Paramhamsa Swami Vishwananda ji presenting Radha Raman to Radhika Ramanujan
Vrindavan, 2018.02.23 (VT): ‘Vrindavan Today’ celebrated the ‘Eternal Friendship of Krishna and Yamuna’ in a cultural event at the stage of Gambhira, Jai Singh Ghera in Vrindavan. The Bharatnatyam production, ‘Sakhyam’, was performed by ‘Trayi’, a group made up of three soloist dancers from Bangaluru. The Bharatnatyam depicted pastimes related to Shri Krishna’s eternal friendship with Yamuna.
Bharatnatyam performance
The 49 minute performance, in the presence of three great devotional leaders: His Holiness Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami ji, His Holiness Paramhamsa Swami Vishwananda and His Holiness Mahant Satyanarayan Das, made for a delightful and devotional evening.
The Bharatnatyam was splendidly performed by the three artists, Smt. Anuradha Venkataraman, Smt. Ramaa Venugopalan and Smt. Radhika Ramanujan. The Gambhira hall was packed and the audience enjoyed the delightful medley covering the gamut of the Bharatnatyam ‘vocabulary’, in which positions, movement and facial expressions express events and the emotions connected to them.
The dancers were trained in the traditional Guru-shishya system for more than 15 years and have been performing professionally for almost 20 years now. They have won many accolades for their individual works and have toured widely (read more)
The mystic Bharatnatyam dance and music spellbound the devotees present and expressed the glories of Shri Krishna, the Yamuna and their connectedness. The performance was not only about graceful dance moves and the complexity of technique – the devotion of the dancers, the depth of the emotions they expressed and their connection to the pastimes they depicted was apparent from beginning to end. The dancer’s ability to depict Shri Krishna’s lilas through the fluidity of dance was impressive and highlighted the connection between body and soul.
The event began with a lamp-lighting ceremony, performed by the Chief Guest, His Holiness Paramhamsa Swami Vishwananda, followed by worship of Shri Radha Raman ji and Vrinda Devi by His Holiness Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami ji and Mahant Satyanarayan Das Babaji.
HH Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami ji gives the image of Radha Raman to Ramaa Venugopalan
In his welcome address, His Holiness Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami said, “Krishna killed many demons during His pastime. But He didn’t kill Kaliya, He only chastised him. He killed Aghasura, a cousin of Kaliya, but he gave a new lease of life to Kaliya…It seems that, by not killing Kaliya, Shri Krishna wanted to give the message that, even being the almighty God, with all powers, he couldn’t decimate pollution – He could only contain it. Despite modern science and technology, it is very difficult to destroy pollution – it can only be contained. After Kaliya left the Yamuna
Mahant Satyanarayan Das Babaji, President of Vrindavan Today presenting gift to Mrs. Anuradha Venkatraman
to reside in the ocean, it became nectar again and Shri Krishna and the Brijwasis celebrated”, added Goswami ji.
After the dance, the artists were presented with photos of Shri Radharaman ji by the Chief Guest Paramhamsa Swami Vishwananda; Mahant Satyanarayan Das ji, the President of Vrindavan Today Foundation and Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, patron of Vrindavan Today.
Talking to Vrindavan Today staff, the artists said that they felt honored to perform in Vrindavan, as this is Shri Krishna’s land and the Yamuna flows across this land. They expressed their pain about the plight of Yamuna in Vrindavan and made an emotional appeal to the government to take action so that an uninterrupted and unpolluted Yamuna can flow on the ghats of Vrindavan.
Vrindavan Today staff with the Trayi dancers and guests
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