Nila Kamal das: Madan is a small village located in North Bangladesh. For the last seven years, devotees from ISKCON Netrakona have been preaching there and have established regular Nama Hatta programs. There are around twenty initiated devotees there and they are conducting regular preaching programs there. ISKCON Netrakona devotees visit every month to inspire and enthuse the local devotees.
On the auspicious day of Lord Rama’s appearance, devotees from Madan arranged a wonderful pandal program in which nearly 2000 locals visited, took part in and honoured prasad.
‘Go on holding as many festivals as possible. Your reports are very convincing, this combination of book distribution and public festivals is very good for bringing the people to an attraction for Krishna Consciousness.’ June 5th 1974
On the day of the festival, devotees arrived in Madan around 11am. To the surprise of the devotees there were heavy wind and rain. Locals said that such extreme weather conditions were not to be seen even in the rainy season! At twelve noon, a yajna was performed under the expert guidance of HG Shyamasundarananda das (Mayapur). This was done in order to invoke auspiciousness for the festival. At the end of the yajna, Indra sent his blessings down again in the form of heavy rain. A small abhishek was then performed to a picture of Sita, Rama, Lakshman and Hanuman for Their pleasure. Devotees then went to break their fast and attend other services.
The evening program started at five with ecstatic kirtan. After the evening arati ceremony, various speakers shared their insights and realisations about the festival. Dr Subhananda das (National Heart Foundation, Dhaka) delivered a wonderful speech on how Lord Rama is ‘Maryada Purusottam’ and how He set the ideal example for all to follow. International guests from Spain and England then spoke to the audience and expressed their’ gratitude and happiness to be in Bangladesh to celebrate this festival.
Last but not least, the chief guest of the program; Shyamasundarananda das addressed the audience. He spoke on the paradox of the modern age. He described how the rich culture of Bangladesh is rapidly changing. ‘Every night in villages there used to be topics discussed on Ramayana and Mahabharata but now that tradition is not to be found. Now in the nights we find the villagers watching television or chatting on their smart phones.’ This statement deeply penetrated into the hearts of the locals. His grace then went on to narrate some wonderful pastimes of Lord Ramacandra which few devotees had ever heard off.
To conclude the speeches, HG Jay Ram das (ISKCON Netrakona President) thanked all the participants and volunteers for the festival and encouraged Madan devotees to again hold this festival next year.
The night ended with a drama performance by devotees enacting some sweet pastimes of Lord Rama. We would like to thank all the devotees who put in hard work and efforts in order for this program to be successful. We would especially like to thank the brahmacaris from ISKCON Netrakona, many who had sleepless in order to make arrangements for the program.
We hope that Srila Prabhupada and Caitanya Mahaprabhu are pleased with our humble efforts.
You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments!
Comments