The 528th appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was celebrated by devotees of Govindaji Gardens on March 27th 2013.
In the morning devotees decorated the temple while the pujaris dressed Gaura-Radha-Madhava in Their new dress.
All the devotees gathered for darsana-arati at 10:00. and at 10:30, H.H. Giri Maharaja gave class and spoke at length on the two reasons for Mahaprabhu's descent into this world and His unique gift to the living entities. Maharaja elaborated upon how Krsna's position is seen both through sastra-yukti and also by dint of rasa-vicara and also how Mahaprabhu comes as a canvasser of vraja-bhava in order to attempt to pay his debt to His devotees in Vrndavana.
Throughout the day the devotees sat in the kirtana hall singing bhajanas in glorification of Mahaprabhu. Srila Sridhara Maharaja's Prema-dhama-deva Stotram was also chanted, led by Caitanya Dasa.
At 6:00pm Mahaprabhu's abhiseka began. Sripada Visnu Maharaja bathed the Lord with various substances and immediately after the abhiseka, Giri Maharaja performed vandapana – offering auspicious items to the Deities.
At 7:00pm Mahaprabhu was brought to His ratha and devotees took the Lord around the temple to the accompaniment of nama-sankirtana, enthusiastically led by Jagadisvara and Gaura-Gopala. After Mahaprabhu was brought back to the altar, the bhoga offering was made. All the devotees had been cooking since the day before the festival – in particular Ratna-cintamani and Prema-manjari Matajis. Altogether there were over 70 preparations made for Mahaprabhu, including some Bengali preparations, that are particular favorites of Mahaprabhu, cooked by Advaita Dasa.
After the offering, sandhya-arati began. Gaura Gopala and Jagadisvara led the arati while Giri Maharaja offered a variety of lamps to the Deities. All the guests and devotees enthusiastically took part in the kirtana and after the jaya-dhvani was over, everyone honoured the maha-prasadam of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
All the devotees would like to thank Dipa Mataji for designing the wonderful new dress for Gaura-Radha-Madhava and also Dhira-Krsna Dasa and family for donating towards it. We would also like to thank all the devotees who gave service donations towards the festival.
Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jaya!
