Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
Mayapura, West Bengal
Many sacred events are taking place; the worship of param guru, Bhaktisiddhanta, the opening of a museum in honour of the Founder/Acharya, Prabhupada, and many more features of this year’s festival. In the meantime, our cultural events keep going on, especially the drama. The more unfortunate thing is some of these important features are clashing with each other.
Puja (worship) is consistent in the headquarters of ISKCON. Every day I walk by the bhajan kutir, or the place where our guru, Srila Prabhupada, first camped when the Mayapura project first began in the early 70s. The early morning arati takes place, and there you have worship of the deities, Gaura Nitai. Five hundred years ago, these two saintly figures met within a kilometre of the location where the priest offers articles of gratitude in this traditional and symbolic way. The vocalist and the drummer were particularly projecting their talent and love so sweetly over the sound of the priest’s bells.
When I entered the major temple, I partook in the puja for Tulasi, the sacred green, a member of the basil family. This is where it gets fun. There are so many pilgrims present at the time, and women have the knack to ululate, so I just break away from the male musicians for ten seconds to indicate to the pilgrims to make that same ululating sound that is so inspiring for everyone.
MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!
21,232 STEPS
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