Guest guest Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 2nd Annual Sri Khetra Parikrama 2006 Organised by International society for Krishna consciousness Founder Acharya - His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada Dear maharajas and prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. ISKCON has been organizing Mayapur and Vrindavana parikrama since many years and thus giving the opportunity to spend time glorifying these holy dhamas to thousands of devotees from all over the world. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu considered three places very dear: Navadwip-dhama, Vrindavana-dhama and Jagannath Puri-dhama. Jagannath Puri was in fact so dear to Him that He decided to spend the final 18 years of His time on this planet performing thousands of sweet pastimes there. Of course this was also the desire of His mother for Him to stay at Puri. Puri is also famous for Lord Jagannath who is the most worshipable Lord of the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thousands of devotees from all over the world visit Puri each year, despite the fact that most are not allowed to enter the Jagannath temple at Puri. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotees are however attracted to Lord Jagannath and therefore it is with extreme pleasure and spiritual enthusiasm that they visit Puri in great number annually. Though so many devotees visit Puri still not all of them have the opportunity to know the glories of Puri-dhama and see all tirthas there due to lack of proper guidance. Just as the scriptures recommend about Vrindavana parikrama and Navadwip parikrama, they also recommend participating in the special Puri parikrama known as Sri Khetra parikrama. In the Skanda purana in fact, it is mentioned that when Vidyapati went to Nilacala (Puri) dhama for the first time, after taking darshan of Nila Madhava (Lord Jagannath), he also engaged in parikrama of Nilacala dhama. It has been found from great Vaisnavas from puri that this Sri Kshetra parikrama is very potential for our spiritual growth. It has been told that one will get the same result of observing Chaturamasy vrata, Kartik Vrata and Bhisma panchaka just by performing Sri Kshetra parikrama on this tithi. Nowadays, this parikrama of Nilacala dhama is not very famous among the general public, but there are still some groups of Vaisnavas who perform this Sri Khetra parikrama on a particular tithi (holy day). The pancami-tithi just after Kartika purnima is the day ascribed for Sri Khetra parikrama. This year, in order to obtain the mercy of the previous acaryas and to facilitate the devotees as well, ISKCON Puri, with the support of some local leaders in India, has planned to hold a well-organized Jagannath festival and Sri Khetra Parikrama. As the date of the pancami-tithi falls just after Kartika purnima, it will be a good opportunity for devotees to visit Puri just after completing their Kartika visits to Vrindavana. High lights " Hearing Jagannath katha and Goura Katha from ISKCON senior devotees, sannyasis and Prabhupada disciples " Sea bath " Jagannath Prasad " Visiting all the pastimes places of Mahapabhu " Separate parikrama for devotees of different languages ( Hindi, English, Bengali and Oriya) " Circumambulating Sri Kshetra , 18 KM walk around Puri Dham " A great festival of chanting, hearing, dancing and taking Jagannatha Prasad " No registration fee " Free Prasad " Free accommodation NB: Simple accommodation will be provided to all the devotees. If any one needs special room to be booked in hotel then he must contact in advance. " All Iskocn devotees from whole world are invited How can you participate? " By personally attending fully or part of the festival and parikrama " By taking up some service while you are here at Puri " By giving some better idea on how to make this festival more nice " By donating generously for the festival through money or kinds. " By encouraging other devotees to participate Sri Kshetra parikrama. Important information: " General accommodation will be provided to all devotees free of cost. If any one wants to get special accommodation then they can request for booking hotel for them. Contact Goura Nitai das E mail - ISKCON.puri (AT) pamho (DOT) net or ISKCONPURI (AT) (DOT) co.in " Devotees must inform in advance so that accommodation and other facilities can be arranged accordingly. " Weather will be normal. Not too hot or not too cold. " Transportation : You can come by train up to Puri Or by flight up to Bhubaneswar and then drive by car / bus to Puri. Bhubaneswar to Puri distance is about 50Km. The schedule for Jagannath festival and Sri Kshetra Parikrama 2006 Date Time Event 7th November Arrival of devotees at Puri 8th November First day of festival 4.30 am Morning program 9.00 am Prasad 10.00 am Parikrama - Places to Visit " Haridas Thakur's Samadhi " Tota Gopinath " Jagadananda Pandit's House " Swarup Damodara's house 2.00 pm Prasad 4.00 pm Jagannath katha 7.00 pm Gaura Katha 9th November 4.30 am Morning program 9.00 am Prasad 10.00 am Parikrama - Places to Visit " Siddha Bakula " Gambhira " Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya's house " Sweta Ganga 2.00 pm Prasad 4.00 pm Jagannath katha 7.00 pm Gaura Katha 10th November Sri Khetra Parikrama This is a parikrama around Nilacala- dhama, which is altogether about an 18 kilometer walk. The parikrama will start from early morning and end at about 2pm followed by sea bath and jagannath Mahaprasad. Most of the time will be spent on discussing Jagannath-lilas and the pastimes of Lord Gauranga in Puri. This will be a festival of hearing pastimes of the Lord, chanting, dancing, taking baths in the ocean, and honoring prasad - simply blissful! Don't miss out! Contact for more information : Bhakti Purusottama Swami bps (AT) pamho (DOT) net Goura Nitai das ISKCON.puri (AT) pamho (DOT) net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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