ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir at South Bombay, I traveled to ISKCON's
Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Mandir at Juhu, at North Bombay.
Upon my arrival, I was taken up, onto the second floor balcony, to the
backside of the temple by Juhu Temple President Braja Hari Prabhu. There,
flag (“dwaja”) donors, along with H.H. Navayogendra Swami, and Juhu temple
leaders were preparing to participate in the “dwajaarohanam” (flag hoisting)
ceremony.
It was amazing to see that the Bombay Fire Brigade's “extendable pulley
system ladder” vehicle, a “Volvo” truck, was employed to carry devotees and
donors into the sky, and up to the flag posts on top of the temple domes!
After reaching the domes by way of the ladder and performing arati with a
camphor lamp to the chakras on the domes, the donors fixed the highly
decorative flags onto the flag-posts.
The “dwajaarohanam” was video filmed by the ITV Bombay crew. A huge
extension pole was used to hold a video camera in place to shoot the
“dwajaarohanam” ceremonies from close up - in the air!
After the sandhya arati, a “nauka vihar” (“pastimes on a boat”) was
organized in the courtyard in front the Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Mandir.
The entire courtyard was filled with water and was fenced-in, to create a
“separate space” as it were.
The “utsava” (small) Deities of Sri Sri Sri Sita Rama Lakshman and Hanuman
were brought into the boat with “due ceremony” and a number of senior ISKCON
devotees guided the boat around the water-filled courtyard to the great
delight of a number of gathered temple and congregational devotees and
visitors to the temple.
Senior ISKCON leaders H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami, H.H. Navayogendra Swami,
Bhima Das, Braja Hari Das, Devakinandan Das, Basu Ghosh Das, Bhaktisiddhanta
Das from Vrindavan, ISKCON Juhu Vice President Mukunda Madhava Das,
Dhanvantari Das and many other senior devotees from the Juhu temple
participated in serving Their Lordships in the “nauka vihar” program.
Laddu and banana prasad were distributed by the devotees to the crowd
observing the “vihar”, much to their delight!
Earlier in the day, “maha kalash abhishek” was performed at Juhu temple's
“Sita Rama Lakshman, Hanuman altar, and more than two hundred seventy
kalashas were sponsored by temple well-wishers and employed in bathing Their
Lordships.
Comments