Shiva Ratri Wrap Up

[Guest guest]

Last Saturday evening for our Shiva Ratri celebrations, we at the Utah

Krishna temple were stunned by the number of guests. When I was President of

Berkeley temple in the 70¹s we used to attract large crowds to our many

cultural events, however, there was not a high percentage of new visitors.

One would see the same faces every time. That was nice, of course, but one

would hanker to introduce the culture to others as well. Then too some of

the perennials had become jaded about Krishna Consciousness and did not want

anyone to preach to them.

As two major universities are less than six miles from Spanish Fork

(Brigham Young and Utah Valley State College) at least 50 per cent of all

attendees are first timers. They are open, wide eyed, and slack jawed. For

the preachers it is a welcome change to introduce Krishna Consciousness to a

never ending cavalcade of young newcomers.

Ironically, a half an hour before the beginning of the event, a bus load

of 20 seniors from a rest home in Eureka (30 miles away) arrived ³ in order

to get the good seats². There are Sankheda easy chairs and sofas in the rear

of the temple.

Arrivals flooded in. When I started my power point show on Lord Shiva at

5 pm, our large temple room was 3/4 full. Everybody was eager to hear and

learn. The audience was hardly sated even after one hour of narrative and

graphics on the 12 ft screen. There was hearty applause as I forced myself

to conclude the power point presentation in order to introduce our guest

performer, Sri Kesava.

A packed temple room thrilled to her variegated presentation. The first

half consisted of the artiste dancing to the music of her very own CD,

'Avatar Sessions.' I found it extraordinarily impressive: that someone

should have talent on so many fronts. I noted also that the instrumentation

behind her excellent vocals captured the essence of Indian music and

incorporated as well some driving Western beats that got people clapping

along and moving their feet, even as they were sitting.

During the intermission for Sri Kesava¹s costume change, we enacted a

drama called ³Shiva and Parvati.² From last year most of the actors were

repeating their roles: Jai Krishna as Lord Shiva, Bhakta Jon played King

Himavat and the Four headed Lord Brahma, Siddhyartha was Indra and Narada

Muni, Divya Drsti played Cupid, or Kamadeva. Only the heroine, Parvati was

new. After the departure of Karuna to North Carolina last year , I have had

trouble to find anyone with her talent. In this case, we were very lucky

that a Nepali student at BYU, Nirnaya Lohani, volunteered. She sparkled in

the role. The drama was a big success. The most dramatic moment of the play,

when Lord Shiva undisguised Himself before Parvati, elicited a collective

gasp and then thunderous applause from the audience.

For the second half of her program Sri Kesava danced to live music

sung by a group of our devotees. The final selection involved not only the

live music, but Sri Kesava herself singing and leading the audience in a

dhoon (repetitive chant), while simultaneously telling the story with Indian

classical dance.. Her presentation was fresh, spontaneous, natural, and

exciting.

As an indication of her popularity, many parents afterwards requested her

to return to give seminars and workshops for their children.

Subsequently, hundreds of guests lined up to offer homage to this

greatest of all Vaishnavas by reverentially pouring milk and honey onto the

Shiva Linga. Afterward, they took the spooned out caritamrta into their

³amrta kupa¹ (well of nectar): depression in the right hand at the base of

the thumb, and sipped it. For pushpanjali (offering of flowers & bilva

leaves) the 108 names of Lord Shiva with English translation were projected

onto the large screen so all could follow and chant, if so desired.

Meanwhile Jai Krishna, Sri Kesava, and Pragna Shah were rocking the temple

with ŒHare Krishna¹ and ŒOm Namo Shivaya¹.

Many favorable comments were passed by the exiting visitors regarding the

dance, drama, food, architecture. We made a lot of new friends and

supporters on this day.

KSL TV cameras covered the festival, featuring shots on the evening news

of the huge crowd in the temple room, the innovative dance, and long lines

of guests waiting to pay for gifts or hot meals of Sri Krishna prasadam.

 

Visit our web site at http://www.utahkrishnas.com.

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Best wishes,

Caru das and Vaibhavi