Contents: 2003 - 3  [Jan-April] — Gandaki Muktinatha, Gaura Purnima Festival, Varadaraja in Kondaggi, Laksmi-Narasimha in Javagal, Yoga-Narasimha in Belavadi, Mahabalipuram, Pakshi-tirtha, Vasanta-pancami, Wedding of Govardhana and Krsna-priya dd.

See Events Index below for more events from 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 & 2000.

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Latest 2003 Events (August onwards)

April 2003

Gandaki Muktinatha
Sripad Visnu Maharaja and Sripad Narasingha Maharaja went on a pilgrimage last month to Gandaki River and Muktinatha, in the Nepal region of the Himalayas.

Gandaki River is the sacred river in which one may find the self-manifest form of the Supreme Lord known as Saligrama-sila. The Gandaki River is an incarnation of Tulasi-devi and the Saligrama-silas found along the Gandaki are incarnations of Krsna and Visnu.

The pilgrimage to Gandaki was highlighted by the discovery of a large Narasimha-saligrama-sila now being worshipped at Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha.

Two thousand feet above Gandaki is the sacred place of pilgrimage known as Muktinatha. Here resides the Deity form of Visnu with His consorts Sri-devi and Bhu-devi.

Muktinatha is the highest Visnu temple (in terms of elevation above sea level) in the world. Thus the Rg-Veda verse (1.22.20,21) comes to mind:

om tad visno paramam padam sada
pasyanti surayah diviva caksur-atatam
tad vipraso vipanyavo jagrvamsah
samindhate visnor yat paramam padam

“The lotus feet of Visnu (the abode of the Supreme Lord) are above all, like the Sun is above our head. Great demigods and saintly persons always see the lotus feet of Visnu, recognizing Him as the highest truth. Spiritually awakened souls learned in transcendental understanding always glorify the Supreme Lord and make the abode of the Lord more brilliant.”

A video DVD is soon to be release from DevaVision in which Narasingha Maharaja and Visnu Maharaja share their pilgrimage with their viewers.

Sri Gaura Purnima Festival
On 18th March 2003, the residents of Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha celebrated the divine appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Two days before the auspicious event, devotees took turns throughout the day in singing various songs glorifying the Lord.

On Sri Gaura-purnima itself, after the mangala-arati of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava, Srila Narasingha Maharaja gave a class describing the advent of Sriman Mahaprabhu and His unique contribution to mankind. The class culminated in a kirtana led by Srila Narasingha Maharaja.

At 1.30pm, there was a homa held in the yajnasala with offerings to Mahaprabhu and His saktis, Sri Laksmipriya, Sri Visnupriya and Sri Navadvipa Dhama (Bhu-devi, Sri-devi and Nila-devi).

At 4.30pm the abhiseka of the Deity of Mahaprabhu was performed with panca-gavya, pancamrta, musk, gorocana, mahausadhi, sarvausadhi and other auspicious items. This was followed by a palki-utsava wherein Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai (the Deities from our Bangalore center) where taken on procession, accompanied by flags, banners and ornate umbrellas as the assembled devotees chanted the Holy Names of the Lord.

At 7.00pm Srila Visnu Maharaja offered the arati to the Deities (on their new simhasana) which was followed by the bhoga offering. Maha-prasadam and caranamrta was then distributed by the pujaris to all the devotees and guests.

This festival also saw the inauguration of the new Deity kitchen and prasadam hall at Govindaji Gardens.

A Day Trip
Recently, devotees from Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha took a short day trip to several nearby temples in Karnataka.

The first place they visited was the temple of Sri Varadaraja in Kondaggi. Inside this externally plain and unassuming temple is the beautiful Deity of Lord Varadaraja, Who stands about 18 feet high and was installed about 900 years ago.

The temple priest explained that this Deity was originally from Trichy in Tamil Nadu and was meant to be installed at the Channa-kesava Temple in Belur. However, the plans for the installation changed and the man who had paid for the Deity gave Him to a king to be worshipped in a temple near the town of Hassan. Unfortunately, after the king had built the new temple for Lord Varadaraja, he discovered that the door was far too small for the large Deity to fit through. Later, one old lady from Kondaggi purchased the Deity from the king and built a small temple around the Deity. Since that time Lord Varadaraja has always been worshipped in the village of Kondaggi.

Sri Varadaraja	Sri Sri Laksmi-Narasimha

Some years ago a local politician wanted to take the Deity of Varadaraja to Hassan and built a huge temple for Him there. The villagers of Kondaggi became furious and refused to let the Lord go and so the plan was abandoned.

The party of devotees then visited Sri Sri Laksmi-Narasimha in Javagal which also has Deities of Krsna and Narayana. There is also a smaller shrine where the 12 Alvar saints of the Sri sampradaya are worshipped.

