By Ritudvipa Gaurachandra dasa (Uttar Pradesh Padayatra leader)
The Uttar Pradesh padayatris observed Gaura-purnima at Gonda, about 50km northwest of Ayodhya, in a very beautiful way at the city’s large Ram Janaki temple. The festival was attended by about 100 devotees from Baliya, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi and Moradabad.
Gaura-purnima is the celebration of the most auspicious and adorable advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – the Golden Avatara. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, with the serving mood of Srimati Radharani, appeared as Lord Chaitanya to establish the sankirtan movement, the yuga dharma for this age of Kali.
Just as we celebrated Janmastami on a grand level, we also celebrated Gaura-purnima in the same way. Their Lordships were beautifully dressed in new attire and the chariot was decorated with garlands. We offered 180 bhoga to Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar on the chariot and 180 bhoga to Lord Ram and Janaki maiya in the temple. Temple head Mr Mitalji said he had never seen such huge offerings to the Lord in mud pots. Maha prasadam was then served to 1000 guests: paneer sabji, tomato chutney, dal, puri, halwa, chawal, and juice.
Gonda residents enthusiastically attended the event, many of them inviting me to their nearby places for programmes. The temple trustees made all facilities available, such as prasadam, guesthouse, etcetera, and suspended their businesses to be with us for ten days serving Their Lordships. They also invited us for Janmastami, but that was the Lord’s desire: He is definitely pleased with their service and will bless them.
It was a wonderful experience being here and we thank the team that helped us prepare for the occasion. It’s all the mercy of our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja. By his inspiration we are trying to do such programmes.
Hare Krishna.
Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar ki jai.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai.
