Next month marks the auspicious 8th Anniversary of Vrinda Kunda Temple opening! To celebrate we are organizing special parikramas to the Holy Places of Braja, culminating with our famous Kalash Yatra, an ecstatic Sankirtan procession with the ladies carrying water pots with coconuts on their heads. Programs will be going on from 15-27 Feb with the main parikrama days between 19 and 26.
Last year there was Purusottama Month, so all the festival dates are late this year and the Vrindavan Festival after Gaura Purnima will be late and very hot! Better to come to Vrindavan first, and then go on to Mayapur Festival and leave after Gaura Purnima when it starts to get hot! And our festival ends with plenty of time to reach for Navadvipa Mandal Parikrama which starts on 6th March!
We will be leaving almost every morning from Krishna Balaram Mandir by bus to go on parikrama to different pastime places of Braja. There will be lively narrations of the different pastimes that happened in each place. Then we will return in time for lunch prasadam in the temple. And on all bus parikramas, Sannyasis and Prabhupada Disciples and their families will go free of charge.
Then on Sunday 27th Feb., we will be having the super ecstatic Kalash Yatra and sankirtan procession around Nandagrama. Kalash means water pot. All the ladies will carry water pots of water from the sacred Pavana Sarovara with colorful cloth and coconuts on top. We'll have 108 pots and the Brijbasi ladies will train our foreign lady devotees how to carry them. Even some of our own ladies who go every year will train them! The Brijbasinis even dance with no hands with their pots on their heads! All the ladies who have participated told me it was the highlight of their Vrindavan experience.
After reaching at Vrinda Kunda, there will be Krishna Katha, butter churning festival, artika and then feast for one and all. Then everyone can help feed all the Nandagram Brijbasis. That day all transportation and prasad will be free for all who come.
So start planning now to come relish wonderful Vaisnava association in the Holy Dhama. Especially for those who are going to the Anniversary Festivals at Tirupati, Ujjain, and Aravade on Nityananda Trayodasi and are wondering what to do till Mayapur Festival starts, most of our parikramas will take place after Nityananda Trayodasi. We'll publish the schedule soon, so watch for it.
For those who want to make arrangements to go from Vrindavan to Mayapur, these days you can book your train reservations on line at <http://www.indianrail.gov.in/index.html>
Otherwise you can contact our Information Center at <ISKCON.Vrindavan@pamho.net> for your travel needs as well as assistance for booking accommodation in outside guesthouses. The phone contact is Sanjay at +91 9997770061. They can also arrange a taxi to pick you up from the airport or train station. For booking in the Krishna Balaram Guesthouse, you can contact <ganapati.gkg@pamho.net> or +91 565 2540021. For MVT <MVT@pamho.net> or +91 565 3207578.
In service of Srimati Vrinda Devi,
Deena Bandhu dasa
