Sri Gaur Purnima festival on 21 March, 2019

            Please accept the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

           533 years ago, Lord Sri Krishna descended once again as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is The Supreme Person, appearing as His own devotee, to teach us that we can gain full enlightenment simply by chanting the holy names of the Lord, and to illuminate our lives woth the most sublime and effective means of liberation, in the present age known as Kali Yuga; with the chanting of the holy names of God viz. The Mahamantra :

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna       Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama    Rama Rama Hare Hare

             Srila Prabhupada said ,

“ All persons in this material world are suffering from material pains, and if one wants to get rid of them, he must associate with saintly persons, pure devotees of the Lord, and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. That is the only auspicious way for materialistic persons.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 4.22.15 Purport)

The appearance day of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is celebrated all over the world by devotees as Sri Gaur Purnima festival. This year Gaur Purnima is on 21 March, 2019. By mercy of their Lordships, More than 600 centres of ISKCON all over the world will be celebrating this most auspicious festival on 21 March 2019.

 In order to celebrate Sri Gaur Purnima festival with great enthusiasm, pomp and fervour, the special programs to be held on this auspicious day at ISKCON Chandigarh , Hare Krishna Dham, Dakshin Marg, Sector 36-B,Chandigarh on 21st March, 2019 are as follows:

1)      Nagar Sankirtan in Sector 36 at 5.30 A.M. for 2 hours in order to infuse the city with divine mercy of Yuga Dharma (Sri Hari Nama Sankirtan) and to spiritually surcharge the atmosphere with divine chants.

2)      Attractive and colourful floral decoration of the entire temple hall & the altar. Srila Prabhupada believed that the temple is one of the few places where one can immediately experience a deep peace and bliss just by going into the premises . He emphasized on decorating the temple and celebrating festivals in an exuberant manner throughout the year for by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his deity form, we can purify ourselves from material contamination and by engaging all our senses in directly serving Him, we can get rid of our non-devotional tendencies.

3)      New outfits to Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Madhava & Lord   Chaitanya alongwith exquisite Shringar.  Srila Prabhupada  said that The more the Deity is decorated, the more your heart will be decorated with Krishna consciousness. Decorate the Deity as nicely as possible with nice flowers and dress. You will forget all other false beauty.”

4)      Grand Abhishek of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at 6 P.M. Their Lordships are first bathed with panchamrita and then with panchagavya followed by various fruit juices. Devotees chant prayers from the Brahma-samhita, glorifying the Lord. After the arati, the Deities are bathed with sanctified water from 108 kalashas while the devotees chant the Purusha Sukta prayers. Their Lordships then receive pushpa vrishti (showering of flowers) and a special offering of 56 dishes (chappan bhog)

5)      Maha Arati of the Lord at 7.30 P.M. : A grand Arati is performed to the accompaniment of the  Gaura Arati  song composed by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

6)      Ecstatic Kirtan during the whole program. Devotees perform maha sankirtana to please the Supreme Lord. As everyone joins in the sankirtana, the Hare Krishna maha mantra resounds in every corner of the temple.

7) Lecture on the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by H.H. Bhakti Ashrya Vaishnav Swami from Vrindavan.

8) A book on Building India upon Values, “WEED OUT” to be released by Dr. M.S. Malik – IPS, (Retd.), Former DGP Haryana .

This thought provoking book aims to enlighten and create awareness about the hazardous effect of  addictions and will surely be of great help for the youth of the nation

9)      Full feast Prasadam (Bhandara) for all the visitors and guests. Eating the food that’s been offered to Krishna with such love and devotion brings about an inner wealth that can’t be purchased with any amount of money. This is the wealth of spiritual life. Srila Prabhupada writes,

“Preparing nice, simple vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity of Lord Krsna, and bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering enable one to advance steadily in life, to purify the body, and to create fine brain tissues, which will lead to clear thinking. When one offers Krsna food, Krsna directly accepts such eatables, and one becomes Krsna-ized by eating such remnants.”

(Srila Prabhupada  in a Letter dated July 15, 1969 wrote:

“Our movement is for ananda, simply bliss, and the method of pushing this movement is chanting, dancing, feasting and philosophizing.”

So, Please, come and join us for this most auspicious celebration. It’s a transcendental experience , you’ll cherish for all times to come.