Sri Holiotsava, Sri Gaur Purnima Mahotsav at
ISKCON Baroda

BY: BASU GHOSH DAS

Mar 14, BARODA, INDIA (SUN) — On March 10 & 11, 2009, both considered the full moon days in the month of falgun, the Holiotsava (festival of Holi) and Sri Gaur Purnima, the 523rd annual Appearance Day of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were observed by huge crowds who gathered at ISKCON Baroda.

The ancient Holi festival, where an effigy of Holika is burnt, was observed by a small gathering on the night of March 10. The tradition is that a small puja is performed to the effigy of Holika.

One explanation of the holi festival can be found here. There are other places on the Internet that describe the Holi festival, as well.

The next day, March 11, 2009, was observed as Sri Gaura Purnima. A large group of devotees gathered in the morning for the “darshan arati”, to see the new dress for Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaur Nitai, Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar, and Sri Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadradevi.

The Deities in Their new dress were exquisitely decorated with flowers, garlands, fruits, etc. Extra “dias” (engraved decorative brass oil lamps) were kept in front of the Deities, all the while lit up.

Gaur Purnima, held several “Gaura kirtan” sessions, beginning in the morning, and sang many poems written by the Gaudiya Vaishnava Acaryas in glorification of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In the evening, at 6:15 PM, the panchamrita abhishek (“bathing ceremony” with five nectars) of Sri Sri Gaur Nitai was performed by H. H. Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja and the temple pujaris, while Sankirtan was performed continuously by temple devotees, congregational devotees and eager onlookers. Thereafter, at 7:00 PM, the sandhya arati was held. Thousands of devotees - citizens of Baroda - began to pour into the temple for holy darshan of Their Lordships.

Prasada distribution then began on a massive scale, and we estimate that over ten thousand people were served with prasad plates. Each visitor was given a plate of prasad consisting of rice, mung bean soup, subji and “lapsi” (Gujarati for “sweet cracked wheat”).

For donors, life members and various social leaders, in the basement below the temple, prasada was served with three additional preparations: kadi, spiced chenna (chickpeas) and puris.

The IYF (ISKCON Youth Forum) devotees manned three book tables, just outside the temple room in the temple compound, and IYF leader, Dr. Damodar Chaitanya das, presented a Powerpoint presentation on the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness on a large screen set up in the garden, in front of the temple.

Some of the prominent social leaders who visited the temple at this time were Sri Bhupendra Lakhawala, City member of the Gujarat legislative assembly (MLA) and also President of the Baroda City BJP (the “Hindu Nationalist” party that rules Gujarat state), Sri Jitendra Sukhadia, our area MLA, Sri Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Additional Municipal Commissioner, Sri Agarwalji, Inspector General of Police, Baroda Rural, Sri Naranbhai Patel, Chairman, Narmada Nigam (Narmada River Irrigation Scheme), Sri Narayanbhai Shah, Chief of the City Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sri Sheth, the new City President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, Sri Chiragbhai Jhaveri, leader of the Opposition (Congress Party) in the Baroda Municipal Corporation, a number of Municipal Corporators (locally elected representatives including Sri Chiragbhai Barot, BMC Standing Committee member, and a number of community business leaders, donors, etc.

The burning of Holika, the new dress and exquisite decoration of the Deities at ISKCON Baroda, the abhishek of Sri Sri Gaur Nitai by H.H. Bhakti Vikas Swami and ISKCON Baroda pujaris, the huge crowds gathered in the temple and in the temple compound, the long queue of people waiting for prasada, prasada service by ISKCON Baroda “param sevika” (outstanding servant) Smt. Kantadevi Shivlal Goyal and her children, and scenes of the prasada for life members, etc., can be seen in the additional pictures posted here.

Very special thanks to all of the donors, without whose help and sponsorship the massive prasada distribution would not have been possible.

Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu avirbhav, Sri Gaur Purnima Mahotsav ki jaya!