The last place that the devotees visited was the Vira-Narayana Temple in Belavadi. This ancient Hoysala temple houses the three Deities of Vira-Narayana, Yoga-Narasimha and Venu Gopala. These Deities were installed by a brahmana community known as the Dharagni-hotris 900 years ago. At that time there were 700 such families in Belavadi who took care of these Deities.

Vira-Narayana	Venu Gopala

The main Deity, Lord Vira-Narayana is standing, holding cakra and club in His two upper-hands, and His two lower-hands show the vira-mudra (gesture of chivalry).

Lord Yoga-Narasimha, as His Name suggests, sits in yoga-asana and is flanked by Bhu-devi and Sri-devi, His eternal consorts.The intricately carved Deity of Sri Venu Gopala is considered by the Archeological Survey of India to be the most beautiful example of Hoysala carving in all of South India.

Yoga-Narasimha

The head priest here is Sri Srinivasa Murti, the father of Baladeva Dasa, one of the resident devotees of Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha. He belongs to the ancient Vaikhanasa sampradaya and thus all the worship in this temple is performed according to the Vaikhanasa agama sastras. Srinivasa Murti offered a special puja to Lord Narasimha and arranged lunch for all the devotees.

Mahabalipuram
Devotees recently visited Mahabalipuram just south of Chennai. Mahabalipuram is famous as one of the 108 Divya-deshams (holy places) revered by the Sri Vaisnava-sampradaya. Mahabalipuram was the birth place of Sri Bhuta Yogi, the second of the twelve Alvars (saints) in Sri Vaisnavism. In the center of the town is the temple of Sri Sthalasayana Perumal, which was also visited by Sri Caitanya Deva in 1510 AD. Mahabalipuram is a very ancient holy place and has many cave temples, stone carvings and shrines dating back several thousand years.

Nearby Mahabalipuram (14 kilometers to the west) is a place known as Pakshi-tirtha in Tirukkalukundram. The place is famous and considered a holy place for several reasons. The foremost of which is that every day for the past 5,000 years (or possibly more) two eagles have come to the summit of the mountain called Veda-giri to take the prasadam of Lord Siva from the hand of a local Brahmin. These two birds have been coming daily for thousands of years and hundreds of pilgrims gather daily at the summit of Veda-giri to witness the event.

To verify the antiquity of the daily arrival of these two eagles there is a stone pillar in the temple court yard which bears a carving of the two eagles.

The Archeological Survey Department of India has dated the stone pillar as being from the 7th century AD. There is also a mention in the Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila Ch. 9, Tx. 72 of Sri Caitanya having visited Pakshi-tirtha during His South India tour (1510 AD). (Further evidences of the antiquity of the two eagles coming to Veda-giri every day is available at the Archeological Survey of India at Chennai)

But the sad part of this story is that as of 1998 the two eagles have not visited Veda-giri to take prasadam. This was an event that had occurred for thousands of years and was witnessed by millions of people but now it has mysteriously come to an end.

One of the local temple priests told us that the two birds were in fact great devotees of Lord Siva and that they would come daily to Veda-giri for the duration of one yuga. The priest said that he thought that the yuga of the eagles must have come to an end and indeed he seemed sad if not worried. In any case the event that once occurred daily (and verifiably so) for thousands of years has now come to an end. Nevertheless, our devotees were happy to visit a tirtha blessed by the presence of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Additional photos may be seen on the corresponding pilgrimage page.

Vasanta-pancami
Vasanta-pancami was celebrated on Thursday 7th February, The presiding Deities of Govindaji Gardens, Sri Sri Radha Madhava and Sri Sri Radha Govinda were elaborately decorated with flowers, mango leaves, banana-trees, flower buds and fruit, heralding the first day of spring during the month of Magha.

On the Vasanta Pancami day Srimati Radharani and the gopis are attacked with colored powder by Krsna and His friends as they are on their way to Nandisvara to cook for Krsna in the morning. Later, on the plea of performing worship of Kamadeva, Radharani meets with Lord Krsna and They both stroll through the forest of Vrndavana. There, They admire the freshly sprouted forest beauty, wandering through the groves amidst profuse jokes and laughter.

Wedding
January 18th (Purnima) the devotees at Govindaji Gardens, Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha, assembled in the late morning to witness and bless the marriage of Sriman Govardhana dasa and Srimati Krsna-priya Devi Dasi (both disciples of His Holiness Swami B. G. Narasingha).

The wedding function (vivaha, meaning to ‘uplift’) was conducted according to the rituals mentioned in ‘Sat Kriya-sara Dipika’ by Gopala Bhatta Goswami. When the fire-yajna was completed and the devotees and guests were bestowing their blessings upon the young couple, many persons commented that they had never seen such a spiritual wedding before.

