At the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple of ISKCON Nagpur (Gate No. 2, behind Empress Mall, Gandhi Sagar, Nagpur), the Sri Krishna Janmashtami Festival was celebrated with great enthusiasm, devotion, and joy. The temple premises were beautifully decorated with flowers, lighting, spiritual messages, and enactments of divine pastimes—among which the Jharkhand Lila and Vrindavan Lila were the main attractions.
More than one lakh devotees participated in the grand celebration of Lord Krishna’s appearance day and experienced the nectar of devotion. The festival, held under the inspiration of ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s dear disciple Srila Lokanath Swami Maharaj, had as its chief guest Nagpur City Police Commissioner Dr. Ravindra Singhal and special guest Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural) Deepak Agrawal. The guests were welcomed by Dr. Shyamsunder Sharma.
Commissioner Dr. Singhal first performed Abhishek of the small deities of Sri Radha-Krishna with Panchamrit (a mixture of milk, yogurt, ghee, sugar, and honey) and then took darshan of the main deities, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath. Kalpataru Prabhu honored him with a garland offered to the Lord. Addressing the ISKCON Youth Forum volunteers, Dr. Singhal expressed his joy at seeing such a large number of dedicated young devotees.
Himanshu Prabhu explained that these youths are students of engineering, medical, and other colleges, and they strictly abstain from all intoxicants—even tea and coffee. The Commissioner remarked that ISKCON’s work is similar to their anti-addiction mission. Shantanu Prabhu added that ISKCON began as a movement for de-addiction: when the hippie culture in America was rampant with intoxication, even the government was troubled, but Srila Prabhupada transformed those hippies into devotees of Krishna. Today, they too avoid even tea and coffee, and many of them have become ISKCON monks.
Later, Dr. Singhal also addressed the girls of ISKCON Girls Forum. Harikirtan Prabhu thanked him for attending the Janmashtami celebrations. Finally, Param Karuna Prabhu presented him with Srila Prabhupada’s book “Krishna” as a gift. Special guest Deepak Agrawal performed Abhishek of the Lord with juices of various fruits. After darshan of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, he witnessed the Jharkhand Lila, which depicted the pastime of Lord Chaitanya in the forests of Jharkhand, where even deer, lions, and other animals joined together in kirtan—a scene brought vividly to life.
ISKCON Nagpur spokesperson Dr. Shyamsunder Sharma informed that the flow of devotees continued from 4:30 AM till 12:30 midnight. Proper arrangements with railings were made so that no devotee faced any inconvenience. A large pandal was set up for cultural programs, while arrangements for abhishek continued smoothly from 11 AM to 11 PM.
The pandal program commenced at 5 PM with the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra by the devotees. This was followed by special cultural performances, including Radha-Madhav Bharatanatyam, Radha Gori Gori Dance, Yashomati Nandan Dance, Dashavatar Natya Dance, Radha Raman Hari Govind Dance, Krishna – Glory of India Dance (Thematic), Janma Badhai Utsav, Gangs of Vrindavan, The Second Chance, Krishna Leela Dance, and more.
The program was beautifully anchored by Preeti Sengupta of ISKCON Girls Forum, with captivating choreography by Indrajit Prabhu.
All performances by young and senior artists were presented under the guidance of Adishakti Mataji and Shubhangi Radha Mataji of ISKCON Girls Forum, and Gopal Leela Prabhu of Gopal Garden. These presentations were highly appreciated by the devotees present.
After the cultural events, ISKCON’s Harikirtan Prabhu narrated the beautiful Krishna Leela and emphasized in his address the importance of moral education for today’s youth, which the current education system fails to provide. He said ISKCON is committed to fulfilling this gap by spreading the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita and Vedic wisdom to all. For this very purpose, ISKCON’s new temple – IVCC (International Vedic Cultural Center) – is under construction at Imperian City, Kotewada near Jamtha, where systematic education of Bhagavad-gita and Vedic culture will be imparted.
Finally, at midnight, the grand Maha Arati of the Lord was performed amidst ecstatic kirtan and great jubilation, followed by the offering of 56 bhogas.
The festival was made successful by the dedicated service of Sachidananda Prabhu, Harikirtan Prabhu, Vrajendra Tanay Prabhu, Prannath Prabhu, Aradhya Bhagavan Prabhu, Vishal Prabhu, Shripandharinath Prabhu, Param Karuna Prabhu, Sadhana Bhakti Mataji, Venugopal Prabhu, Sanjay Gupta Prabhu, Kishan Dave Prabhu, Dhiraj Agrawal Prabhu, Ashish Khandelwal Prabhu, Gaur Prasad Prabhu, Shantanu Prabhu, and many others.
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