following day, May 6th, after the temple morning program, devotees headed out to another Balinese temple, Pura Tanah Lot. This temple sits on an offshore rock, which has been continuously shaped by ocean tides. After a small tour of the temple, the devotees had a nectaran kirtan, which had some heads turning and passersby joining the kirtan. Sumptuous prasadam was distributed to the hearts content. A seminar was held in the evening at the temple room of Sri Sri Radha Madhav. HH RP Bhakti Raghava swami introduced the devotees and families to the importance of cow protection. A short video clip produced by the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama ministry about the ongoing Om Sri Surabhi Campaign (srisurabhi.org) was shown. The continental coordinators for North America and India spoke about the present activities and future projects in their respective regions. The evening came to a close with all the members of the Sri Sri Radha Madhav community taking the sacred oath to mother Surabhi to protect and care for her, which will eventually protect the brahamanas. When the cows and brahmanas will be protected, then the whole world will be protected.<\/p>\n

The National Campaign Manager and local temple president, HG Kishora Krishna Dasa also spoke about the activities going in Indonesia. This country has a very rich and vibrant heritage and heavy Vedic influence. Mainly based on agrarian lifestyle, the population in general seems to be much happier and content. Srila Prabhupada visited Jakarta in 1973 and the seed of bhakti he planted has flourished and has been encompassing more and more residents of this beautiful country. Jaya Srila Prabhupada!<\/p>\n

Our yatra will continue for another 4 days with a visit to Jakarta and Bandar Lampung where a sustainable farm community, Gita Nagari Baru, is located. As a part of Om Sri Surabhi Campagin team, we would like to express our deepest and sincere gratitude to Global Campaign Chairman and IDVM-India minister, HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami for guiding us at every step towards a more wholesome and sustainable lifestyle which is given by Lord Krishna Himself.<\/p>\n

For more updates and pictures on the yatra please kindly visit the following link: http:\/\/www.srisurabhi.org\/news\/indonesia-yatra-report\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Akincana Krishna Das<\/strong><\/p>\n

A group of disciples and well-wishers of HH RP Bhakti Raghava Swami along with His Holiness are currently on a short yatra to Indonesia, visiting temples and farm communities in the vicinities of this island country. Our journey started at Bali, where the devotees serving at Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple in Gianyar are so kindly looking after us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17455,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453\/revisions\/17455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}