After the yajna (fire ritual) was performed a grand kirtana (chanting of the Holy Names of Krsna) was held and the newly wedded couple then went before the Deities of Sri Sri Radhika Madhava-sundara and Sri Sri Radha Govinda-deva and pledged themselves in the Lord’s eternal service.

Then a wonderful offering of many devotionally prepared foodstuffs was made to the Deity, after which all the assembled devotees and guests honored a feast of Sri Krsna Maha-prasadam. (This was the first wedding ceremony ever performed at Govindaji Gardens)

Events Index by year — from latest to earliest.

2009  Karttika in Vrndavana - 2009,  Bhagavad Gita Widget & Guardian of Devotion Widget,  Radhastami & Vyasa Puja of Swami Narasingha - Kaliya-mardana Krsna Ashram - 2009,   Radhastami & Vyasa Puja of Swami Narasingha - Govindaji Gardens Ashram - 2009,   Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja Observance 2009,   Janmastami – Mexico 2009,   Janmastami – Govindaji Gardens 2009

2008

2008  [August] — New Books Published, Appearance of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Appearance of Srila B.G. Narasingha Maharaja, Janmasthami Celebrations 2008: Sri Narasingha Caitanya Matha and Kaliya-Mardhana Krsna Ashram.

2008  [April - June] — Narasinghadeva's Appearance Day Festival, Candana Yatra

2008  [January - March ] — Gaura Purnima at Govindaji Gardens, Gaura Purnima at Kaliya-Mardhana-Krsna Ashram, Sivaratri, Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, Vasant Pancami

2007

2007  [October - December] — Srila Prabhupada Tirubhava , Karttika in Vrndavan at Radha Damodar, Chief Minister Visits , Govardhana Puja, Sridhara Maharaja Appearance, Kartikka Masa,  The Philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

2007  [June-September] — Radhasthami, Vyasa Puja Srila Prabhupada, Vyasa Puja Srila B.G. Narasingha Maharaja, Janmasthami 2007, Renovation of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's samadhi finished,  Bhajan Kutira Renovation started.

2007  [March-May] — Sri Narasimha-caturdasi, Chandan Yatra, Srila Rupa Goswami Samadhi Reconstruction Progresses, Italy Center Opens [Srila Prabhupada Seva Ashram], Gaura Purnima observed at Govindaji Gardens.

2007  [February] — Srila Rupa Goswami Samadhi Reconstruction in Progress, Prabhupada Returns to his Rooms at Radha Damodara Temple, Bhumi Puja at Srila Rupa Goswami's Samadhi.

2007  [January] — Appearance of Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada, visit of Jayadvaita Swami, Visit by Sripada BB Bodhayana Maharaja, Appearance of Lord Nityananda, Marriage of Drdha Vrata and Gandarvika, Vasant Pancami, Visit of Guru Prasad Maharaja.

2006

2006  [October-December] — Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Disappearace, Srila Prabhupada Disappearace, Govardhana Puja, Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Appearance.

2006  [August-September] — Srila Bhakti Promoda Puri Gosvami Appearance, Radhasthami, Visiting Friends in Europe and the USA, 60th Appearance of Swami BG Narasingha, Vyasa Puja of Srila Prabhupada, Janmasthami 2006.

2006  [May-July] — Wedding of Sri Gopal Dasa and Anuradha Devi Dasi, Candana-yatra

2006  [January-April] — Hare Krsna Ashrama Inauguration Festival (Mulki), Gaura Purnima Celebration, Vasant Pancami Observance, New DVD Film Biography of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Installation of Kaliya Mardana Krsna Deity, Visit by Sri Nandanandana, Guru Prasad Swami and Swami B B Bodhayana.

2005

2005  [August-Dec.] — Visit of Paramadvaiti Maharaja, Anniversary of Sri Narasingha Chaitanya Matha, Karttika, Govardhana Puja, Srila Prabhupada Disappearance, Appearance of Bhaktivinoda, Radhasthami, Reprinting of Follow the Angels and In Search of the Ultimate goal of Life, Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja, Srila Narasingha Maharaja Vyasa Puja, New Video: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Biography: The Universal Teacher, New book by Srila Sridhara Maharaja entitled Encounters With Divinity, Sri Krsna Janmastami Mahotsava.  

2005  [May - July] — Jagannatha Ratha-yatra, Appearance of Lord Narasinghadeva, Candana-yatra, Appearance of Srila Gadadhara Pandita Gosvami.  

2005  [March-April] — Filming for Srila Bhaktisiddhanta video, Gaura Purnima Festival, Maha-Sivaratri, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Appearance.

