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Baladeva Purnima/Janmastami Festival

September 12th, 2010 | 1 Comment

The auspicious occasion of Baladeva Purnima marked the beginning of a ten-day festival at Audarya, which lasted until Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s Avirbhava Mahotsava. Swami B. V. Tripurari gave exceptional classes, links to which are available below, and Agnideva Prabhu led ecstatic kirtanas. On Baladeva Purnima, Swami discussed Sri Baladeva according to the vision of the Vrindavana Goswamis, describing Krishna’s expansions as waves of emotional ecstasy emanating from the Absolute, with Sri Balarama being the first such wave of ecstasy from Sri Krishna. The day after Baladeva Purnima commemorates Srila Prabhupada’s departure from India to make his historic journey to the United States. Swami stressed how sacrifice is the womb from which prema is born, pointing out how following Sri Guru’s order can put us in great material difficulty, as seen in the great sacrifice Srila Prabhupada underwent in the early days of establishing Krishna consciousness in the West.

Swami’s evening classes were dedicated to answering questions from the audience, with inquires such as “What is the source of faith?” “Are there stages of realization in Deity worship?” and “What does it mean that our relationship with Sri Guru is eternal?” Morning classes discussed Sri Krsna’s Janmastami lila, from Bhumi’s assuming the form of a cow and petitioning Brahma for help to the unfolding of the entire lila of Krishna’s birth in both Mathura and Vraja. On Janmastami, Swami spellbound the audience with morning and evening classes from the Bhagavatam, further distinguishing Krishna’s birth in Mathura from that in Vraja and highlighting the sadhana to attain the latter.

Vijaya Govinda, Nama-dharma, Goloka, Krishna Rati , Priya-narma, and Cintamani received harinama initiation, Nitaisundara received saffron cloth after 3 1/2 years as a brahmacari, and Gurunistha received vanacari-vesa after six years as a brahmacari.