Sri Krsna Janmastami was celebrated by devotees and guests at Govindaji Gardens on 16th August. The usually quiet and sublime premises of the asrama became a sea of people as 9,000 guests came to attend the holy function.
In the morning, after devotees had finished decorating the asrama with flower garlands, everyone took darsana of Sri Sri Gaura-Radha-Madhava who were dressed in a beautiful yellow and white dress and decorated profusely with garlands and flowers.
This years Janmastami festival was especially wonderful because Govindaji Gardens was graced with the divine presence of Kaliya-mardana Krsna, the presiding Deity of our asrama at Mulki.
Srila Narasingha Maharaja gave the morning class and explained how divine truth is surpressed by the cheating propensity. He also spoke on the difference between eternal Vaisnava dharma and kaitava-dharma (man-made cheating religions).
After the class the devotees sang bhajanas in glorification of Sri Krsna up until 3:00 pm when a traditional nagesvaram group played for the pleasure of the Deities.
At 5:30, Srila Narasingha Maharaja began the abhiseka ceremony and bathed the Deity of Kaliya-mardana Krsna. The Lord was offered puspanjali (flowers) and arati before being bathed in 50 auspicious substances.
The Lord was then dressed and brought to His palaki (palanquin) and taken around the temple accompanied by the devotees and guests and serenaded by nagesvaram, flute and the Holy Name of the Lord.
After being taken around the temple eight times, the Lord returned to the altar and was offered maha-arati.
About five-hundred kilograms of rice were cooked to feed the 9,000 guests throughout the day.
At 11:45 naivedya was offered to Sri Sri Radha-Madhava. Over 120 different preparations were offered to Their Lordships. Then the midnight arati was offered by Srila Narasingha Maharaja while devotees performed nama-sankirtana led by Sripada Madhava Maharaja. The whole program concluded with prasadam distribution at 12:30.
