Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Vrindavan, 2015.11.18 (VT): The 500th anniversary celebration of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent in Brij-Vrindavan got off to an auspicious start yesterday with many prominent government figures coming to glorify him at the Parameshwari Dhanuka School in Goshala Nagar Colony.
A crowd of several thousand people from all walks of life in Vrindavan, including its secular and religious leaders thronged into the pandal at Dhanuka School, keeping in a festive mood. The police and security forces were in ample display, closing down all the routes that were used by the VVIPs to get to the site, making the roads as calm as they are at midnight. Mathura Road and some of the other main arteries were cleaned to a non-Indian standard, and even the median and lines had been repainted, making everything look new again.
Clik here to view.
The President, UP Governor and local MLA Pradeep Mathur offering garland and lamps to the picture of Mahaprabhu.
The hosts of the program began with a recapitulation of Mahaprabhu’s life. After the President had arrived, everyone stood for the national anthem, played by the school’s brass band.
Padmanabh Goswami came to the podium to welcome all the guests and to set the theme for the program by quoting Mahaprabhu’s own verse,
nāhaṁ vipro na ca narapatir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛhapatir no vanastho yatir vā |
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrṇāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ ||Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.I am not a Brahmin, nor am I a Kshatriya,
I am not a Vaishya, nor a Shudra.
I am not a brahmachari, nora householder,
not retired man nor renunciate monk am I.But since Lord Krishna, lover of the gopis,
and the overflowing ocean of nectar
is the one source of supreme immortal joy,
I aspire to be a servant to the servant
to the servant of his lotus feet.
The Governor Ram Naik spoke briefly, like everyone, but was also exultant about Mahaprabhu’s message of universal love, invoking the vasudhaiva kutumbakam verse. He expressed wonder at the wide influence Mahaprabhu had made on northern Indian culture in a day when communications were so different from today.
Similarly President Mukherjee spoke of the humanistic side of Mahaprabhu’s message, with reference to Chandidas’s words, “Humanity is above all things; nothing is above it.” He spoke of great historical leaders of the Bengal renaissance like Shishir Kumar Ghosh, one of India’s pioneering journalists, and Lala Babu, whose father was one of the first Indians to take a place in the British administration and was in charge of revenue of the BEI Company.
President Mukherjee’s remarks centered on the current criticism of India as a place of intolerance. He said that Indian civilization is 5000 years ago and developed a strong culture of tolerance, so much so that no country in the world can match it for multiculturalism that has endured for so many millennia with only minimal disruptions.
“Without it how could it be possible to accommodate so much diversity in one Constitution?” he asked rhetorically. “India has a population of 128 crores, seven major religions, 100 languages, 1600 dialections and three major ethnic groups — Caucasian, Dravidian and Mongol. All this is possible because of the cultural and civilizational heritage. And Mahaprabhu contributed to this heritage by breaking down caste and race barriers in the worship of God.”
He also added that he did so through the medium of song and dance, “presenting the conclusions of the great philosophers…” He inspired Bengali poetry and song, and recharged society with the unity that comes from love, compassion and affection.
Clik here to view.
Hema Malini invoking Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at yesterday’s assembly with the President and Governor of UP.
Hema Malini, our local MP, was the most unabashedly devotional in her remarks. She began with “Radhe Radhe!” in exactly the way that Shrivatsa Goswami does, so I think she is being affected by good association in the Dham. She also started her talk with a verse from Chaitanya Chandramrita. She was the only speaker other than the hosts to recite a Sanskrit verse:
ānanda-līlā-maya-vigrahāya
hemābha-divya-cchavi-sundarāya
tasmai mahā-prema-rasa-pradāya
caitanya-candrāya namo namas te
I offer my obeisances unto Sri Chaitanya Chandra, whose body is the embodiment of an ecstatic pastime, whose beauty is divinely beautiful, a picture of golden light, and who is the giver of the highest taste of supreme love of God. (Caitanya-candramrtam)
Shrivatsa Goswami who was sitting not far from me, observed with a smile, “HEMAbha…”
Hema remarked that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s visit had set into motion the growth and development of Vrindavan-Mathura and that she was committed to the advance of the people of the district, especially in preserving and spreading the cultural contributions of the region. She also remarked that she has a special feeling for Radha Raman since Gopal Bhatta heralded from Srirangam, where she herself was born.
Also present on the dias were Pradeep Mathur (MLA, Mathura), Mukesh Gautam (Vrindavan city council chairman), and Narayan Das Agarwal, chancellor of GLA University.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
All photos by Param Tomanec.
The post Chaitanya Mahotsava inaugurated by President Mukherjee appeared first on Vrindavan Today.