Transcendental Birthday party

[Guest guest]

Transcendental Birthday Party

 

Saturday night, for the public Janmastami celebration, we had a

packed crowd of about 40%/60% Westerners/Indians. We did not have

thousands of visitors like temples in metropolitan areas, but we had

hundreds. Not bad for rural Utah.

 

After Ratha Yatra around the temple verandah, Piyush and Amit

organized a very exciting Govinda Al Re. The dahi hundi (pot full of

yogurt) was suspended higher this year than last. Last year the pot

was achieved with only three tiers of the human pyramid. This year

the pot was far out of reach of three tiers, necessitating a fourth

tier of human beings. This was a lot more difficult to achieve, and a

lot more fun.

 

Piyush and Ameet ran around coaching volunteers (westerners and

Indians) how to lock arms, how to support the structure, how to

elevate while standing on other’s shoulders. Four times Piyush

started to climb to the top, and the pyramid collapsed. It would

collapse inwards so the fellows would fall on themselves and cushion

any impact of hitting the ground. There was not much chance of

injury, but lots of tangles of arms and legs every which way - very

funny.

 

On the fifth try the crowd really got into it, madly shouting in

unison, cheering and chanting the climbers like mad. When Piyush

managed, by stretching to his limits while being supported feet and

ankles from below (he was about 25 feet above the ground), to grab

the pot and break it, everybody went wild.

 

Later, inside the crowded temple room there were very good musical

programs by Vatsala Naageshwaran and Arun Mehta. Neda Dasi danced

with Julio modeling as Krishna, and Bonnhi Dey presented one special

kathak dance.

 

Good bhajans and kirtans were sung by Jai Krishna, Pragna Shah,

Mallavika Deo, and Natu Patel.

 

The hit of the evening was the drama. Jai Krishna was phenomenal as

Kamsa, really mean and nasty, as you can see from his photos. Vishnu

Priya was very hilarious as Putana, and Divya Drsti literally put

everyone on the floor as the powerful sister of Vishnu, Durga. Slavco

did a great job as Vasudeva, having just filled in during the last

week. He learned all his lines and blocking in just a few days.

Mikela was Madonna-like as Devaki, the mother of Krishna. Zack and I

had fun playing the two guards of Kamsa, and I also doubled in the

role of Narada Muni.

 

This year’s kalasha sponsorship was a big success. I’m listing

below the names of all the kind donors who supported the temple and

spiritually benefitted themselves and family members on this

auspicious occasion. Heartfelt thanks to one and all.

 

Many sponsors were not able to be present, being from out of state

and so on. Next week we’ll box up and mail their kalashas to them.

Though many could not be personally present, as far as we know, both

the video and audio were functioning. Thus potentially anyone

anywhere in the world with an internet connection could have seen and

heard the proceedings. Let us know if you did, or if you had any

problems in the effort.

 

Deluxe Kalasha

 

Dinesh & Kalpana Patel, Salt Lake City, Utah

Sohan Lal & Krishna Dhir, Los Angeles, California

Andrea & David Payton, Sacramento, California

William McGahey, Rogue River, Oregon

Rohit & Mrdula Patel, Sandy, Utah

Mulji & Sarda Chaudhari, Vernal, Utah

Vin & Kiran Kamdar, Orem, Utah

Gerald Dick, Orem, Utah

Dhiru & Nirmala Patel, Provo, Utah

Aravind C. Patel, Springville

Srinivasan Venkateshwaran, Salt Lake City, Utah

James Allred, Bountiful, Utah

Michael and Priya Sanger, San Francisco, California

Sudhir and Florence Behl, Salt Lake City, Utah

Bam Dev and Chander Sharda, Sandy, Utah

Navnit Sharda, Las Vegas, Nevada

Haresh and Mamta Tripathi, Phoenix, Arizona

Murari and Indra Gupta, Villa Park, California

Ram Pati and Triveni Gupta (In memory of)

Sandeep and Pallavi Kharkar, Bountiful, Utah

 

 

Golden Kalasha

 

Divya Drsti Frazier, Spanish Fork, Utah

Jai Krishna & Kim Perry. Orem, Utah

Yogesh & Pragna Shah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Brian & Suzanne Walters, Springville, Utah

Mark Kenzer, Forest Grove, Oregon

Dwijati Pujaka, Tulsa, Okla.

Jivana Dasi, Tulsa, Okla.

Dwija Mani, Tulsa, Okla.

Chaitanya Das, Tulsa, Okla.

N. V. & Gopna Rao, Salt Lake City, Utah

Alanath & Sandhya, Orem, Utah

Vatsala & Naageshwaran, Salt Lake City, Utah

Blake Stewart, Payson, Utah

Mikela Boothe, Spanish Fork, Utah

Sanju & Renee Choudhury, Chubbock, Idaho

Prabhakar & Devi Krishnaswami, Orem, Utah

R. & Indra Neelameggham, South Jordan, Utah

Kanwal Dhar, New Berlin, Wisconsin

Manoj Kithany, Redmond, Washington

Kishore, Kokila Sodha, Chino Hills, California

Prahalad and Meena Chaudhari, Price, Utah

Jeena and Pradeep Sharma, Chino Hills, California

Henriett Mueller, Springville, Utah

Justin and Seema Rossetti, Salt Lake City, Utah

Hardik Dave, Southfield, Michigan

Ted D'Armon, Ogden, Utah

Sujata and Devrao Prakash, Clearfield, Utah

Harshad Roy Patel, Provo, Utah

Pratima and Anand Shah, Cinncinati, Ohio

Sneha and Sandhya Kasera, Salt Lake City, Utah

Majunath Sampath and Rashmi Venugopal, Salt Lake City, Utah

Ramesh and Suman Shah, Salt lake City, Utah

Natu and Mina Patel, Murray, Utah

 

 

Visit our web site at www.utahkrishnas.com

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