FESTIVAL

He assumes five other forms to serve Lord Krishna. He Himself helps in the pastimes of Lord Krishna, and He does the work of creation in four other forms called the catur-vyuha (four armed) forms known as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Anirudha. He executes the orders of Lord Krishna in the work of creation, and in the form of Lord Sesa He serves Sri Krishna in various ways. In all the forms He tastes the transcendental bliss of serving Krishna. No one can approach Krishna without first getting the mercy of Baladeva.

Whenever Krishna appears in the material world, He is accompanied by His associates and paraphernalia. Five thousand years ago when Krishna descended into the material world, He was first preceded by Baladeva. Only after Baladeva give His mercy did Krishna descend, such is the intimate relationship between Krishna and Baladeva.

Chandan Yatra Festival

Chandan Yatra Festival: Lord Sri Krishna is the ocean of mercy, a friend of the fallen soul. He wants to distribute his undeserved mercy to fallen creatures. The suffering of the creature will come to an end Only after receiving the grace of God. The festival of the destruction of those suffering is the festival of Chandan Yatra. It is described in Utkal-Khanda, Sri Jagannath Dev said to Maharaj Indradymna that- Baiśākhasya mitē pakṣē tr̥tīẏākṣaẏasan̄jñikā. Tatra māṁ lēpaẏēdagandhalēpanairatiśōbhanama That is, on the third day of the holy month of Baisakh, named Akshay Tritiya will impregnate my limbs with aromatic sandalwood. ‘Anūlēpana mukhyanta candanaṁ parikīrtitama’, Supreme Personality of Godhead Jagannath ordered His best servant Sri Indradumnya to impose aromatic sandalwood on his beautiful body on the third-most famous date of the month of Baisakh, as Chandan was the best of the rubbing products.

Five hundred and thirty-three years ago from today, the auspicious advent of Sri Krishna Chaitanya at Nabadwip in Nadia district, West Bengal, India, is a memorable and astounding event. The treasure of the heart of the Bengali, Chaitanyadev is also known as – Nimai, Gauranga, Gaura Rai, Gora, Gaura, Gaurahari, Sachinandan, and yours. His unspeakably beautiful form and genuine love has made all masses of people together whether he is rich or poor, educated or ignorant and go beyond all caste, creed or religion & bound themselves in a chain of love, leading the way in the course of human life. This is called the Golden Age. Then a wonderful auspicious change took place in the sphere of society and individual life, marking the marvelous progress of national life.

Examples of this are the American War of Independence, the Industrial Revolution in France, the Golden Age of the Gupta Dynasty in India and even the most recent nineteenth-century Bengal Renaissance.

Gita Jayanti

About 5000 years ago from today, in the tithi of Mokhshoda Ekadashi, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gave the knowledge of Srimad Bhagavad Gita to the best warrior of the world and his beloved devotee Arjun, in the holy place of Kurukshetra. This glorious tithi is called Gita Jayanti. Focusing on the festival, the devotees recited 700 Sanskrit verses of the 18 chapters of Bhagavad Gita at the ISKCON Swamibag Ashram. Then special sermons were given regarding Bhagavad Gita.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Ten Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Vasyadev describes the worship of Govardhan in the twenty-fourth chapter. The inhabitant of Brajas organized a yajna ceremony to appease Indra, the God of Rain.

Lord Sri Krishna asked his father Nanda Maharaja with humble respect, “O Father, for whom is this yajna being performed? And what is the result?”

Nand Maharaj said, “We are Gopa, Our business is cow raising. Therefore, rainfall is essential for the food of the cows, including crop production. Then Lord Sri Krishna said that Devraj Indra is not the main source of rain. Because if he is the main controller of rain, why is it raining in the sea?

A Snana Yatra festival is held in the Purnima Tithi of the month of Jaistha, commemorating the appearance of Lord Sri Jagannatha Dev. According to the Skandha Purana, King Indradyumna celebrated this bathing yatra when Jagannatha, Baladev, Subhadra Devi established Sri Vigraha made of wood. Srila Prabhupada organized a bathing festival in the entire ISKCON temples 15 days before the Ratha Yatra. As part of the festival, the festival was celebrated at the premises at the ISKCON Swamibag Ashram. Jagannatha, Baladev, Subhadra Maharani were brought to the bathing altar from the Garva(Inner) Temple. Vigraha is rubbed with Panchagavya, Panchamrita, Ganga water, various types of fruit juices and coconut water. The devotees who come to Swamibag Ashram at this festival has got the rare opportunity to Abhishek Jagannatha, Master of the Universe. The program continued for several hours with the Vedic mantra reciting, blowing a conch shell, singing and chanting of Maha Harinam, the great wealth of Goloka. At the end of the Abhishek, delicious Mahaprasad of Jagannatha is distributed among the devotees and visitors.

Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna appeared in Gokula & Mathura simultaneously in the month of Shravana on the Ashtami tithi of Krishna paksha in Rohini Nakshatra five thousands year ago. In Vedic literature there are various discussions about the advent of Lord Krishna which is very amazing. In spite of that some less intelligent people do not realized those. It is very difficult to understand Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and His action. In this regard, the Lord Krishna says in BG (7/25) –

nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ

Jhulan Yatra is one of the important festivals of the Vaishnava society is held for five days from Pabitraropon Ekadashi to Sri Balarama Purnima on the holy day of Shravan month. This Sravani Purnima is also called Jhulan Purnima or Rakhi Festival. The festival was started in the Dwapara Yuga to commemorate Radha Krishna’s sublime Jhulan Lila in Sridham Vrindavan. After that, it has been going on for ages. According to the direction of Srila Prabhupada, the five-days festival is celebrated nicely at the ISKCON Swamibag Ashram as part of the worldwide ISKCON temples.

One month of the Gauravda Year is named Damodar. The word ‘Dam’ refers to rope and ‘Udara’ refers to the belly. So the word Damodar means one who is tied to the rope around the abdomen. The vow of Damodara begins at full moon night and ends at the next full moon.

This verse of Lord Sri Krishna is described in the 10th edition of Lila Srimad Bhagavatam. The boy Gopal broke the bowl of butter and made the mother angry at Yashoda. So while Lord Sri Krishna escaped for fear of Yashoda’s sticks, the mother grabbed her from behind and tried to tie her with Udukhul (One kind of household Utensil) by a rope. But despite hundreds of attempts, Krishna could not be tied up and the rope was always two inches shorter. Realizing his mother’s efforts, Lord Krishna agreed to be bound.

Lord Nityananda Prabhu, one of the associates of the Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, appeared in Maghi Shukla Troyodashi in 1395 Sakabda as the son of Sri Harai Pandit and Padmavati Devi in Birchandrapur village or Ekchakra village in Birbhum district. He appears to help Mahaprabhu in the widespread propagation of the religion of Kali Yuga, Harinama. He was Balarama in Braja Lila. During his childhood, Lord Nityananda Prabhu played with Harinama Japa Kirtan and used to act as a character of Lord Krishna, Ramachandra and pastimes of other incarnations. After travelling to the pilgrimage till the age of 20, He met to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Sridham Mayapur and the two brothers together flooded the entire universe with the love of Krishna. Nityananda Prabhu is more gracious than the most merciful incarnation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Lord Sri Krishna always protects His devotees from any danger in many ways. Like as, in chaturdashi tithi in the month of Baishakh, Lord Sri Krishna to protect His beloved devotee, Prahlad Maharaj, appeared with the special form as Narsimha. Thus, this very day is entitled as Narasimha Chaturdashi. The word “Nar” stands for man and “Simha” means the king of animals. He is neither a man nor a human, His form is half-human and half-lion. The person, practicing devotion service, always gets protected by this special incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna.

Lord Krishna is the ultimate source of all forms of this world, even incarnations of God. Similarly, Radharani is also the source of all the goddess, namely, Lakshmi Devi, Rukmini, Satyabhama etc. He is the original nature. The common man has no idea about the Radharani. Radha Tattva is one of the most important things that is hidden in the Vedas, called Veda-Goppa. As a result, many misconceptions about Radharani have been created, or many have no idea. Srila Prabhupada said, “The two Tattvas Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna” are completely unknown to the materialists. Therefore, Radharani’s theory needs deep spiritual knowledge to make the mystery heartbreaking. Radharani is not an ordinary or special woman in this material world, she is known as Lord Sri Krishna’s Hladini Shakti or Ananda-Daini Shakti or Chit Shakti.

Rath Yatra – A festival of receiving the love of Krishna

His Devine Grace Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The Rath Yatra festival began five thousand years ago when Sri Krishna, along with his eldest brother Balaram and younger sister Subhadra Devi, came together from Dwarka to Kurukshetra by pressing on a chariot. Both Kurukshetra and Dwaraka City are still present. In fact, all baths take place in the sacred river during any form of Waning like Sun or Moon. And so people go to a sacred place Kurukshetra. Just as Krishna, His brother, and sister came to Kurukshetra with family members. On receiving the news, all the Gopis and other residents of Vrindavan all went to see Krishna, where Sri Krishna revealed his childhood deeds.

Balaram Jayanti

Chandan Yatra

Gaura Purnima

Gita Jayanti

Govardhana Puja

Jagannath Sannayatra

Sri Krishna Janmashtami

Jhulan Yatra

Kartik Diwali

Nityanand Trayodasi

Nrisimha Caturdashi

Sri Radhastami

Ram Navami

Ratha Yatra