CHICAGO: Sri Krishna Jayanti was celebrated in Grayslake Hindu Mandir with great devotion. Hundreds of devotees who observed fasting the entire day and also those who did not fast participated in this program and celebrated the birthday of Krishna in quite a traditional manner.
Another aspect of the celebration was the ‘Muddu Krishna’ (cute Krishna) procession arranged on Tuesday, 27 August at 7.00 pm in the courtyard of the temple. Several children participated in it by wearing various costumes of Krishna. The procession was led by conch blowing, bell ringing and drum beating devotees.
Little children carried colorful flags which brought special attraction to the celebration. They also tried to imitate the childhood pranks of Krishna with devotional songs being sung in the background. Later, everyone in the gathering enjoyed the Dahi Mataki event which was a symbolic experience for removing their ego. Anu Gupta from the cultural committee of the temple arranged singing and dancing by children highlighting baby Krishna’s mesmerizing childhood activities. Little girl Sanjana Kumar stunned all devotees by chanting the 12th chapter of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita.
The temple and the shrine were decked with variety of flowers. The presiding deity of Lord Krishna was decorated in the form of kneeling Bala Krishna in the cradle. Another attraction of the decoration was showing how Nandgaon people celebrated Baby Krishna’s birthday by placing lots of nicely painted wooden cutouts on the stage. In this beautiful venue at 10:00 pm, Bhajan Sandhya was started by a group of musicians,
Shortly after this, Pandit Anil Joshi delivered pravachan stressing the importance of Sri Krishnashtami celebration. He said that the Lord takes Avatar to maintain religious values, to protect spiritual people from evils, and to accomplish the truth on this earth. The biggest message of Lord Krishna Janmashtami is “love humanity”.
By 11:30 pm a devotee in the form of Vasudev entered the shrine with baby Krishna. People welcomed him by chanting hymns and dancing. Temple priest Anil Joshi chanted Krishna Mantra and Gita Slokas. By midnight Baby Krishna Avatar was shown to devotees by removing the petals of roses that covered Him. Later, both temple priests performed Abhishekam of Baby Krishna with saffron milk. Their ritualistic hymns praising the Lord echoed in ambiance of the temple.
Sri Krishna Archan and Arati were performed followed by offering of traditional Bhoga. This was distributed among the devotees and children.
Maha Prasadam was served to both fasting and non-fasting devotees. This program was managed by Naveen Mishra and religious committee members very efficiently. Temple president Harsh Kumar gave vote of thanks to all the devotees and volunteers for making this celebration a grand success.
Geetha Patil
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