Celebrating Krishna

[suchandra]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="467"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">ISKCON Pune, Sunday , September 02, 2007: "The Janmashthmi festival at ISKCON this year will not only be an elaborate celebration, but also an educational and cultural programme. "Over a lakh devotees are expected to participate, as compared to last year's 35,000," says Chaitanya Charan Das, spokesperson for ISKCON. The exceptional characteristic of the programme would be the numerous abhisheks, wherein over 25,000 disciples would offer the sanctified bath to the Lord. A question and answer booth set up in the premises of ISKCON will have IIT graduates sharing nuggets on the glory of the Indian culture and philosophy."

Celebrating Krishna</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=254055

</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">The city is gearing up to celebrate Lord Krishna's birthday on September 4 with fervour and devotion</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">

</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">Neha Madaan</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">

</td></tr><tr valign="top"> <td colspan="3"> This Janmashtami, go back to those childhood stories told by grandma or the family pandit, about Lord Krishna's tumultuous but inevitable entry into the world, so as to restore dharma to its rightful place. Be a part of the celebrations around you to commemorate the Lord's birth. And decide where you would want to be on September 4, the day marked for Lord's Krishna reverence.

Shyam Joshi, the priest at the Shree Ashtasiddhi Hanuman Temple in MG road tells us, "The temple authorities will commence the preparations at 6 am, with an aarti and abhishek. In the evening again, arrangements are made for the Sandhya aarti. The temple priests distribute sweets from dawn to dusk. At 12 am precisely, the aarti, signifying Lord Krishna's birth, commences in earnest.

 

In the Pushtimarg sect, the God worshipped is Shri Nathjee, the child image of Krishna. The temples built to worship Shri Nathjee are customarily known as Haveli temples. One such temple is in Rasta Peth. The authorities in the temple go by a set of norms, or stringent rules, to be accurate. "The cradles of Bal Krishna, are beautifully adorned with flowers. His effigy is bathed with water drawn from wells by priests wearing Pitambar," reveals Joshi.

The Janmashthmi festival at ISKCON this year will not only be an elaborate celebration, but also an educational and cultural programme. "Over a lakh devotees are expected to participate, as compared to last year's 35,000," says Chaitanya Charan Das, spokesperson for ISKCON. The exceptional characteristic of the programme would be the numerous abhisheks, wherein over 25,000 disciples would offer the sanctified bath to the Lord. A question and answer booth set up in the premises of ISKCON will have IIT graduates sharing nuggets on the glory of the Indian culture and philosophy.

Discourses, delivering the Janmashtami message and the relevance of the festival in modern lives marred with stress and terror, are also on the list. Bharatnatyam per-formances based on the miracles of Krishna will be performed at the Alpa Bachat Bhavan, a short distance from the ISCKON campus. “Also, kirtans and darshans have been organised on September 3 and 4 at the Camp centre. A special midnight darshan is arranged as well, on the night of September 4," Charan Das adds.

</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3">http://www.krishnajanmashtami.com/</td></tr></tbody></table>