By Acarya Dasa, Leader of All India Padayatra
WHY GAURA PURNIMA IS SO SPECIAL TO US?
Gaura Purnima is the auspicious appearance day of Sri Caitanya MahaPrabhu, also known as Gauranga due to His golden complexion. The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna appeared as Sri Caitanya MahaPrabhu to establish sankirtana, the chanting of the Holy Names as the yuga dharma for this age of Kali. This year is the 532nd anniversary of His appearance. Gaura Purnima is a very special day for us padayatris, because on that day we glorify our dear Gaurasundara who has been walking with us since almost 35 years, tolerating scorching sun, cold winds and heavy rains.
ISKCON-KORAMANGALA
Since one month we have been in Bangalore. It’s a big city with many preaching centers spread all over. We visited almost all the centers and arranged preaching programs in their zones. During the busy schedule of our preaching program we were pondering where to celebrate this year’s Gaura Purnima festival when on the same day we were invited by the devotees of ISKCON-Koramangala for their Gaura Purnima celebrations. Koramangala is a small preaching center. In big temple celebrations usually we do not get any seva -we have to be mostly guests- so this time we were delighted to get the opportunity to serve.. Expecting a huge number of people, the devotees of Koramangala booked the Laxmi Devi Stadium, 6th Block Playground for the event. They printed colourful invitation pamphlets and invited the devotees and the public with the help of modern social media such as facebook and WhatsApp. The chief guests were Sri R. Ramlinga Reddy (Honorable Home minister of Karnataka) and Sri M. Chandrappa (Honorable Corporator, Koramangala). They also invited special guests: Vijay Venugopal Dasa and his good wife Prema Padmini Devi Dasi who organize Bhakti vriksha classes for the congregational devotees. The posters advertised our presence: “Let’s celebrate Gaura Purnima with All India Padayatris”. The devotees of Koramangala were very glad to have us with them. One of them commented, “This Gaura Purnima is very special as Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara are with us.”
CELEBRATION DAY
On the 2nd of March during the day we performed nagar sankirtana in the Koramangala area. In the evening about 1500 devotees assembled for the celebration.The festival began with a palaki utsava (palanquin procession) where the utsava Deities of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara were taken out in a procession in a palaki bedecked with flowers. Devotees performed maha sankirtana to please the Supreme Lord. As everyone joined the sankirtana, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra resounded in every corner of the streets of the city.
After the procession, the congregation devotees staged a drama depicting the pastimes of Lord Gauranga and then performed a grand abhisheka of the Deities Their Lordships were first bathed with panchamrita and then with panchagavya followed by various fruit juices. Devotees chanted prayers from the Brahma-samhita glorifying the Lord then performed a grand Gaura arati after which Nitai Gaurasundar were bathed with sanctified water from 108 kalashas while the devotees chanted the Purusha Sukta prayers. Their Lordships then received pushpa vrishti (showering of flowers) and a special offering of 56 dishes (chappanbhoga).
Then all the assembled devotees glorified Sri Caitanya MahaPrabhu by singing Sri Sachitanaya Ashtakam that describes His transcendental form, qualities and activities. Vijay Venugopal Dasa spoke about the pastimes of Lord Gauranga. I was also invited to speak so I shared some experiences we had on Padayatra and talked about how Lord Gaurasundara always protects us and makes us walk constantly, spreading the holy name. We fasted till moonrise, when everyone honoured opulent prasadam.
