Sri Krishna Janmastami
Friday, August 10, 2012
6 pm – 1 am in Soquel
5:30 – 9 pm in San Jose

and

Sri Nandotsava and
The Appearance Day of Srila Prabhupad,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj
Saturday, August 11, 2012
10:00 am in Soquel
5:30 pm in San Jose

 

Please join us for this wonderful and important two-day festival celebration. Sri Krishna appeared at midnight thus there will be a beautiful arotik and sankirtan at midnight and then an anukalpa feast (without grains). Saturday the festivitites will include the glorification of Srila Prabhupad, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj and a sumptuous feast. We hope that everyone will be able to attend this most auspicious celebration. If you would like to do some seva please send an email to info@sevaashram.org, or consider giving a donation for the seva of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharvika Giridharijiu here.

Yours in the Lord’s Service,
Sushila devi dasi

The following is an excerpt from Sri Guru and His Grace by His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj:
It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam (10.31.9):

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah

“O, Krishna, the nectar of Your words and the narrations of Your pastimes give life to us, who are always suffering in this material world. This nectar is broadcast all over the world by great souls, and it removes all sinful reactions. It is all-auspicious and filled with spiritual power. Those who spread this message of Godhead are certainly doing the greatest relief work for human society and are the most magnanimous welfare workers.”

This is what is necessary and this is what is universal. Everyone can be satisfied to the highest degree in their hearts only by the nectar of Krishna’s words and the nectarine descriptions of His activities. This is because Krishna is raso vai sah, the reservoir of all pleasure, and akhila rasamrita murti, ecstasy Himself.

Selected references to this day, on Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’s websites:

For the devotee children:
Illustrated seven page article about Sri Krishna Janmastami, prepared in 2006 by Parama Bhakti Dasi: 440 K PDF file.

Audio:
An informal morning discourse by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj at the Dum Dum Park Temple in Kolkata, India. Later in the day His Divine Grace did indeed accept the invitation mentioned in this talk, and went to lead the Festival at our Kaikhali Temple, near Kolkata Airport.

“We will take anukalpa (a small amount of non-grains food) on Ekadasi, twice we are taking. But on Janmastami we are not taking that. On Janmastami we are completely fasting.”

“Vedavyasa very cleverly expressed the character of Lord Krishna… Then we can understand what is the position of Lord Krishna and what is the position of Krishna’s Rasa-lila. First we will see Him like a sun, from far, the fireball. The sun is a big fireball, but lookable from far, not near. Krishna’s character is like that.”
(First uploaded on 16 August 2006, Sri Krishna Janmastami.)
Download, or listen online (27 minutes, 3.1 MB mp3 audio)
or:
higher quality (6.2 MB mp3 audio).

Audio:
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj speaking on 26th August 2005 from Nabadwip, the eve of Sri Krishna Janmastami, for Madhusudan Prabhu’s Internet Radio website krsna.cc. (14+ minutes, 2.5 MB mp3 audio)

Audio:
Janmastami evening class in St. Petersburg by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj during his 2007 World Tour.
Download, or listen online (40+ minutes, 4.6 MB mp3 audio)
or:
higher quality (7.3 MB).