By Radha Mohan Das
ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor, the spiritual sanctuary donated by the Beatle George Harrison in 1973, celebrated a historic milestone this week after hosting the Temple’s 50th annual Janmashtami festival.
The festival featured live music, performances, clothing, jewelry, food, and craft stalls, a children’s play area, a beautifully hand-decorated forest depicting scenes from Lord Krishna’s childhood pastimes, with the beautiful shrine adorned with flowers and sacred figures of
Janmashtami commemorates the earthly appearance of Krishna, who is described in India’s sacred writings as God Himself. One of the biggest religious festivals in the world, it is celebrated by nine hundred and thirty million people around the world–and two mill
Rishi Sunak and his wife celebrated the festival of Janmashtami at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire, near London. Mr. Sunak and his family have made visits to the temple in the past. Today, Mr. and Mrs. Sunak were welcomed with the customary tradition of the blowing of a conch shell, and they were garlanded before they toured the Temple, which was donated by George Harrison of the Beatles. The couple were greeted by Her Grace Visakha Dasi, the temple president, who said “We invite everyone
𝐀𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐊𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐧𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚
“…. So, this bhakti, devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, is so nice. And under that bhakti category, this Janmāṣṭamī… Of course, this Janmāṣṭamī ceremony is observed by all Hindus. Irrespective of becoming Vaiṣṇava or not, this ceremony is observed in India, every home. Just like in your Western countries the Christmas is observed in every home, similarly, Janmāṣṭamī is observed in every home. Today is a great ceremonial day.
So, our program
By Radha Mohan Das
The Janmashtami festival held at Bhaktivedanta Manor was unsurprisingly not the usual with more than 30,000 attendance with tents, shows, exhibitions and plenty of free prasad. The temple did the best they could within the parameters of present government restrictions: They introduced a 'pre-booked ticket' system for darshan, spread over a number of days.
One of the highlights of the festival is always the drama on the main stage by the Bhaktivedanta Players..
This year the