2005 - 1  [Jan-Feb.] — Nityananda Trayodasi, Vasanta-pancami, Installation of Lord Jagannatha and Gaura-Gadadhara, Ashrama Publications & Videos, Kaliya-Mardana Krsna Asrama, Kannada Songbook Printed.

2004

2004  [Nov. - Dec.] — Disappearance Bhaktisiddhanta, Ten Year Ashrama Anniversary, Disappearance Srila B P Puri Gosvami, Disappearance Gaurakisora, Disappearance Srila Prabhupada, Karttika Masa, Govardhana Puja, Srila Sridhara Maharaja Appearance, B B Visnu Appearance.

2004 - 4  [Sept. - Oct.] — Appearance Day of Srila B P Puri Gosvami, Evolution of Theism reprinted, Sannyasa of Srila Prabhupada, Appearance of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Radhasthami, Srila B G Narasingha Appearance, Srila Prabhupada Appearance, Janmasthami.

2004 - 3   [April cont.-August] — Visit of Vijayashankar MP, Visit of Dr Rajaram, Painting of Narasinghadeva's temple, Himalayan Pilgrimage video, Library & Devavision Studio opening.

2004 - 2   [March-April] — Narasingha Caturdasi, Candana Yatra, Deities of sannyasis, new Goshalla, Gaura Purnima, Salagrama-hara, Srila Prabhupada Samadhi painting.

2004 - 1  [Jan-Feb.] — Sivaratri, Appearance Bhaktisiddhanta, Nityananda Trayodasi, Kirtan Hall Artistry, Visits of BV Narasingha & Guru Prasad Svami, Vasanta-pancami, Publication of Prakrta-rasa Aranya Chedini, Kumbha Mela on New Zealand TV.

2003

2003 [Sept - Dec.] — Tirobhava of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Foundation of Library & Multimedia Studio, Yoga-Narasimha Tilaka, Video Darshan of Yoga-Narasingha, Installation of Sri Sri Laksmi-Narasingha, Srila Prabhupada's Tirobhava, Karttika, Govardana Puja, Avirbhava of Srila BR Sridhara Deva Gosvami, Appearance of Srila BB Visnu Maharaja, Radhastami.

2003 - 1  [August] — Janmastami and Installation of Yoga-Narasingha, Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja, Vyasa Puja of Srila Narasingha Maharaja.

2003 - 2  [May-July] — Puri Ratha Yatra, Tumcur Science Program, Bhoga Narasingha and Yoga Narasingha, Narasingha Caturdasi, Candana Yatra.

2003 - 3  [Jan-April] — Gandaki Muktinatha, Gaura Purnima Festival, Varadaraja in Kondaggi, Laksmi-Narasimha in Javagal, Yoga-Narasimha in Belavadi, Mahabalipuram, Pakshi-tirtha, Vasanta-pancami, Wedding of Govardhana and Krsna-priya dd.

2002

2002-2 [June - Dec.] — Srila Prabhupada Deity, Vrndavana Temples, Subramanya Tirtha, Karttika Masa, Govardhana Puja, Srila Prabhupada's Tirobhava, Subhaga Svami visits, Kitchen Ground-breaking, Sridhar Swami visits, Goshalla Completed, Vyasa Puja of B. P. Puri Goswami, Radhastami and Babaji Initiation, Narasingha Maharaja Vyasa-puja, Janmastami, Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja, Audarya Asrama program and San Francisco Ratha-yatra.

2002 [Jan. - May] — Narasingha Jayanti in Vermont & Govindaji Gardens, Gosala Foundation, Pejavara Svami visits, Gaura Purnima in Vermont & Govindaji Gardens, Guru Prasad Swami Visits, Jayadvaita Maharaja visits.

2001

2001 [July - Dec.] — Boston Program, Govardhana Puja, Srila Prabhupada Tirobhava, Govardhana Hill Manifests, Gurukula boys visit Nagamangala, Radha Damodara Moves to Vermont, Devavision Project Moves, Editing for Devavision Underway, Installation of Sri Sudarsana Cakra, Radhastami, Vyasa-puja Celebration of BG Narasingha Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja, Janmastami & Janmastami videos, Boston Program, West Coast Saranagati Tour.

2001 [Jan - June] — Cira-dahi Mahotsava, Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi, Calf born, Meeting with Asta-matha Swamis in Udupi, Candana-yatra, Narasingha Caturdasi, Ramanujacarya’s Appearance, Gaura Purnima, Tripurari Maharaja visits, Tour to Subrahmanya, Halebid and Udupi, New Center and Deities in Bangalore, Sivaratri, Nityananda Avirbhava, Deity chamber decoration, New Calf, 2001 Kumbha Mela.

2000

2000  [Jan - Dec.] — Govardhana Hill to Manifest, Copper Plate Project, Installation of Radha-Damodara.

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