IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT MAYAPUR FESTIVAL 2003

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees

 

Please accept my humble obeisances & All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

The next Gaur-purnima Festival will be one of the most important events ever

organized in the Holy Dham of Mayapur, we expect more than 5000 devotees

from abroad, for this we are posting in all the conferences and websites

related to our movement, the most important information that you may

require.

 

We are attaching 2 files to this text as well the brochure for the upcoming

festival.

 

We hope to have your association next Gaur-purnima festival 2003 in Mayapur.

 

May Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu bless you all.

 

ys

 

Tusti Mohan Krsna das.

 

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT MAYAPUR FESTIVAL 2003

 

Festival contacts:

Festival sponsorship, donation and Festival general informations:

Bhakti Purusottama Swami - bps (AT) pamho (DOT) net

Accomodation: Naru Gopal Das - naru-gopal.jps (AT) pamho (DOT) net

Transportation: Purananda Das - purananda.JPS (AT) pamho (DOT) net

Children’s cultural programs: Sankalpa Devi Dasi - sankalpa (AT) pamho (DOT) net

Ex- Gurukuli’s accommodation: Vedasara Das - vedasara.bgv-mva (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

1. Accomodation: Mayapur Iskcon Guest House Accommodation:

 

Building Capacity Donation RS

-

Conch (All private bath)

------------------------

4 beds 6 1100

SMALL: 2 beds 2 750

SUITE: 4 beds and 4 on floor 8 1300

GROUND FLOOR: 4 beds and 2 on floor 6 850

 

Vamsi

-----

4 Beds, private bath 4 500

Vamsi Big, private bath 6 900

 

Lotus

-----

2 beds and 2 on floor, common bath 4 450

 

Vaisnava Academy

----------------

2 beds and 1 on floor, private bath 3 700

 

Gada

----

Gada Delux - 4 beds, private bath 4 550

4 beds, private bath 4 450

1 double bed, private bath 2 350

2 beds and 2 on floor, common bath 4 220

 

Chakra

------

4 beds and 2 on floor, private bath 6 550

2 beds and 2 on floor, common bath 4 220

 

Sankirtana

----------

bedding on floor, common bath 4-6 250

 

Youth Forum

-----------

2 beds, common bath 2-4 180

 

Nityanda Huts

-------------

4 beds, common bath 4 120

 

Brahmacari Asram

----------------

5 beds, 1 on floor, common bath 6 300

 

For room reservation in guest house please contact:

ISKCON Guest House Manager Naru Gopal Das naru-gopal.jps (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

Free accommodation: All free accommodations are subject to availability and

prior booking with confirmation only. Accomodations will be available from

1st March to 19th march 2003.

 

For those devotees who cannot afford to stay in the Guest house, free

accommodation will be available in the big dormitory or in Gaudiya math

guest house. For all Vaisnavas there will be a big hall and for all

Vaisnavis there will be a big dormitory available. Devotees interested must

book in advance and are requested to bring their own sleeping bag. Lockers

for putting valuables and beddings will be available on a rental basis.

There will be no free accommodations available for families to stay

together.

 

All devotees must contact us as soon as possible for confirmation of their

free accommodation. They must bring the print out of their free

accommodation letter to make it convenient to the management. January 31st

is the last date for booking your accommodation.

 

For all Ex-Gurukuli’s accommodation contact Vedasara Das in Mayapur.

 

2. Prasad: Festival free prasad will be available to all registered

devotees. Prasad will be served twice daily at the prasad hall.

 

3. Transportation: Roundtrip transportation from Kolkata to Mayapur can be

arranged through Purananda Das. For transportation booking, please contact

Purananda Das purananda.jps (AT) pamho (DOT) net. The transportation rates are as

follows:-

 

Trip/Vehicle Ambassador TATA Sumo Namahatta Bus Big Bus

(Rates are in Rupees) (30 Seater) (56 Seater)

------

Single journey

to/from Airport 900 1200 2500 3500

Up and down journey

to Airport 1100 1300 NA NA

Single Journey to/from

Kolkata or Howrah 1000 1300 3000 4000

Up and down journey

to Kolkata or Howrah 1200 1500 NA NA

Single Journey

to Krishnanagar 250 300 NA NA

Double Journey to

Krishnanagar 350 400 NA NA

 

4. Registration: There will be no registration fee charged this year for

the festival. As the festival costs a lot of laksmi, devotees are requested

to generously contribute to make the festival a great success. All festival

donors will receive a gift and their name will be placed on a festival

display board. Devotees are requested to register individually on their

arrival at Mayapur.

 

5. Sradha Samskar and Immersion of Ashes of Departed Souls: This year on

March 16th, Ganga Puja Day, Srila Prabhupada will be taken to the Ganga with

a big procession, where he will take a bath. A special puja to mother Ganga

will also be performed and all devotees can bath in the Ganges as well.

 

On the same day devotees who would like to immerse the ashes of departed

devotees or their relatives in the Ganges can participate in this very

special program. They are requested to bring the ashes of the departed souls

or they can perform a special Sradha ceremony to offer to the departed

souls. Please contact Bhadra Caru Das bhadra.charu.jps (AT) pamho (DOT) net for details

and to register your name for this.

