We heartily thank all the devotees and wellwishers and aspiring devotees for the active Participation - physical, through mails through generous donations etc. The Kartik festival started on 3rd October 2009 and ended 2nd Nov 2009 was very blissfully celebrated by all the devotees from India and all over the world. Thousands of people offered ghee lamps. Thousands of people participated in the parikramas. The whole Vrindavan Dham was flooded with devotees. The whole city was very very active. All the temples had lit the colorful decorative lamps.
We from Krsna Balarama Mandir (ISKCON,Vrindavan) would like to report to the world communities of devotees and our well wishers the following festival details.

Deep Daan at Vrindavan

Everyday at 7 in the evening,thousands of national and international devotees offered lamps to their Lordships and to the Yashoda Damodar Diorama. Everyday the Deities and Yashoda Damodar diorama were dressed with special attire and ornaments and special garments. While devotees were offering lamps, Damodarastakam prayers were recited in melodious tune accompanied by musical instruments, sung by sannyasis, senior Prabhupadaa disciples etc. Damodarastakam prayer was followed by Mahamantra kirtan. For about 2 hours the whole temple was surcharged with the tumultuous kirtan.
Simultaneously the Hindi lecture hall hundreds of devotees came together to offer Damodarstakam prayers, Vaishnava bhajans and Gopi Geeta recitation.

Goverdhan puja

This year on 18 October, we will celebrate the day on which Lord Sri Krishna lifted Govardhana Mountain to protect the Brajbasis from the torrential rains and thunderstorms brought on by Indra. There are special lectures describing the pastimes. Devotees construct the Govardhana Hill in the temple courtyard with varieties of cooked rice, halava, fruits, sweets and so many other eatables.

Go puja

In the morning on the same day as Govardhan Puja, Go Puja is celebrated at the Bhaktivedanta Swami Goshala. Around 7:45 AM, Their Lordships Sri Sri Krishna Balarama are accompanied by devotees with kirtan to the goshala. All the devotees feed the cows with green grass and gor laddus. After a special lecture, the cows, bulls and calves are worshiped. Their Lordships return to the Temple while devotees honor special breakfast arranged at the goshala.

Srila Prabhupada’s  Disappearance  day Anniversary:

In Vrindavan it is a two day celebration. This year it was on 21th and 22nd October 2009. On the first day i.e. 21st October 2009 at around 6 in the morning all the devotees followed Srila Prabhupada in procession chanting the holy names to the seven Goswami temples in Vrindavan. Through out the route of procession halawa prasadam was distributed. On 22nd October, the day of disappearance of Srila Prabhupadaa, the Samadhi altar, Prabhupadaa house, Deities altar all were nicely decorated with varieties of fragrant flowers. The morning programme, Guru puja, Srimad Bhagavatam class, Srila Prabhupadaa glorification, Abhishek for Srila Prabhupada all were performed in the pandal in Krsna Balaram land. The pandal was nicely decorated. After Darshan arati all the devotees led by Srila Prabhupada Deity went in procession to the festival pandal. At 7:30 am Gurupuja was offered to Srila Prabhupada. After the Gurupuja, devotees listened to the recorded Srimad Bhagavatam class of aSrila Prabhupada. After the class Srila Prabhupada disciples glorified and shared the realizations of Srila Prabhupada. His Grace Pancagauda prabhu was the master of the ceremony and coordinated the glorification ceremony. At around 12:30 pm, Srila Prabhupada gents and lady disciples performed Abhishek to Srila Prabhupada Deity. In Srila Prabhupada Samadhi, bhoga was offered. Many devotees prepared varities of dishes to be offered to Srila Prabhupada. After bhoga offering pushpanjali was offered. Maha aratik was performed. Around 10000 devotees honoured the feast prasadam in the nearby Fogla asram. The cooking for the feast was done by the team headed by His Grace Radha dyuti prabhu from Mayapur. Around 500 enthusiastic devotees from ISKCON Delhi temple rendered valuable prasadam distribution service. Both the days Sriman T.K.Choudhary prabhu very happily and generously donated for the flower decorations and the feast prasadam.

Parikramas:

Krsna Balaram mandir organized daily parikramas led by His Grace Deena Bandhu prabhu - started from 4th October to November 2nd to various places of Krsna’s pastimes in Braj Dham like Madhuvan, Bel van, Bandhirvan, Manasasarovar, Lohavan etc. These parikramas are designed for those devotees who would like to attend both the temple programmes and the parikramas. Parikrama left at 6:30 in the morning and returned in the evening around 3pm. Hundreds of devotees enthusiastically participated in the programmes. They have carried with them most blissful memorable experience in Vrindavan parikrama.