10th issue - Nitya-seva newsletter

July, 2016 - 10th issue

 The summer months are always quite busy in New Vraja-dhama with one festival following another. At the beginning of July one of the smaller ones is when we harvest Radha-Syama’s first grains.  This festival is celebrated every year with small Radha-Syama and Govardhana-lal going to the fields accompanied by the devotees.  There They watch the reaping of a particular field of wheat chosen for the occasion.  All the devotees participate in the reaping, where they thresh some grains, grind the flour and then the cooks make various preparations from it for Their Lordships:  Chapatis from the first flour, subjis and savouries from local vegetables.

 
At the end of the month we held our biggest preaching-festival of the year:  Krishna Valley summer fayre. This year 7300 guest arrived during those 3 days for the pleasure of Radha-Syama. Guests are given a tour of the temple every 15 minutes and there were so many guests, that groups consisting of 50-100, were taken around many times. The guests also have the opportunity to view the gardens, to visit the cowshed, to ride on an ox drawn cart or use the trackless motorised train... They can get an idea of the every-day life of the devotees too by trying on traditional Indian clothing and tasting traditional Indian food, and there were performances on stage from morning until the evening for their entertainment. We’ve received so many positive feedbacks from guests who came and many of them left with Srila Prabhupada’s books.

But Radha-Syama’s pastimes even crossed the boundaries of New Vraja-dhama! Small Radha-Syama are the Deities Who travel around on festivals. They are the ones Who go on parikramas and visit holy places, Who enjoy boating pastimes, Who get bathed during abhishek ceremonies. They also don’t just participate in local festivals, but They like to go on preaching programs too: sometimes They visit Nama-hattas and this month They were invited to Nitya-seva programs as well, where They desire to get more and more devotees involved into Their service! The programs we have had so far have been very successful with the devotees having the opportunity to invite Them into Their homes in the company of their friends, to offer their personal services to Their Lordships.

We only have two weeks left until Janmastami: the twentieth anniversary of the installation of Radha-Syama. The pujaris and the festival-organizers have been planning for months how to make this special day unforgettable for all and every devotee, by meditating on what kind of present should they offer to the Divine Couple. We would like to encourage all of you to come and together let us offer a wonderful festival for the pleasure of Radha-Syamasundara! Also if there are some amongst you who would like to serve Them by giving your donations towards Their Nitya-seva, you will find one of the members of the Nitya-seva team at our desk in the temple, positioned at the middle corridor to help you: either Srila Sivarama Swami Maharaja, Candragupta prabhu, Syamajiu mataji or Anuragi mataji. Please help make this 20th anniversary celebration for Radha-Syama really special!

Jaya Radha-Syama!

10th August, 2016., New Vraja-dhama