 

6. Children’s Cultural Programs: Similar to last year, different programs

for children will be available during the festival. Various competitions

will be held among the children, including the following activities:

 

Magic Show, variety of Krsna Art Projects, Colouring competition, Face

painting, many Krsna games with prizes, Field trip to the goshala with

picnic, Ox cart ride with harinama.

 

For detailed schedule please contact Sankalpa Devi Dasi sankalpa (AT) pamho (DOT) net

 

7. Parikrama: Navadwip Mandal parikrama will begin as of March 7th. On

March 6th, all devotees will visit Yoga pith to pay homage to Lord Gauranga

and to obtain His mercy for a successful parikrama.

 

Devotees will camp outside during the night. If anyone wants to return daily

from the parikrama and then join parikrama again the next morning, there

will be a daily bus service. Everyone must register in advance.

Parikrama registration fee : US$35

 

8. Seminar: Many sannyasis, Iskcon leaders and Gurus will give seminars on

many topics during the seminar period from March 2nd to March 6th. There is

no seminar fee to attend these seminars. Devotees are requested to bring

their own notebook and pen.

 

For the sake of clarification, the Festival and MIHE Seminars are separate

in that the Festival Seminars are directly under the Mayapur Festival

Committee, and the MIHE Seminars are under the MIHE Administration.

 

For more details on the Festival seminars please go to www.mayapur.info, and

for more details on the MIHE courses please go to www.mayapur.org/mihe/

The following ISKCON Gurus, Sannyasis and leaders will give festival and

MIHE seminars:

Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami

Bhakti Vikas Swami

B.V.V. Narasimha Swami

Danavir Goswami

Deena Bandhu Das

Gopal Krsna Goswami

Jayapataka Swami

Kavicandra Swami

Kesava Bharati Das

Lokanath Swami

Madhavendra Puri Das

Prahladananda Swami

Prabhavisnu Swami

Radha Govinda Swami

Radhanath Swami

Vijaya Prabhu and many more...

 

Festival seminars start from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm and

MIHE seminars as follows:

9:50 am to 11:20 am, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, 2:50 pm to 4:20 pm and 4:30 pm to

6:00 pm.

 

9. Detailed Festival Schedules: This is a tentative list and the final one

will be given to the devotees on their arrival to Mayapur.

 

March 1 Arrival of Devotees

7:00 pm Festival Inauguration Ceremony at the main pandal

 

March 2 Festival Seminars

6:00 am Srimad Bhagavatam Class

8:00 am Utsava Dhwaja Arohanam - Festival Flag Raising

10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm Seminars

6:00 pm Gaura Katha at the main stage

7:00 pm Congregational Preaching Night

 

March 3 Seminars

10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6.00pm Seminars

6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Gaura Katha

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Book Distribution Awards Night

 

March 4 Seminars and Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami Disappearance Day

7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Gurukula Night

 

March 5 Seminars and Global Excellency Awards

7:00 pm Global Excellency Awards Night

 

March 6 Seminars

4:00 pm Visiting Yoga Pith

7:00 pm Parikrama Istha Gosthi

 

March 7 Parikrama Leaves Mayapur

6:00 am Parikrama group will leave from main gate

 

March 13 Parikrama Returns to Mayapur and

Festivities Starts at Mayapur

12:00 noon Reception to Parikrama devotees at Main gate

4:00 pm Viswa Santi Maha yajna

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Swing Festival

7:00 pm Cultural program at the main stage

 

March 14 Ekadasi

6:00 am Srimad Bhagavatam Class

8:00 am Maha Hari Nam at the Big Temple site for

invoking Lord Gauranga’s mercy.

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Boat Festival

7:00 pm Cultural program

 

March 15 Santipur Festival

6:00 am Leave by bus for Santipur

7:00 pm Elephant Procession

 

March 16 Srila Prabhupada Books Day and Ganga Puja

10:00 am Procession to Ganga followed by Ganga puja and

immersion of ashes of departed souls

5:00 pm Boat Festival

7:00 pm Cultural programs

 

March 17 Adhivas, Ratha Yatra,

25th Disappearance of HG Jayananda Prabhu

10:00 am Ratha Yatra

5:00 pm Sri Sri Radha Madhava Boat festival

7:00 pm Cultural programs

Many devotees, each carrying a pot, will go to Ganges along with Srila

Prabhupada in a large procession. Devotees will offer Puja to Mother Ganga

and each will bring a pot of Ganga water. There will be one thousand pots of

Ganga water placed next to the Abhiseka platform on the day of Adivas (the

day before Gaurapurnima).

 

March 18 Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Sahasra Kalasha Maha Abhisheka

9:00 am Free Prasad distribution

4:00 pm Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu Sahashra Kalash Abhiseka

On Gaura Purnima day, at the most auspicious moment of Lord Gauranga’s

appearance, devotees will perform abhiseka with Ganga water along with many

other ingredients including yogurt, milk, honey, etc.

 

Om Tat Sat