{"id":61329,"date":"2018-04-18T14:30:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T12:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=61329"},"modified":"2018-04-18T14:30:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T12:30:42","slug":"grand-event-hosted-by-iskcon-kanpur-despite-thunderstorms-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=61329","title":{"rendered":"Grand event hosted by ISKCON Kanpur despite thunderstorm’s destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

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STAR-STUDDED FIESTA AT ISKCON KANPUR<\/p>\n

By: Radha Sakhi Dasi<\/p>\n

On the eve of Saturday, the 14th of April 2018, the majestic city of Kanpur witnessed a Mega Youth Program \u2018Xpression\u2019 in ISKCON Kanpur under the brilliant supervision of Devaki Nandan Das (ISKCON, Zonal secretary). This yearly phenomenon has gained the love and support from the youth of the Universities in the vicinity. ISKCON Kanpur has been enlisted under the \u2018De-addiction and Value Empowerment Project\u2019 initiated by the Indian Government, hence this grand event provided the perfect platform for ISKCON Kanpur to inspire the youth and sculpt their character through devotion.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, the event was scheduled for the eve of 7th of April 2018, but throughout the previous night tumultuous lightning and thunderstorm reigned. Thus, all the arrangements were shattered, materials tattered and broken, sound boxes and gadgets were destroyed, basically everything collapsed. Everybody was helpless, since the Lord and nature had different plans. As the sun shined upon Kanpur on the 7th of April, the temple authorities together decided to postpone the entire event to the 14th of April. Hence re-arranging the entire event with the same impact was the biggest challenge. However, the hard-working temple devotees lead by Radha Ranjan Das, Acyuta Mohan Das and Kurma Avatar Das brilliantly planned, managed and executed the gala event, with double enthusiasm and vigour. <\/p>\n

The event commenced with the lighting of lamps at 6 pm, which was followed by an exhilarating talk by Devaki Nandan Das (Zonal Secretary, ISKCON). He welcomed the dignitaries, chief guests and the youth and expressed his gratitude for all the support they had shown by coming and attending \u2018Xpression\u2019. Being a visionary and a determined leader, Devaki Nandan Das has always encouraged and nurtured the youth and have guided them to mature in a responsible manner. The spiritual connection of an individual with the Supreme is the key to solving all their problems. Devaki Nandan Das along with his dedicated team of devotees have been working meticulously for righteous character development, virtue and morality with a tinge of spirituality within the youth of the entire state.
\nOne of the chief guests, Mr. Shishir Nevatia (Chairman, Sun Jewels pvt. Ltd.) delivered a fine and crisp speech. Then began the dance carnival by Prince Dance Group (winners of Indian Talent hunt show), who incredibly depicted the Dasavatar or the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The youth were soon blown away by an uplifting talk by the ace motivational speaker and ISKCON speaker Gauranga Das. He focused on \u2018the role of peer pressure in falling prey to addiction. Being a CSR event, not just youth but famous business magnates were also part of the grand fiesta, like B.K Goenka (Chairman, Welspun Group). Mr. B.K Goenka vividly described a three-point success formula which comprised of learning from the mistakes, good association and to be decisive. His speech truly reflected the key to his success which permeated and inspired everyone in the audience. One of the chief guests, Mr. Prakash Javadekar (Minister couldn\u2019t make it for the event, but he did send a video message for the youth, to not just encourage them but to also impel them to fight the menace of addiction. <\/p>\n

The event gained momentum when the talented young students of IIT BHU came on the floor to perform a drama on Anti-addiction. Furthermore, the world-renowned Sand artist Hari Krishna, left the audience awe-struck at his brilliant art works with sand. Mr. L. Jayaramulu delivered a strong message to the youth which moved everyone. <\/p>\n

The Senior ISKCON Leader and GBC Member Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj stole the show, when he remarkably deduced how addiction could be easily dealt with, with a tinge of spirituality. The audiences were mesmerized and were charged up. As soon as Maharaj completed his oration, the youth were found dancing and clapping at the groovy Rock Kirtan of the Russian Band \u2018Music Fusion\u2019.
\nAlongside the gala fiesta, were fun, food and goody stalls for the young ones. On one side there were pizzas, pastas, samosas, burgers, ice-creams, while on the other side were face paintings and game stalls. ISKCON Kanpur guest house hosted students, devotees and dignitaries before, during and post event as well. The entire fun and food section was marvellously handled by Manorama Radhika Dasi and Amrtesa Krishna Das and their team. While the face-painting and other game stalls were managed the FOLK team. The youth from every which corner possible were captivated.
\nBut the event finale was the cherry on the cake when the temple president and ISKCON Leader, Prem Harinam Das delivered an eloquent and gripping speech. He poignantly spoke, \u201c\u2026Today, all of us can see that the future of India is our youth, who are extremely efficient and promising. Despite being hassled with many problems like various types of drugs, stress etc., yet nobody is aware of this social and national problem. Many people, the government, self-help organizations, etc. are working for this and everyone has the experience that it is not so easy to escape and avoid these habits. But through a very simple way, through devotion, any person can gradually get rid of the oddities\u2026\u2026\u201d He continued, \u201c\u2026. ISKCON\u2019s founder Acarya A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had hoisted the Indian culture and serene devotional practices in foreign countries, almost fifty years ago, and the first people to give in were the Hippies\u2026. Hence the power and brilliance of the path of devotion unto the Ultimate Truth is evident. This process of God consciousness or Krishna Consciousness is potent enough to transform a being into his\/her best version, by transforming his\/her character, virtue and heart\u2026.. through Xpression, we are endeavouring to unite the younger generation through spirituality and devotion, inspiring them to let go of societal menaces like drugs and stress and motivating them to live a life as a responsible person and citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire event-organizing team was sceptical about the viability and tangibility of the event. But the turn out and support of all the chief guests, dignitaries and the youth were overwhelming which filled everyone with tremendous joy. The youth had a lot to take back with them from this event. \u2018Xpression 2018\u2019 turned out to be filled with fireworks and it hit the right note without a doubt. At the end, the youth kept asking for more as they were so immensely euphoric at the ambience, the event and its participants had created. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Hare As a matter of fact, the event was scheduled for the eve of 7th of April 2018, but throughout the previous night tumultuous lightning and thunderstorm reigned. Thus, all the arrangements were shattered, materials tattered and broken, sound boxes and gadgets were destroyed, basically everything collapsed. Everybody was helpless, since the Lord and nature had different plans. As the sun shined upon Kanpur on the 7th of April, the temple authorities together decided to postpone the entire event to the 14th of April. Hence re-arranging the entire event with the same impact was the biggest challenge. However, the hard-working temple devotees lead by Radha Ranjan Das, Acyuta Mohan Das and Kurma Avatar Das brilliantly planned, managed and executed the gala event, with double enthusiasm and vigour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61329","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=61329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61331,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61329\/revisions\/61331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}